Hosea 6:2 ‘After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.’

DAILY READING – Acts 9:26-43; Joshua 5:2-6:27; Job 23

Aimee Semple Mcpherson, founder of the Foursquare Gospel Church, was one of the greatest female evangelists ever used by God. In 1908 at the age of 17, she married a Scottish evangelist, Robert Semple and followed him to China as a missionary. Sadly, he died soon after arriving in China, leaving Aimee pregnant and penniless. After the birth of her child, Aimee’s mother had to send her money to travel back to the U.S. With all that had happened to her, Aimee became disillusioned and for months afterwards her spiritual life declined.
Later, Aimee remarried and tried to live the life of a normal housewife, but she continued to hear the call of God. Though she knew God expected more from her, she tried hard to ignore the call. However, in 1913; at 23 years old, she became ill and was rushed to the hospital with appendicitis. While at the hospital, her condition continued to deteriorate until a hospital attendant came to move her into a room set apart for the dying. She struggled to breathe as she heard a nurse say, “She’s going.” But then also Aimee heard another voice, a Heavenly voice saying :”Now will you go?” She understood it to be God asking her to choose between going into eternity or going into ministry. At that point she yielded to fully serve God in the ministry. As soon as she made the choice, instantly, her pain was gone, her breathing eased, and she soon regained her strength.
And so began Aimee’s ministry. Within a decade, she became an American phenomenon. During the 1920s her name appeared on the front page of America’s leading newspapers three times a week. Today, historians consider her one of the most significant revivalists of the early twentieth century.
Hosea 6:2 says ‘After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.’
God is able to bring us up from any depth of spiritual decadence to manifest His glory through us. Though Aimee was at the point of both spiritual and physical death God revived her to manifest His glory.
This is why we should never write off ourselves. No matter the situation, God is still able to revive us and use us for His glory.
Our decision to serve God is a determinant of the level of His glory we can see. The truth is that sometimes the reason why things are not working could be because we are not working for God. Your experience in life is not about your circumstances, it is basically about your covenant positioning.
Kingdom service attracts the Blessings of God; it is when we serve God that He blesses our bread and water and takes away sicknesses from us. (Ex. 23:25)
Job 36:11 says -” If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures”.
We may not have a dramatic encounter before choosing to serve God as Aimee did, but the point remains that each of us have a divine call upon our lives. A servant of God is not necessarily someone in full time ministry but someone in full time obedience to God and His Word.
As this year begins we need to re-examine our hearts to see if we are truly living for God or living for self. To see God’s glory this year, we must purpose to pay the required price of spiritual responsibility. Indeed God will not be mocked, whatsoever a man sows that shall he reap.
When you genuinely love God, you want to spend and be spent for God. And you can’t give yourself wholly and not experience God fully. Indeed you can’t be truly sold out to God and not stand out on the earth.
This year, service to God must be our distinguishing identity because that will be the pathway to see God’s glory unleashed in our lives.
PRAYER
Father, I come before You today to receive the grace to serve You. Please help me to do what is spiritually required of me in order to see Your glory manifested fully in my life throughout this year in Jesus’ Name
Quote
It takes a heart for God to make a mark in the sands of time. – WORDBITE 201