Thursday, 13 March 2014

GOD, MY REFUGE- 13/03/2014

GOD, MY REFUGE- 13/03/2014

Yesterday’s message was titled “VICTORY OVER ENEMIES II”. Today’s message is titled “GOD, MY REFUGE” as given by Pastor E. A. Adeboye in Open Heavens Devotional (Adeboye, 2014). In today’s message, we have been asked to memorise Psalm 91:2 "I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.." and read  Psalm71:1-3. Our Bible in one year for today has been taken from Jeremiah 49:23 to Jeremiah 50:46 and Psalm 60 (Adeboye, 2014).

The message is quoted below. God bless you for your contribution

"The Almighty God, who is also the Most High, is our refuge, if only we belong to Him. A refuge Is a place where you hide especially when trouble comes. For me, this place is in the presence of God Almighty. I can   hide underneath the Name of Jesus and say nobody can touch or harm me. Hiding does not always indicate cowardice. Brave men also hide. As a matter of fact, an adage in my native language says in part that ‘you know a man of valour by his ability to fight and hide‘. There are several occasions in the Bible w ere strong men of God were told by God to go and hide. 1 Kings 17 :1-3 shows such an instance. Here we meet a mighty man of God who came before a king and pronounce that there would be no rain until he commanded it. Immediately after his statement, God told him to go and hide. Is this not strange?   Was God afraid of the king? No! There are moments when we have to learn to hide. When God says you should go and hide, what it implies is that the battle is no more your own but His own. When God starts the fight, you have to leave the scene. I have learnt to hide when God says I should hide. If God asks me to hide so that He can fight for me, I will gladly hide.

  In Psalm 71 :1 -3, the Psalmist declared his total trust in the  Lord and earnestly prayed to the One who has never lost a battle. He told the Lord that if God would not keep him, he a was finished, because he had no surer alternative. One of my sons told the story of how he threw away all the charms he took from his ‘father's house after his conversion. According to him, he blew the bridge between his magic  world and the new world in Christ he had come into. It  became difficult for him to think of going back because he  had destroyed the charms which took his father decades to gather in the occult world. Let's pay close attention to  Psalm 71 :2 which says:
”Deliver me In thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
The Psalmist points out something fundamental to divine  security here. It is only the righteousness of God that can   keep and cause us to escape the onslaught of the wicked world. It is also the life of holiness that will make God to  incline His ear to our cry when we call on Him in the time of trouble. The promise of God in Psalm 91 :15 is for those  who love Him, know His name and keep his  commandments (Psalm 91:14). I pray for you that the Almighty God will be your refuge as from today in Jesus Name"

Today's action point is to put your trust in the Lord and shun any other alternatives the world may offer you and you will live in peace and safety

God bless you richly for your contribution in this forum today

Reference:
Adeboye, E. A. (2014) Open Heavens: A Guide to Close Fellowship with God, Volume 14, 2014. Nigeria: Open Heavens Media Limited.






9 comments:

  1. Hello Madam, I really appreciate you hard-work in typing the open heavens for all to benefit. But pls, try to always spell check after typing. Some few surfaces sometimes and most of this unbelievers will stop reading if they observe errors, they will use that as an excuse. Nevertheless ma, you are the best. Pls keep it up! Weldone!!!

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  2. Hello Madam, I really appreciate you hard-work in typing the open heavens for all to benefit. But pls, try to always spell check after typing. Some few surfaces sometimes and most of this unbelievers will stop reading if they observe errors, they will use that as an excuse. Nevertheless ma, you are the best. Pls keep it up! Weldone!!!

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  3. @Samuel....tnx, but one is above mistakes.
    I quote u.."Madam, I really appreciate you hard-work in typing the open heavens for all to benefit"
    God bless us as we gain understanding from the word of God...Amen

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  4. Thanks brothers. Many thanks for your comments. It gives me joy that people are not just skimming the surface but reading with understanding. Most of the time, I use OCR to extract the text and post it on the go and may not have the time to do thorough proofreading. That's why some mistakes appear. However, I'll appreciate if you can point out the exact lines where there are mistakes or suggest the corrections so I can easily correct. By this, through collaborative efforts, we'll build a kingdom that will not shake
    Thanks again. Please have a blissful day. God bless.

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  5. Amen,may the Lord help us.

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  6. God - is our refuge from debts injustice, frustrations - darkness and lack.i. Trust in Him and am saved.

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  7. Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
    let me hide myself in thee;
    let the water and the blood,
    from thy wounded side which flowed,
    be of sin the double cure;
    save from wrath and make me pure.

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  8. @samuel i think the fact that u were able to see the mistake, and by yourself correct it, settles it....most of us who read have also the same amount of intelligence to correct as we go along.....the real message in the devotional is above a couple of errors....i suggest u try and look for what is in the message that is 'not seen'...rather than what is seen....

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  9. Hello All,

    Once again, thank you so much for posting this Lesson.

    May God continue to reward your labor of Love.

    This Lesson is about David and how he went through many perilous situations both

    prior to his ascension to the throne and during his reign.

    I believe what he desired to illustrate here with this Psalm is that only the Almighty God has the power to deliver you and I from the many trials we face in this world.Using the passage he makes a strong point.

    v1. He laments that "Oh Lord in you do I put my trust, let me never be put to confusion." Here David is crying out to God that I trust you therefore God; don't let me down,sort things out. I think its important that when we face our battles that we be mindful in whom are we trusting.Is it our family, people of influence and position or money?

    The Psalmist says such things will only lead to further confusion.


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