OPEN HEAVEN [26 APRIL 2019] NOT HOW BIG!

Open Heaven 26 April 2019: [Friday] Daily Devotional By Pastor E.A Adeboye – Not How Big!

NOT HOW BIG! – Friday April 26^th 2019

Memorise: And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. Mark 9:24

Read: Luke 17:5-6 (KJV)

⁵ And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

⁶ And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

Bible in one year: Genesis 32-33, Jeremiah 25:17-33, Hymn: Sing hymn 7

Message:-

Faith is a spiritual word that is a bit complicated to define. However, Hebrews 11:1 provides the best explanation on the subject of faith by defining it as the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.

OPEN HEAVEN [26 APRIL 2019] NOT HOW BIG!

Faith gives a Christian the assurance of things which do not exist, and provides the conviction that what we hope for will happen, not because we have all it takes to make it happen but because God said it will happen. Practically speaking, faith involves taking God at His word and acting according to it, despite the hopelessness of the situation and irrespective of what the odds look like. As children of God, we generally find it easier to apply faith when dealing with simple matters of daily life like sleeping and waking up, but find it difficult to apply the same faith when confronted with difficult life-threatening issues like sickness and death. This should not be so.

In Luke 17:5, the apostles pleaded with Jesus to increase their faith. To better understand how faith works, let us closely examine Jesus’ response to their request. Luke 17:6 says:

“And the Lord said, if ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.”

Open Heaven 26 April 2019: [Friday] Daily Devotional By Pastor E.A Adeboye – Not How Big! 

From the apostles’ request, they obviously thought that they needed much bigger faith to accomplish spiritual tasks. Unfortunately, this is the same mindset a lot of Christians have today. Jesus’ response reveals that the size of faith does not really matter. The smallest faith is enough to accomplish the biggest spiritual assignment, once the required conditions are fulfilled. By the grace of God, I have had my own fair share of dealing practically with the issue of faith, and God has always honoured my faith irrespective of its size.

One area of the new covenant that requires faith is connecting with the power of divine life embedded in Christ’s flesh and blood. Anyone who partakes in the Holy Communion by faith is bound to receive whatever miracle he or she desires. The Holy Communion is the most powerful meal imaginable, but faith is required to activate its hidden power. 

Open Heavens 26 April 2019: Friday Action Point

This divine meal has brought about abundant testimonies of great miracles, such as healing from incurable and life threatening diseases, deliverance from deadly vices and demonic powers, incredible financial breakthroughs, miraculous restoration of broken homes and relationships, and much more. The next time you partake of this miracle meal, apply faith to it, and I assure you that you will experience divine healing and deliverance through its power.

Action Point

Apply Jude 1:20 to build up your faith by praying more in the Spirit in your closet.

Open Heavens Daily Devotional Lessons was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical Churches in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer's Ministries.

 Bible in one year: Genesis 32-33

32 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

² And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

³ And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

⁴ And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:

⁵ And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;

⁸ And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.

⁹ And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:

¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

¹¹ Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.

¹² And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

¹³ And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;

¹⁴ Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,

¹⁵ Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.

¹⁶ And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.

¹⁷ And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?

¹⁸ Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.

¹⁹ And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.

²⁰ And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.

²¹ So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.

²² And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.

²³ And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.

²⁴ And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

²⁵ And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

²⁶ And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

²⁷ And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

²⁸ And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

²⁹ And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

³⁰ And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

³¹ And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

³² Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

33 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.

² And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.

³ And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴ And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

⁵ And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.

⁶ Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.

⁷ And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

⁸ And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.

⁹ And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.

¹⁰ And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.

¹¹ Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.

¹² And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.

¹³ And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.

¹⁴ Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.

¹⁵ And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.

¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.

¹⁷ And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

¹⁸ And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city.

¹⁹ And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money.

²⁰ And he erected there an altar, and called it EleloheIsrael.

Jeremiah 25:17-33

¹⁷ Then took I the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the Lord had sent me:

¹⁸ To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;

¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;

²⁰ And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,

²¹ Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,

²² And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,

²³ Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,

²⁴ And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,

²⁵ And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,

²⁶ And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

²⁷ Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.

²⁸ And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

²⁹ For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts.

³⁰ Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹ A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.

³² Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

³³ And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.