By Pastor Enoch Adeboye
(1Samuel 1:9-11)
Most good things in life come at a cost. Many Children of God may find it hard to accept this truth, but it doesn’t change its reality.
The reason why some children of God may not want to accept this reality of life is that our salvation is freely given to us.
They would reason that since the precious salvation of our souls is free, other precious things of the kingdom should also be without a cost.
They forget that although salvation is free for us, it came at the expense of the precious Blood of Jesus, shed through His gruesome death on the cross.
The fact that it is given to us for free does not mean it was freely acquired by the Giver.
Just as a child should not think the bread he is eating freely from his father’s table is actually free – as the father would have laboured for the money with which the bread was purchased – believers also should not think that it cost the Father nothing to give His only begotten Son for the redemption of our souls.
When Jesus Christ was healing the sick and delivering those that were oppressed by demons during earthly ministry, the disciples wanted to perform the same feat.
They were however disappointed when they discovered that they could not do what the Master was doing.
They therefore asked Him why they could not cast a demon out (Matthew 17:19). Here is the Master’s response to them in
Matthew 17:20-21:
“20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”
From this response, we understand that you cannot be eating three square meals with snacks in between and expect demons to obey your every command.
Years ago, my children in Britain asked me to begin conducting a monthly Festival of Life Service in the U.K. I declined, the reason being that I could not minister at a Festival of Life Service without making adequate spiritual preparations.
Hannah, Samuel’s mother, knew that God needed a priest to replace Eli, and so she promised God that if He gave her a son, she would give the boy back to Him.
God immediately granted her request because she was ready to pay a price for what she wanted. Beloved, what is the motive behind your request?
If it is to glorify God, be sure you will have it today
Prayer Point: Father, grant me the grace to constantly mortify the deeds of the blood through fasting and prayer, so that Your Spirit may operate freely without hindrance in my life.
Pastor Adeboye is the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God
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