Friday, June 23, 2017

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL BY PASTOR E.A.ADEBOYE, 24/06/2017

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL


DATE: SATURDAY 24TH JUNE 2017

THEME: CONSEQUENCES OF SIN

Memorise:

The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. Job 15:20

Read: Genesis 3:8-19

3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

3:9 And the LORD God called umo Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was Unclad; and I hid myself.

3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast Unclad? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the fleld; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

3:16 Umo the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the fleld;

3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return umo the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

MESSAGE 

Sin can bring unimaginable consequences upon the sinner. Some years ago, I visited the maximum security prison at Kirikiri, Lagos, where I met a man who had been condemned to death. For 27 years, he had waited for the day the executioner would come for his head. While we discussed, I trembled at the repercussion of sin. He said to me, ''Even if I am released now, where do I start from, having wasted 27 years of my life?'' Do you expect such a man to be joyful during all that period of waiting? No way! He must have been sad for 27 years! Psalm 16:4 says,
''Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.''

According to this scripture, sin and sorrow go hand in hand. If you are living in sin, you cannot be separated from sorrow. If you enjoy sinning, you will be compelled to enjoy sorrow as well. If you are always sorrowful, examine your ways: it is possible your life of sorrow is the product of a sinful life.

Similarly, sin is linked with pain, struggle and tears. Job 15:20 says,
"The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.''

This scripture simply means that if you sin and continue in it, get ready to suffer for a long time, possibly throughout life. These repercussions of sin did not just start today; they have been there from the beginning. In today's Bible reading, after Adam and Eve sinned, the serpent was cursed above all other creatures and lost its legs. For the woman, the process of conception and childbirth became an issue of life and death, while the ground was cursed for man's sake. Since then, it has been a struggle for man to enter into his harvest. Before you take out your harvest from the fields, you have to sweat, suffer, weed out what you did not sow, and so on. Are you going through a lot of struggle, pain and tears over your efforts to move to the next level? First crosscheck your life to find out if these are caused by sin. If there is sin, confess it to God, ask for forgiveness and beat a fast retreat. Follow after the path of righteousness, because righteousness will ensure sorrow stays far from your life.

Prayer Point:

Father, in any way I have brought sorrow into my life because of sin, have mercy on me and deliver me today.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Judges 19
Jeremiah 51:59-52:11

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE

HYMN 11: I HAVE DECIDED TO FOLLOW JESUS

1. I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.

2. Though none go with me, I still will follow;
Though none go with me, I still will follow;
Though none go with me, I still will follow
No turning back, no turning back.

3. My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;
My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;
My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.

4. The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
No turning back, no turning back.


BIBLE IN ONE YEÀR PASSAGES

Judges: 19. 1. And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehemjudah. 2. And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Bethlehemjudah, and was there four whole months. 3. And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. 4. And his father in law, the damsel's father, retained him; and he abode with him three days: so they did eat and drink, and lodged there. 5. And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that he rose up to depart: and the damsel's father said unto his son in law, Comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way. 6. And they sat down, and did eat and drink both of them together: for the damsel's father had said unto the man, Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thine heart be merry. 7. And when the man rose up to depart, his father in law urged him: therefore he lodged there again. 8. And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart: and the damsel's father said, Comfort thine heart, I pray thee. And they tarried until afternoon, and they did eat both of them. 9. And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel's father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home. 10. But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two asses saddled, his concubine also was with him. 11. And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. 12. And his master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah. 13. And he said unto his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah. 14. And they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin. 15. And they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging. 16. And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites. 17. And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city: and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou? 18. And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehemjudah toward the side of mount Ephraim; from thence am I: and I went to Bethlehemjudah, but I am now going to the house of the LORD; and there is no man that receiveth me to house. 19. Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants: there is no want of any thing. 20. And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street. 21. So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink. 22. Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. 23. And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. 24. Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. 25. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. 26. Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light. 27. And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold. 28. And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. 29. And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel. 30. And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds. - 

Jeremiah: 51. 59. The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince. 60. So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. 61. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words; 62. Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. 63. And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: 64. And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. - 

Jeremiah: 52. 1. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3. For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. 5. So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 6. And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 7. Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain. 8. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 9. Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him. 10. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah. 11. Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. 

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