GOD REQUIRES DILIGENCE



OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE.

DATE: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH, 2022

TOPIC: GOD REQUIRES DILIGENCE

MEMORISE:
“The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.” – (Proverbs 13:4)

READ: Proverbs 6:6-11 (KJV)
6. Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise;

7. Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

8. Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

9. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

10. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep;

11. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

MESSAGE:
Many people assume that God blessing them means that money will just suddenly fall in their laps. That is not true. If you want things to get better, then as God opens doors, you also need to work diligently.

A few years ago, I gave someone an assignment in January which he could have completed in 3 months. My plan was to give him another as soon as he completed the first. However, as at September, he was still struggling to finish. There was no way I would give him another. God had opened doors of financial blessings to him, but he refused to be diligent so he only got the blessing from one door.

On the other hand, there was a son of mine who would always ask me to pray for him to have a breakthrough whenever he saw me and I always obliged him. One day I received a letter from him saying he had gotten a big contract. When I saw the amount, I believed he must have mistakenly added more zeros than the actual value. I thought he mistook N500,000:00 for N50,000,000. After some time, to my amazement, I got a cheque from him and a cover note saying, “Daddy, I have paid my tithe, but you are the one who prayed, so here is another 10% for you”. I was shocked to see that he wasn’t mistaken after all, so I called him to hear his story. He said that he had executed a project for a state government, and the governor was so impressed with his performance that he invited him to his office and gave him another project that ended poverty in his life.

God wants to answer many people’s prayers, but their lack of diligence has blocked the breakthrough from coming. Luke 16:12 says:
And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?

You say your salary where you work now is small and you want God to give you a breakthrough so that you will be paying people salaries; however, if you are not faithful in another man’s business, how will God give you yours?

KEY POINT:
God requires diligence for your breakthrough to come.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
John 14-15

HYMNAL:
HYMN 3 – DEEPER, DEEPER IN THE LOVE OF JESUS

1. Deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus
Daily let me go;
Higher, higher in the school of wisdom,
More of grace to know.

CHORUS:
O deeper yet I pray,
And higher ev’ry day,
And wiser, blessed, Lord,
In Thy precious, holy word.

2. Deeper, deeper! blessed Holy Spirit,
Take me deeper still,
Till my life is wholly lost in Jesus
And His perfect will.

3. Deeper, deeper! tho’ it cost hard trials,
Deeper let me go!
Rooted in the holy love of Jesus,
Let me fruitful grow.

4. Deeper, higher ev’ry day in Jesus,
Till all conflict past,
Finds me conqu’ror, and in His own image
Perfected at last.

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