Open Heavens Devotional: PRIDE ERODES GOOD RECORDS– Friday, August 31, 2012 By Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise: A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit. Proverbs 29:23

Read: Revelation 3:14-22

Bible in one year: Hosea 11-14

In today’s reading, the Lord wrote a letter to the church in Laodicea. Let us briefly look at their background. Laodicea was a strong financial centre in those days. It had very rich inhabitants who thought since they had virtually all they needed, they did not need God. It was the heart of textile manufacturing, providing specialised medical care for eyes and ears. The church in Laodicea was equally inhabited by wealthy members who thought they could do almost anything with money. Being wealthy, they could afford the best of clothes and medical care. Their comfort and affluence made them proud people.

If you look closely, the church in Laodicea was the only one out of seven that the Lord had nothing good to say about. Even as bad as Sardis was, it still had some good people. Meanwhile, they saw themselves as the happening church- the rich and affluent church. Laodicea was a church that had all its physical needs met. They could afford the most fantastic auditorium, equipped with the best and most expensive musical instruments then. They could afford to publicise every programme on air and do glamorous banners. Their church could be said to be what most of our churches today dream to be. On Sundays, if you saw the sisters there, you would think there was a fashion parade or some kind of beauty pageant. It was a prosperous church with all members physically prospering. The latest cars were parked in their parking lot. What a church without a need! Meanwhile, as they were celebrating their “immense success”, the Lord was lamenting their wretchedness. In His eyes, they were the exact opposite of who they thought they were. May you never see yourself only through your eyes but always through His eyes. One lesson here is that we need to steer clear of pride as it is capable of eroding all our good works. Anyone who is adorned with any attribute of pride blocks God’s view of his or her good deeds, except the object of pride. If you fill up a two-storey building with good works but you are proud, it is only your pride that would be seen. Nothing will be recorded for your good. The proud is in competition with God. Are you proud?

ACTION POINT:
Search yourself for any element of pride and immediately deal with them before they spoil your work.

Open Heavens Devotional: PROVE YOUR LOVE – Thursday, August 30, 2012 By Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise: By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13:35

Read: John 13:34-35

Bible in one year: Hosea 8-10

It is very expensive to love God except you do not really have an understanding of this. In John 14:15, Jesus said:

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Ordinarily, there is no big deal in this except when you realise one of His commandments you must keep is to turn the other cheek to the one who slaps you. This is hard. It is hard to have the capacity and resources to carry out revenge but refrain from doing so because of your faith in Jesus Christ. When some Christians found themselves in such situations, they wept as when they saw a rat biting the tail of a cat but the cat could not do anything. Also, John 13:35 says: we should love one another as Christ has loved us. This is a difficult task because among those we are told to love are unlovable people. How do you love a so-called brother or sister who is constantly doing everything to provoke you and cause your downfall? How do you love a so-called leader who is a traitor and who discriminates against you? How do you love a pastor who sits on your progress for several years and warns you not to tell his superiors? It is hard. Yet, you have to love them because of Heaven. You have to love and forgive them or else you have gotten to your final bus stop in your Christian race.

Additionally, Psalms 97:10 says if you love the Lord, you must hate evil. To most Christians, that appears like what they regularly do until they isolate some cases and find out that they are not truly keeping this commandment. Some Christian parents see their children dress improperly and dismiss it with a wave of the hand saying: “Don’t mind her: she is being childish”, yet they do nothing about it. What of wives who dress in seductive manners, virtually showing to the world that they are” available for sale”, yet their husbands cannot caution them? Or what of prayer point the Lord gave to all believers in Matthew 5:43-45? Do you know that based on this command, we should be praying for all our enemies daily? Did I hear an Amen? Not for the enemies to fall down and die but for God to open their eyes to know the truth and become converted. How many people are keeping this commandment today?

PRAYER POINT:

Lord, no matter how hard it is, for as long as you commanded me to obey Your Word, grant me grace to obey without complaining.

