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.

 Credit: Dag Heward-Mills

Advertisements

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.

Credit: Dag Heward-Mills

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

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

January 13, 2016

DISCIPLE

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: Galatians 1:10-24

…Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed him.

Mark 2:14

Dear friend, do you want to be successful in the art of following a man of God? Then follow his faith and his patience! What does it mean to follow someone’s faith? To follow someone’s faith is to ask, “What did he believe and why did he believe the things he believed!?

When I was studying the faith of Billy Graham I noticed that he took a quality decision to believe that every part of the Bible is the Word of God. Because of this faith he quotes Scriptures whilst he preaches to sinners. He believes that if they are the words of God, then when they are read out to people, these words will have great power to save, to heal and to deliver.

If you read and study, you will discover many things about the faith of great people.

How else can you find out more about the faith of a great person? By watching and listening to the things a person said earlier in his ministry! In the latter part of a person’s ministry, you will find the impressive fruits of what he has believed. But in the early part of his ministry, you will see and feel the person exercising his faith for great things in God. In the early part of his ministry there is little to see and there is much faith and much proclamation. It is always interesting to see how men stood up in the wilderness and began to believe great things for their ministries.

Follow the faith and the patience of great men and you will be following the right things.

Credit: Dag Heward-Mills

To subscribe to the daily devotional sent directly to your e-mail then click here

Your daily devotional by Dag Heward-Mills (12th January, 2016)

January 12, 2016

WORLDLY OR SPIRITUAL?

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: 1 Timothy 6:6-14

But lusted exceedingly… and tempted God in the desert.

Psalm 106:14

How can we know what is in our hearts? By the things we say! Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The love of the world is in our hearts and the love for the things in the world is also in our hearts.

Today , Jesus is standing at the door of the hearts of all Christians, knocking and asking to be let in. He wants to take His rightful place. He wants to drive away all illegal occupants who have no right to be in the hearts of His children. This Scripture (Revelation 3:20) is a letter to the church, which has Jesus Christ standing outside and asking to be let in. Jesus is equally standing at the door of the heart of the church today , asking to be let in to take His rightful place. Unfortunately, other things are in there and that is why Jesus is on the outside. The love for the world has filled the heart of the church. Money, wealth, and the deceitfulness of them all, have possessed the pulpit and the pew alike. No wonder Jesus is asking to be let back into His wealthy, last-day church! Satan has crept in and occupied the chair that he has no right to.

If Jesus occupies our hearts, we will be filled with the knowledge of His will and be in love with Him and not with the world. It is sad that our hearts have gone after earthly and worldly things. It is indeed pathetic that mammon has been welcomed into the church and has replaced Christ. We are richer than we have ever been but if Christ is outside then our riches will become a snare to us.

Credit: Dag Heward-Mills

To subscribe to the daily devotional sent directly to your e-mail then click here

Your daily devotional by Dag Heward-Mills (11th January, 2016)

January 11, 2016

BUILDING & FIGHTING

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: Nehemiah 4:7-18

For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded…

Nehemiah 4:18

Nehemiah is a type of apostle. He was sent to build the house of God and establish the people of God. He is the example that every modern-day apostle must learn from. His struggles will be your struggles. His temptations will be your temptations and his victories will be your victories. You can learn from him and experience the same kind of success that he did.

You must accept that you will have to build for God and fight many battles at the same time. It is part of the call, especially in this end time. You will fight battles outside and you will fight battles within. You will fight physical beings and you will also fight spiritual beings. You will fight enemies who look like enemies but you will also fight enemies who look like friends.

Do not think that the enemy is going to sit back and let you build the house of God. He will ambush you! He will sabotage you! He will trap you! He will send decoys! He will distract you! He will accuse you! He will frighten you! He will deceive you! All these will happen to you while you try to build something for God. It is time to accept the way things are. Do not be discouraged because of the way things are. All apostles like Nehemiah will have numerous battles and will have to fight and build throughout their lives.

Take your weapons and get yourself ready for a long fight as you build the house of God. It is time to build and fight at the same time!

Credit: Dag Heward-Mills

To subscribe to the daily devotional sent directly to your e-mail then click here

Your daily devotional by Dag Heward-Mills (3rd January, 2016)

January 03, 2016

FAMILY

Dag Heward-Mills

READ: Genesis 18: 16-33

And these words which I commandthe ethi sday… Thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children . . .

Deuteronomy 6:7

One of the reasons why God chose and blessed Abraham was because He knew that Abraham would command his entire family to serve Him: Genesis 18:19.

There are people who take the spiritual development of the child for granted. I would not like to bring a child into the world who would end up in Hell. Your children should attend Sunday school and learn all the stories of Jesus Christ. You should not leave your children languishing at home watching evil films on television. God wants you to ensure that your entire household is serving him.

Some Christian men allow their wives to stay at home instead of going to church. You have to keep your household under control. If you are a woman married to a non-Christian or lukewarm Christian, you are the automatic spiritual head of the household. Use wisdom to ensure that your home has the right spiritual atmosphere. Your husband may just watch cartoons with the children, but you must teach them the Bible and ensure that they have a good spiritual education.

I want my whole house to follow the Lord. Ensuring that the whole household serves the Lord was one of Abraham’s secrets of success

Credit: Dag Heward-Mills

To subscribe to the daily devotional sent directly to your e-mail then click here