Open Heaven For Today 2024 Tuesday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Frail In God's Hands
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TOPIC: Frail In God's Hands
MEMORISE: "My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of my eyes, It also is gone from me". Psalm 38:10
READ: Psalm 39:4-7 (KJV)
4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Amos 1-4
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE
In today's Bible reading text, David asked God to make him know how frail he really was. This was a man who witnessed how his highly-exalted king, King Saul, suddenly started acting like a mad man on several occasions and needed music from the harp to calm him down (1 Samuel 16:23).
This was a man who used an ordinary stone to bring down a giant that had terrorized his country for 40 days and nights (1 Samuel 17). As humans, we have the tendency to believe that we are strong and that we are in control, whereas, God is the One that upholds us (Isaiah 41:8-10).
In Daniel 4:30, Nebuchadnezzar was boasting of his really great achievements, but within that same hour, he was on all four, eating grass with the beasts of the field (Daniel 4:31-33). He was indeed a great king, but God humbled him in an instant. No matter how great and powerful a fellow is, God can humble him or her in the twinkling of an eye.
King Herod thought that he was powerful and could capture and kill whoever he wanted to (Mark 6:16-17), but right in front of his people , he was eaten up by ordinary maggots (Arts 12:23). When God wants to show that He is in control, He can use ants to bring down an elephant.
This is why you will always see me being humble. kneeling to worship God in public, and surrendering my all to Him. I know what I am doing because I know that without Him, I am nothing. I know that no matter how powerful people think I am, God can break me like a toothpick if I offend Him.
Beloved, always live conscious of your family in God's hands don't ever think you are in control. Keep it at the back of your mind at all times that God is in control. The producers of a popular television show in Nigeria would always say that we are nothing but pencils in the hand of the Creator.
If you think you are better than everyone else, know that you are just a pencil in God's hands, and He can do with you as He pleases. Like David, ask God to always remind you of how frail you are in His hands.
Prayer Point
Father, please let me never forget how weak and helpless I am in your hands.
HYMN 23: Take My Life And Let It Be
1 Take my life and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in endless praise,
let them flow in endless praise.
2 Take my hands and let them move
at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee,
swift and beautiful for thee.
3 Take my voice and let me sing
always, only, for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
filled with messages from thee,
filled with messages from thee.
4 Take my silver and my gold;
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
every power as thou shalt choose,
every power as thou shalt choose.
5 Take my will and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne,
it shall be thy royal throne.
6 Take my love; my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee,
ever, only, all for thee.
Open Heaven For Today 2024 Monday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Don't Try To Outrun God
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TOPIC: Don't Try To Outrun God
MEMORISE: "A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent". Proverbs 28:20
READ: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11(KJV)
1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE
God makes everything beautiful in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). The pursuit of the vanities of this world has robbed many people of far greater and better blessings from God.
It is not bad to want to achieve something great or pursue a good cause, but if you try to outrun God, you may never achieve that goal, and worse still, you may pay for it with something very precious to you. God knows your desires; in fact, it is likely that He is the one who put them there.
He knows the best times and the best ways for those desires to be accomplished, so, don’t try to act smarter than the One who made your brain.
Years ago, I was duped by a man who promised to make me a commandant of a paramilitary group. This man had been sending messages to me through my secretary for a while, and so, one day, I gave him audience.
He explained to me how a Boy-Scouts-like group had evolved into this new agency, and that he was sourcing for who would lead the group spiritually.
Normally, I ask God before getting involved in anything at all, but this time, my love for the military in my younger days beclouded my best instincts, and l agreed to be their head. He told me that they needed some funding, which I gave as the prospective head.
However, I later found out that the man was a fake. My desire to be part of a paramilitary group made me run ahead of God, but God had already purposed for Redemption City to have its own corps of chaplains as well as a local Police post.
He knew the desire of my heart, and He had planned for it to be fulfilled in His own time. I thought that I could bring my desire to fulfilment at my own time, but I was wrong.
What I lost in that experience was money, but for someone else, it might have been their life or a loved one.
The Bible makes it clear that God delights in our well-being and prosperity (Psalms 35:27-3 John 1:2). Therefore, it is not wrong to desire wealth.
He will definitely make you prosper, but in His own time. Beloved, follow God’s timing; don’t try to outrun Him.
Key Point
Don’t try to outrun God so that you will not lose far more than what you set out to gain.
HYMN 21: Standing On The Promises Of Christ My King
1 Standing on the promises of Christ, my King,
Through eternal ages let his praises ring;
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
Refrain:
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God, my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.
2 Standing on the promises that cannot fail.
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God. [Refrain]
3 Standing on the promises of Christ, the Lord,
Bound to him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God. [Refrain]
4 Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
List’ning ev’ry moment to the Spirit’s call,
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God. [Refrain]
Open Heaven For Today 2024 Sunday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Commit It To God
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TOPIC: Commit It To God
MEMORISE: "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established". Proverbs 16:3
READ: Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV)
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE
There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that is committed to God that does not turn out well. This is why you must commit things into God’s hands and let Him take the lead in everything that you do.
