OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL BY PASTOR E.A.ADEBOYE 22/10/2016

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL...

DATE : SATURDAY 22 OCTOBER 2016

THEME : 
I KNOW YOUR WORKS VII

Memorise: 

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36

Read: Revelation 3:14-19, (KJV)

14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.



16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and Unclad:

18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy unclothedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

MESSAGE

The Lord in many pages of the Bible warns against the lust of this material world. We are enjoined to set our affections on heavenly things, so that we may not be draw into the perdition of covetousness. 

Jesus Christ in today’s memory verse asks:

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Mark 8:36

Also in today’s Bible reading, our Lord accused the Church in Laodicea of lukewarmness. They were neither hot nor cold. What could have been responsible for this spiritual state of the Church in Laodicea? They were carried away by their physical and material prosperity. Service became funfair and the clergy became time-serving.

“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and Unclad.”
Revelation 3:17

We must learn from the experience of the Loadicean Church, the material prosperity could be very dangerous if not properly managed by children of God. A man finds it easy to keep vigils in his mosquito or bug infested room, since mosquito or bug bites will not allow him to sleep anyway. However, the moment his situation changes for the better. He now owns a decent apartment with maximum comfort; it becomes difficult to pray at night. Also, when a man does not have enough food to eat, fasting may be easy, because he can only afford to eat once daily anyway. Those born with silver spoons or living in the developed world may find such situations unbelievable, but this was my experience in my trying days, when my regular meal was just one finger of plantain a day. In those days, I dared not eat two fingers of plantain, or else I will have to fast the following day. It takes the grace of God and strong determination to fast when your storehouse is full of assorted foods. King Solomon made a prayer request that we should consider:



“Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”
Proverbs 30:7-9

God called on Adam after he had sold himself to Satan and fallen for the three main temptations in history; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life. In response, he said he was hiding because he had realised that he was Unclad. He was right. Riches without God is unclothedness in the spirit. Beloved, don’t be deceived, only Jesus Christ can satisfy; nothing and no one else can. 

Prayer Point:

Father, please set me on fire for You so that I may remain hot until Your Second Coming.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR :Amos 5:18-9:15 and Psalms 84

AUTHOR: Pst E.A ADEBOYE 

HYMN 4: TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE

1. Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise. 

2. Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love;
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee,
Swift and beautiful for Thee. 

3. Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King;
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee,
Filled with messages from Thee. 

4. Take my silver and my gold;
Not a mite would I withhold;
Take my intellect, and use
Every power as Thou shalt choose,
Every power as Thou shalt choose. 

5. Take my will, and make it Thine;
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart; it is Thine own;
It shall be Thy royal throne,
It shall be Thy royal throne. 

6. Take my love; my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee,
Ever, only, all for Thee.

Click HERE to listen to today's hymn or learn how to sing it, if you're not familiar with it. GOD BLESS YOU!!


PASSAGES FOR COMPLETING THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

Amos: 5. 

18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. 
19. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 
20. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? 
21. I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
 22. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
 23. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
 24. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
 25. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 
26. But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. 
27. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts. 

Amos: 6. 
1. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came! 
2. Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border? 
3. Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; 
4. That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; 
5. That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; 
6. That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. 
7. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. 
8. The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein. 
9. And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. 
10. And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD. 
11. For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts. 
12. Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock: 13. Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? 14. But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness. 

Amos: 7. 
1. Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. 
2. And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
 3. The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD. 
4. Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part. 
5. Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 
6. The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD. 
7. Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. 
8. And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:
 9. And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
 10. Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 
11. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. 
12. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 
13. But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.
 14. Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: 
15. And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. 
16. Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. 
17. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land. 

Amos: 8. 
1. Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
 2. And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
 3. And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence. 
4. Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 
5. Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? 6. That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 
7. The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 
8. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 
9. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: 
10. And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
 11. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 
12. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 
13. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 
14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again. 

Amos: 9.
 1. I saw the LORD standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
 2. Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
 3. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
 4. And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. 5. And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 
6. It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name. 
7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 
8. Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. 
9. For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. 
10. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
 11. In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: 12. That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. 13. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. 
14. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
 15. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.


Psalm: 84. 
1. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! 
2. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. 3. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.
 4. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. 
5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. 
6. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
 7. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. 
8. O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.
 9. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. 
10. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 
11. For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 
12. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.