DAILY MANNA, TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018* *BITTER FRUITS OF BACKSLIDING* *TEXT:* JEREMIAH 2:1-19

DAILY MANNA, TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018*

*BITTER FRUITS OF BACKSLIDING*

*TEXT:* JEREMIAH 2:1-19

*KEY VERSE:* "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."
(Jeremiah 2:13)

The nineteenth century English preacher, J. C. Ryle had this to say about backsliding: "It is a miserable thing to be a backslider. Of all unhappy things that can befall a man, I suppose it is the worst. A stranded ship, a broken-winged eagle, a garden overrun with weeds, a harp without strings, a church in ruins - all these are sad sights, but a backslider is a sadder sight still."

Israel was no stranger to such ugly sight. They were divinely favoured like no other nation. But their journey with God was punctuated by a series of backsliding. At some point in the life and ministry of Prophet Jeremiah, Israel descended into an almost irrecoverable backsliding.

The Lord, through Prophet Jeremiah, enumerated His special loving favour for the Israelites, which they returned with an amazing ingratitude by their backsliding. Their piety was spoken of in the past tense. They progressively went far from God, walked after vanity, became vain and went into alliance with idolatrous nations and reaped self-destruction.

Backsliding does not necessarily have to cross the apostasy line before it is considered destructive. If your love for God, commitment and consecration to Him are in the past tense, yours is a case of backsliding. Backsliding, like drifting, is most subtle but progressive and at the end , yields bitter fruits of misery, disappointment and Destruction.

Thus, it is appropriate to take a moment to reflect on your relationship with the Lord 'then' and 'now' and see how you measure up. If you repent and consecrate yourself to the Lord again and live a holy and watchful like until the coming of Christ, He will heal your backsliding and bring blessings. For "let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12)

*THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:* The worst backslider is the one who knows not from whence he has fallen.
*COVER to COVER:* GENESIS 32-34.

*PONDER:*
1. A sinner who has never been saved from sin can never backslide. He/she can only start the Christian journey by total repentance and complete surrender to the Lordship of Christ.
2. A backlisdder is not necessarily living in an open sins. However, the enemy is already plundering (v14) and emptying him/her of spiritual treasures, consecration, commitments and love for God that he/she once possessed.v2
3. He/she is steadily loosing God given glory v11 (Ichabod), crown of royalty and heavenly honour v16, courage to face and overcome sins and Satan v14,15 and joy of the Lord v19.
4. Honestly reflect on your life and let the Holy Spirit find you out.
5. The greatest antidote against backsliding is to strive and labour on daily basis to move nearer to God.

*HYMN:* Nearer my God to thee

1. Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God , to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

2 Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
yet in my dreams I'd be
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

3 There let the way appear, steps unto heaven;
all that thou sendest me, in mercy given;
angels to beckon me
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

4 Then, with my waking thoughts bright with thy praise,
out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise;
so by my woes to be
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

5 Or if, on joyful wing cleaving the sky,
sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I fly,
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

*PRAYER POINTS:*
1. Lord, in mercy, restore to me all the glory that I have lost through my carelessness.
2. Pray fervently that God should restore to you the crown of your headship in your family, ministry, working place etc that you have lost.
3. Pray earnestly for backlisdders in the church and workforce that you know have left their first love.
4. Pray for heavenly visitation on ministers on the pulpit or out of pulpit that you know the devil has plundered their lives and ministries.
5. Pray against spirit of stagnancy and backsliding in every area of your life. Receive grace to be going higher, deeper, closer and nearer to the Lord.