Open Heavens Devotional: MAXIMISE THE GLORY! – Wednesday, August 29, 2012 By Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise: There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 1 Corinthians 15:41

Read: 1 Corinthians 15:40-41    

Bible in one year: Hosea 5-7

God’s call is not for fun or frivolity. God has definite purpose for calling you. It is important you acknowledge why He saved and called you because God does not just pour down His glory on people, He does so to assist you in fulfilling His call upon your life. As you respond and totally submit to that call, He will move you from one level of glory to another. According to 1 Corinthians 15:40-41, God has different glory moulds for different things He created. The bodies of angels are different from human bodies and both have their different glories. Even among lights, there are different levels of glory. Among believers in Christ, the story is not different. Believers radiate varying levels of glory due to number of reasons such as: the type of calling on that believer, the price paid to maximise that calling, the level of holiness or obedience the believer operates, prayer life, Bible study life, worship, praise and thanksgiving life, the degree of pleasing God, etc. You can be a carrier of God’s higher levels of glory if only you are ready to pay the price.

God does not expect you to deviate from your primary calling as this will not only lead to failure but also make you unable to maximise God’s glory in your life. Moses was called primarily to lead the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage into their promised land. In doing this, the Lord sent him to Pharaoh to ask him to release God’s people. This assignment was both dangerous and tempting. It is possible for somebody like Moses who was brought from the bush and made to stand before the king to compromise because of affluence associated with the palace. Many church leaders and Christian workers today who were given the opportunity to minister to the top brass of the society, have compromised on the message or errand they were sent. They found it difficult to tell the truth because they wanted to remain in favour with those in authority. No wonder they cannot optimise God’s glory! If God sends you to the crème de la crème in the society, you owe the truth of God’s Word. In wisdom deliver to them the Gospel message and where possible make an alter call. God wants you as His witness before panels, committees, kings and the leaders of the society. Be a true witness! Don’t change your message!

KEY POINT:

Jesus died for all classes of people. If you have opportunity to reach any of these classes, you are privileged; do it with all your might!

Open Heavens Devotional: PREPARED? – Tuesday, August 28, 2012 By Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise: If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21

Read: Matthew 3:13-17

Bible in one year: Hosea 1-4

If you are a bona fide child of God, the rivers and seas will serve you. River Jordan served Joshua, Elijah and Elisha. The Red Sea swallowed up the Egyptian hosts chasing the Israelites. The sea solidified under the feet of Jesus for Him to walk on. From today, the rivers, oceans, lakes and sea will serve you. This is one aspect of God’s creation that has been put under man’s dominion in Genesis 1:28. Today, the rivers still serve us in the baptism of saved souls. The water will not swallow your blessings in Jesus name. Have you lost any good thing to the river? Command that specific river to vomit it in Jesus name.

Another lesson regarding the parting of River Jordan is that while a river can receive a positive anointing which can be of later use, it can also receive a negative anointing which can negatively impact on someone’s life and destiny later. In the first aspect, after contacting the anointing on the three men of God, the river was ready to be used by God to release healing to Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-14). No wonder it was also the same river prepared for the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 3:13-17). The river was prepared before it was used. Its use had nothing to do with its size or how physically clean it was. Going by what Naaman initially said, there were even other better rivers than Jordan, yet Jordan was the one that had been prepared. God likes to use vessels He has prepared. If He has used you before, He would want to use you again. The more you make yourself available to Him, the more He will use you. The more He uses you, the more He will use you to do greater things and to handle more sensitive or special assignments for Him. Are you available for His use? On the other hand, after Naaman dipped seven times into River Jordan, his leprosy was retained by the river which was later transferred to Gehazi. A lot of rubbish is dropped in rivers physically, as well as spiritually. It is possible for some people to contact demon spirits, marine spirits and negative power from rivers. It is also possible for somebody to pick up what another person has dropped. This is why we have to be very prayerful. Have you been covenanted with water spirits when you were young? Renounce such covenants, break them by the blood of Jesus and rededicate your life to Jesus. If you are not yet born again, give your life to Jesus and see your pastor for deliverance prayers. Command every negative thing that has come into your life from the waters to return to their source.

KEY POINT:

Those God will use to do greater Kingdom tasks often go through tougher trials of longer duration.

