Tuesday, 10 December
Memory Verse: And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity. Luke 2:36
MORE LESSON: Matthew 6:1-4 1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
It is common for workers in the vineyard of God to desire to be in positions where they can be visible to all. But the Lord actually esteems those who can humbly labour in the secret place where no one sees them. Such people obtain great rewards from God who sees in the secret and rewards in the open (Matthew 6: 1 – 4). In the Bible, Anna was an old woman who had been a widow for 84 years. Instead of complaining, she stayed in the temple day and night for all the years fasting and praying to God to send the Deliverer of Israel. Her silent labours were part of what ushered in Jesus Christ (Luke 2: 36 – 38).
Dr. Yongi Cho, the pastor of one of the largest congregations in the whole world, shared a testimony about his church in South Korea. He noticed that each time he conducted a miracle meeting, miracles would happen on a particular row, another time it would be another particular row. The rows are very long as it is a massive church but whichever row the miracle was taking place, nothing would happen on the other rows in a particular service. So he was curious and wanted to know why it was so. He asked God what the matter was and God led him to go to the church as early as 5am one morning. He saw a sister that came around and was cleaning the chairs in a particular row and praying in tongues over them. She prayed and cried till tears flowed on the seats and after she was done she left. That particular day, when the meeting started, miracles took place on the row that the woman cleaned. He then realised that it was the silent labour of that woman that was responsible for opening the Heaven for the people on that row.
Another great servant of God in Nigeria also shared the testimony of a young lady in the choir. He noticed that each time she led a song, the spiritual atmosphere became so charged with God’s presence that he could hardly preach. In fact, the people would have been praying before he came up. One day before service he was praying round the church and saw someone crying and praying at a corner in the church. He went and tapped her and discovered that it was the lady. He asked her if everything was okay and she said it was. After trying to get her talk and the lady insisted that she was fine, he left. It was later in the service that the girl climbed up to sing that he realised what happened; Heaven opened as she sang.
Whether your service is in the secret or in the open, you can be a silent labourer. The success of your ministry is dependent on the quantity of your labour in the secret place.
Prayer/Action
* Ask for grace to labour effectively in the secret place.
* Pray that your labour will not be wasted and that in due time, you shall be rewarded.
* Pray for every labourer that they will be the first partakers of the blessings and that they will not lose their rewards.
TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER: He that sows an evil seed against me this month shall harvest it a hundred fold, in the victorious name of Jesus.
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