Open Heavens 2012-31 December-FORSAKEN? NO! BEGGING? NO!

Pst. E.A. Adeboye 31 December

FORSAKEN? NO! BEGGING? NO!

Memorise: I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Psalms 37:25

Read: Psalms 37:23-26

It is great to be righteous! God is keenly interested in what the righteous has. While the world focuses on the wealth of the wicked, God focuses on the little that the righteous has.

A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.

From this scripture we are told that some possessions are better than others. That means you can have little as a righteous individual and give of your little; it will be of great value to God than the individual who gives of his or her abundance but lives in secret sin. Are you righteous but you are bothered because you earn so little and cannot give much? Don't be troubled! All God is looking for is that little in your hands. He will bless it and abundance will spring forth from there.

Moreover, according to Psalms 37:17, while God is breaking the arms of the wicked, He is strengthening the hands of the righteous. God uses His hands to uphold the righteous. Are you righteous? Rejoice! You are guaranteed to stay on top because God's hands are holding you up. You will not fall. You will not fail. God is your backbone. In addition, another benefit of the righteous is that he is never forsaken. David testifies of this in Psalms 3 7:25:

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

He says during his life time, he has experienced and observed God's track record of faithfulness to the righteous. Are you righteous? God is not far from you. He is ever present with you whether you feel Him or not. He will not forsake you. In Matthew 28:20, His ever-abiding presence with the righteous is promised. Besides, David says he has never seen the children of the righteous begging bread. Psalms 3 7:3 says:

Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shall thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

Some people think to enter Heaven; they must go like Lazarus the beggar. No! You can go like wealthy and famous Abraham. You can go like influential and honourable Daniel. If truly you are righteous, your seed should not beg for food. If you see the seed of any righteous begging, you can be sure something is wrong somewhere.

PRAYER POINT

In the name of Jesus, and according to your track record of faithfulness recorded in psalms 37:25, I shall not be forsaken and my seed shall never beg bread.

Open Heavens 2012-30 December-LEARNING FROM HEAVEN'S WORSHIP

Pst. E.A. Adeboye 30 December

LEARNING FROM HEAVEN'S WORSHIP

Memorise: And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour.  2 Samuel 6:22

Read: 2 Samuel 6:20-22

Heaven is a place of order so we as heavenly citizens living here on earth are expected to do things decently and in order {1 Corinthians 14:40). Speaking of order, there is an arrangement that is noticeable around God's throne (Revelation 4:7-11). "First you have the Throne of God with God on it. Next to Him are the four living creatures, followed by the 24 thrones and the 24 elders. What do the four living creatures do?-They praise God for His holiness, His almightiness and His agelessness. And each time they do this, the 24 eiders come down from their thrones, remove their crowns, lay the crowns at the feet of the Almighty and praise and worship Him. They truly know how to worship God and I believe you should learn from them.

First, when it is time to worship God, leave your throne. This implies you have to forget your position, off ice or title before you can truly worship Him. You have to empty yourself of who you are. If you come before God in your majestic stride as a king, president, governor, etc, you cannot truly worship God because to you and in your mind, you will want to equate yourself with God saying: "After all, just as God has subjects, so do I, only that His are more than mine". Anytime you worship God with the full consciousness of your status, your worship is laden with pride and it cannot be accepted. Also, lay down your crown - your authority, power and all your achievements or else they will paint your worship in bad colours. Lay your crowns at His feet by subordinating your power, glory, achievement and position to God. Let Him know He gave these to you and that without Him you are nothing. If you fail to submit these, you will struggle with worship. Thereafter, you can sing and praise Him, call Him His names and titles. One person who knew how to worship God like the 24 elders was David. When he worshiped God, he forgot he was a king. There was a time he dropped his crown and danced like a commoner. How do you worship God today?

KEY POINT

If you come with pride into God's presence, you have not come to worship God but yourself.

Open Heavens 2012-29 December-WAIT WITH THE WORD

Pst. E.A. Adeboye 29 December

WAIT WITH THE WORD

Memorise: I have longed for thy salvation, 0 LORD, and thy law is my delight.  Psalms 119:174

Read: Psalms 119:172-174

Your attitude during the period of waiting for the fulfillment of your expectation is very crucial to God, which is why you must know how to conduct yourself during this period. Psalms 105:18-19 says, until the fulfilment of God's promise to Joseph, the Word of God tried him. A period of waiting is a period of trial. You can go through it successfully or bungle it. There are people who think the world should come to an end because they are waiting for the manifestation of God's promise. That will not happen. Some ladies who are trusting God for the fruit of the womb refuse to attend church services regularly as before or evangelise or even continue as workers. They suddenly grow cold in their service to the Lord. Are you trying to get back at God? Why down your tools? Some people may even hardly read their Bibles as if they are fighting with God. Waiting on God for fulfilment of His Word does not make Him your enemy. If you are fighting with God, why will you expect Him to grant your expectation?

