Skip to main content

ARISE TODAY!

THE DAILY FOUNTAIN DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE OF THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)

DATE: MONDAY, 9TH OCTOBER, 2023 

TOPIC: ARISE TODAY!

TEXT: JONAH 1:1-17

1. Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2. "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me."
3. But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
4. But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
5.  Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that [was] in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
6.  So the captain came to him, and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish."
7.  And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble [has come] upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8.  Then they said to him, "Please tell us! For whose cause [is] this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?"
9.  So he said to them, "I [am] a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry [land."]
10.  Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, "Why have you done this?" For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
11.  Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?" -- for the sea was growing more tempestuous.
12.  And he said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest [is] because of me."
13.  Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.
14.  Therefore they cried out to the LORD and said, "We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You."
15.  So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
16.  Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows.
17.  Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
 

MESSAGE: 
The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying: "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. "This is what every prophet is always waiting for, but the direction to go has been an issue in the Christian race - Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord! This was to Jonah a task from the Lord that he did not want to carry out so he set off to try and do the impossible by escaping from the presence of the Lord. God wanted him to go to Nineveh, 500 odd miles to North East of Palestine but instead of going East, Jonah set off on a 2000-miles journey down to Tarshish. Well, at the start of Jonah's attempted escape from God, everything seemed to be going well; he made it safely to Joppa, got the tickets, boarded a ship, and set off to the Spanish resort. To him, he had escaped the presence of the Lord by going where the Lord would not notice or think of looking for him.
The question now is: Have you ever tried to run from that which the Lord is asking of you? Have you been living in disobedience or a known rebellion and sin, thinking there are no consequences for your actions? Note that sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than what you want to pay!

PRAYER: 
Lord help me to remain obedient to Your calling and directions through Christ our Lord. Amen

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

CHURCH OF NIGERIA ELECTS NEW BISHOPS AND ONE ARCHBISHOP

The Episcopal synod of the church of Nigeria Anglican Communion has elected six new Bishops, and one Archbishop. The election which took place at the Basilica of Grace Apo, Gudu district in the Diocese of Abuja on Thursday October 29, 2009 has the following:- The Rt. Rev. Friday John Imaekhai Bishop, Diocese of Esan, Elected: - Archbishop of Bendel to replace The Primate elect, The Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh The very Rev. Ralph Ebirien of St Stephen’s Cathedral Bonny Elected: - Bishop of Niger Delta Diocese The Venerable Ezekiel Bolarinde Dahunsi of Church of Pentecost FESTAC Lagos Elected: - Bishop Diocese of Ido- Ani The Rev. Canon Justus Emeka Mogekwu of St. Paul’s Kakuri, Kaduna Elected:-Bishop Diocese of Asaba to replace Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh. The Venerable (Prof.) Dapo Folorunso Asaju of the chapel of Light, Lagos (LASU) Elected:-Bishop for Theological Education in the office of the Primate The Venerable James Olaoti Akinola of St. James Iludun Oro, Kwara S...

EXCERPTS FROM: 24/7 WARFARE PRAYERS AND SUPERNATURAL BREAKTHROUGH MANUAL

INTRODUCTION Right from childhood, the number “SEVEN” has always been an intrigue, an interesting puzzle, a fascination, and a great phenomenon to me. I was actually born on the seventh day of the month; perhaps this was one of the reasons why something leaps inside of me whenever I see the number. But as I grew up in the Christian faith I began to see a regular reference to it the scriptures. I was kind of saying, whoa! Holy bliss! Seven occurs 257 times, or 7 × 41 Seventh, the fractional part occurs 98 times or 7× 14 Seven –fold occurs 7 times. Seventy occurs 56 times or 7× 8 “Seventy” in combination with other numbers occurs 35 times or 7× 5. God is pleased to stamp the number “Seven” with the seal of perfection and completeness. God never down played the importance of the number, because it was the number of God. It is a carrier of God’s mysteries. It pleased God that, the Seventh man from Adam – Enoch sh...

FIVE NEW FULL FLEDGED ANGLICAN DIOCESES

Five new Dioceses have been created in the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion. The Church's official website - http://www.anglican-nig.org/main.php?k_j=12&d=352&p_t=index.php? posted the information thus: The Standing Committee Meeting of Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion has approved the creation of five new full fledged Dioceses at their meeting at the Cathedral Church of St. Stephen’s Umuahia, Abia State. They are Shendam Diocese carved out of Langtang Diocese, Plateau state, Ido-Ani Diocese from present Owo Diocese, in Ondo state, Igbomina West from Igbomina Diocese,Kwara state, Ilesha North East from Ilesha in Osun state and Ijebu South West from Ijebu Diocese in Ogun state. At the presentation, the head of the Committee responsible for creation of new Dioceses, the most Rev. Joseph Akinfenwa Archbishop Ibadan Province and Bishop of Ibadan who led a team of four assured the house that the stage is set and the New Dioceses have met all the requirements for creation...