Open heaven devotional, 3rd May, 2015, by Pastor E.A Adeboye

The topic: The Agony of a Backslider

You need to Memorise: Revelation 2:5.
"Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent".
Read the Bible : Judges 16:18-21 (KJV)
Verse18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath showed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.
Verse19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

Verse20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

Verse21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.
The Bible verses to read: l Samuel 1:1-2:36, Mark 2:13-28
THE WORD OF LIFE:
In today’s Bible reading, we see the agony of a backslider manifested in the loss of Samson’s eyes. To lose one’s physical, intellectual or spiritual vision is very agonising. Samson, a Nezarite of God from the womb. Broke the covenant of his calling first as an Israelite and then as a Nazarite. With reference to the inhabitants of the land of Canaan such as the Philistines,
Also Bible speaking in Deuteronomy 7:3 had thus commanded the children of Israel:
“Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.”
Contrary to this instruction, Samson went to seek the hand of a Philistine woman in marriage. When his parents tried to guide him back to the right path, The holy bible said in Judges 14:3 said:
"Get her for me; for she please me well.”
Also, concerning Nazarites such as Samson, God in Numbers 6:6 had thus commanded:

“All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body.”

But the devil ensnared Samson with honey in the carcass of a dead lion he had killed. In the process of collecting honey to eat, he ended up defiling himself (Judges 14:8-9 ).
Many children of God are, like Samson, erring in the choice of a marriage partner. Some have been destroyed by their appetite, because they could not resist the devil when he asked them to turn stone to bread by sleeping with a personnel manger to secure a job. To such people, the end justifies the means, but the question is: can this temporary “respite” be worth the agony of backsliding? One lesson we must quickly learn is that, the moment a Christians begins to slide backward into his or her old way of life or into things that God frowns at, he or she loses the power of spiritual vision. Such a fellow beings to wallow in darkness of untold agony. After the last straw that broke the back of Samson’s spiritual camel was engaged,The word of God in Judges 16:20
says:

“…. And awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.”

Alas, the process of Samson’s downfall was complete and his eyes were put out. The worst thing that happened to Samson was that he died with his enemies; hence, he could not be considered a victor. My prayer for you is that you will not backslide in Jesus’ Name.
Action Point:
Search your life to see if there are ways you have been backsliding unnoticed. Make amends and ask God to restore you back to your first love for Him.
God bless you, for reading. Amen!