Date: Thursday, 7th September, 2023
Text: Matthew 12:43-45
Author: Pastor Adedeji Fadehan
Exhortation:
The story was told of a man who had one arm paralyzed and sought divine healing. He was preached to and asked to give his life to Christ and he did. He was prayed for and he got healed. He attended the church for a while and stopped coming. The church visited him to ask after his welfare and find out why he has stopped coming. In response he asked why he should keep attending a hospital after he has been healed. He did not realize that Jesus healed him based on relationship. He erroneously equated a hospital with a church where God heals based on relationship and freely without cost.
Sometimes later they found the same man terribly sick. His condition was worse. This time not only one arm was paralyzed but his two arms and his neck were stiff. He could hardly move his entire body.
After Christ healed the man that was bedridden for 38 years he said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” John 5:14
In Matthew 12:43-45, Jesus explained, “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”
It is one thing to receive blessings from God and it is another thing to maintain them. It is only by the continual presence of God that blessings and miracles can be maintained.
Accept the love of God and continue in this love. Your relationship with God matters to Him than just receiving blessings from Him.
Prayer Nugget: Father, please, help my determination to remain in your love in Jesus name.