Same Standard

Tuesday 7 August                                                                Bible in one year :Joshua 4-6

Memorise : For i am the Lord , i change not;therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.Malachi 3:6

Read: Malachi 3:6-7

Immediately Elisha smote River Jordan , he asked for the God of Elijah.Though his spiritual father and mentor was gone,he knew the God of his father was still around.

And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him,and smote the waters, and he said , Where is the God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted and hither and thither: and Elisha went over . 2 Kings 2:14

There is a thin line between reverencing men of God and Idolatry. When your spiritual father dies, it is either you look for him expecting him to come back from grave to attend to your needs or you look out for his God. If you look for him, you will fall into error of Idolatry where many have fallen,but if you look for his God then you are on the right track. Who are you looking for:the dead or living God? Why do you think that after Moses died God buried on the mountain all by Himself? Nobody knew his grave. Why ? It was so that many Israelites will not start looking up to a corpse as their God and forget about the living God.Leaders must be very careful never to point the flock to themselves but to Jesus their Owner.

When a bona fide man of God passes on , remember that the God of that man remains.Our God is eternal,immortal and invisible (1 Timothy 1:17). Even when you cannot see Him, He is there. Elijah may be gone but God is still there. Malachi 3:6 says He does not change with time or with the fleeting customs of men. This is why i tell people that God is the most conservative Person in the universe. The dress(light) He has been wearing since the beginning of creation is still what He is wearing today. It is what is not good enough that is constantly changed, but if it is perfect there is no need for change.God does not bend His rule to suit anyone.Once He has spoken, it is a settled case. Many of us still believe that God needs to learn from modern man so as to adjust His standards. For instance,some people think that stress,traffic jams and modern challenges of urban cities are good enough reason for not meeting up with God’s expectations. Sorry to disappoint you, the word of God is settled in heaven and His foundations stands sure. Simply ask for grace to comply

PRAYER POINT: Ask God for grace to keep to His standards.

Open Heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye

Trusting in your looks

Monday 6 August                                                Bible in one year: Joshua 1-3

Memorise : Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain : but a woman that feareth the Lord , she shall be praised .Proverbs 31:30

Read: Ezekiel 16:14-15

The expectations of believers sometimes fail because they are based on the wrong foundation. Expectations that are presumptuous would most likely fail. So also would expectations based on physical qualities such as an individual’s good looks, stature or charm. If you expectation for a husband or a good home is based on your beauty, it may be dashed. There are many ladies who are not beautiful but they are married to good husbands and there are many pretty ladies who earlier thought marriage would be the easiest thing for them; in fact, they become so choosy that today that have aged, but are without husbands. If you think beauty or handsomeness will give you a good home, you should have a rethink. Take a man like Absalom. As a man he was described as being beautiful. His kind of beauty was the type that would make any pretty lady green with envy. Apart from Lucifer, Absalom was another personality described as being perfect in beauty. Most ladies would fight to have him as a husband. But at the end they would have regretted that decision.

Imaging what he did? He murdered his half-brother who raped his sister, he spearheaded a rebellion against his father and toppled him, he openly slept with his father’s concubines and he planned to kill his father but for God’s intervention. At the end he died prematurely .His wife became a widow too. His three sons and daughter became fatherless. They lived the evil tag of being the children of a rebel who died shamefully (2Samuel14:25-27). If you think you are too beautiful or to handsome to marry the fellow God has chosen for you as a life partner, make no mistake, you will end up marrying the Absaloms and Jezebels of this world. Some men are equally languishing in regret in the confines of their homes because instead of going to the Match Maker and creator, they failed to pray effectively. They believed   their physical attractiveness would pull sisters to them, and they would find a good wife from among them. Any partner you get from God is the best you can ever have, no matter how imperfect the fellow is. Go to the Lord today!

PRAYER POINT: Father, in any way I have trusted in my looks and physique, have mercy on me. From today, I put all my trust in you.

Open Heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye

Quality and timing of seed

Sunday 5 August                                     Bible in one year:Proverbs 4-7

Memorise: They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Psalm 126:5

One foundational truth about giving is that the way seed is sown will determine the type of harvest it will bring.The costliest seed opens the greatest doors.Do not sow anyhow but let your sowing be a deliberate effort,targeted at a definite result.This should guide you in sowing your seed : Before  you sow, determine the type of harvest you want,prayerfully consider the seed that can trigger that harvest,then go ahead and sow. If you want small harvest ,sow small but if you want some  big harvest,sow big. If you want an enduring harvest, sow regularly and continuously towards it . If you want a precious harvest or a harvest of high value, sow valuable and precious seeds. If you want harvest that people have received before , sow the seed that people have given before, but if you want a harvest that nobody has received before,then sow the seed nobody has given before. If you want God’s treasury to be open to you 24/7, open your treasury to God 24/7. If you want God’s all, give your all. The harvest you get is largely depended on you.

The timing of an offering is also very important.Some seeds you will be required to give may still be relevant after six months or a year.But there are some seeds you will be required to sow at an opportune time. If you fail to sow the seed at such  a time, even if you later do so, you would have missed heavenly promo or jackpot attached to it.God is the Father of all born again Christians. It is His duty to take care of us and He has promised to do so.Supposing a particular brother is in dire need of money and the fellow is holding onto God;in response , the Lord looks around and He finds you; He tells you to go immediately to meet the brother’s needs but you refused, feigning you do not know if it is God speaking to you. That need may not have been met because of your hardness of heart, and the brother will be discourage because God would have been painted as an unfaithful God by your inaction.But if you immediately responded and tell the fellow God sent you to him, he will be very glad and God will reward you for your obedience.

