PREPARED? Tuesday 28 August 2012

Open Heavens Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye

Memorise: If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21

Read: Matthew 3:13-17

If you are a bona fide child of God, the rivers and seas will serve you. River Jordan served Joshua, Elijah and Elisha. The Red Sea swallowed up the Egyptian hosts chasing the Israelites. The sea solidified under the feet of Jesus for Him to walk on. From today, the rivers, oceans, lakes and sea will serve you. This is one aspect of God’s creation that has been put under man’s dominion in Genesis 1:28. Today, the rivers still serve us in the baptism of saved souls. The water will not swallow your blessings in Jesus name. Have you lost any good thing to the river? Command that specific river to vomit it in Jesus name.

Another lesson regarding the parting of River Jordan is that while a river can receive a positive anointing which can be of later use, it can also receive a negative anointing which can negatively impact on someone’s life and destiny later. In the first aspect, after contacting the anointing on the three men of God, the river was ready to be used by God to release healing to Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-14). No wonder it was also the same river prepared for the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 3:13-17). The river was prepared before it was used. Its use had nothing to do with its size or how physically clean it was. Going by what Naaman initially said, there were even other better rivers than Jordan, yet Jordan was the one that had been prepared. God likes to use vessels He has prepared. If He has used you before, He would want to use you again. The more you make yourself available to Him, the more He will use you. The more He uses you, the more He will use you to do greater things and to handle more sensitive or special assignments for Him. Are you available for His use? On the other hand, after Naaman dipped seven times into River Jordan, his leprosy was retained by the river which was later transferred to Gehazi. A lot of rubbish is dropped in rivers physically, as well as spiritually. It is possible for some people to contact demon spirits, marine spirits and negative power from rivers. It is also possible for somebody to pick up what another person has dropped. This is why we have to be very prayerful. Have you been covenanted with water spirits when you were young? Renounce such covenants, break them by the blood of Jesus and rededicate your life to Jesus. If you are not yet born again, give your life to Jesus and see your pastor for deliverance prayers. Command every negative thing that has come into your life from the waters to return to their source.

KEY POINT:

Those God will use to do greater Kingdom tasks often go through tougher trials of longer duration.

 

Bible in one year: Hosea 1-4