OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONALS Thursday July 23 2020
TOPIC: TAKE HEED
Memorise: Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he falls. 1 Corinthians 10:12
Read: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Bible in one year: Isaiah 35-36
Hymn 18: My Faith Looks Up To Thee
Reflection: Be sober and vigilant. The devil, your adversary actively seeking whom to devour. Take heed.
“For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.” 2 Timothy 4:10
Who was Demas? Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 1:24 tell us that Demas was a fellow labourer with Paul, just like Luke, who wrote the Gospel of St. Luke. How could anybody be that close to Paul and end up back in the world?
I want you to get something clear: there is no one above the possibility of backsliding. The Bible says that Moses spoke to God face to face; he had seen His wrath, yet he disobeyed Him. Don’t think you are above the possibility of backsliding. This was Samson’s mistake. He had won so many battles that he started to feel invincible, so he relaxed in the lap of Delilah. Apostle Paul said that he kept his body under subjection so that he would not miss heaven (1 Corinthians 9:27). Backsliding does not happen at once; it is a gradual process. The devil makes this process so slow that the one backsliding may not even realise it. When a person reduces the time spent praying and/or reading his Bible and starts attending fewer Christian programmes, before long, it will be normal for the fellow to go a whole day without reading his Bible or talking to God. Once there is a separation, the devil will begin to introduce little things that don’t look like sin; if the fellow accepts those, then he will bring in the little sins and before long, he would have started doing things he once vowed never to do again. The devil may be many negative things, but he is no fool.
Check yourself: are you reducing the time you spend reading your Bible and talking to God every day? Are you beginning to have certain desires that you thought were already dead? If the answer is yes, then you urgently need another piece of iron to sharpen you; you need to be in fellowship with other Christians who can help rekindle your fire. Take heed, the devil is on the prowl (1 Peter 5:8).