Time With Christ: 30 April 2015 Thursday daily devotion by Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Watch That Backsliding

Topic: Watch that Backsliding (Thursday, April 30, 2015)

Memorize: The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. -Proverbs 14:14

Read: John 6:66-69

66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve,Will ye also go away?

68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

MESSAGE:

Backsliding does not happen suddenly. It’s a process that occurs over a period of time, during which a person becomes lax in his thought life and begins to entertain from the path of light to the ways of evil from which one was once saved. There are many prodigal sons and daughters today who have forsaken their first love in the pursuit of materialism. Many workers in the vineyard of God, who started well, have allowed their spiritual fire to grow cold, thereby departing from the faith. Hebrews 10:38 says,

“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”

A backslider loses interest in the Lord, in the Bible, in prayer, fellowship and witnessing, and eventually turns to the world. It is like a dog returning to its vomit. You will not backslide in Jesus’ Name. The flesh will always find expression when people fail to focus on spiritual things. The flesh expression when people fail to focus on spiritual things. The flesh clouds the minds of God’s children with such things as idle past-times, sports and television, and fills their heart with junk at the expense of spiritual growth. Before you know it, backsliding would have commenced. Someone who has always been very zealous for God will then begin to miss church meetings when there are crucial match fixes. A sister who has been very productive in evangelism will then begin to come late to meetings because of addition to certain television soaps. As Christians who are Heaven bound, we have to be very careful. Let us keep ourselves away from danger zones as much as we can. You have to be very vigilant and sober so that the devil doesn’t drag you to Hell with little things you think do not matter (1 Peter 5:8). Those detrimental “little things” you fail to terminate may end up terminating your destiny (Song of Solomon 2:15)

Remember that even David, a man after God’s heart, fell for Bathsheba. Samson, the Lord’s anointed from the womb, lost his two eyes and was reduced to a prisoner grinding corn inside the enemy’s prison. One of my sons came to me complaining of a problem. He confessed that as every weekend drew to a close; he would get excited, looking forward to the next Monday morning because he would see his secretary again. I told him to disengage her from the job. A proverb in my native tongue says “Stay away from a snake whose head is still intact.” Whatever you can’t control will truncate your destiny. Whatever is capable of destroying your testimony must be avoided. Sometimes you need to apply wisdom and not strength (Ecclesiastes 9:18).

Action Point: Take wise, decisive action on any relationship that has the potential of destroying your testimony.

Bible in one Year: Judges 20-21, Matthew 28