Open Heaven For Today 2024 Friday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Decree Good Over Your Children
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TOPIC: Decree Good Over Your Children
MEMORISE: And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. Mark 10:16
READ: Genesis 27:18-33 (KJV)
18 And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?
19 And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy first born; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
20 And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me.
21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.
22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
23 And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him.
24 And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am.
25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine and he drank.
26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.
27 And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed:
28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.
30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31 And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me.
32 And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau.
33 And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Mark 14
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE
Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. Job 22:28
The Bible verse above says that whatever you decree will be established unto you.
This means that you must be careful about what you decree because they will come to pass.
This is why I am always concerned when I see parents who say negative things over their children carelessly.
Proverbs 22:15 says that there is foolishness in the heart of a child; 1 know some children can be naughty, however, the way you respond to their behaviour will go a long way in determining whether those children will turn out good or become worse.
As a parent, how do you respond to your children’s behaviours?
Do you make negative pronouncements like,
“You are useless; you can’t amount to anything,”
or positive declarations like,
“You are for signs and wonders. It doesn’t matter what the devil may try, you will succeed.”
Whatever you say is what will happen.
There is power in your tongue and this power is even more potent over your children because they came into the world through you.
As a parent, God has given you power over the future of your children, not so that you can destroy it, but so that you can shape them into what He wants them to become.
In our Bible reading for today, Jacob came to Isaac and got a blessing.
As soon as he left, Esau came in, and Isaac told him that he had blessed Jacob and that he will be blessed.
Whatever you speak over your children, especially when your emotions are stirred up, will stick and will be reinforced.
After Jacob got the blessings and was on the run, he encountered God in Genesis 28:12-22, and God didn’t say anything about the fact that he cheated. He didn’t say, “You cheated your brother and you will pay for it.”
I thought that Jacob would have been scolded, but God established the blessing he got from his father.
Beloved, please decree good things over your children.
Whether they hurt you or not, remember that whatever you say will happen to them. Don’t say something that will affect them negatively; you will regret it later.
You will account for every word you speak over your children, and whatever they become will reflect on you also. Speak blessings over your children at all times.
Key Point
Be careful what you decree over your children.
HYMN 3: Ancient Words
1. Holy words long preserved
For our walk in this world
They resound with God’s own heart
Oh, let the ancient words impart
Chorus
Ancient words ever true
Changing me and changing you
We have come with open hearts
Oh, let the ancient words impart
2. Words of Life, words of Hope
Give us strength, help us cope
In this world, where e’er we roam
Ancient words will guide us home
3. Holy words of our Faith
Handed down to this age
Came to us through sacrifice
Oh heed the faithful words of Christ
4. Holy words long preserved
For our walk in this world
They resound with God’s own heart
Oh let the ancient words impart
Open Heaven For Today 2024 Wednesday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Your Spiritual Father
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TOPIC: Your Spiritual Father
MEMORISE: For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 1 Corinthians 4:15
READ: 1 Kings 19:19-21 (KJV)
19 So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.
20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?
21 And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE
Many people do not take the issue of who their spiritual father is seriously. Some people say that they have multiple fathers; such people are bastards because no human being can have more than one father. The role of your spiritual father in your life is very important.
Even though Elijah said that Elisha, his spiritual son, had asked for a hard thing, he practically committed God to give a double portion of his spirit to him (2 Kings 2:9-15). That is a good example of the role a spiritual father can play in a fellow’s destiny.
If you claim to have a spiritual father, you must do some things to prove it. If you are disobedient to your spiritual father, you are not his true child, and you cannot get the things that you expect to get from him. Also, a grown-up child will take care of his parents. If you don’t sow anything, either in the form of service or material resources, into the life of your spiritual father, God will not recognize that relationship. 2 Kings 3:11 says that Elisha poured water on the hands of Elijah. That is what made their father-son relationship valid and qualified Elisha to get the double portion of his father’s spirit.
One night, during my prayer walk, some people met me and asked me to pray with them. For them not to disturb my prayers, I simply told them,
“God bless you.”
As I went further, a fellow who was driving a bus passed by me and stopped. He took the little money he had in the bus, ran to me, and gave it to me.
That time, when I said,
“God bless you,”
it was from the depth of my heart. The money was not much, but he showed that I am truly his father so he could get something from me.
When Isaac asked Esau to prepare food for him, it was not because he was hungry or that he could not afford to feed himself, he was telling the young man,
“Spoil me so that I can bless you from my heart.”
