TOPIC: HOW TO RETAIN YOUR DOMINION.
MEMORY VERSE:
And all nations will hate you because you are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved. Matthew 10:22
READ: Philippians 3:10 -15
10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death,
11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
15 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you.
MESSAGE
One truth that we must embrace as we round off our discussion on dominion is that it can be lost if one is careless, arrogant, disobedient or lawless. A classic example of someone who had dominion but lost it was the first king of Israel - Saul, according to 1Samuel 15:1-30. He was not only disobedient, but also unrepentant. He chose to enjoy popularity among the people but this eventually made him lose the desired popularity when God's grace departed from him. To his face the women of Israel sang that "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands" (1 Samuel 18:7). Dominion attracts fame and popularity; however, if care is not taken,these can make one lose his or her dominion and eventually be left with nothing, thus becoming a shadow of his or her past.
Dominion brings about comfort but comfort when mismanaged can cause one to lose his or her dominion, as in case of David. The Bible says that at a time when kings were supposed to have gone to war, David stayed back to enjoy the pleasure of his palace. This was when he saw what he was not supposed to see, fell into a series of sins that brought a curse upon him to temporarily lose his dominion to his son Absalom. Thank God that he had a repentant heart and God mercifully restored his dominion to him (2 Samuel 11, 15 - 18). The Bible says: "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth them shall have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). This might have made David write Psalm 51 which reads
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Psalm 51:1
2 Samuel 12:1-13 tells us of the tender mercies of God when David repented.
Beloved, let us be careful not to lose our dominion. To those who have lost their dominion, the good news is that God is ready to forgive if you would repent and trace your steps back to Him today.
There are people who never lost their dominion. Elisha was one of them (2 Kings 13:14-21). You will never lose your dominion, in the mighty name of Jesus.
PRAYER POINT:
Father, please help me to be obedient to You at all times so that I will never lose the dominion You have given me, in the mighty name of Jesus.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Samuel 23-25
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 19: O WORSHIP THE KING ALL GLORIOUS ABOVE
1 O worship the King all-glorious above,
O gratefully sing his power and his love:
our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.
2 O tell of his might and sing of his grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.
3 Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
4 Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in you do we trust, nor find you to fail.
Your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!
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