MFM Mountain Top Life Devotional 17 December 2019 By Dr. D.K Olukoya – Warning Against Worldliness (I)
TOPIC: Warning Against Worldliness (I)
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Amos 7-9; Revelation 8
FIRE SCRIPTURE: 1 John 2:15-17
MEMORY VERSE: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” – Colossians 3:2
MESSAGE: Today, many Christians have fallen into the trap of worldliness. It is unfortunate that the enemy is using the love of the world to hinder unbelievers from receiving the grace of God that brings salvation. He is also using the same love of the world to distract believers and lead some to apostacy. In Colossians 3:2 (our Memory Verse for today), the Bible admonishes us to set our affection on things above (spiritual, enduring and eternally rewarding) and not on things on earth (worldly, mundane and temporal). It is also disheartening that many believers do not heed this great piece of advice.
Previous: Becoming Like Christ (II)
Why did God say you should not love the world and the things that are in the world? The reason is that the world and the things in them (the lust of the eyes and the pride of life) are diametrically opposed to the will of God. You cannot love the world and love the Father at the same time. In fact, the love of the world will take away the love of God from you. The more you love the Father and draw closer to Him, the more you are able to do His will and the more the love of the world dies in you. Similarly, if you choose to love the world and the things in it, your ability to love the Father and to do His will reduce drastically or die. Another reason you should not love the world is that the world is transient or temporal; it will pass away with the lust in it. Conversely, those who love God will live forever.
MFM Mountain Top Life Devotional 17 December 2019
You need to know how people exhibit worldliness so that you avoid the booby trap yourself. The Bible asks, “What shall it profit a man who gains the whole world and lose his soul?” Many people have lost their soul in exchange of worldly riches, wealth, fame, political offices or even positions in the corporate world and their places of worship. Those who seek to gain the whole world and get enmeshed in the rat race end up in the cage or trap of worldliness. The Bible in Luke 21:34 shows the second way people exhibit worldliness. It says “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” Those who are caught in the trap of worldliness are filled with pleasure-seeking, excessive love of food, alcoholism and drunkenness, unbridled appetite and so on.
Beloved, it is important to remind you that when you love the world, you pitch yourself against the Lord, your Maker. Who can battle with the Lord? If God is against you, who will deliver you? I encourage you to examine yourself and see if you are already caught in the trap of worldliness. Cry unto God as Jonah did in his precarious condition inside the belly of the whale. God will not ignore the cry of the truly pertinent. Pray worldliness out of your life and pray the love of God into your spirit, soul and body. The God that answers by fire will answer you and bless you, in Jesus’ name.
MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE:
Worldliness is whatever makes sin look normal and righteousness look strange.
PROPHETIC WORD:
THE FIRE OF GOD SHALL PURGE YOU OF EVERY STRANGER OF THE WORLD AND SATAN IN YOUR LIFE.
PRAYER POINTS:
MORNING
1 Father, deliver me from the trap and cage of worldliness, in the name of Jesus.
2 I am not ignorant of the devices of the devil, I reject the distraction and lie of worldliness, in the name of Jesus.
3 I refuse to exchange my soul for the trappings of the world, in the name of Jesus.
EVENING
4 Worldliness will not turn me to an enemy of God, in the name of Jesus.
5 Henceforth, I will set my affection on things above and eternally rewarding and not on the things beneath, in the name of Jesus.
6 I overcome the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, in the name of Jesus.
7 I shall finish well and finish strong on the Lord’s side, in the name of Jesus.
MFM Mountain Top Life Devotional 17 December 2019 was written By Dr. D.K Olukoya (General Overseer, Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, Worldwide)