Life Capsule for Today Date: 27th November, 2023
Theme: The Ministry of the word (2)
Memory Verse: 2 Tim 3:16
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: KJV
Topic: Having a proper attitude towards the word
Text: 1 Peter 5:6
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: KJV
Words of the Ministry:
We began a study on the Ministry of the word and we highlighted that many believers don’t get to their destined height with the Lord because of their attitude towards the word. Many don’t place enough value on the most significant instrument of transformation after the Holy Spirit. The word of God is the raw material for our organic transformation and the earlier we have a proper attitude towards it, the faster our spiritual nourishment and growth. We promised looking into the several ministries of the word within the week. Today we intend to consider the kind of attitude we should have towards the word. While many of us agree the word of God is indispensable, we don’t necessarily have the proper attitude and that is why though we attend bible classes, get guidance from our leaders and inspired instructions from the Holy Spirit, it still has not yielded a significant change. The proper attitude we should have should be an attitude of humility and to buttress this, I would contrast two disciples of Jesus Christ, Peter and Judas.
We see the Lord as the living word gently rebuking Peter after his careless statement concerning the Lords death on the cross (Matt16), the Lord told him “Get behind me Satan”, the wordings of the correction seemed harsh and I might say the strongest rebuke by the Lord to anyone as he only called the Pharisees brood of vipers but called Peter Satan, soon after that, the Lord in Jhn 6.60, 66-68 was telling the crowd to eat his flesh and the crowd left him, some disciples also did but when the Lord asked Peter why he wouldn’t leave he answered “to whom should we go, seeing that you have the word of eternal life”, saints we see in Peter, a man that saw even a strong rebuke like get behind me Satan as a word that could give eternal life. Little wonder he became the kind of man he was. After some time again, the Lord told Peter and other disciples that they would abandon him at his hour of trial, Peter said he wouldn’t and the Lord replied he would thrice, Peter never got angry afterwards. That was what made Peter a chief among the apostles, from this, we notice the Lord using the strongest rebuke for those he loves dearly and our attitude towards the word determines our spiritual destiny. Today we read Peter as in our text saying we should humble ourselves and the Lord would exalt us, he had a firsthand experience on how humility leads to exaltation.
Judas on the other hand was rebuked when he suggested the expensive perfume a woman used to anoint Jesus was a waste, That it should rather be sold and money given to the poor (Jhn 12.5, Mat 26.10-13). Though he was corrected gently to leave the woman alone, but Judas was offended. In the very next verse (Matt.26:14), we read that Judas went immediately to the chief priests and agreed to betray Jesus. The timing of this is very significant. Judas was hurt, because Jesus had corrected him publicly. All that Jesus had told Judas was that his assessment of the woman’s action was not correct. But that was enough to upset him. When you’re not broken, one small thing will be enough to offend you. As a result, Judas chose his path, lost his soul and was eternally damned. Do we see words of correction as words meant to lead us to eternal life? Many of us don’t like to be rebuked especially publically in Church, home, school or office. We like to give excuses. Instead of excuses our disposition should be humility. We should accept correction from the written word, the Holy Spirit in our Spirit through our conscience, from other saints, unbelievers and even our perceived enemies. Even our perceived enemies could be used at times to correct us and make us notice our weaknesses. To go far with God, we must be humble to his word, amen.
Bible in One Year: 1 Cor 14-16
For further fellowship send us an email on godmanvideos@gmail.com or visit our youtube channel: @godmanmedia. You can also interact with us by dropping your comments on our facebook page. Our physical meeting, Word feast comes up every Wednesday by 5pm and Prayer Gym every Saturday by 7am while PENIEL comes up once a month, every last Sunday of the month from 4pm to 6.30pm at Suite A10, Ahser Office Complex, beside Living Faith Church, Opposite Hassan Stores, Arab Road, Kubwa Abuja.