Open Heaven For Today 2024 Friday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Romance Is Not Un-Godly
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TOPIC: Romance Is Not Un-Godly
MEMORISE: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. Song of Solomon 1:2
READ: Song of Solomon 2:1-4 (KJV)
1 I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Jonah 1-4
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE
The fact that you are a Christian does not in any way take romance out of your marriage. Marriage is the only institution where romance and intimacy is allowed between a man and a woman. Some pastors hardly go on dates with their spouses because they consider such a romantic activity as a distraction from their focus on spiritual matters.
Some of them don’t even play with their spouses anymore. Beloved, the anointing does not reduce the need for romance in marriage.
Isaac was an anointed man of God and a successful businessman, yet in Genesis 26:8, the Bible says he was being romantic with his wife:
And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.
Don’t become too rigid in your marriage; don’t have more fun elsewhere without your spouse.
Make the times that you and your spouse spend together so much fun that you are always looking forward to seeing each other again. If you are married, remember how you used to talk for long hours with your spouse before you got married and had children; revive that relationship again.
Your spouse is still the same fellow you were very fond of, and the things you loved in him or her are still there. Don’t let all the cares of this life distract you from the gems in your spouse.
Once in a while, compose a poem for your spouse and read it to him or her in a romantic setting.
Spice things up with pleasant surprises every now and then. Write a note and put it in his or her bag so that when they get to the office and open their bag, they will see the note and smile. Have a pet name that you call each other behind closed doors.
Up until today, there is a pet name my wife calls me when we are alone. I equally have a pet name that I call her, and every time I call her by that name, she cannot but smile at me lovingly.
When we are alone, we are lovers, not Daddy G.O and Mummy G.O.
Your marriage can be like heaven on earth if you and your spouse are deliberate about remaining the lovebirds that you were when you first got married. Don’t let the romance die.
Key Point
One of the ways to ensure that your marriage remains like heaven on earth is to keep the romance alive.
HYMN 6: Am So Glad That Our Father In Heav'n
1 I am so glad that our Father in heaven
Tell of His love in the book He has given;
Wonderful things in the Bible I see;
This is the dearest, that Jesus loves me.
Refrain:
I am so glad that Jesus loves me,
Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me,
I am so glad that Jesus loves me,
Jesus loves even me.
2 Jesus loves me and I know I love Him;
Love brought Him down my lost soul to redeem;
Yes, it was love made Him die on the tree:
Oh, I am certain that Jesus love me.
3 In this assurance I find sweetest rest,
Trusting in Jesus I know I am blessed;
Satan, dismayed from my soul doth now flee,
When I just tell him that Jesus loves me.
4 Oh, if there’s only one song I can sing,
When in His beauty I see the great King,
This shall my song in eternity be,
“Oh, what a wonder that Jesus loves me!”
5 If one should ask of me, how can I tell?
Glory to Jesus, I know very well!
God’s Holy Spirit with mine doth agree,
Constantly witnessing Jesus loves me.
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.
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.
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