Open Heaven For Today 2024 – Open Heavens 10 April

Open Heaven For Today 2024 Tuesday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – The Challenges of Being Anointed 1

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TOPIC: The Challenges of Being Anointed 1

MEMORISE: "And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them". 2 Kings 2:24

READ: Numbers 20:1-13(KJV)

1 Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.

2 And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.

3 And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!

4 And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?

5 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.

6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them.

7 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

9 And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

12 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

13 This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Kings 6-7

Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE

Do you want to be heavily anointed? The one who generates the anointing has more than enough for everybody.

Psalms 23:5 says, 

“Thou anointed my head with oil, my cup runneth over.”

He has more than enough for everybody, but are you willing to pay the price?

Are you willing to go through the challenges that come with being anointed?

Hebrews 1:9 says that if you love righteousness and hate iniquity, God will anoint you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

Yesterday, I mentioned some benefits of being anointed, but it is also important to note that the anointing also comes with some challenges.

The major challenge with being anointed is that power can corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The more anointed you are, the more careful you must be because of the tendency to misuse the power.

In Numbers 20:1-13, especially verse 10, Moses said to the people, 

“Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?”

Only a few minutes before then, he was on his face before God, asking for a solution to the problem.

The moment God told him what to do, he turned to the people who had been provoking him, called them rebels, and spoke as if the power to bring water out of the rock was from him and not from God. In verse 12, God said that because he did not sanctify Him in the eyes of the people, he will not enter the promised land.

I have always told pastors in The Redeemed Christian Church of God that no one must ever feel as if he healed anybody.

Left alone, you cannot even heal a rat! It is God who heals, and you are only a vessel through which the healing takes place.

You must always see that as a privilege. Since the power to perform miracles is not yours, God can use anyone else to do it.

A man of God once said that if you remove God from him, there will be little left.

I was surprised because, in my own case, if you remove God from me, there will be absolutely nothing left.

Beloved, never forget that without God, you are nothing. Anyone who thinks that he or she can be something without God is clearly on a path to destruction.

No matter how anointed you are, never allow yourself to think that you are all-powerful. Ensure that you remain humble.

Key Point

Never forget that it is God who works miracles, not you.

HYMN 1: All Hail The Power Of Jesus’ Name

1 All hail the power of Jesus’ name!

Let angels prostrate fall.

Bring forth the royal diadem,

and crown him Lord of all.

Bring forth the royal diadem,

and crown him Lord of all!

2 Let highborn seraphs tune the lyre,

and as they tune it, fall

Before His face Who tunes their choir,

and crown Him Lord of all.

Before His face Who tunes their choir,

and crown Him Lord of all.

3 Crown Him, ye morning stars of light,

Who fixed this floating ball;

Now hail the strength of Israel’s might,

and crown Him Lord of all.

Now hail the strength of Israel’s might,

and crown Him Lord of all.

4 Crown Him, ye martyrs of your God,

Who from His altar call;

Extol the stem of Jesse’s Rod,

and crown Him Lord of all.

Extol the stem of Jesse’s Rod,

and crown Him Lord of all.

5 Ye seed of Israel’s chosen race,

ye ransomed from the fall,

Hail Him who saves you by his grace,

and crown Him Lord of all.

Hail Him who saves you by his grace,

and crown Him Lord of all!

6 Hail Him, ye heirs of David’s line,

Whom David Lord did call,

The God incarnate, Man divine,

and crown Him Lord of all.

The God incarnate, Man divine,

and crown Him Lord of all.

7 Sinners, whose love can ne’er forget

the wormwood and the gall,

Go spread your trophies at His feet,

and crown Him Lord of all.

Go spread your trophies at His feet,

and crown Him Lord of all.

8 Let every tribe and every tongue

before Him prostrate fall,

And shout in universal song,

and crown him Lord of all.

And shout in universal song,

and crown him Lord of all.

Open Heaven For Today 2024 Tuesday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Benefits Of The Anointed

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TOPIC: Benefits Of The Anointed

MEMORISE: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised," Luke 4:18

READ: 2 Kings 2:15-22 (KJV)

15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

16 And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send.

17 And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not.

18 And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?

19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.