Ask Him for counsel before you make any move, and everything will go well.
My Father in the Lord, Pa Josiah Akindayomi, exemplified committing things into God’s hands.
He placed the church in God’s hands right from its outset. He did not just commit the church into God’s hands in prayers, he also did so in actions.
He did exactly everything that God asked Him to do as regards the church, and in turn, God fulfilled His promises concerning the church.
Many people think that The Redeemed Christian Church of God is what it is today because of me; that is not true.
God already decided the destiny of the church long before I became born again. If I had refused to obey Him, He would have gotten someone else to become the General Overseer.
Whatever is committed into God’s hands can never go wrong.
If you really want to be successful, place all your plans in the hands of God. Proverbs 3:5 says:
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Don’t depend on your degrees, skills, connections, or money; depend on God alone. Trust Him with all your heart, do everything according to His word, obey all His instructions, and you will see Him do great things for you.
Make it clear to God that He is the owner of your career, business, ministry, and every other aspect of your life, and He will make sure that you have all-round success.
You must note, however, that when you commit something to God, you are agreeing to Him becoming your senior partner. This means that when He gives you instructions, you must obey.
Some of these instructions may not make sense to you, and some may be very difficult for you to do, but if you don’t take the control back from Him, and if you submit to His leadership, you will enjoy greater success than you could ever have had all by yourself.
Prayer Point
Father, please take complete charge of all that concerns me from today, in Jesus’ name.
HYMN 30: When We Walk With The Lord
1 When we walk with the Lord
in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
2 Not a burden we bear,
not a sorrow we share,
but our toil he doth richly repay;
not a grief or a loss,
not a frown or a cross,
but is blest if we trust and obey. [Refrain]
3 But we never can prove
the delights of his love
until all on the altar we lay;
for the favor he shows,
for the joy he bestows,
are for them who will trust and obey. [Refrain]
4 Then in fellowship sweet
we will sit at his feet,
or we’ll walk by his side in the way;
what he says we will do,
where he sends we will go;
never fear, only trust and obey. [Refrain]
Open Heaven For Today 2024 Saturday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Vessels Unto Dishonour
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TOPIC: Vessels Unto Dishonour
MEMORISE: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise". Psalms 51:17
READ: 1 Samuel 15:1-28 (KJV)
1 Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord.
2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
4 And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
6 And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.
8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
10 Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying,
11 It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night.
12 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.
14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
16 Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lordhath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
17 And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?
18 And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?
20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.
22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.
26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
28 And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Hosea 5-9
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE
Amongst the people you find in church, some are unto honour while others are unto dishonour, as we see in 2 Timothy 2:20: But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
God, however, is not the One who makes some vessels unto honour and others unto dishonour.
Rather, people, based on their behaviour toward God and His instructions, choose for themselves if they will be unto honour or unto dishonour.
There are many people who say that since God is merciful, and His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), they can commit sin multiple times and ask Him for mercy multiple times.
Therefore, they commit sin purposely, trusting that when they ask for mercy, God will have mercy. Some even say things like, “God, forgive me for what I am about to say.”
They know it is a sin, but they ask for forgiveness and go ahead to say it. People like this are trying to make a fool out of the Most High God and will become vessels unto dishonour if they do not repent.
The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Even if a Christian gives a big sacrifice or worships God deeply, if his or her heart is still in a sinful state, the wages of sin remain death.
In today’s Bible reading, God told Saul to kill all the Amalekites, but he decided to play on God’s intelligence by saying that it was the people who brought the king of Amalek and the choice animals back with them to Israel.
We see the result of the disobedience in 1 Samuel 15:28: And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.
Saul begged Samuel to let him worship God, but it was not out of true repentance. He only did that because he did not want to be embarrassed in the presence of his followers.
In the next chapter, you will see that as much as Samuel pleaded on his behalf, God still asked him to anoint a new king as his replacement. God later sent an evil spirit to torment Saul, as he had become a vessel unto dishonour.
Beloved, be careful. Don’t toy with sin, and don’t try to play on God’s intelligence so that you don’t end up like Saul.
Reflection
Do you still indulge in the things that God has been warning you about? Beware, so that you don’t become a vessel unto dishonour.
HYMN 20: Stand Up! Stand Up For Jesus
1 Stand up, stand up for Jesus
ye soldiers of the cross;
lift high his royal banner,
it must not suffer loss.
From vict’ry unto vict’ry
his army he shall lead
till ev’ry foe is vanquished
and Christ is Lord indeed.
2 Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
the trumpet call obey;
forth to the mighty conflict
in this his glorious day.
Ye that are men now serve him
against unnumbered foes;
let courage rise with danger
and strength to strength oppose.
3 Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
stand in his strength alone;
the arm of flesh will fail you,
ye dare not trust your own.
Put on the gospel armor,
each piece put on with prayer;
where duty calls or danger,
be never wanting there.
4 Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
the strife will not be long;
this day the noise of battle,
the next, the victor’s song.
To him that overcometh
a crown of life shall be;
he with the King of glory
shall reign eternally.
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