OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL BY PASTOR E.A.ADEBOYE, 18/05/2017

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL

DATE: THURSDAY MAY 18TH 2017

THEME: DEFENDING HIS NAME 

Memorise:

Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. Psalm 106:8

Read: Psalm 106:7-9

106:7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.

106:8 Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.

106:9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

MESSAGE:

The Bible declares that our God is a very present help in time of trouble (Psalm 46:1). This means that He is ever-present or always ready to help in the time of trouble. There are several reasons why God makes His help available to a person. Understanding these reasons and applying them to your life will go a long way in helping you experience God as an ever-present help. One of these reasons is to fulfil His promises. God is very committed to His promises; hence, Psalm 89:34 says,

“My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.”
If He has purposed to help you, he will not change His mind midway. Numbers 23:19 says,

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

God’s word has integrity. He regards His word above His name (Psalm 138:2). Every promise He has made to you shall be fulfilled speedily! God cannot violate his word, so you can be sure that He will keep His promise to help you.

Another reason why God reaches out to help a man is for the sake of His Name. if you genuinely belong to God, he will help you because you bear His Name and are called by His Name in this world (Acts 15:17). No wonder Psalm 106:8 says,

“Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.”

That means His intervention goes beyond your asking. He will intervene to defend His Name and show His power. At certain bus stops in life, some people will challenge you by asking “Where is your God?” Some may even say “If your God is truly alive, He should have delivered you by now.” If you are in such situation, take heart and be unmovable. In Daniel 3:14-29, King Nebuchadnezzar initially asked the three Hebrew children “who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” however, by the time God was through with him, he publicly confessed that there was no God like their God. Is your child in a situation that appears hopeless? Is your business or career going through some impossible storm? God will step into your situation and calm the storms! The Lord is speaking peace to every impossible situation you are up against right now. He will surely bring you out of the storm, not just because of you, but because of His Name that you bear. In that situation you are going through, the Lord will defend His Name, and He will not put you to shame. He will demonstrate His power just to give you the last laugh in Jesus’ Name.

Prayer Point:

Father, in this present situation I find myself, arise and defend your matchless Name.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Deuteronomy 29-30
Jeremiah 32:16-2 5

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE

HYMN 12: HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS

1 How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.


2 It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
'Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary rest.


3 Jesus, my Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
My Prophet, Priest, and King;
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
Accept the praise I bring.


4 Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see Thee as Thou art
I'll praise Thee as I ought.

5 Till then I would Thy love proclaim
With every fleeting breath;
And may the music of Thy Name
Refresh my soul in death!
Prayer Points on Today's Open Heavens: (Thursday, May 18th, 2017.) - DEFENDING HIS NAME
1.I worship and adore you my Father; and, l lift up your name above every other name.
2.Thank you, Father, for your commitment, to upholding your promises and covenants, over my life, for your name's sake.
3.Thank you, Father, for Your Mighty name, and for all, that, Your name has accomplished for me, in life.
4.Father, in anyway, l have fallen short of your glory, please, have mercy and forgive me.
5.Father, let your name, and your name alone, be glorified, in my life, in Jesus' name.
6.Father, in this present situation I find myself, arise and defend your matchless Name.
7.Father, show forth your Mighty power, in my life and situations, that all flesh may know, that you are my Saviour and Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
8.Father, come and turn every hopeless situation in my life around, today, to the glory of your holy name.
9.Father, silence every raging storm in my life, home, marriage, career, ministry, business, etc, today, in Jesus' name.
10.Father, let every stubborn pursuer of my life and destiny, perish, in the red sea, of his own making, if he refuses, to leave me alone, in Jesus' name.
11.Father, where the enemies say there is no way for me, create a way, that your name may be glorified, in Jesus' name.
12.Your Personal petitions.
( Phil 4:6)
13.In Jesus' name I pray.
(Jn 14:13-14; 15:16)
14.Thank you Father for answered prayers.
(1 Thessalonians 5:18).
#GodBlessOurNation

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR PASSAGES
Deuteronomy: 29. 1. These are the words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. 2. And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; 3. The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: 4. Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. 5. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. 6. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God. 7. And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them: 8. And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh. 9. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do. 10. Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, 11. Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: 12. That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day: 13. That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; 15. But with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day: 16. (For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which ye passed by; 17. And ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them:) 18. Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; 19. And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: 20. The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven. 21. And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law: 22. So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it; 23. And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath: 24. Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? 25. Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: 26. For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: 27. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: 28. And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day. 29. The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. 

Deuteronomy: 30. 1. And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, 2. And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; 3. That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. 4. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: 5. And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. 6. And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. 7. And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. 8. And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. 9. And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: 10. If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. 11. For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. 12. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 13. Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 14. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. 15. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; 16. In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 17. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; 18. I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. 19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20. That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Jeremiah: 32. 16. Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the LORD, saying, 17. Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: 18. Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name, 19. Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings: 20. Which hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day; 21. And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror; 22. And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; 23. And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them: 24. Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it. 25. And thou hast said unto me, O Lord GOD, Buy thee the field for money, and take witnesses; for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26. Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, 27. Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? 28. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it: 29. And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger. 30. For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD. 31. For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face, 32. Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33. And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction. 34. But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it. 35. And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. 36. And now therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; 37. Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: 39. And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: 40. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. 41. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. 42. For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. 43. And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 44. Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the LORD.