20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.

21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.

22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Kings 3-5

Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE

The anointing makes you a blessing to all kinds of people. In 2 Kings 4:1-7, Elisha was a blessing to a poor widow.

You can put an end to someone’s poverty because you are anointed. Also, you can become a blessing, even to the rich and powerful.

You can sit in your room and tell a rich fellow, “Go and wash,” as Elisha told Naaman, and if the fellow obeys, he will be healed.

It is important to note, however, that if an anointed person blesses others solely for monetary gains, the problem of the rich will become the fellow’s problem as Naaman’s leprosy came upon Gehazi (2 Kings 5:20-27).

The anointing gives you the power to put smiles on the faces of people who would otherwise have been sorrowful.

When I turned 80, I insisted that I wasn’t throwing a party. However, some General Overseers gathered in my office after the Holy Ghost Service that day.

When they were asked to share testimonies, one of them, a medical doctor who is now a General Overseer, said two of his daughters became terribly sick.

One was already gasping for breath when all of a sudden, he thought, “I have prayed, and nothing has happened, at least I know someone whose anointing is more than mine,” so he called me that night.

When he told me what was happening, God asked me to tell him to do some things.

When he started doing what l asked him to do, the other doctors that were with him started wondering what he was doing.

He told them this wasn’t medicine, but an instruction that came from Redemption Camp.

The children survived miraculously, and today, one of them is a doctor, and I think the other is an engineer.

If you want to be able to turn sorrow away from families, pursue God’s anointing.

The anointing also gives you divine security. Our God is like a coin that has two sides, He is Love (1 John 4:8), and He is also a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).

When He says touch not my anointed, He is saying, “Don’t touch fire.”

In Africa, we have a saying that even when a dog is mad, it still recognises fire. No matter how crazy a man may be, he will never walk into a fire.

When you are anointed, you become too dangerous for the devil to touch.

Key Point

Seek the anointing of God.

HYMN 2: Amazing Grace

1 Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch; like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

2 Through many dangers, toils, and snares

I have already come

This grace that brought me safe thus far

And grace will lead me home

3 The Lord hath promised good to me,

His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be

As long as life endures.

4 Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

and mortal life shall cease:

I shall possess, within the veil,

a life of joy and peace.

5 The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,

the sun forbear to shine;

but God, who called me here below,

will be forever mine.

6 When we’ve been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

Than when we first begun.

Open Heaven For Today 2024 Monday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Judging The Anointed?

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TOPIC: Judging The Anointed?

MEMORISE: "Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand". Romans 14:4

READ: Numbers 12:1-16 (KJV)

1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

2 And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.

3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

4 And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out.

5 And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.

6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.

8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed.

10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

11 And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.

12 Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb.

13 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.

14 And the Lord said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again.

15 And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.

16 And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Kings 1-2

Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE

Yesterday I made it clear that the anointed is not to dishonored for any reason.

Now, the question someone may have in mind is, “What do we do with ministers of God who we believe to be erring?”

This is a very delicate situation that requires God’s wisdom and direction.

For example, in our Bible reading today, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of something they believed he did wrong.

At the end of the day, Miriam became leprous, and Moses had to pray to God for her to be healed.

It is not in your place to judge God’s servants; leave their judgments to their Master.

In Romans 12:19, the Bible says clearly that vengeance is His, just report the matter to God, and He will deal with His anointed as He pleases.

Anointed ministers of God cannot hide under the canopy of being God’s anointed and begin to treat His sheep the way they like.

Hebrews 10:31 says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; believe me, a fellow should not experience God dealing with him or her Himself.

The reason we discipline erring workers is to shield them from God doing it Himself.

When a pastor misbehaves, and the General Overseer suspends him, it is so that the Consuming Fire Himself will not be the one to do it.

So, if a pastor overlooks a fellow’s wrongdoings because of his or her contributions to the church treasury, that pastor is doing more harm than good because God Himself will come in, and nobody wants to fall into the hands of the living God.

In 2 Samuel 11, David used his position to snatch another man’s wife and also got him killed.

Nobody could punish him as there was no one who was superior to the king. God had to step in to punish him.