Open Heavens Devotional: IDOLS FRUSTRATE EXPECTATIONS – Monday, August 27, 2012 By Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise: The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. Proverbs 10:28

Read: Isaiah 44:10-18

Bible in one year: Obadiah 1, Jonah 1-4

Before you receive a prophetic declaration, check out the fruit of the vessel-the prophet, pastor, or servant of God, whether the fellow is still in league with God. Some people say, “thus says the Lord,” but the Lord did not say anything to them. Some of them heard from themselves and spoke. Be careful of what you accept as being from God. In Jeremiah 28:1-4, Hananiah a prophet prophesied that in two years God was going to set Israel free from the yoke of the king of Babylon, but it was all a lie! Imagine the joy of the people when they heard that. But after two years, and the prophecy did not come to pass, all the expectations of the people failed. Instead of two years, they spent 70 years. In others, the prophetic lies of prophets cannot change what God want to do or alter its timing. Stick with genuine men of God and particularly the Word of God i.e. the Bible.

Apart from lies, expectations that are based on the support of an idol, another power or spirit will definitely be disappointed. Sincere idol worshippers and cultists know that there are severe manipulations and falsehood regarding the predictions of their idols or deities. They also know that promises of fame, power and wealth made to them are actually in return for long life, health, the lives of their loved ones, etc. being taken from them. Satan does not offer any free gift but at the time of the offer, he will make everything appear as if it’s free. The recipient of such offers would have been trapped before there is a realisation of what the devil would have in return (Isaiah 40:19-20, 24). The expectations of the wicked including idol worshippers shall fail (Proverbs 10:28). This involves confidence in local deities, charms, amulets, magic rings, love portions, anything and anyone you love to a point of taking the place of God in your heart. According to Psalms 92:7 and Isaiah 45:16, idol worshippers with their hopes shall be disappointed because they want to share what God cannot share with anyone- His glory. The prophets of Baal who contested with Elijah on Mount Carmel were disappointed and lost their lives (1 Kings 18:17-40). Are you using evil power or contesting with a bona fide child of God? Your expectations shall fail and you may even lose your life. Repent today, and apologise to the child of God you are fighting before the Lord faces you.

ACTION POINT:

Make this confession: Every idol taking God’s place in my heart, I tear you down and enthrone the Lord Jesus Christ at the centre of my life.

Open Heavens Devotional: AMONG THE DEAD? – Sunday, August 26, 2012 By Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise:  The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. Proverbs 21:16

Read: Ephesians 2:1-3

Bible in one year: Amos 7-9

Knowing your spiritual standing is very important at any point in time. But one challenge is how to judge where you are, whether you are dead, sleeping, sitting, standing, running or flying. Who is a dead fellow? A dead man is one that has no feelings. If your conscience is hardened, you are spiritually dead. There are some pastors who are dead. No matter what they hear like: stop stealing, falsifying church records, committing adultery, etc. they will say, Amen; but when they return to their parishes, they will continue with their evil deeds. This they do because they are dead spiritually. Ephesians 2:1-3 speaks of those who are dead in sins and trespasses. The dead are those who sin and take pleasure in it. They enjoy living in sin which makes them no different from unbelievers.

It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom. Proverbs 10:23.     

The pastor who verbally runs down his senior pastor and sees nothing wrong with it, is dead. It is a dead fellow who will witch-hunt other believers with the motive of replacing them. There is a growing congregation of the dead in the church today. If you want to stay alive, you must avoid them like a plague. Avoid any group in your church that promotes rebellion, gossiping, backbiting, segregation and any other evil. The day God’s wrath will fall on them, if you are with them, you will not be excluded.

If you have no feeling for your brother or sister, your conscience is dead. If you sin or do wrong and you do not feel anything, you are probably not only dead but buried in sin. If you oppress others, particularly your brethren that you were asked to do good to, it is because your conscience is dead or seared with a hot iron. Jesus says let the dead bury their dead. If you are dead, it is people like yourself that will finally nail your spiritual coffin- that is, they will ensure you never rise up again spiritually. This means, if you are part of the congregation of the dead, in order not to be buried by them, run back to Jesus today. Cry out to God to change your heart. Ask for a heart of flesh and make all necessary restitutions. Are you dead? The Lord says to you arise and He will heal your backsliding (Jeremiah 3:22).

PRAYER POINT:

Father, in any way I have become insensitive to your pricks, cause me to arise today.

