OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2026

TOPIC: GREATER IS THE END

MEMORISE:

Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase. - Job 8:7

READ: Ecclesiastes 7:8

8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof:

and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

MESSAGE

In life, the end of anything must be given more attention than its beginning. I am the son of a farmer who was so poor that poor people called him poor. For the first 18 years of my life, I didn’t own any shoes, but God has transformed me into someone who is celebrated all over the world today.

Child of God, what is essential in life is not how your life began, but how it progresses and ultimately ends. No matter how rough your past may have been, you must forge ahead and not allow it to weigh you down. If you were a terrible sinner, for instance, you must note that you are now born again, and you must not think that God cannot use you like He is using others. Your former nature is gone; you are born again, and you are a new person altogether (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Some may have believed that Elisha had already reached his peak as a prosperous farmer in 1 Kings 19:12, out in truth, God’s greater purpose for his life had only just begun. When the hand of the Lord came upon him, he became a renowned prophet with access to kings, nations, and economies. When you truly walk with Jesus, your past achievements will pale in comparison to the glory God will reveal through you. 2 Corinthians 3:1-18 discusses the ministry of condemnation and the ministry of righteousness. Here, Paul was comparing Moses’ ministry with Jesus’ ministry. Although Moses’ ministry was temporary, it was still described as glorious, but its glory was nothing compared to the eternal and enduring glory of Jesus Christ.

Whatever glory you think you have experienced in your life up until now pales in comparison to what God has in store for you.

Beloved, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain when you surrender to Jesus. In Acts 2, after the Holy Spirit came upon Peter and the other apostles, he preached the gospel and warned his listeners to save themselves from the corrupt generation in which they lived (Acts 2:40). I also urge you to save yourself from this corrupt generation. Just as those who heard Peter received his word gladly and were baptised (Acts 2:41), I encourage you to receive this word gladly. I pray that the Almighty God will keep leading you from glory to glory, in Jesus’ name.

KEY POINT

No matter how your past has been, God has designed a glorious end for you.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

Amos 5-9

HYMN: I’M PRESSING ON

1 I’m pressing on the upward way,

New heights I’m gaining every day;

Still praying as I onward bound,

“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

 

Lord, lift me up, and let me stand

By faith on Canaan’s tableland;

A higher plane than I have found,

Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

2 My heart has no desire to stay

Where doubts arise and fears dismay;

Though some may dwell where these abound,

My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.

3 I want to live above the world,

Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;

For faith has caught the joyful sound,

The song of saints on higher ground.

4 I want to scale the utmost height

And catch a gleam of glory bright;

But still I’ll pray till rest I’ve found,

“Lord, lead me on to higher ground.”