Your daily devotional by Dag Heward-Mills (26th June, 2016)

COMMUNION

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: 1 Corinthians 11:20-30

For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.

1 Corinthians 11:29, NIV

In the New Testament, Paul explicitly stated that people were sick and dead because they did not discern the Lord’s Body. Paul gave the reason for disease and death in the church.

“For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep [dead]” (1 Corinthians 11:29, 30).

To discern the Lord’s Body means to realize or discern that you are dealing with the Lord’s Body. All the sheep and little lambs are the Lord’s Body. They are the ones He died for on the cross.

If for instance, you knew that somebody’s finger was on the table, you would not strike it with a big hammer. You would not hit that finger because you know it is part of his body.

When you fail to realize that the church is Christ’s Body, you will get into trouble. Those sheep, those people, are the ones the Lord shed His blood for! They are His body! When you abandon them, it is like abandoning your mouth (a part of your body) by not brushing your teeth for months. You can imagine why.

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Your daily devotional by Dag Heward-Mills (25th June, 2016)

CREATIVE PEOPLE

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: Colossians 3:23-24

Work hard and cheerfully at all you do…

Colossians 3:23, The Living Bible

Creativity will make you enjoy your work. Most people who work in regular jobs get exhausted at the end of the day and dread the morning of the next day, especially after weekends. Now, an entrepreneur works all the time and thus puts all of his energy into his work. By working this hard, he enjoys whatever he does and because of this, whatever venture he puts his effort into, will eventually turn out to be a great success.

Work is often what one is forced to do. Creative people do things because they love doing them. Creative people do not work primarily to enjoy the pleasures of the rich. Getting to execute his ideas is what satisfies him. For a true entrepreneur, work is not a means to an end. It is an end in itself. The process is as rewarding to him as is the end product. Because an entrepreneur is consumed by his desire to work hard, he gets really no time to engage in trivialities of everyday life.

The best thing about a creative person is that he creates his own life and is in absolute control of his life. He does not have to report to anybody. He can take a vacation any time he feels he needs one. He gets to decide what can happen in his venture. Best of all, nobody can fire him. It is great to be your own boss and to create your own destiny.

Creativity will allow you to experience real success. Creative people accept the challenges, work hard to overcome them and when victory results, they savour the moment. Even when they fail in the beginning, they do not give up.

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RIVERS

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: Luke 11: 50-53

As Jesus was leaving, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees became hostile and tried to provoke him with many questions.

Luke 11:53, NLT

There are seven unseen rivers that govern almost everything that happens on this earth. These are the rivers of human nature that determine the outcome of many things. Instead of common sense determining the outcome of things, it is these rivers that determine the outcome of almost anything that happens on earth. They are the rivers of greed, selfishness, jealousy, lust, racism, wickedness and the misuse of power.

For instance, oil may be discovered in a country. The existence of this oil should make everyone in that nation prosperous. But when the powerful rivers of greed and selfishness appear, only a few people get rich and the masses are left in abject poverty.
You must not be provoked, misdirected or misled by any of these human rivers.

You must not be easily provoked because that is how to walk in love. “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5; NASB).

You must not be easily provoked because provocation is a trap that has been set for you.

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Your daily devotional by Dag Heward-Mills (19th June, 2016)

PARTING

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: Galatians 2:20

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Galatians 6:14

Across releases the power that enables people to crucify the world to themselves.
Today, people that belong in the world are found mingling freely in the house of the Lord. Unbelievers feel at home in the church because the church makes no demands for sacrifice or for change. The desires of the world and the goals of worldly people have become the desires and goals of the church.

Pastors desire to be rich executives like managers of worldly companies. Women desire to dress and look like the models they see on television. The prevalent rates of immorality, fornication and HIV in the world are the same as in the church. Why is this?
Why is the world apposed to the church? Why are the aims, goals, aspirations dreams of the average Christian the same as the goals and aspirations of demonized unbelievers in the world? Why have we become so worldly?

Because the cross has been thrown out of the church and has been replaced with flowers, decorations and projectors. The cross of Jesus Christ released the power through which separation from the world could take place. Through the teaching of sacrifice and death to the world and its pleasures, Christians will once again rise up with the power to be separate from the world, its desires, its attractions and its ideals.

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Your daily devotional by Dag Heward-Mills (16th June, 2016)

EMULATION

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: Colossians 1:1-8

You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ…

Colossians 1:7

Jesus taught the Word of God in the most beautiful and anointed way ever known to man. His teachings are relevant two thousand years after He gave them.

The things that Jesus said are read by more people, quoted by more authors, translated into more languages, set to more music and represented in more art than any book ever written by man. As someone said, comparing the teachings of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle to those of Jesus is like comparing an enquiry with a revelation!

Years ago, I told my beloved that I wanted to be a teacher of the Word like Jesus was. I thought to myself, “The teachings of Jesus are not easily forgotten, even by children.” I decided to copy Jesus. Before I became a pastor, I decided to teach and preach with stories. I didn’t want to be anything new; I just wanted to be an exact copy of Jesus Christ.

The key to becoming a great preacher is to copy another great preacher. Just find a preacher whose ministry touches lives and learn how to preach by copying! Don’t blame anyone for your dry preaching. Don’t blame anyone if no one listens to you! You know what to do.

Preach in the same way, teach in the same way and you will be very successful. Don’t try anything new because there is nothing new. Shamelessly copy, photocopy, photograph, replay, rewind and repeat what those great men do. Why not choose to be a copy of someone whom God has sent into your life to train and mentor you?

