OPEN HEAVEN DAILY DEVOTIONAL...
DATE : SUNDAY 5th MARCH 2017
THEME : HE BEARS BURDENS
Memorise:
Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. 1st Peter 5:7
Read: Matthew 27:27-32
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross
MESSAGE:
In Exodus 1:8-11, a generation of the children of Israel woke up one day and realised they had become slaves in a foreign land. From that moment, their children were born into slavery. Slavery became a burden that was attached to them for hundreds of years. Has something unsavoury been attached to you from birth? The Lord shall separate you from such burdens today in Jesus’ Name! Thankfully, just as there are burdens, there are also burden-bearers. A burden-bearer is someone who sees you carrying some burden and offers to carry it for you, or gives you a helping hand. We see this demonstrated in today’s Bible reading. While leading Jesus to Golgotha where He would to crucified, the Roman soldiers made Him carry His heavy wooden cross. Even though He had been thoroughly beaten, was bleeding and was tired, He still had to carry his cross. As they began the journey, Simon of Cyrene came alone and he was compelled by the soldiers to assist Jesus in carrying His cross.
Some years ago, we had an experience with one of our domestic workers. Whenever we ask her to suggest a chorus during our family devotion, she would always raise a particular song that says, “The fire is burning the bush but the bush is not consumed, how great is our God.” One day, we curiously decided to find out about this fire she kept singing of. On interviewing her, we discovered that she became a housemaid because her parents were heavily indebted and could not pay. By the grace of God, we paid the debt. The following day, when asked to suggest a chorus during prayer time, she sang a new song which proclaimed “He has done it for me!” if you have carried a burden for so long and the burden gets lifted away, your song will indeed change. The burden-bearer is the one who sees you carrying a burden and empathises with you. He comes to say to you that the load you are carrying is too heavy for you, and then offers to help you. There is no greater burden-bearer than then the Lord Jesus Christ! He wants to help you carry any load you are struggling with. Here is His call to you today:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28
Accept His invitation, and call Him for help.
Action Point:
Confess those words to the Lord: Lord Jesus, I answer to Your call, I bring all of my burden to You. I lay them all at Your feet. I ask that You give me rest. Teach my heart to learn to cast all of my cares upon You in Faith, and to live in worry.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR :Genesis 34-35 and Isaiah 51:1-16
AUTHOR : Pastor E. A ADEBOYE
HYMN2 : WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR PSSSAGES
Genesis: 34. 1. And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. 3. And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. 4. And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. 5. And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come. 6. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. 7. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done. 8. And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. 9. And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. 10. And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. 11. And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. 12. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. 13. And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister: 14. And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us: 15. But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; 16. Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. 17. But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone. 18. And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor's son. 19. And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father. 20. And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, 21. These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22. Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. 23. Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us. 24. And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city. 25. And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. 26. And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out. 27. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28. They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, 29. And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house. 30. And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. 31. And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?
Genesis: 35. 1. And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. 2. Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: 3. And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. 4. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 5. And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. 6. So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. 7. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. 8. But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth. 9. And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him. 10. And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. 11. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; 12. And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. 13. And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him. 14. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. 15. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. 16. And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. 17. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. 18. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin. 19. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. 20. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. 21. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar. 22. And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: 23. The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: 24. The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin: 25. And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali: 26. And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padan-aram. 27. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. 28. And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years. 29. And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Isaiah: 51. 1. Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. 2. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. 3. For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. 4. Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. 5. My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. 6. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. 7. Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. 8. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. 9. Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? 10. Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? 11. Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. 12. I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; 13. And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? 14. The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. 15. But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name. 16. And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people. 17. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. 18. There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up. 19. These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? 20. Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God. 21. Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: 22. Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: 23. But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.
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