Conquering Negative Traits

DAILY MANNA, SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 2018

CONQUERING NEGATIVE TRAITS

TEXT: JONAH 4:1-11

KEY VERSE: “And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death” (Jonah 4:9)

“I’ve had a few arguments with people,” comedian Buddy Hackett once confessed, “but I never carry a grudge. You know why? While you’re carrying a grudge, they’re out dancing.”

From the text, forty days had passed and God’s judgment did not fall upon the city of Nineveh as prophesied by Jonah because they repented. God still requires repentance or complete turning away from and forsaking all sins, asking for forgiveness and cleansing through Christ and receiving Him as Saviour from everyone today. The repentance of Nineveh should have cause joy for Jonah as a missionary. Strangely, he was greatly disappointed. He had made himself a shady booth from which he could enjoy the spectacle of its destruction, perhaps like Sodom and Gomorrah. Jonah should have got a knock but the Lord overlooked his negativity and provided a gourd to provide him a shed. When it suddenly withered, exposing him to the terrible heat of the sun, his anger was aggravated. But God had taught him lessons on forgiveness and compassion.

Jonah’s angry reaction to Nineveh’s repentance was ridiculous. God’s question to him should have served to call his attention to the utter sinfulness of his anger, which was a reflection of Israel’s pride and prejudice as a nation that made them assume that God owed them blessing and reserved judgment for their enemies. Inbred sins, like anger, jealously, malice, etc. can be cleansed by the blood of Jesus through earnest prayer of faith.

Saved and sanctified believers are filled with Christ-like love for all people. So, we must not shut the door of grace against those we label ‘unbelievers’ but go out with a positive attitude to preach the message of salvation by grace through faith to them. And God will save them.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: God is not selfish; His grace is for all: don’t hide or hoard His message of grace.
COVER TO COVER: JOB 10-13.

PONDER:

1. Jonah was the reluctant greatly anointed evangelist who converted a whole nation of 120,000 in a single outing. No evangelist in history had converted a whole nation in an outing.
2. Hidden in his heart was tribal hatred and anger until these unconquered dark traits became manifest when he could have been rewarded. With those traits, he was hell bound inspite of great success in ministry.
3. From our previous study, what is the eternal fate of people with hatred and anger in the heart.
4. Gift manifestations, talents, success in ministry is only a sign of faith and not necessarily a sign of heavenliness or holiness.
5. Jonah and Elijah wanted to commit suicide after great success. God, a great Psychologist, did not condemn them, but identified their main problem which was cool air and food respectively. A lesson for counsellors and pastors.

HYMN: Search me O God

1. Search me, O God, and know my heart today,
   Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray;
   See if there be some wicked way in me;
   Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.

2. I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin;
   Fulfill Thy word and make me pure within;
   Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame;
   Grant my desire to magnify Thy name.

3. Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine;
   Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine;
   Take all my will, my passion, self and pride;
   I now surrender, Lord, in me abide.

4. O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee;
   Send a revival, start the work in me;
   Thy Word declares Thou wilt supply our need;
   For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead.

PRAYER POINTS

1. Lord search my heart or create a crisis that will reveal the hidden evil traits in me before it put me into eternal embarrassment.
2. Lord, do a deeper work of cleansing in my heart until there is no hidden stain of adamic nature within.
3. Help me to ever be watchful not to fall into post success defeats.
4. Pray for the gifted ministers you know, that they will not fall into the danger of replacing holiness with success in ministry.