Open Heaven For Today 2024 Saturday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Submission Vs Cooperation
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TOPIC: Submission Vs Cooperation
MEMORISE: For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: 1 Peter 3:5
READ: Ephesians 5:22-33 (KJV)
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Micah 1-4
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE
Marriage is a beautiful gift from God; it is designed to bring joy and fulfilment to both partners. Like every other gift from God, it comes with a manual – the word of God.
In today’s Bible reading, there is a detailed description of how a husband and wife should relate with each other. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church, while wives are to submit to their husbands.
Many women don’t understand what submission really means. They say they are submissive, whereas they are only cooperative. Cooperation is agreeing with your husband because you want the same things.
Submission, however, is complying with his wish even when you don’t agree. Many women find it difficult to submit to their husbands because the society talks about gender equality.
However, this is not what the Bible says about marriage.
Submission does not mean slavery or servitude, rather, it is a voluntary act of respect and obedience from a wife to her husband as the head of the home.
When you obey your boss in the office, it is not because you are a slave, it is because there is a hierarchy that must be followed for things to go smoothly in the office. An English proverb says that two captains cannot sail a ship.
As a wife, your husband is the captain of your marriage-ship; submitting to him is a key ingredient in ensuring that you have a blissful marriage.
Years ago, I used to preach regularly at a university, and a woman would usually come to me complaining about her husband’s stubbornness and asking me to pray the stubbornness away.
After a while, I decided I wasn’t going to pray anymore. I told her, “When you get home, place his food on the dining table, call him your head, and ask him to come and eat.
When he sits at the table, give him a bowl of water, kneel and let him wash his hands in it.” She said, “No way! He is a professor just like I am. We are the same.” I replied that if she wanted my help, she should take my advice.
She decided to do it, and at first, her husband wondered if she had poisoned the food. She told him that her pastor taught her what she was doing, and suddenly, the stubborn husband became very soft. He followed her to the next service and became born again. Their marriage blossomed thereafter.
Key Point
Submission is not slavery; it is a sign of wisdom for a successful marriage.
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. But we never can prove
The delights of His love,
Until all on the altar we lay,
For the favour He shows
And the joy He bestows
Are for them who will trust and obey. [Refrain]
3. 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 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.
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.
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