OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL: SATURDAY JANUARY 18TH 2025

-
Image
TOPIC: PRODUCE SONS MEMORISE :  Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient towards all men. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 READ : Philemon 1:10-18 10 I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: 11 Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me: 12 Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels: 13 Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel: 14 But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. 15 For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever; 16 Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord? 17 If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. 18 If he ...
Post a Comment

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL. A SACRIFICE OF LOVE: MONDAY 11TH DECEMBER 2017

-

Memorise:
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
Psalm 116:17

Read: Psalm 116:17-19

17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.

18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.

19 In the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord.

Message:
If you have been washed in the precious blood of the lamb, thanking God for the salvation of your soul is something you need to do daily for the rest of your life. Some people throw parties to celebrate milestones and achievements in different areas of life, but Jesus said that what should give us the greatest joy is the fact that we are saved and have our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Luke 10:20). That your name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life is a great testimony that you should regularly thank God for whenever you pray.

However, giving thanks to god is not always a very easy thing to do, particularly if you have been going through a spate of negative and very sad events or experiences. In such situations, thanking God requires sacrifice. Our God loves sacrifices- particularly a sacrifice of thanksgiving. No wonder the Psalmist says thus in Psalm 116:17

“I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.”

When you offer thanksgiving to god at a time when every situation is your life is saying that He doesn’t deserve it or that He has forsaken you, it is sacrificial.

Similarly, your thanksgiving is sacrificial when you thank God even when he has not granted your request. This is an expression of faith. Sacrificial thanksgiving glorifies God and proves to Him that your faith is Christ has spiritual substance. Do you know that most people remember to thank God only when they believe He has “earned it’? Such people live by a personal philosophy which says “whenever God does something for me, only then will I give Him thanks in return.” Such an attitude is simply calculative and myopic. There are so many things God does for us every day which we take for granted as normal everyday occurrence, but the truth is, nothing is ever really “normal”, and every day comes with its challenges. Those who give God a sacrifice of thanksgiving do so because they choose to. They choose to see things from God’s perspective, which makes them see reasons why they ought to be grateful to God, even when other people cannot see any reason why.

Action Point:
Apply the lessons learnt in today’s study to offer God a sacrificial thanksgiving today.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalm 142-150, Haggai 1:1-11

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE

HYMN 8:
GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be

Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love
Refrain:

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.
Refrain:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL: FRIDAY OCTOBER 11TH 2024

-
Image
TOPIC: COMMITTING GOD MEMORISE : I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. Psalm 138:2 READ: ISAIAH 40:4-8 4. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 6. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: 7. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. 8. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. MESSAGE : Do you know that it is possible to commit God to do some things for you and leave Him with no choice but to do them? Psalm 115:3 says that God is sove...
Read more

OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL: THURSDAY JANUARY 2ND 2025

-
Image
TOPIC: PRAYERS FOR 2025 MEMORISE :  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: Genesis 12:2 READ : Isaiah 35:1-10 1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. 3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. 4 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 5 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. ...
Read more

OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL: THURSDAY MAY 9TH 2024

-
Image
TOPIC: THE SNARE OF THE FOWLER 4 MEMORISE:  All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 1 Corinthians 6:12 READ: Bible Reading Romans 6:1-23 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead w...
Read more