Act 13:46-48
Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.” Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
Memory Verse: and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Matthew 3:9.
Many at times in life, we come across people who feel very entitled. They must have everything just how and when they want it else, they switch from being very lovable to being a total Stanger, in one word, they start sulking. This feeling of entitlement leads to irrational behaviours often with people who naturally feel irreplaceable. They generally don’t understand the word privileges because they naturally have access to all they need and want so it’s understandable that the word replacement has never crossed their mind.
We will realise that people who feel entitled have been born into some level of wealth or have acquired wealth and this was the case with Lucifer.
He was created with everything beautiful. A part of the bible gave clear description of him Ezekiel 28:12b-13: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.
Lucifer was everything perfect and was a leader, but he didn’t understand the word replacement because he never thought in his heart anyone could just even dare take his place.
The level of importance God placed him and the wisdom lucifer had made him believe he himself could be God so he started to create his own agenda in his heart. This led to his ultimate fall Ezekiel 28:17: “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendour; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you.
The story of lucifer clearly shows how important everyone created by God is and how much God invests into our lives. Despite that, God has given us diverse levels of privileges, so we see that the Jews first had the opportunity as they were at the synagogue privileged to hear the word of truth being preached by Apostle Paul and Barnabas. They lost focus and began to misbehave because of envy which led them to start blaspheming. Their behaviour caused a shift towards the Gentiles and so their conflict created an opportunity for another.
Whatever the Lord as called you to do and empowered you for is an opportunity to be blessed because either you see it as a privilege and get on with it or refuse it, God will be glorified as He will use another person or item. Our acceptance is for our own blessing and when we deviate from the wisdom of God and begin to use our God given assignment as a means of self-glorification, we are setting up ourselves for replacment.
There is only one glory in all and it belongs to God. No one is indispensable or irreplaceable! God has unlimited resources to use for His work. It remains a privilege to be a part!
PRAYERS:
- Father I’m acknowledging you for what you are in my life
- Thank you for your faithfulness and unending love
- Help me to focus only on you God and serve no man-made gods or creation
- Let me not be replaced O Lord, use me for Your glory Lord.
- Draw me nearer and closer to you, help me to maintain communication with you
- Remove every grease in our relationship Lord, let me get to know you more than ever before
- Father let my life be an expression of your grace and let your favour be my portion.
- Forgive my sins Lord and answer my prayers, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
