Today’s Devotion
Topic: Don’t Try To Limit God!
Text: Matthew 3: 14
And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ”I have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” Amen
John the Baptist knew his mission on earth was just to prepare the way for Christ. So he dedicated his entire adult life preaching repentance. He was so diligent about his divine mission that he did not even anticipate there could be more to his calling than was known by him.
More often than not, many Christians have limited themselves so much to a particular task in the house of God. We hardly avail ourselves for God’s use beyond the department we belong to. A singer easily feels his/her assignment is just to sing. He/she never sees the need for prayer or the sharing of the Word. That one seems more like a job for the prayer warriors and evangelism department.
The choreographer is sure that his duty is to offer rhythmic dance movements to the glory of the Lord not to organise the chairs or pack instruments at church. That must be for another department- maybe the ushers department or technical team. He/she hardly turns up for church REVIVALS or participates in the week long prayer and fasting programs. After all, what kind of revival, fasting or prayers does a choreographer need except for dance moves?
In the above passage, John knew his assignment was to preach about the coming Messiah and baptize people into repentance. HE HAD NO IDEA THAT IT WAS ALSO IN THE PLAN OF GOD THE HE BAPTIZES THE MESSIAH AS WELL. When Jesus requested that He be baptized by John, the latter became surprised. Almost to say, “no, no, no this is not part of the assignment. You are the Lord, you are to baptize me. How can I baptize my Lord, “the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” (Jh 1: 27b). He tried to reason with Jesus, but in verse 15, Jesus answered, ”Permit it to be so now…”.
Beloved, The Almighty God has a plan and reason for every step and move He makes. It’s not for us to stop him, but to yield entirely to Him. Stop limiting your self to limit God. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you into all righteousness. Where He tells you to pray for a relative who is sick, don’t say that is the job of the pastor. Where He inspires you to share a message with a friend, do so with all diligence. As a matter of fact, we should rather avail ourselves for God to take us to the other levels we didnt anticipate than to limit our scope around a particular task.
Begin to pray now, submit your thought to God. Ask Him to empower you to be obedient to Him at all times, no matter what it takes. WE WANT TO DO MORE IF HE HAS MORE TO BE DONE.
Times of refreshment waits those who will approach the throne of grace this morning to obtain mercy. See you at church.
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