There are blessings that come from the heart of your father; such blessings can never be reversed, as we see in Genesis 27:33-37.
Do what will make your spiritual father so willing to bless you that, even if what you ask for is beyond his control, he will commit God to give it to you.
Action Point
Do something special for your spiritual father or mother today to spoil him or her.
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 Wednesday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – The Future You
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TOPIC: The Future You
MEMORISE: Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; Deuteronomy 4:9
READ: Deuteronomy 6:6-7(KJV)
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE
No matter how hard you try, you cannot live forever. The only way you can continue to live in the next generation is through your children. This is why you must raise your children well.
You have learnt some lessons in life so far, some of which were from mistakes you made in the past. You must ensure that the people you leave behind after God has called you home are taught these lessons so that they don’t have to make the same mistakes you made. If your children make the same mistakes you made, you have not done a good job of teaching them. It is where you stop that they should start from; they should not repeat your mistakes.
If you are a father and you don’t want your children to be greater than you, it only means that your greatness will die with you. Abraham was great, Isaac was very great, and Jacob was exceedingly great; that is the correct order of things. Years ago, before God gave me a private jet, one of my sons bought a jet, and some people criticised me for publicly dedicating it, saying that I, the father, did not even have a Mercedes Benz. I responded, “The jet belongs to my son, show me what your son has.”
l often ask my children to pray that I am not taken away soon because it is where I stop that they will start from. Some of my children are already pastoring churches that are bigger than the one I pastored when I first became General Overseer.
When many people read Proverbs 13:22, they think that the inheritance that the Bible refers to is only money. If you are a good man, the inheritance you will leave for your children will exceed money; the major inheritance you will leave for them will be wisdom, and you will also leave influence, a good name, properties, and so on.
Therefore, you must train the ones who will carry on from where you stop. Sometimes you will need to leave some of the things you are doing now to train them because you must invest in the ‘future you’. Occasionally, I take my children and grandchildren to our hometown, where we can be alone. In those times, I tell them stories, answer their questions, and we just have a nice time together. I am leaving an inheritance for the ‘future me,’ I hope you are doing the same.
Prayer Point
How much are you investing in the ‘future you’?
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 – Wisdom
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TOPIC: Wisdom
READ: Proverbs 1:20-33(KJV)
20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:
30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Mark 8-9
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE
Today’s memory verse says that in everything you get, you must get wisdom. In other words, wisdom is the most important thing you can get.
More interestingly, the Bible reading for today tells us that wisdom is crying in the streets:
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: Proverbs 1:20
Unfortunately, many people ignore the cry of wisdom and are not interested in her. People who do not heed the cry of wisdom usually suffer the consequences of being foolish, and it may be too late by the time they realize it.
For people who will let wisdom pour out her spirit on them and teach them her words, she always makes herself available, and they are tremendously blessed for it.
I am sure you are asking yourself, “How can I get wisdom?” Psalm 111:10 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If you want to be wise, the place to start from is to fear God and prove that you fear Him.
Proverbs 16:6 says that the fear of the Lord is to depart from evil. Every time people commit sin, they are simply displaying foolishness.
Daniel 2:20-22 says that it is God who gives wisdom to the wise. If a fellow does not have a relationship with God, he or she cannot get wisdom.
James 1:5 says:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
The way to get wisdom is first to fear God and then simply ask Him for wisdom; it is as simple as that. Now, because wisdom is the correct application of knowledge, the limit to your wisdom will be how limited you are in knowledge. As you ask God for wisdom, you must also increase in knowledge so that you will keep increasing in wisdom. This is why I am always reading books. I want to learn something new every day, even if I have to ask someone to teach me.
Beloved, wisdom indeed is the principal thing. Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24) and you must accept Him as your Lord and Saviour if you want to be wise.
Prayer Point
Father, please give me wisdom.
HYMN 3: Ancient Words
1. Holy words long preserved
For our walk in this world
They resound with God’s own heart
Oh, let the ancient words impart
Chorus
Ancient words ever true
Changing me and changing you
We have come with open hearts
Oh, let the ancient words impart
2. Words of Life, words of Hope
Give us strength, help us cope
In this world, where e’er we roam
Ancient words will guide us home
3. Holy words of our Faith
Handed down to this age
Came to us through sacrifice
Oh heed the faithful words of Christ
4. Holy words long preserved
For our walk in this world
They resound with God’s own heart
Oh let the ancient words impart
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