Sunday March 21st, 2021
Memorize: John 15:5 Contemporary English (CEV)
« I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. »
Read: Judges 16:20-21 New King James Versions (NKJV)
20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!”
But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.
21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes,
and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.
Message:
The ‘S’ in our equation for Resistance in the “Mathematics of Christ in You” (MCY) stands for Self-Sufficiency (If you do not understand, kindly refer to the devotionals of March 19 and 20).
Most times, what many people call self-sufficiency is purely reliance on their flesh rather than God.
In Daniel 4:28-37, we see how this attitude got Nebuchadnezzar into trouble. He said “Is this not Babylon that I built?”
As a result, God sent him to eat grass in the forest for seven years to prove to him that all he had was from Him.
By the time he came back, he acknowledged God as the Most High who rules in the affairs of men.
Today’s Bible reading tells the story of Samson. This man had defeated an entire army with the jaw bone of an ass. He was really strong. Unfortunately, he did not realize that this strength was not from him but from God. I know this because if you look through the feats he had accomplished, you would see everything starting with “And the spirit of the Lord came upon Him” (Judges 14:6, Judges 14:19, Judges 15:14).
One day, after God’s Spirit had left him, he said “I will arise and go out as at other times before” (Judges 16:20 KJV) but he was put to shame.
It does not matter how gifted or skillful you are, without God, you are no different from the sand in the beach.
Many a time, when we listen to the testimonies of some people, we still see them glorifying ‘self’.
They take the shine off God and put it on their efforts.
In Philippians 3:3-7, Paul had been talking so much about himself until something warned him “Be careful”, and he quickly added in verse 7
« But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. »
Proverbs 3:5-6 CSB says:
« 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. »
You want God to live in you and operate through you?
Then, you must not lean on your own understanding.
You must get to the point where you can say that it is in Him that live, move and have my being (Acts 17:28).
We should always remember the words of Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:5 NLT:
« Not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. »
Key point: You are nothing without God.
Author: Pst E. A Adeboye
Texte edited by Naomie
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