“…and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”
2 Corinthians 5:15 NKJV
Welcome to the 35th week of our devotional recap. This week we learned to rise above mediocrity for the sake of the gospel, to lean on God when we feel overwhelmed by the weight of our call, we also learned to have an athletic commitment to our heavenly mandate, to prioritize prayer as a person of purpose and to allow love be a motivation in all that we do for the Lord.
We started the week by looking at the impact receiving the Holy Spirit had on the Apostles. Men who were once timid defended the gospel boldly in the face of rife opposition. This is an example for us today, it must be obvious to our world that we have received the spirit.
We ought to be relentless in the lengths we will go for the gospel. We must seek platforms and opportunities to show God around our world. This mindset must also lead to us shunning mediocrity and like David and Daniel, be excellent in our craft.
On Tuesday, we learnt that God did not call you to leave you hanging. For every man He called, He promised to be with them. He gave this promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), Moses (Exodus 3:11), Joshua (Joshua 1:5), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:9).
Therefore, whenever we feel overwhelmed by our call in Christ, we can like Paul say that His grace is sufficient for us regardless of the circumstances, because God’s promise to us is “Lo, I am with you always”.
Wednesday’s study was a reminder to have an athletic commitment to the propagation of the gospel. To fulfill our calling in Christ, we cannot afford to be half-hearted in our approach.
We can take a cue from physical athletes, the level of commitment and effort they put into achieving mastery in their earthly ambition serves as a proof that we ought to be even much more committed to a heavenly ambition. We must go for gold!
On Thursday, we examined the importance of prayer in the life of a man of purpose. Prayer is a vital sign of fervency, and one who is passionate about God’s cause must be given to prayer, because taking on God’s yoke successfully cannot be achieved casually.
We see this in the life of Jesus, upon impending death, so as to prepare himself for the task ahead, He strengthened Himself by agonizing in prayer (Matthew 26:39, 42). This is a template we ought to follow as well.
Finally, we wrapped up the week by examining the importance of love being the core motivation in our divine assignment. Since love was what motivated God to send His Son as a ransom for our sins, we also must imitate this same act in our conduct (Ephesians 5:1-2).
If we are to impact lives, our motivation must be fueled by love, not selfish gain. We are to let love lead us in our calling. It is the hallmark of our faith.
When we pay attention to all these, we will find the tools to walk in the fullness of all God has called us to do.
Have a great weekend.
Bible Reading Plan:
Luke 22:24-30, Hebrews 5, Proverbs 22:1-16, Isaiah 21-23