*DAILY MANNA DEVOTIONAL* *FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15 2019* *WE BELONG TO CHRIST* TEXT: ROMANS 14:1-9.

*DAILY MANNA DEVOTIONAL*

*FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15 2019*

*WE BELONG TO CHRIST*

TEXT: ROMANS 14:1-9.

_🔑KEY VERSE: "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's" (ROMANS 14:8)._

C. T. Studd was a pioneer missionary from England, first to China, then in Africa. He was a very popular athlete who had great wealth before his call into the ministry. He gave up his fortune and surrendered his life to full-time missionary service. It cost him years of deprivation and sacrifice. At one time he was away from his family for fourteen years. He declared, "I have searched my life and I don't know of anything I have not sacrificed to the Lord." He was an example of one who knew that he totally and truly belonged to Christ.

Believers are instructed to treat one another with consideration. They should avoid harshly judging one another as no man has the right to do so. No believer lives or dies to himself. Christ owns all believers.

The first realisation of every born again Christian is that he is Christ's property, having been bought with a price. A Christian is first a servant of Christ before being a doctor, an engineer, a civil servant or any other profession. Failure to grasp this truth has made so many Christians unproductive and ineffective in their callings. Christ must be given first place in the lives of all Christians because as the Lord puts it, "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).

Discipleship is costly but has great eternal rewards. It is very necessary, as the Lord exhorted, that every believer should count the cost of following Him and make up his mind to either pay the price in full and be rewarded later, or not. Half-hearted service is not accepted to God.

The mindset of every true believer should be as a song writer puts it, "I am satisfied fully for Jesus to live... I'll do as He bids me... I'll be a true soldier, I'll die at my post."

*✍THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:* Serving God demands sacrifice but is richly rewarding.

COVER TO COVER: EZEKIEL 14-17.

*MEDITATION*

The Christian and debatable things

1. What are debatable things
a. Debatable things in this context refer to things the Bible is deliberately and clearly silent about because they are nonessentials.
b. Examples are foods to eat or to avoid when they are not injurious to the body v3; whether all days should be separated as holy or just one day in a week v5,6; to wear suits or native to preach; to slightly move the body while singing or to be rigid at the same spot etc.
c. What other things can you classify as debatable things?
*Ask* for the spirit of forbearance and longsuffering among brethren🙏
*2. Right attitude to debatable things*
a. Never doubt the genuineness or sincerity of any believer just because he is not operating at a higher level of faith or knowledge like you v14.
*Ask* for grace and love for brethren that is opposed to judgemental spirits🙏
b. Don't condemn any believer for any reason because only His Master has the right to do so v4.
*Note* This is not saying you should not correct and condemn wrong or sinful actions. Only you should not write off a saint as a sinner on the way to hell because of debatable things. The same principle applies to other churches and ministers too.
*Ask* for love and unity among brethren of the same Church🙏.
*Ask* for love and unity among brethren of different Churches🙏
*3. The great truth*
All believers are owned by the Lord, whether in life or death vv7,8,9.
*Consecrate* your life afresh to follow and obey the Lord even when it is not convenient🙏

HYMN: Draw me nearer

1. I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith
And be closer drawn to Thee.
*Refrain:*
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.

2. Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
By the pow’r of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine.

3. Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend!

4. There are depths of love that I cannot know
Till I cross the narrow sea;
There are heights of joy that I may not reach
Till I rest in peace with Thee.