Open heavens
Open Heaven For Today 2023 Saturday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – When You Have Questions
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TOPIC: When You Have Questions
MEMORISE: “Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.” – Psalm 73:17 (KJV)
READ: Psalm 73:1-17 (KJV)
1 Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
5 They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
11 And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
15 If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
16 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Chronicles 24-26
Open Heaven For Today 2023 MESSAGE:
As a younger Christian, I had many difficult questions for my pastors. For example, since Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”, I asked where He was before He created Heaven, but none of them could answer. Since I could not get answers from my pastors, I turned to God and He answered me.
The reason we don’t understand certain things in the word of God is in Isaiah 55:8-9:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Some of the things that you are trying to explain with logic are far higher and deeper than what the ordinary human mind can process. In the Sciences, we say, “Prove it and I will believe you”. God however says, “Believe me and I will prove it”. If you are not ready to believe God’s word because you don’t understand it, you may never experience the power in it and you would be the one on the losing end.
There was one particular question that I had from the story of Elisha and the Syrian army who had come to arrest him in 2 Kings 6:8-23. Elisha told them that they were in the wrong place then led them to Samaria where they were captured and then later released.
I wondered for a long time how God could have supported how Elisha deceived the soldiers, until the day He explained by asking, “My son, if death were to come knocking on your door asking for you, would you welcome it in? If sickness comes asking for you, will you hug it? If poverty comes looking for your address, will you say it is in the right place?”
When you have questions, turn to God for answers. He alone can open your eyes to behold the wonders in His word (Psalm 119:18).
KEY POINT:
When you have questions, turn to God for answers.
HYMN 5: Blessed Assurance
1 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long.
2 Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight,
Angels descending, bring from above;
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
3 Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Saviour am happy and blessed,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
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 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.
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