Open Heavens Devotional: REJECTING JUBILEE? – Saturday, August 25, 2012 By Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise: Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. Psalms 33:20

Read: Psalms 33:13-22

Bible in one year: Amos 4-6

What is jubilee? Jubilee is a new beginning where the fellow who was once rich but lost his wealth gets it back; where the house that was filled with empty vessels begins to have those vessels filled (2 Kings 4:1-7). What makes jubilee beautiful is the fact that it is by divine decree. It is not as if the slave owner really wants the slaves to go, but because God has decreed it, the slave must go. Nobody can stand on His way. God does not need to take permission from the devil before He sets you free. You do not need to take permission or plead with your captors to release you on the day of your jubilee. Has God decreed your release? Then you must be freed! He decreed light and light came into existence (Genesis 1:3). Psalms 33:8-9 says God should be feared because when He speaks, it is done. Your release is settled because God has said it.

Moreover, when we talk of the year of jubilee, people generally think it must be every 50 years. But when l studied the Bible, I discovered that people experienced jubilee at different times. For instance, the man by the pool of Bethesda was in captivity but got his jubilee after 38 years (John 5: 2-9). Also, for the man born blind recorded in John 9:1-7, his jubilee dawned and he regained his sight after 40 years. In Luke 13:10-17, the woman who was bent got her jubilee after 18 years. According to Exodus 21:1-6, the year of jubilee could come to some after 7 years because God is the One who controls times and seasons, and He is the One who will decide when He wants to intervene in a matter (Daniel 2:20-21). Your age will not stop your jubilee. Our God is the God of jubilee and He loves to set the captives free although He will never violate your will. In Exodus 21:2-6, when jubilee is offered, captives are free to void it and remain as captives. In a town in Osun State (South West Nigeria), there was a very wealthy man who amassed much wealth through extremely evil means. One day, out of mercy, God wanted to save him so He sent a preacher to tell him about salvation. After listening for some time, he thanked the preacher and asked him to lead all his children to Christ, but as for him he had gone too far with the devil that he had chosen to end it up with him. Even when he was told it was not too late for him, the man resisted. He turned down his jubilee. Will you accept or turn down your jubilee?

PRAYER POINT:

Pray that God will open the eyes of all those who are rejecting jubilee to see things from God’s perspective and accept His salvation.

Open Heavens Devotional: TRANSITION BEFORE TRIBULATION – Friday, August 24, 2012 By Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise: The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: 2 Peter 2:9

Read: 2 Peter 2:4-9

Bible in one year: Amos 1-3

There are three schools of thought on the subject of the timing of the Great Tribulation. The first school of thought say born again Christians will be on the earth and will go through Great Tribulation. The second say believers will stay on the earth for the first 3½ years of the tribulation period before being taken away; while the third school of thought says believers will not be here when the tribulation begins. I strongly share the views of the third school of thought based on scriptural evidences of God’s past dealing with His people.

First, according to Revelation 3:10, if you keep His word, you will be out of the way before the trouble i.e. Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7) starts. Similarly, God does not destroy the righteous with the wicked except if the righteous had dumped righteousness for evil. That was the basis for Abraham’s intercession for the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah and God spared Lot and his family (Genesis 18:22-23). We learn from that account that one major reason God has not overthrown our cities today is because of the righteous living in them; after all, the world is far more corrupt now than in the days of Noah or Sodom and Gomorrah. Also, during the deluge, God spared Noah and his family before flooding the whole earth. Fear not! As you serve the Lord faithfully, He will take you away before He brings judgment upon where you are. However, the church in Philadelphia was advised to hold fast what they have lest another fellow takes their crown. Some years ago, in a communist enclave, 50 Christians were being tortured for their faith in Christ. Soldiers moved them to a lake of freezing water, stripped and put them there. At another spot was a huge bonfire so that if they denounced Jesus they could warm themselves and be set free. Unknown to them, God has opened the eyes of one of the soldiers who saw each of the believers who endured being tortured to death, receive a crown from an angel. As this continued, one of the Christians who could no longer bear the pain started stepping out. Disappointed, his angel was about to take his crown back to Heaven when this soldier suddenly stripped himself and ran to replace the believer so that he could take his crown. Hold fast to what you have or you will lose your crown and other rewards to others!

PRAYER POINT:

Father, help me to endure to the end so that no one will take my crown.

