MEMORY VERSE: submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you, James 4:7
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judg 8, Acts 12, Jer 21, Mark 7
As far as you are on planet earth, you will be required to say no from time to time. James 4:7b says resist the devil and he will flee from you. When you resist the devil you are saying no to the devil. You will be required say to no your children; you will be required to say no to your friends and family; you will be required to say no to your loved ones; you will be required to say no to your colleagues at work or school; you will be required to say no your business partners; you will be required to say no in the house of God; you will be required to say no to sleep or food. You will be required to say no temporarily or permanently. You will be required to say no to some pleasures of life if you want to grow spiritually. Many of the movies, soap operas, play stations games e.t.c, add nothing to our spiritual life.
In 1 Kings 13:8-28 is the tale of a man of God who had problems saying no. The Lord sent him to Bethel to deliver a message. He also warned him not to eat or drink. After delivering the message, the king invited the man of God to dinner. Instead of politely telling the king no, he began to tell stories – oh king, the Lord has warned me not eat or drink. The question is who asked him what the Lord told him? As soon as he began tell stories, the king said thank you and good bye. On his way back, a strange prophet met him and invited him for food. Instead of politely telling the prophet no, he went into stories again. The strange prophet noticed that this man of God had problem saying no so he told him that the angel of the Lord had sent him. One of the reasons why people don’t like to say no is because they don’t want to offend people. It is better to offend people and please God than offend God and please people. Anyway the man of God didn’t want to offend the prophet so instead of going back to God to check the story of the prophet he went in to eat and drink. After eating and drinking, on his way a lion met and kill him.
If you have problem saying no to people, you will end up offending God if care is not taking. If there is anyone you can’t say no to please God, friend you are in trouble because the devil may use that person to make you sin against God. The man of God decided to please the prophet instead of God because of his inability to say no. A woman of God once shared her story with us. She was invited to a function. As she normally does, she prayed about it and the Lord told her not to go. Because she could not say no to the host, she decided to go and spend only ten minutes. Immediately she stepped into the hall, she lost virtually all her spiritual gifts – gifts that she fasted and prayed for years for.
KEYWORD – If you have problems saying no, pleasing God will be impossible
