Open Heavens Reflections - September 27th 2013 - TESTIMONIES FROM MOUNTAINS

Open Heavens Reflections - September 12th 2013 - Seek His Fullness

open heaven 12th September, 2013

Open Heavens Daily Devotional Thursday 12th September 2013 “SEEK HIS FULLNESS” – Pastor E. A. Adeboye

SEEK HIS FULLNESS – By Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Memory Verse:Ephesians 3:19:“And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

Read: Ephesians 3:16-21.

Ephesians 3:16-21:“That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; Ephesians That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Ephesians. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Ephesians 3:21”

Message:

Open Heavens Daily Devotionals by Pastor E. A. Adeboye

When you build up your spirit man and your relationship with the Holy Ghost, He will be able to use you to do the incredible. Stephen was an ordinary deacon but because he had built himself up in Christ, he was full of the Holy Spirit and power, with great signs and wonders coming out of him (Acts 6:5-8). It is what you have full of that will spill out because Matthew 12:34b says, “… out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

Many prayer effort amounts to wanting to give what you don’t have. If you are full of the Spirit, with little or no effort, you will birth signs and wonders. Many people are empty of the Spirit yet they want to birth signs and wonders. They will simply have disappointments. Do you know you can be filled with the fullness of God? (Ephesians 3:19). Why stay, live and minister empty of God when you can have all His fullness?

What is important with God is not how many years you have been born again but how close to Him you are. It is not what title you bear on earth but the title you are known by in Heaven. It is also not what position or ecclesiastical office you occupy but how full you are of His Spirit. If a week old believer is full of the Spirit, God will use him to do the incredible. Most people have misplaced priorities. They are busy struggling for money: in their dreams and thoughts, it is all about how to get money, yet they wonder why they are not seeing miracles through their lives and ministries. Others are busy struggling over positions and title as if these are what will give you the anointing. No! There are many pastors who got to the peak of their anointing on the day of their ordination. After their ordination, they went to sleep. No wonder workers who are not even ordained but are seeking for the fullness of the Spirit are more anointed than them. Stop fighting for what is not! Give your attention to seek more of Him. The more you have of His Spirit, the more like Him you will be in signs, wonders and character.

KEY POINT

• Before you birth the supernatural, you must first conceive by the Holy Spirit.

Bible in one year: John 4-6
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Open Heavens Reflections - September 11th - Watch For The Signs

Open Heavens Daily Devotional Wednesday 11th September 2013 “WATCH FOR THE SIGNS” – Pastor E. A. Adeboye

WATCH FOR THE SIGNS – By Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Memory Verse: James 2:18:“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”

Read: Isaiah 46:3-4.

James 2:14-17:“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”

Message:

Open Heavens Daily Devotionals by Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Elijah in 1 Kings 18:41-44 brought an end to a situation of famine that had plagued the land for three and a half years. We can learn from the process he went through in order to bring about the manifestation of change in this situation of drought. In addition to hearing God, declaring what He had said and intense prayer, the man of God also added some other action. He asked his servant to keep going back to check the skyline for signs of rain. James 2:14-17 says the faith that fails to be backed up by works is a dead faith. One lesson here underscores the need to be spiritually alert while praying. Why? If you watch and pray and you are spiritually sensitive, you will see the signs in the spiritual skyline that will tell you that your prayer has been answered. Sometimes, such signs may appear quite insignificant or almost unnoticeable, yet, if you are sensitive enough, it will not pass you by. When you watch and pray, you will not pray blind prayers any more. When you pray, do you watch out for signs of answer to your prayer?

On the other hand, there is need for works to give life to your faith. Hebrews 11:6 says God rewards those who diligently seek Him. Do you seek Him diligently? Yes the tide is turning for your good but you’ve got to act and go beyond prayer. If you need a job, you need to write and forward your applications to organisations and follow them up, asking whether they received your applications, the time for tests and interviews etc. As a student, if you want to come out in flying colours, you must study. In 1964, my professor told me you have to go over a given text 10 times if you truly want it to stick in your memory. If you want to reach the top, acquire a skill. Whatever you are doing, be very good at it. If you are a tailor, carpenter or fisherman, be the best in that field. God is looking for diligent, hardworking and skilled people that He will prosper. One of my friends introduced his brother to me as a tailor who just qualified and requested that I patronise him. I gave him some material to sew a pair of trousers and he sewed something else. I told my friend that his brother is a barber and not a tailor. Be diligent from today!

ACTION POINT

• Some signs may be a flash of less than a minute, ask God for grace not to lose divine messages.

Bible in one year: John 1-3

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Open Heavens Daily Devotional Monday 9th September 2013 “DELICATE ASSIGNMENT” – Pastor E. A. Adeboye

DELICATE ASSIGNMENT – By Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Memory Verse: 1 Corinthians 4:15:“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.”

Read: James 1:13-15.

1 Corinthians 4:14-15:“I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. 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.”

Message:

Open Heavens Daily Devotionals by Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Midwives are not only an important set of people but also a powerful group. In Exodus 1 : 15-16, we see that they have the power to kill or keep alive, and Pharaoh instructed them to use that power against newborn male Hebrew children. Midwives can kill or spare a new born baby by their action or inaction. At the point of a woman’s delivery, when she is about to push out the new baby, she is between earth and eternity. Many women never survive their deliveries as they go from childbirth into eternity. Usually, at that moment of delivery, a woman may not have known the sex of her baby, or whether the baby is dead or alive. It is what the midwives finally presents to her that she accepts as the fruit of her labour. Some midwives have used this power to play pranks, sell or exchange babies etc. If you have done so before, repent with all your heart asking for God’s forgiveness and go and restitute to those you have defrauded.