From that point on, there was no peace in David’s home. Not long after, one of his sons, Amnon, raped his half-sister, and then another son, Absalom, killed him.

Later, Absalom rose up against his father. To date, the sword has not departed from Israel on account of the Lord’s judgement over David (2 Samuel 12:9-10).

When a person is anointed by God and uses that anointing to cheat others, when God punishes that fellow, the punishment might last throughout his or her lineage from generation to generation.

Key Point

No matter how anointed you are, never dishonor another anointed fellow.

HYMN 31: Yield Not to Temptation 

1 Yield not to temptation,

For yielding is sin;

Each vict’ry will help you,

Some other to win;

Fight valiantly onward,

Evil passions subdue;

Look ever to Jesus,

He will carry you through.

Refrain:

Ask the Savior to help you,

Comfort, strengthen and keep you;

He is willing to aid you,

He will carry you through.

2 Shun evil companions,

Bad language disdain;

God’s name hold in rev’rence,

Nor take it in vain;

Be thoughtful and earnest,

Kindhearted and true;

Look ever to Jesus,

He will carry you through. [Refrain]

3 To him that o’ercometh,

God giveth a crown;

Through faith we will conquer,

Though often cast down;

He who is our Savior,

Our strength will renew;

Look ever to Jesus,

He will carry you through. [Refrain]

Open Heaven For Today 2024 Sunday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – The Anointed VS The Anointed

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TOPIC: The Anointed VS The Anointed

MEMORISE: "And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord". 1 Samuel 24:6

READ: 1 Samuel 24:1-6(KJV)

24 And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.

2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.

3 And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.

4 And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily.

5 And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.

6 And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Samuel 23-24

Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE

Yesterday I talked about how dangerous the anointing can be when it is not properly handled.

However, many anointed people believe that the caution to be careful with the anointing does not apply to them. This is not true.

The fact that you are anointed does not give you permission to cause another anointed man of God harm.

This is one of the major killers of some ministers of God; they speak evil of their colleagues, and when the repercussions come, they go to God complaining and wondering why things are not going well with them.

In 1 Samuel 24:1-6, a rare opportunity presented itself for David to kill King Saul, who had been seeking ways to kill him.

David’s followers were happy about the opportunity, but David refused to kill him.

However, so that Saul would know that he came close enough to kill him, he cut off a small part of his clothes.

The Bible says his heart smote him, meaning that he was uncomfortable with what he did.

Even though God had forsaken Saul, David still acknowledged that he could not lift his hand against him because he was anointed.

I remember when I was ordained a pastor and got anointed, for three days after they poured the oil on my head, I didn’t take my bath because I treasure the anointing.

It took me a while to realise that no amount of soap can wash away the anointing.

Once a person has been anointed, the fellow remains anointed even when he or she backslides.

Even in that backslidden state, you must be careful of how you treat the person because of the anointing.

I have never said anything negative about pastors who have left The Redeemed Christian Church of God dis-honourably.

The reason is that the oil is still on their head, and I don’t want any trouble with God.

The only exception is when God Himself authorizes the action.

For example, God may use the vessel that He used to anoint a man of God to deal with the same man of God.

In this case, the vessel is acting as a representative of God.

In 1 Samuel 15:27-29, Samuel refused to worship with Saul, and because Saul didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of his cabinet, he pulled Samuel back and tore his clothes.

Samuel turned around and said, “Your kingdom is torn from you.”

He made it clear that the reason he was making that decree was that the Lord who sent him to anoint Saul was pronouncing judgement on him.

Key Point

No matter how anointed you are, never dishonor another anointed fellow.

HYMN 5: Blessed Assurance

1 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

Refrain:

This is my story, this is my song,

praising my Savior all the day long.

This is my story, this is my song,

praising my Savior all the day long.

2 Perfect communion, perfect delight,

visions of rapture now burst on my sight.

Angels descending bring from above

echoes of mercy, whispers of love. [Refrain]

3 Perfect submission, all is at rest.

I in my Savior am happy and bless’d,

watching and waiting, looking above,

filled with his goodness, lost in his love. [Refrain]