According to the Psalmist, the period of waiting is a good time to delight in God's Word (Psalms 119:174). During this period, study the Word of God as you have never done. Why? It will build in you more faith to enable you wait to the end. Also, it reminds you that God can be trusted and is not unfaithful in any way. This helps to build the quality of your faith. Similarly, when you study the Word, you will come across other people who went through what you are going through and how they overcame theirs. This helps to guide you on how to handle your waiting period. Additionally, you can get reminders from God on what you are waiting for as you pitch your tent with the Word of God. This will serve as a reassurance to you that God will really do what He had earlier said He would do. What time do you give to God's Word while you wait? Never be far from your Bible while you wait on the Lord for your expectations! The Lord will answer you this season.

KEY POINT:

During your waiting period, the Bible should be your closest companion.

Open Heavens 2012-28 December-IDENTIFIED BY HUMILITY

Pst. E.A. Adeboye 28 December

IDENTIFIED BY HUMILITY

Memorise: He hath shown thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?   Micah 6:8

Read: Micah 6:3-8

After you are born again, God expects you to engage in only things that are good. Your deeds must be right and they must tally with what He will do in the circumstance. So also your thoughts must be right, for as you think so you will become. The righteous is very careful about what he thinks, for what defiles a man is inside of him. Anything he will entertain in his Heart must have passed the test recorded in Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,   whatsoever things  are just,   whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

This means the righteous has no time to dwell on anything with  lies, dishonesty or impurity. No space for anything unrighteous, bad or lacking in virtue. In the heart of the righteous, there is no space for gossips, hearsays, and backbiting. No space for anything that does not giorify God. What occupies the space of your heart? What do you think of regularly? For the righteous, his or her heart is constantly fed with God's Word, edifying things, and things that will help to establish the fellow in the faith. What do you frequently listen to?

The righteous does only what is right and upholds justice. If you are righteous, you cannot stand injustice, not to talk of being unjust to someone. The righteous is identified by the level of mercy he shows and how he walks in humility before God. Humility is one major mark of identifying the righteous. When sinners are humble, you can almost take them for believers, yet a humble sinner is still a sinner bound for Hell except he or she allows that humility to bring him or her to repentance and to accept Jesus Christ. If you are proud, you are not righteous. You cannot have what will make God to destroy you and still claim to be like Him. Are you righteous?

KEY POINT

No matter the depth of humility of a sinner, the fact that he or she has refused to accept God's Gift - Jesus Christ, he or she is proud.

Open Heavens 2012-27 December-PAINS OF SEPARATION - 2

Pst. E.A. Adeboye 27 December

PAINS OF SEPARATION - 2

Memorise: Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. John 15:4

Read: 1 Samuel 4:1-11

Besides the Lord Jesus Christ, another Bible character who went through the pains of separation from God was Job. In Job 23:1-9, right in the middle of his trial, Job made several attempts at contacting God but he could not sense Him around. He had questions to ask but no answers. He had prayers to make but they were not granted. He had pains but no relief. How he needed an explanation over the troubles he was going through! The temporary loss of fellowship with God multiplied his pains and he complained bitterly. In addition, Saul, the first king of Israel was separated from God not out of a trial of faith but out of persistent disobedience. If you continue to disobey God, at a particular time, He will cut off from you. When God left King Saul, God's place was occupied by an evil spirit (1 Samuel 16:13-14), This spirit was saddled with the task of afflicting him once in a while. At such a time, you would take him for a mad fellow until he calmed down. Following this example, God's separation from someone can cause insanity. Apart from this, after God left Saul, God replaced him with David even though he was still physically the one on the throne of Israel.

The children of Israel also experienced the effect of separation from God. They were at war with the Philistines and at some point, they brought the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefield and shouted. They thought they could now overcome their enemies. Unfortunately, the scared Philistines still defeated them because Israel had sinned and God had withdrawn from them (1 Samuel 4:2-8). It simply shows that you could have the Ark but not have the God of the Ark. It is dangerous to call on the name of Jesus while fighting your enemies when you still have sins in your life or you are not even born again. He may hear you out of His mercy like many have experienced and you may get the disgrace of your life like the seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19:14-17), Never fight the enemy or demons when you are not spiritually in tune. Do everything possible to retain God's presence with you because you are only assured of victory over enemies when He is with you.

KEY POINT

When you are not sure of God's presence, don't dare anything in your own power, wisdom or ability.