It is with a joyful heart that I welcome you to October, the overcomers month. I trust that by now you’re living a victorious Chistian life in Jesus Christ who loved us and made us to be more than a conqueror. May His grace be sufficient for us as we journey through the last quarter of the year in Jesus name. You will no doubt agree with me that grace can be abused or wasted, and this can bring a man with great potentials to fail, suffer lack and frustration. I believe that is why God wants us to study in detail our theme for the month, DILIGENCE.
Dictionary defined diligence as persevering determination to perform a task and the carefulness and conscientiousness in paying attention to the details of the task. This definition emphasizes careful attention to details and the determination to perform tasks excellently well. How careful are you in what you do? Do you always aim for excellence? Do you pay attention to details, or you just rush over things? Just so it can be said that you have done something. Diligence is not in the ‘how many’ or ‘how long’, it’s in the ‘how well’. Do you desire to be great and to stand before Kings? Then be diligent. A diligent man is like a lamp or a city on a hill, he cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14-15). Grace without diligence is like pouring water in a tank without an outlet tap. It will be in accessible.
‘Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men’
Proverbs 22:29
The above scripture tells it all; you must be diligent to be successful. God never called out lazy people to do His divine assignments. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all herdsmen, Moses and David were shepherds, Elisha was plowing, and Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen, Pastor E.A Adeboye our General Overseer was a Senior lecturer. They were all diligent in their businesses and in divine assignments.
To make it to the top and remain on top requires diligence. You need to be hard working and apply yourself to the things of God for Him to take you to where you ought to be. God does not bless the lazy or slothful. Hebrew 11:6b says that God rewards only diligent seekers. Are you seeking Him with all your heart? Do you place priority
on the things of God?
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest”.
Ecclesiastes 9:10
Diligence entails adequate planning, prioritizing, preparation, persistence and prayers. All these in turn require self-discipline, determination and the need to always strive for excellence and be the best in whatever you do. David as a shepherd boy was excellent and as an instrumentalist very skillful. No sooner he was called to the palace. Same with Joseph, an excellent administrator and interpreter of dreams, he too was called to the palace to become Pharaoh’s second in command in Egypt. Are you diligent in all you do?
Proverbs 12:24 says that the hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.
If your business is not doing well, maybe it’s not because too many people are in the business. It could be that you’re no longer doing what it takes to be and remain successful. Or are you an employee and you wonder why you have remained on the same position for years while others are going ahead of you or suddenly your boss no longer calls you for the important assignment anymore? It may not be that your boss doesn’t like you rather check your diligence meter. Peradventure you have witnessed these changes and have attributed them to the
enemy, maybe you should turn the search light on and ask yourself how diligent you have been in all you do?
How diligent have you been in your service and commitment to God? Are you doing as much as you’re expecting of the Lord? Luke 6:38. Are you expecting a heavy downpour of blessings when you have sown little or nothing? Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Galatians 6:7.
Above all, you must be diligent to make it to Heaven. Apostle Peter in 2Peter 3:13-14 says;
“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless”
Beloved, it is time to seek the Lord with your whole heart and strive to be the best in what you do. May you receive divine ability to be diligent in all your ways in Jesus name.
Have a blessed month.
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