Open heavens
Open Heaven For Today 2023 Friday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Prayers For Elders
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TOPIC: Prayers For Elders
MEMORISE: “And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” – Isaiah 46:4 (KJV)
READ: 1 Peter 5:1-4 (KJV)
1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Chronicles 20-23
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE:
PRAYERS:
Father, thank You for our elders. Thank You Lord, for giving them long life and good health.
Father, please forgive all the sins our elders may have committed in the past so that they can have peace in their old age.
Father, please give our elders wisdom and understanding to counsel the younger ones correctly.
Please Lord, if there is any elder who has not surrendered his or her life to You, please let them encounter You so that they can make it to heaven.
Father, please comfort any elder who is lonely. Please Lord bring people around them who will show them love and care.
Father, please give our elders good health. Don’t let the diseases that are common to old people come upon the elders around us, Lord.
Father, don’t let the godly efforts of our elders go to waste. Let their children carry on their legacy successfully.
Father, we ask for unity between elders and youths. Whatever may have caused disunity between elders and youths in families, Churches or communities is destroyed now, in Jesus’ name.
Father, please answer the prayers of our elders by fire, in Jesus’ name. James 5:14 says we should go to the elders for prayers when we are sick. As they pray for us Lord, please let their prayers be answered speedily, in Jesus’ name.
Father, let our elders leave a good inheritance for us. Let only blessings flow from them to the younger ones, in Jesus’ name.
Father, please bless every child who desires to care for his or her parents but does not have the means, in Jesus’ name.
Your personal prayer points for the elders in your family, Church and community.
HYMN 22: Sweet Hour Of Prayer! Sweet Hour Of Prayer!
1 Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my want and wishes known;
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare,
By the return, sweet hour of prayer.
2 Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
The joy I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place,
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer.
3 Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear,
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless;
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer.
Open Heavens 2023 Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC. Open Heaven for Today 2023
Open Heaven For Today 2023 Thursday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – The Meal That Gives Life
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TOPIC: The Meal That Gives Life
MEMORISE: “For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” – John 6:33 (KJV)
READ: John 6:48-58 (KJV)
48 I am that bread of life.
49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Chronicles 17-19
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE:
Basically, the reason we eat is so that we can have strength, good health and life. When I was younger, we had a slogan that said, “We eat to live, we don’t live to eat”. The regular meals we eat however, have some limitations. One of the limitations is that there is no one food that has all the nutrients in it, so no ordinary meal can give you all-round vitality. There is however one meal that gives life in abundance. It is the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. Until you eat this meal, you have no life in you (John 6:53).
In Joshua 14:6-14, one of the people who ate the Passover meal, Caleb, said at the age of 85, “I am still as strong today as I was 45 years ago”. When you eat the Holy Communion, your strength is renewed; weakness becomes a stranger to your body. Some years ago, I went to hold a programme in a foreign country, and during one of my prayer walks in the morning, I started feeling faint. I couldn’t walk much further and had to go back to my lodge. Later on, I recalled that we would be eating the Holy Communion that evening so that gave me hope. In the evening after eating the Communion, my strength came back to me. In Psalm 105:37, the Bible speaks about the children of Israel who ate the Passover meal: there was no feeble one amongst them. They all had robust health. Sickness will become a stranger to you when you eat this special meal. In John 6:54, the Lord Jesus Christ said concerning the Holy Communion:
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
We eat to live, have strength and be healthy, but the Holy Communion goes far beyond those three basic things. It acts as a medicine – not an ordinary kind of medicine, but one that defies death. Exodus 12:13 says death will pass over you when it sees the blood. This is the blood of Jesus which is represented by the wine in the Holy Communion. I am believing God for you that when next you eat the Holy Communion, death will stay away from your home, in Jesus’ name.
KEY POINT:
The Holy Communion is the most important meal anyone can eat.
HYMN 9: Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
1 Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.
2 Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might!
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above,
Thy cloud which are fountains of goodness and love.
3 To all life thou givest to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish but nought changeth Thee.
4 Great Father of Glory, pure Father of Light,
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
All laud we would render; O help us to see;
‘Tis only the splendour of light hideth Thee.
Open Heavens 2023 Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC. Open Heaven for Today 2023
Open Heaven For Today 2023 Wednesday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Criteria For Promotion II
Click HERE for Previous Open Heaven Devotional
TOPIC: Criteria For Promotion II
MEMORISE: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:” – 1 Peter 5:6 (KJV)
READ: 1 Kings 19:19-21, 2 Kings 2:15 (KJV)
1 Kings 19:19-21;
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.
2 Kings 2:15;
15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Chronicles 13-16
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE:
God usually promotes the most unlikely persons (1 Corinthians 1:26-29), however, once in a while, He also decides to promote someone who has already had some achievements. Before promoting such people though, He would usually first grip them of everything they have achieved then He’ll begin to promote them to a level that is far higher than where they were before. Sadly, those who are not ready to go through this process will miss out on the great promotion God has prepared for them.
When God chose Elisha to be the greatest prophet of his time, he was already a successful farmer from a well-to-do family and all of a sudden, he became homeless – an errand boy to a prophet who was in trouble with the king. God took him from his high state to a very low one and he submitted to the process.
When the Lord chose me, I was the acting Head of the Mathematics Department in University of Ilorin. I had already achieved a lot, considering my poor background and now God was saying, “Leave all that” to become the General Overseer of a Church whose total monthly income at that time was less than my salary. It was a hard decision, especially since I had just broken my family out of poverty, but thank God that I answered the call and submitted to the process. Today, God has graciously lifted me far higher than I could ever have gotten if I had held on to my academic career. Once God sees that you prefer His will to your achievements and your ambition, He will promote you.
The person who has enjoyed the highest promotion from God is Jesus Christ. He was already the Son of God before His earthly ministry. He is the Word and the Bible says that the whole earth was made by Him (John 1:3). He was already big, but when He humbled Himself not only to come to earth in human form, but even to the point of death on the cross, God promoted Him so much that, at the mention of His name, all knees in heaven, on earth and underneath the earth should bow and all tongues confess that He is Lord (Philippians 2:9-10). My advice to you today is: humble yourself before God and He will promote you in due time.
REFLECTION:
If God asks you like the rich man in Luke 18:22 to sell all that you have and follow Him, what will be your response?
HYMN 7: I Am Thine O Lord
1 I am Thine, O Lord
I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith
And be closer drawn to Thee.
Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
2 Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord
By the power of grace divine
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine.
3 Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend!
4 There are depths of love that I cannot know
Till I cross the narrow sea;
There are heights of joy that I may not reach
Till I rest in peace with Thee.
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