Open Heavens Devotional: PERPETUAL SERVANT – Thursday, August 23, 2012 By Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise: Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 1 Corinthians 6:9

Read: Exodus 21:2-6

Bible in one year: Joel 1-3

It is love that can make a man to wait for 14 years just to get married to the lady of his choice like Jacob did for Rachel (Genesis 29:18-28). A lady once told me that nobody was asking for her hand in marriage. We prayed and few months later, she had six suitors on line. Then she came to me to ask how she will know the one that is her husband. I asked her to tell them that they should wait for 14 years, by that time she would be through with her Ph.D. programme and would have worked for some years. Not one of them stayed after hearing that. If there is love, there is strength to wait. Love can be costly. It can cost a man his freedom. From Exodus 21:2-6 we understand that any servant that is Hebrew is expected to serve for six years and on the seventh, he should be freed. If however he marries and because of love he refuses to go, he would receive a mark so that anybody who sees him will know that he is a slave forever. Occasionally, I hear some people give God conditions before complying with certain divine requests or instructions. This shows that they do not love God, or that they have forgotten they were supposed to be His servants forever.

True love gives you super human strength. When somebody is truly in love, he could survive any adversity for the sake of that love (Romans 8:35-37). Being more than conquerors is a height in love which many do not yet know. If you are truly in love with God, you will gladly die for Him like Stephen (Acts 7:54-60). Today, because many church leaders are afraid of their lives, they cannot go to certain countries or certain parts within their native land to preach Christ. Death is no big deal but the big deal is what you go through before you die. In the days of communism, it was the torture that a Christian went through that gave him pleasure; today, the reverse is the case. A Christian was arrested and thrown into prison. He began to witness Christ to the inmates so they took him and gave him the beating of his life until he was bleeding all over. By the time he was returned, he asked those he was preaching to, “Where did I stop before the interruption?”  Loving God can be expensive. How cheap or otherwise is your love for God? 

ACTION POINT:

Take this confession: Lord Jesus. I confess and acknowledge you as my Lord. I am your servant. You own all I have. And I will worship you with all that you give me until you take me to glory.

Open Heavens Devotional: DROP THOSE EXCUSES! – Wednesday, August 22, 2012 By Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise: Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whatsoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. Romans 2:1

Read: Exodus 3:10-16

Bible in one year: Acts 25-28

After his experience of the supernatural and God introducing Himself to Moses, he was given a specific assignment. He objected with reasons but they were not accepted. From this we learn that when God has decided to send you on an assignment, no excuse is good enough. You will notice that the more Moses excused himself from embarking on that assignment, the angrier God became (Exodus 4:13-14). Making excuses to avoid doing what God has assigned to you will easily put you on the wrong side of God’s judgement. Excuses can move you from God’s right hand to His left, from favour to disfavour, from blessing to curses. Has the Lord given you an assignment and you are piling up reasons for not obeying? You are toying with fire. After Moses saw “God’s red eyes”, he dumped his excuses. Drop those excuses and comply with your divine mandate.

When you look at the excuses people give for not obeying God, they can be classified under feelings of inadequacy, ignorance, pride, fear, unbelief, etc. For instance, Moses felt inadequate in himself to go before Pharaoh but God told him, “I will go with you” (Exodus 3:10-12). Whenever God gives you an assignment, He does not leave you alone to do it. He is there with you to supply what you lack. So ideally, every assignment is a joint-venture between God and the one assigned to do it. Do you feel inadequate? The One who is assigning you will back you up. If it bothers on ignorance that means there is something you don’t know that will be required of you in the course of performing that assignment. In Moses’ case, he did not know how to introduce God to the elders of Israel but God told him how to go about it. If only you can ask the Lord, He will give you the knowledge you require or direct you to where to get it. Don’t say, “I can’t go because I am not educated” because the Greatest Teacher is ready to supply all you need to know if only you can ask Him, and sit at His feet to be taught. If you feel too big for the assignment, that is pride, and that can easily bring judgement on you. Nobody is bigger that the assignment God gives to him or her. How can a national elder or a provincial pastor be sent to pastor a parish of 50 people? If that is what God is saying, run immediately to do it. The most unattractive assignment gets the biggest pay from God. If your refusal is out of fear or unbelief, examine the attributes and abilities of the One sending you. It will strengthen your faith.

KEY POINT:

Many people struggle for kingdom assignments that feed their ego while they run away from some other tasks. Neglected assignments such as sanitation and washing of toilets enjoy Heaven’s greater rewards.