DAILY HOPE DEVOTIONALS: NOVEMBER 28 DANGER OF BEING TOO FAMILIAR WITH GOD SCRIPTURE: JOHN 2: 13 – 16; LUKE 10: 16

The past three days have been devoted to behaving too familiarity with God. Today’s devotional will be looking at the dangers of overfamiliarity with fellow human causes trouble between them. Same goes with God. Overfamiliarity with God makes us lose respect and reverence for Him. This is also applicable to those God chose to be leaders over us in His churches. It was an act of disrespect for the elders of Pharisees and Sadducees to turn God’s Temple to place of sales and making changes (John 2: 16). Jesus rebuked them for making His Father’s house a house of merchandise. Yet, we have commercialized churches these days. Some senior Pastors sell anointing oils, handkerchiefs apples, Holy Water etc. at exorbitant prices.

Overfamiliarity with God limits the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians. The Holy Spirit’s functions will be leaving those overfamiliar with God making them ineffective while they will be thinking they are still full of the Holy Spirit. It is very important to mention how overfamiliarity affects our prayer lives. Overfamiliarity with God makes us feel that God is always with us as His children, thereby become too lazy in prayers. Inability to pray with the Holy Spirit does not allow Him to be refreshing the oil we carry.

Overfamiliarity with God removes genuineness from our prayer life, thereafter, fills us with traditions of men for demons to make us mere toys.

Overfamiliarity with God deprives us of receiving fresh oil from God. When we are contended with our long years of being with God and haven gained years of experiences, Spiritual laxity sets in. This is because we stayed too long and far from going to God for New Oil. It must be mentioned too that overfamiliarity with God easily kills our first love for Him. What this does is making us assume that Jesus and His Father as well as the Holy Spirit are still with us; but the reverse is the case. When we fail to hear the Holy Spirit, we will neither hear from God nor Jesus again. This action is translated to rejecting God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Rejecting God means rejecting Jesus and will result them rejecting us (Luke 10: 16).

PRAYER:

HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD, kindly draw me nearer to Jesus Christ and my Almighty Father always for my renewal of fresh relationship with them. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ.

bishopubaudenyi@hopealivechurch