OPEN HEAVENS

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL...
DATE: Monday 20 January 2014
THEME : ATTRIBUTES OF GOAL GETTERS
Memorise:
Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before
kings; he shall not stand before mean men.
Proverbs 22:29
Read: 1 Samuel 17:20-33
20 And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep
with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded
him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to
the fight, and shouted for the battle.
21 For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array,
army against army.
22 And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the
carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his
brethren.
23 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the
champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the
armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same
words: and David heard them.
24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from
him, and were sore afraid.
25 And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is
come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be,
that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great
riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's
house free in Israel.
26 And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What
shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh
away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised
Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?
27 And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So
shall it be done to the man that killeth him.
28 And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the
men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said,
Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left
those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the
naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou
mightest see the battle.
29 And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?
30 And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the
same manner: and the people answered him again after the
former manner.
31 And when the words were heard which David spake, they
rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him.
32 And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of
him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this
Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a
man of war from his youth.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 THESSALONIANS 1 - 4 and PSALM
19:7-14
Message
The children of Israel were intimidated for forty days by Goliath.
David came to the scene and made enquiries about what would
be done to whosoever defeated the giant. The reply he got
fascinated him and straightaway, he set for himself the goal of
defeating the giant. To David, nothing could stop him from
being the king’s son-in-law. When Eliab, David’s brother heard
about his intention, he rebuked him. Eliab was angry with David
because he was jealous. He was jealous because David had
been anointed as king instead of him earlier on. Goal getters
would not be deterred by any act of jealousy. What did David do
to reach his goal? He ignored Eliab. Anyone who wants to reach
his or her goal must not be distracted by envious criticism. If
your goal is to work for God, do not listen to what anybody may
be saying. Focus your attention on the Almighty God and do not
be mindful of the scornful (Psalm 1:1). You have to press on if
you want to reach your goal. There will be those who may want
to slow you down but you have to push them out of the way and
keep doing what you know God wants you to do. This is one
way to reach your goal.
There are many lessons in the Bible reading of today for those
who aspire to achieve the set goals of their life. It is not how
long but how well. Within a short period of getting to the
battlefield, David was already standing before the king! The
Bible in Proverbs 22:29 says,
“Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand
before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.”
If David had not been a diligent person, when his brother
rebuked him, he would never have gotten to King Saul; he would
have been discouraged. It took diligence for David to run
towards the battle when the giant rose to crush him to death.
The Bible in 1 Samuel 17:48 says:
“And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and
drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the
army to meet the Philistine.”
The rest was history for Goliath when the smooth stone from
the sling of David sank into his forehead. As if that was not
enough, when Goliath fell, the Bible says that David still ran and
stood upon the Philistine, took the sword of the giant all by
himself and cut off his head. David was diligent enough to feel
the pulse of the Philistine to know that he was still breathing. He
then diligently completed the assignment. I pray that as you
focus on God with diligence and with the help of the Holy Spirit,
you will reach your goal in Jesus’ Name.
Prayer Point:
Father, please remove all obstacles hindering me from reaching
my goal, in Jesus’ Name.
AUTHOR: Pst E.A ADEBOYE