THURSDAY 17TH MAY, 2018 MORNING PRAYER DEVOTION
SCRIPTURE READING:- JOHN 8:1-11
TOPIC:– DON’T BE MONITORING ACCUSER
TEXT:- JOHN 8:10
Accuser means, “to be against someone in the assembly” or “to put down someone in the assembly.” It also means, “to hurt or injure other people by throwing or hurling words at them.
This word is also translated, “Backbiters, Slanderers”. Originally the word “Slanderer” meant, “to put down, or to speak badly about, someone in the assembly.
This word is also translated, “Backbiters, Slanderers”. Originally the word “Slanderer” meant, “to put down, or to speak badly about, someone in the assembly.
An accusers is one speaking wrongly about others. Greek word, rendered “accuser,” as found in John 8:10, in which it is used of one who brings a charge against the brethren, [Devil’s agent]. He is seeking to uphold his influence among men by bringing false charges against Christians, with the view of weakening their influence and injuring the cause with which they are identified. See Revelation 12:10; Job 1:6 ; Zechariah 3:1.
Accusations in the assembly, whether from individuals or from the assembly itself, are the work of Satan by which he can use the lips of thoughtless and unspiritual Christians.
Obedience to the teachings of Jesus will avoid criticism and accusation. Jesus teaches us to sort out disagreements privately – “between thee and him alone”- Matthew 18:15.
Obedience to the teachings of Jesus will avoid criticism and accusation. Jesus teaches us to sort out disagreements privately – “between thee and him alone”- Matthew 18:15.
We also have to forgive each other, if necessary 490 times, Matthew 18:22. We have to do this to keep Satan’s accusing influences from the assembly.
What We Can Learn From The Woman Caught In Adultery:
What We Can Learn From The Woman Caught In Adultery:
1. This story opens with the scribes and Pharisees leveling a test at Jesus’ feet. Jesus sat in the women’s court of the temple, teaching the people. Seeking to entrap Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees burst into the women’s court and threw a married [or betrothed] woman before Him. They “caught” her in the act of adultery and seized her.
2. Consider the specific test they were putting forth: “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now the Law of Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” And now we press the question that is so rarely asked whenever this story is read.
3. Who Is This Woman? She’s you. And she’s us. We have all been “caught” in our sins. By the same token James said that if you break one commandment, you’ve broken them all, James 2:10.
4. That places all of us, men and women alike, on the same moral level. We have all sinned. If every Christian would have eyes to see this truth, we would humbly eliminate all self-righteousness from our hearts.
5. In short, we are all made of clay; we all have the propensity to sin. With one devastating statement Jesus demonstrated that the Law wasn’t wrong, but if everyone saw the Law for what it was, we would understand that we are all guilty.
6. Including the self-anointed, puritanical, moral guardians known as the scribes and Pharisees and those who follow in their footsteps.
7. It’s interesting that John 8 opens with a group of men wanting to stone a woman, and it ends with a group of men wanting to stone Jesus.
8. When people’s hypocrisy is exposed, the typical instinct is to kill the person who did the exposing. And that’s exactly what Jesus did in this scene.
9. Self-righteous men exposed an adulterous woman. A merciful prophet exposed the hypocrisy of religious leaders. It’s hypocritical for sinners to want to harm other sinners because of sin.
10. According to Jesus, only the guiltless could rightfully carry out such a righteous sentence of justice. Unfortunately, this same judgmental attitude lives in the hearts of many self-righteous Christians today. These are those who clearly see the evil in others while being blind to the evil residing in their own hearts. In the mind of God, righteousness and justice are grounded in grace.
11. Whenever grace is removed, we are left with the heartless hypocrisy of Pharisism. In this story, Jesus Christ didn’t overturn the Law. Instead, He re-established righteousness on the basis of grace. He essentially said to the woman, “Don’t sin like this again.” Not because she might be stoned. But because grace had rescued her and she now possessed a new identity as a beautifully loved child of God.
12. Jesus is the Prophet who is greater than Moses. While the Law demanded execution, Jesus re-established righteousness on the basis of grace. Don’t misunderstand. Sin is heinous. Whether it takes the form of adultery, or slander, or abusive words in a fit of rage, or jealousy, or gossip, or lying [pick your sin], God doesn’t ignore it because sin harms the people He created.
Prayer Points:-
1. O Lord, silence all backbiters and slanderer and accusers of my life, in the name of Jesus Christ.
2. O Lord, to the extent that they have destroyed my image, repair my image now by fire, in the name of Jesus Christ.
3. Anywhere people are destroying me at the back that I am opportune to be, Holy Ghost, fight for me there, in the name of Jesus Christ.
1. O Lord, silence all backbiters and slanderer and accusers of my life, in the name of Jesus Christ.
2. O Lord, to the extent that they have destroyed my image, repair my image now by fire, in the name of Jesus Christ.
3. Anywhere people are destroying me at the back that I am opportune to be, Holy Ghost, fight for me there, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Have A Fulfilling Thursday!
