OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL BY PASTOR E.A.ADEBOYE,19/12/2017

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL...



DATE:  TUESDAY 19TH DECEMBER 2017



THEME:  STUDENT FOR LIFE!


MEMORISE:



A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:                                                                                                               Proverb 1:5



READ: Proverb 1:1-6



1:1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

1:2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;

1:3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;

1:4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

1:6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.



MESSAGE:

“A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:”                                                                                Proverb 1:5



According to the above scripture, knowledge is good, although not all knowledge is necessary for the children of God. It also states that only a wise fellow will benefit from what he hears. If you are taught something but you fail to act on it, you are at a great disadvantage compared to those who were not exposed to such information at all. Why? Jesus says that on the last day, it is the word of God that will judge us. In other words, any sound teaching from God’s word that you heard but fail to act upon will stand against you on the last day. This means that just as the word of God can liberate a person, that same word can also condemn him or her. May you not be condemned by what you have heard in Jesus’ Name! This is why you need to live your life by every word of God or teaching from the Bible you have received.



From Proverb 1:5, we also learn that if knowledge is given its rightful position in your life, what you are taught will provoke you to desire more knowledge. In other words, if you are wise, you will always remain a student throughout your life, because one revelation of God’s word will prompt you to search for another in an unending chain. In this regard, believers are expected to be like professionals who need to constantly update their knowledge. Are you always seeking to know more? Do you find time to read good, inspiring books? It is popularly said that leaders are readers. If you fail to read and learn from the experiences and wealth of knowledge of others, you will only be left with the stale information that you have inside you. Therefore, seek knowledge from today! For you to lead in your group, you ought to know what others do not know. According to Ecclesiastics 9:18, winning a war is not only dependent on the nature of the weapons available to you, but more on what you know and your ability to apply what you know to the situation at hand. If there is one area every believer in Christ should work on, it is to know God more. How well are you doing in this area?





KEY POINT:



It is either you are current and relevant, or you become stale and abandoned. Its your choice to make!



BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:



Proverb 1-4



Zachariah 7:1-8:8



                                                                                                          

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE





HYMN 12: HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS



How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds,

And drives away our fear.




It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
’Tis manna to the hungry soul,

And to the weary rest,



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


How weak the effort of my heart,
How cold my warmest thought;
But when I see you as you are,
I’ll praise you as I ought.


Till then I would your love proclaim
With every fleeting breath;
And may the music of your name

Refresh my soul in death.

Prayer Points on Today's Open Heavens: (Tuesday, December 19th, 2017) - STUDENT FOR LIFE 

1.Thank you, Father, for your promises and for making me a partaker of your divine nature.

2.Father, in anyway, l have fallen short of your glory, please, have mercy and forgive me, in Jesus' name.

3.Father, reveal more of yourself to me, in Jesus' name.

4.Father, make me a seeker and student of divine wisdom and knowledge, forever, in Jesus' name.

5.Father, let me not only be hearer of your word, but also, the doer and preacher, in Jesus' name.

6.Father, give me the grace to obey and hearken diligently to all your commandments, in Jesus' name.

7.Father, do not allow your word to stand against me on the day of judgement, in Jesus' name.

8.Father, empower me to fear you and to live my life, according to your word and teachings, in Jesus' name.

9.Father, let your words, provoke me to learn and know more of you, and to submit totally to your Will and counsels, in Jesus' name.

10.Father, help me to cultivate the habit of daily study of your word, read inspiring christian books and listen to tapes of genuine, faithful and committed, christian leaders, in Jesus' name.

11.Father, wherever Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the author of the open heavens daily devotional and general overseer of RCCG, goes, let your presence go with him; give your angels charge over him, and grant him journey mercies, in Jesus' name.

12.Your Personal petitions.
( Philippians 4:6)
13.In Jesus' name I pray.
(John 14:13-14; 15:16)
14.Thank you Father for answered prayers.
(1 Thessalonians 5:18).
#GodBlessOurNation


BIBLE IN ONE YEAR PASSAGES

Proverbs 1: 1. The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; 2. To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 3. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 4. To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 5. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: 6. To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. 7. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 8. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 9. For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. 10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. 11. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: 12. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: 13. We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: 14. Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: 15. My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: 16. For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. 17. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. 18. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. 19. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. 20. Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: 21. She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, 22. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 23. Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 24. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25. But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26. I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29. For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30. They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. 32. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 33. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. 

Proverbs 2: 1. My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2. So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3. Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4. If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5. Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. 6. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. 7. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. 8. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. 9. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. 10. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11. Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: 12. To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; 13. Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 14. Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; 15. Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: 16. To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; 17. Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. 18. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. 19. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. 20. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. 21. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. 22. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. 

Proverbs 3: 1. My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2. For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4. So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. 5. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 7. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. 8. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. 9. Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 10. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. 11. My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: 12. For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. 13. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. 14. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. 15. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. 16. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. 17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18. The is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her. 19. The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. 20. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew. 21. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: 22. So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. 23. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. 24. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. 25. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. 26. For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. 27. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. 28. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee. 29. Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. 30. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. 31. Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. 32. For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous. 33. The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just. 34. Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly. 35. The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.


Proverbs 4: 1. Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. 2. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. 3. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. 4. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. 5. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. 6. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. 7. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. 8. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. 9. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. 10. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. 11. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. 12. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. 13. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life. 14. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 15. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. 16. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. 17. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. 18. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 19. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. 20. My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. 24. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. 25. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 26. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. 27. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. 

Zechariah 7: 1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu; 2. When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before the LORD, 3. And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? 4. Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, 5. Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? 6. And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? 7. Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain? 8. And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, 9. Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: 10. And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. 11. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. 12. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. 13. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts: 14. But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

Zechariah 8: 1. Again the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, 2. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. 3. Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain. 4. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. 5. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. 6. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the LORD of hosts. 7. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; 8. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness