Today’s Devotion
Topic: A Letter To The Preacher!
Text: Numbers 24: 12- 13
12 Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, 13 ‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord—and I must say only what the Lord says’?” Amen
Balak, king of Moab, is terrified by the reports reaching him about Israel, the small nation coming through from Egypt and defeating every country that opposes their exodus. As Israel approached his town, Balak and his elders invite Balaam to invoke a curse against Israel that should weaken their defense to ensure a mighty great victory for Moab.
When on all three occasions Israel was to be cursed, Balaam rather blessed them, Balak could not take it anymore. His anger burned greatly against Balaam. He said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded.”
Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, ‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord—and I must say only what the Lord says’?”
Oh God! If every preacher would serve the Lord with the code to speak nothing of their own accord except for what God commands, then the whole world would have no choice but to stop its circus, harken to the voice of God and be saved. For the heart of the Father has long yearned to see all men come to the saving knowledge of Christ.
Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Many have offered themselves as Preachers, Evangelist, Pastors, Teachers, Prophets and Apostles, preaching anything other than the Word of God. The inspiration for each sermon is far from the Holy Spirit, rather, it is stemming right from some deep rooted greed that hopes to either deceive or manipulate the masses for selfish gains. The things they claim to see and hear from God remain confounded each time they are subjected to the WORD OF GOD, and yet the people love it to the very core.
When the Lord was to comment about this, He said to Jeremiah, “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” (Jer 5: 30- 31).
To escape this huge question from God, Apostle Paul is reminding all of us, Pastors and Church leaders, that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16- 17). We do not have to speak our minds to the people, neither do we have to lie to them. The Word of God is sufficient both in equipping us for every good work and to teach, rebuke and correct our listeners in all righteousness.
He continues to say to all preachers that, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Tim 4:1-3)
Meditate on this word and begin to pray with the hymn, “ANCIENT WORDS, EVER TRUE…”. If you are a Preacher, humbly ask God to always speak through you each time you stand in His name and say, “Hear the Word of the Lord”. The rest of us who are not preachers yet should seriously commit our preachers into the hands of God that they speak the word of truth without fear or favour.
Now altogether, we are praying for ourselves. Each of us is a preacher wherever we find ourselves. Pray that God would spread His Word through you. Refuse to be the kind of preacher who satisfies “itchy eared” people by preaching what they love to hear. Ours is just to spread the Word, the Holy Spirit will convict, Jesus will bring the harvest, heaven rejoices at this and the Father is glorified. Any other desire, interest, motive, action or agenda is selfish and not of God. See you at church.
