Open Heaven For Today 2024 Thursday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Waiting On The Lord
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TOPIC: Waiting On The Lord
MEMORISE: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
READ: Psalms 27:13-14 (KJV)
13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Ezekiel 47-48
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE
Everyone at one time or the other will be in a waiting season. Your waiting season is a period when you are waiting for something that you desire to come to you.
A secondary school student is usually waiting earnestly for when he or she will get into the university, the university student is waiting to graduate, the graduate is waiting to get a job, the single person is waiting to get married, the married person is waiting to have children, and parents are waiting for the different stages of their children’s life. The waiting goes on for different things at different times.
Waiting is inevitable for everyone, however, what you do while waiting is more important than what you are waiting for itself. When people lose their patience with God and decide to do things outside His will to stop their waiting season, they often regret it.
In 1 Samuel 13:8-14, Saul got tired of waiting for Samuel’s arrival to perform a sacrifice, so he decided to perform the sacrifice himself, which was against the will of God. That action resulted in him losing his throne.
In Genesis 16:1-3, Sarah got tired of waiting on God for a child, so she gave Hagar to Abraham as a wife. She regretted it after Hagar conceived (Genesis 16:4), and today, that action has resulted in great persecution for her descendants.
Finding alternatives to God in order to shorten a waiting season always ends in regrets. My wife and I were praying for a woman to conceive. At some point, she got tired of waiting on God and went to see a herbalist.
She got pregnant quite alright, but the pregnancy that should last for only nine months remained for years. The last time I heard about her, she still hadn’t given birth to the baby. Every alternative to God gives permission to the devil to oppress you.
The reason we have many internet fraudsters today is that many young people don’t want to go through the correct process of making money.
What they don’t know is that although they could get a lot of money quickly, what they will have to give in exchange for that money is their very soul.
Matthew 16:26 says that this is foolish because there is only loss in a fellow gaining the whole world and losing his or her soul in the process.
Don’t be foolish, wait on God, and He will surely come through for you.
Key Point
Every alternative to God gives permission to the devil to oppress a believer.
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 Wednesday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – True Prophecies
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TOPIC: True Prophecies
MEMORISE: Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! Ezekiel 13:3
READ: Ezekiel 13:1-6 (KJV)
1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord;
3 Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
5 Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.
6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE
True prophecies come from the mind of God. A prophet hears from God and relays the message to the people.
Whenever a prophecy is given based on feelings, that prophecy is false, and the Bible describes people who do this as fools (Ezekiel 13:3). A true prophecy is an echo of what God has said.
When I was younger in ministry, I recall prophesying that a particular airline will never suffer loss because I was excited over their services to the church. I prophesied based on my feelings without hearing what God had to say.
Not long after, the airline suffered a plane crash. I should have just prayed for them and blessed them for their benevolence, rather than giving a prophecy in my excitement.
I learnt my lesson from that – if God has not spoken, I do not prophesy. Beloved, don’t be too much in a hurry to say ‘God said’ when God didn’t say anything.
Don’t allow pride to push you to prophesy; prophesy only according to the will of God. Push pride aside so that you can hear God clearly.
Long before the Nigerian elections in 2023, people were agitated as to who will become the next president. They put pressure on me to tell them what the outcome of the elections will be.
Even with all that pressure, I made sure not to say anything I had not heard God say because I knew that it would be a lie.
I told them a few weeks before the election, “God has still not spoken. Until God speaks, I won’t say anything.”
You must become comfortable with keeping quiet when God is quiet. If you are truly His mouthpiece, when His mouth is shut, yours will be also.
Prophecy must also be in line with the word of God.
If a prophecy does not echo the word of God in the Scriptures, it is false. A man came to me and said, “I heard that you are a prophet, and anything you say comes to pass. Can you tell me my future?” I responded, “That is easy. Are you born again?” He said, “No”.
“Then, your future will be terrible,” I responded. He asked, “How do you know? You’ve not even asked for my name.” I told him, “Isaiah 3:11 says, ‘Woe unto the wicked.’” Anyone who has not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour is condemned already (John 3:17-18).
A true prophecy comes from God and always aligns with His word in the Scriptures.
Key Point
Any prophecy that does not echo God’s word is fake. Let it not come out of your mouth.
HYMN 28: Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
1 Guide me, O my great Redeemer,
pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but you are mighty;
hold me with your powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me now and evermore,
feed me now and evermore.
2 Open now the crystal fountain,
where the healing waters flow.
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through.
Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer,
ever be my strength and shield,
ever be my strength and shield.
3 When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxious fears subside.
Death of death, and hell’s Destruction,
land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs of praises, songs of praises
I will ever sing to you,
I will ever sing to you.
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.
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]
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