MEMORISE: “But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.” – 1 Corinthians 12:31 (KJV)
READ: Acts 19:11-16 (KJV)
11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Ezekiel 21-22
MESSAGE
God wants you to grow spiritually so that you would eventually become a giant in the spirit realm. In 1 Corinthians 12:31, God says you are allowed to covet earnestly the best gifts. When I read that passage, I told God, “Lord, give me a double portion of the Spirit of Elisha, double the spirit of Peter, double the spirit of paul double the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry, add everything together and double it again”.
He responded that I was asking for trouble because people would not let me rest. I said I wanted it still because I could not afford to be anything else but a spiritual giant. You must make up your mind not to be an ordinary Christian from today.
If you want to become a spiritual giant, 2 Kings 2:1-8 teaches that you must be loyal to your own Elijah. When Elijah wanted to leave this world, Elisha followed him three times; each time, Elijah told him to go back, but he refused. Your Elijah is your father-in-the-Lord. In 2 Kings 2:9-15, when Elijah was departing, Elisha got a double portion of his spirit.
One day, I was praying that my children would be greater than I, and one of them said, “Anyone who will be greater than you probably will never eat again”. He said that because of how often I fast, but then I told him not to leave God out of the equation. It doesn’t matter how great God made your father-in-the-Lord, you can become greater just by honoring and being loyal to him. Elisha got a double portion of the spirit of Elijah because he pursued the same vision as he.
Learn to minister to the one whom God has placed over you spiritually.
In 2 Kings 3:11-12, the Bible tells us that Elisha ministered constantly to his spiritual father. It wasn’t long after that in 2 Kings 13:14 that we read that a king called him ‘Father’. If you are committed to honoring your father-in-the-Lord by serving him, you would receive something that you could otherwise have laboured greatly in the spirit to get. Somebody once said that the tail of a lion is more powerful than the head of a dog. Your father-in-the-Lord is already a lion; if you are committed to following Him as he follows Jesus, you can do greater things than when you are on your own.
KEY POINT: You can become a spiritual giant by honouring and being loyal to your spiritual leader.
Open Heavens 2023 Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries.
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