Do you know that these midwives can perpetrate a lot of atrocities? While reading this passage in Exodus 1, it suddenly dawned on me that it is possible that a good number of children said to be stillborn were actually murdered by the midwives. I have seen babies that were born with a dislocated hand because the midwife pulled the baby a little too hard. In the same vein, you are a divine midwife as a saved worker or minister of God. You can kill a new convert ever before he or she finds his or her feet, through your words or actions. This power at your disposal must be used to grow and establish converts in the faith of Jesus Christ. By your actions, you can help God to deliver babies into God’s Kingdom and by your actions, you can cause the newly saved to backslide. But for the grace of God, I would have gone back to the world because of the negative actions of some so called believers. Where do you stand today? Are you birthing or killing babies? How are you living your Christian life today?

KEY POINT

• Some spiritual midwives help to take delivery of some souls and later kill them. Are you one of them?

Bible in one year: 2 Samuel 19-2

Open Heavens Reflections - September 9th 2013 - DELICATE ASSIGNMENT

open heaven 6th September, 2013

Open Heavens Daily Devotional Friday 6th September 2013 “OBEYING WITHOUT QUESTIONING” – Pastor E. A. Adeboye

OBEYING WITHOUT QUESTIONING – By Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Memory Verse:Jeremiah 7:23:“But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.”

Read: 1 Kings 17:1-5.

1 Kings 17:1-5:“And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LordGod of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.”

Message:

Open Heavens Daily Devotionals by Pastor E. A. Adeboye

God is a good and wonderful God but He is not a democrat. Democracy has its benefits but in God’s Kingdom, it has several limitations, hence God adopts a theocratic style of government. If you would be God’s favourite, you must learn to obey Him unquestionably. In 1 Kings 17:1-16, after Elijah announced the seizure of rain, God told him to go to Brook Cherith and that birds will feed him there. He went without asking any questions. If God tells you to go and preach at a particular location you hate to go, would you pretend as if it was the devil that spoke to you? Or would you ask: ‘Father, why me, why not somebody else?’ When the water at Brook Cherith dried up, and God said, ‘Go and meet the widow’, he did not question but simply obeyed.

Some people have become so learned, enlightened and refined to the point that they query God. They summon God to explain why He wants them to do what He asked them to, or else, they will not obey. If you taste what it means to be a divine favourite for one month, you will do almost anything just to remain His favourite.

Moreover, anyone who wants to be God’s favourite must be ready to spend quality time with Him. A couple who after marriage hardly spend time together, will after several years not be able to show the fruit of their union. The fruit of the Spirit is developed as you spend time in God’s presence, right in the midst of contrary circumstances. So also are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you want to heal the sick or raise the dead, first go and stay in His presence. There is hardly anyone who walked in the miraculous by the power of the Holy Spirit without being incubated by the Holy Spirit. Do you really want to be His favourite? Even if you are not presently His favourite, you can work your way into being one by the things you do from today. As you pay the price, the Lord will make you His favourite.

KEY POINT

• Obeying without questioning is the height of trust, while questioning before obedience is the height of mistrust.

Bible in one year: 2 Samuel 9-1
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Open Heavens Reflections - September 6th 2013 - OBEYING WITHOUT QUESTIONING

Open Heavens Daily Devotional Thursday 5th September 2013 “COMMUNION DESTROYS YOKES” – Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Memory Verse: Isaiah 14:5:

 “The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.”

Bible Read: Exodus 12:30-36.

Exodus 12:30-36: “And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.”

Message:

The importance of the Holy Communion can never be over emphasised. In Exodus 12:30-35, when the Israelites took a similitude of that uncommon meal, it brought about multiple effects. They had lived under a curse and suddenly after that meal, the curse was broken and they became a blessing. How? After asking them to go, Pharaoh asked them to bless him also. Are you presently operating under a curse? As you key into the next Holy Communion service, the curse will be broken. Even the people who placed you under that evil spell will come and beg you, and ask you to bless them. Oh how unlimited is the power that is released from the table of the Lord!

Similarly, until that night, they were at the other end of labour. They worked like elephants but took the harvest of ants. Yet, even their pay hardly came. Some people have experienced this at one time too many. It appears there is no value for their services. People are happy to patronise them yet when it comes to paying for such services, they will begin to give all the excuses in the world. Some people will work with all their hearts and sacrifice a lot for an organisation, yet, when it comes to receiving their salaries or wages, the directors will reel out a list of reasons why such employees should be owed. You do not have to continue like that. You can change that situation by taking the Holy Communion meal. There are even fraudulent organisations and bosses who refuse to pay their workers with the excuse that there is no money, yet they are releasing new cars, dedicating new houses and breaking new grounds. The Holy Communion can put an end to such wickedness. However, you have to make up your mind to change that situation or else it will continue. The children of Israel before the meal lived in fear and were treated like animals, or at best as inferior citizens. This season, break the staff of the wicked over your life by prayerfully partaking in the next Holy Communion.

PRAYER POINT:

• Every yoke of wickedness upon my life, Father destroy it today and set me free.
Bible in one year: 2 Samuel 5-8

Open Heavens Reflections - September 5th 2013 - Communion Destroys Yokes

Open Heavens Reflections 2013 September 02 - God Is Pregnant