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Your daily devotional by Dag Heward-Mills (15th June, 2016)

SAFEGUARD

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: Ephesians 4:17-24

…as the gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding…

Ephesians 4:17-18(NASB)

You must be led by the Spirit of God so that you avoid the futility of your mind.

Christians must forsake the world and the lifestyle of the unbeliever. The lifestyle of the unbeliever is characterized by walking in the “futility of the mind”. The mind is a gift from God. But the mind on its own leads many astray into darkness and futility.

If you want a good example of what it is like to walk in the futility of the mind, take a look at Europe. With their minds they have developed perfection in areas such as finance, development, health, education, etc. As they continued to walk in the light of their human minds, they progressed into atheism, homosexuality and many other perversions.
The Scripture is clear in its warnings about walking in the “futility of the mind”. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in, guiding us step by step, often contrary to natural thinking.

It is even more tragic when ministers of the gospel walk in the “futility of their mind”; having not the Spirit and His greatly needed influence.

The voice of God is important for every area of your life. Open up every area of your life to the direction of God’s Spirit.

You may think that God is not interested in certain areas of your life. However, God has something to say about every aspect of your life.

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Your daily devotional by Dag Heward-Mills (13th June, 2016)

LIFE’S WORK

Dag Heward-Mills
 
READ: 1 Samuel 3:1-10

And the Lord came, and stood, and called…

1 Samuel 3:10

At five o’clock in the morning on January 1st 1987, I decided to obey the call of God on my life. It was in the early hours of the first day of that New Year when I decided to take up the mantle and become a pastor. I knew that I had been called, so I had decided to obey and become a pastor.

At the time, I was in the fourth year of medical school. I began the church with a few nursing and laboratory students in the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, where I was studying medicine. I had no one to direct or guide me so I struggled quite a bit during that first year.

By the end of 1987, many friends had expressed their lack of confidence in me and deserted me. I was criticized until I felt like killing myself, just to make my enemies happy. I had very little guidance, but I was sincere and had a lot of faith, and many enemies. It is amazing how people hate you when you decide to follow the call of God.

This was the precarious and doubtful beginning of my ministry. I started out by faith and began teaching and preaching what I knew. A few nursing students responded.

In the beginning, the church met in a little classroom at the School of Hygiene. After a while, many people left and some stayed. The little church stabilized with about forty members. You must persist as you serve God and obey the call of God. By and by you will begin to bear much fruit.

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Your daily devotional by Dag Heward-Mills (30th May, 2016)

FLOWING

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: Matthew 10:32-39

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:26

In this Scripture, Jesus is clearly saying that there is a time when hatred for father, mother, wife and children will be a necessary qualification to be His disciple. We all know that Jesus is love and yet we find Him saying that there will be a time and a place for hatred.

God’s Word teaches us to honour our fathers and our mothers. How can Jesus now speak of hatred for fathers and mothers? But there is a place and a time where you must hate your own father and own mother in order to please God. Hate your wife? The Word teaches us to love our wives yet here we find Jesus telling us that you may have to hate your wife in order to be His disciple. Hate your children? Are we reading aright? 

Jesus who said, suffer the little children to come unto me now says you will have to hate your children. Jesus ends by saying, you must hate even your own life! The instruction to hate your own life is contrary to an earlier instruction that Jesus gave where He said you must love your neighbor as you love yourself.

If you want to stay with your tree of information, of good and evil, you are likely to lose contact with God at a point. Christianity is not based on reasonable logic. It is not logical to send your son to a brutal death at the hands of wicked murderers. If God had followed that protocol, none of us would be saved. I believe with all my heart that the ministry will fail to save mankind if the bearers of the Gospel become traditional and steeped in old ways, unable to change, unable to bend and unable to flow with the Lord.

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Your daily devotional by Dag Heward-Mills (27th May, 2016)

GOD REVEALED

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: John 14:21-23

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

1 John 5:3

There are two things that are often missing in a minister’s life: the manifestations of God and the presence of God. Supernatural guidance and obedience to God’s will are the keys to the manifestations and the presence of the Lord. You must relate with ministers not just by their good doctrines. You must relate with them because you sense the presence of God in their lives.

The key to the manifestations of God is obedience to His Word. Whether this Word came through the reading of the Bible or through a dream, you must obey it. It is the only thing you can do to show Him that you love Him. God will manifest Himself to you when you obey His instructions. Read for yourself the promise of the manifestations of God:

You must seek to obey the will of God when He shows it to you. It is the key to the presence of the Lord. The presence of God will come on you because you are obeying the words and instructions to your life. Read for yourself the promise of the presence of God:

“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23).

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Your daily devotional by Dag Heward-Mills (26th May, 2016)

BE CREATIVE

 Dag Heward-Mills

READ: Exodus 31:1-6

For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 2:6

History shows us clearly what will happen in the future. “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

History teaches us that creativity will generate wealth. Even if you do not believe the Bible you will see what history teaches us.

Creativity helps you to change the old things in your life by introducing new methods, ideas, or products. You will benefit from the privileges and outcomes of your ideas. This will make you competitive and you will learn how to win at all costs. You will learn the need to achieve in everything you do. You will learn the need to be first and not second or third. Creativity will change your life completely.

Creativity will make you a hard worker. You must be creative because it will make you a hard worker and a strong leader who has his own goals. Creativity will boost your confidence as you achieve greater and greater results.

Pastors must be creative. Businessmen must be creative. Politicians must be creative. You must be creative in your marriage. You must be creative in your work. Creativity will make you become “he that hath”.

Creativity will cause you to develop in practical wisdom and common sense. You must be creative because you will learn a lot of common sense and good judgment.

Credit: Dag Heward-Mills