OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL BY PASTOR E.A.ADEBOYE, 24/08/2018

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL

DATE: FRIDAY 24TH AUGUST 2018


THEME: AN AGENT OF MIRACLES

MEMORISE:

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 


Mark 16:17-18
READ: Matthew 10:1-8

1) And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;


3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;

4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

MESSAGE
We need to fully comprehend what our Lord meant when He said “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). More often than not, we think of giving as being limited to material things, and so we lose sight of the fact that we can also give spiritual blessings to others and make spiritual impact. The early apostles realized this truth and that was why Peter and John were not intimidated by their financial limitation (Acts 3:6). They gave from the spiritual deposits God placed in their lives. One of the attributes our Lord Jesus Christ bestowed upon His early disciples was the ability to perform miracles, and we should not be different. They were specifically commissioned by the Lord to go perform miracles. Matthew 10:7-8 says:

“And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”
It is a thing of unspeakable joy to receive a miracle. After I gave my life to Christ, the first notable benefit I received from God was victory over malaria that had hitherto plagued my life almost every month. The first month I did not fall sick was a month of celebration in my family. However, the joy of this cannot be compared to the joy I had the day the Lord first performed a miracle of healing through me. I almost jumped out of the window for joy when a dumb child spoke after I prayed for healing. Ever since then, the Lord has made this a continuous experience in my ministry. Countless miracles that may sound unbelievable have been performed by Him through our ministry. You cannot imagine the joy experienced by an agent of miracles, after God uses him or her to put smiles in the faces of several thousands of women who had been called barren. Many times, some my children would organize a dinner or luncheon for me, not only because they want to be generous to me, but because of the miracles that would follow from the encounter. I am full of joy when this happens. My prayer is that you also will become an agent of miracles today in Jesus’ Name. All you need to do is to surrender your life to Jesus and leave the rest to Him. He knows how He turned a fisherman into a fisher of men and an agent of miracles (Matthew 4:18-19, Acts 5:14-15). He also knows how He turned a person who was a danger to the Church into an apostle, whose apron could cast out demons (Acts 19:11-12). If you desire to graduate from being a consumer to an agent of performing miracles, He will fulfill the desire of your heart. Only believe!


PRAYER POINT:

Father, please make me a channel of blessings and miracles in Jesus’ Name.

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL BY PASTOR E.A.ADEBOYE,14TH AUGUST 2018

TOPIC:  MULTILATERAL PARTNERSHIP 

Memorise: I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 1st Corinthians 3:6

Read: 2nd Corinthians 8:1-15

1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;

2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;

4 Praying us with much in treaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

6 Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.

7 Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.

8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.

9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

10 And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago.

11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.

12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.

13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:

14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:

15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.

Bible in one year: Psalm 1-8, Matthew 20:1-19

Hymnal: Sing hymn 12

MESSAGE:

One thing that interests me very much about our Father in Heaven is that He loves collaboration. In the beginning, He demonstrated this attribute when He wanted to created man in His image (Genesis 1:26). He summoned the opinion of the Godhead, because the man to be created must bear resemblance to them all. After creating man, He went ahead to share some of His responsibilities with him, which was one of the reasons why He created man in the first place. All through history, God has been working in partnership with man on earth. When He would destroy the earth due to the proliferation of evil, He found Noah as a worthy instrument to partner with in warning people of the impending doom and building an ark of salvation (Genesis 6). When the salvation of mankind was to be activated, God saw a worthy vessel in a young virgin called Mary. God partnered with her and she surrendered her womb for His use (Luke 1:26-38). When Christ came, He quickly summoned some people with whom he worked until He went to the Cross, and He commissioned them to continue from where He stopped after His ascension into heaven (Mark 3:14-19, Acts 1:6-9). These examples show that God’s use of partnership in carrying out His divine agenda is established. I pray that the Almighty God will open your eyes today to see how important you are in His plans.

Paul got the inner workings of God’s principle of multilateral partnership right. In today’s memory verse, he explained that he might plant and Apollos might water, but the increase only comes from God. In other words, the success of the divine agenda is the collective responsibility of God and His human partners, especially in the area of soul-winning. Our Lord Jesus Christ also made this clear in John 15:4-5. To win the whole world for Christ requires a multilateral partnership with each and every one of us playing our part. Those who are given to preaching should continue to preach, and those called to ministration should do so as unto the Lord. Those who have the privilege of staying on their secular jobs should know that the purpose is to finance the work of the full-timers, while full-timers should not see themselves as being more spiritual than those who God has kept in secular jobs to bring meat into His storehouse. At the time of reward, it shall be as decreed in 1st Samuel 30:24:

“… but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.”

All that is required of you is faithfulness is your given area of stewardship.

Prayer Point – Open Heaven 14 August 2018

Father, please unite Your Church and drive away the spirit of division, so that we might unite for exploits.

TODAY'S HYMN:

LIFE, AND LET IT BE

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.

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.

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.

Take my sliver 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.

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.

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

Prayer Points For Today’s Open Heaven 14 August 2018 – Multilateral partnership

1.Thank you Father for freely giving me all things.

2.Thank you Father for giving me things so precious that money cannot buy, like safe journey, divine health and even, the breath of life itself.

3.Father, let your mercy override every judgement of sin in my life.

4.Father, give me the grace not only to hear from you, but also to act on your instructions.

5.Father, let an end come to every unprofitable struggle and toil, in my life, today, in Jesus’ name.

6.Father, I surrender the boat of my life for yourd use, please, possess me by your Holy Spirit to reach multitudes for you.

7.Father, you are the God that controls times and seasons, as I wait on you with my gifts, sacrifices and service, please, give me unprecedented breakthroughs, in Jesus’ name.

8.Father, before the end of this month, please, give me a mouth watering miracle, that cannot be hidden.

9.Father, let every spirit of stinginess that has shut the doors of breakthroughs against me, be consumed by your fire.

10.Father, release upon my life the spirit of giving.

11.Father, please, make me an active, committed, loyal and dependable ally and partner, in this divine partnership business.

12.Father, as I continue to wait upon you for divine direction and instructions, let your name be glorified in my life and ministry.

13.Your Personal petitions. (Phil 4:6)

14. In Jesus’ name I pray. (Jn 15:16)

15.Thank you Father for answered prayers.(1 Thes 5:18).