KEY POINT: if every believer will obey God promptly, credibility issues that are raised concerning God or His word will be drastically reduced.

Open Heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye

Heeding traffic lights?

Saturday 4 August                               Bible in one year : Deuteronomy 29-31

Memorise: The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord;and He delighteth in his way. Psalm 37:23
Read: Matthew 2:19-23

The things we see in the empirical world ought to give us a better understanding of our God. This truth is expressed in Romans 1:20

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,being understood by the things that are made,even His eternal power and Godhead; so they are without excuse:

We can learn some truths about God by studying traffic lights.This creation of man consist of colours Red,Yellow and Green, the combination of these colours is used in exercising control. We find the combination of these colours also present in rainbow and when white light is dispersed by a prism .We have been looking at the essence of God from the context of these colours as our God is described as lights in 1 John 1:5, Psalm 37:23 says
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord : he delighteth in his way.

When God loves a man, He will control his movement the same way traffic lights control the movements of vehicles and pedestrians.Take for example Elijah in 1 Kings 17:1-6, God told Elijah, “go to the brooks” and he went . Later, He told him, “Go to the widow of Zaraphath” and he did.Wherever God sent him, he was ready to go and his needs were ever met. Similarly, Isaac was another very obedient servant.If you do a study of him,you will find out that through his life,there was no where God was angry with him.This is because he lived in obedience.A famine came upon the land and Isaac wanted to leave but God asked him to stay and he obeyed (Genesis 26:1-4).In the same vein, the Lord instructed Joseph to run to Egypt with the child Jesus and he obeyed (Matthew 2:13-23).

Control covers every aspect of life. Sometimes the red light will come on and God will say stop or wait. Many people do not want to see this as they walk with God but it is only for their own good.When you continue to move when God says stop, you will get into trouble.At other times , God may show you yellow sign, meaning that a particular blessings you are asking for will soon be released, so get ready. If you are not ready at that time you may miss it.Then there are times God will show you green light to go on. It could concerning who to marry, where to further your education,etc. Once you get the green light , go ahead. When you pray to God , He uses these colours to speak to you.Have you been sensitive to these colours? Or do you jump the gun? The one who sees red but gives himself green will have tales of disappointment to share.

KEY POINT:if you faithfully obey spiritual traffic signs,your progress will be rapid, you will remain in God’s will and you will be spared unnecessary headaches.

Open Heavens by Pastor E. A Adeboye

maximise your spiritual nationality

Friday 3 August                                  Bible in one year : Proverbs 29-31

Memorise: and they also, if they abide not not still in unbelief,shall be gaffed in :for God is able to graft them in again. Romans 11:23

Read: Romans 11:15-24

All the fantastic promises God made to the nation of Israel were transferred to the new Israel of God birthed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 2:28-29 reveals that a displacement of natural Jews has occurred in the spirit;hence we spiritual Jews, right now have a central place in God's heart and occupy a major place in God's agenda for the last days. From this switch, we learn that nobody is indispensable and no nation or people are indispensable.Whatever the Lord has assigned to you,for which the grace to do it as being released, accept it and handle with all humility, thankfulness ,faithfulness, and dedication because if otherwise handled,you can be replaced.God has no plan to replace anyone who is faithfully occupying the position given to him or her; rather he wants to add more responsibility to the fellow.You shall not be replaced in Jesus name.If you are doing something in a wrong way and you are being corrected, but you think you know better, and so you refuse to change course, you are calling for the hammer. When it falls, blame nobody but yourself.

Another lesson here is that God is never moved by outward appearance or empty promises but by action and performance. If you want to move God, perform .Put an end to empty promises or boasts!He is not also not moved by outward shows but by the content of the heart.If you are a spiritual Jew- a Jew by the reason of your new birth experience in Christ Jesus , you qualify to claim all the promises God made to Abraham. So what happens to the nation of Israel? To be relevant, they have to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and become part of His body - the Church. Such people will be spiritual Jews as well as Jews in the flesh. However, Paul by the Spirit warns spiritual Jews not to show pride or any form of boasting because the same God who broke off the natural branches (nation of Israel) and grafted us into the olive tree, is able to brake us off too. What will determine whether you will remain or not are your works of faith , obedience, service and humility. Eventually , after the rapture of the church,God will resume His plan for the nation of Israel. Maximise your spiritual nationality while you have the opportunity.

ACTION POINT: List out 20 covenants blessings of a spiritual Jew. How many of these have you benefited from? Ask God to manifest pending promises in your life.

Love

Thursday 2 August                             Bible in one year: Proverbs 25-28

Memorise: let brotherly love continue . Hebrews 13:1

Read: 2 Samuel 1:25-26

Your reason for seeking God will determine whether you love Him or lust after His works.Ask any Christian in God’s service ,”Why are you committed to God’s work?” The reply most likely will be , “Because of Heaven, crowns and other rewards i will receive”. Although rewards has its place in service, this only goes to show us that many of us are in God’s service because of what we can get from it, not  because we love God. If you fall under this category, you should reorder your priorities and make your love for God the reason for all Kingdom exploits.There is a brother stands out in this area. It was said of him that when he died, he was taken to Heaven. He was given a befitting welcome in Heaven. Afterwords , they took him to his mansion and rewards but he told the angels that he was not there for the crown and mansion, but that he just wanted to see the Lord. What love! May you love the Lord to the point that everything else-be it on earth and in Heaven will be secondary.

The word “love” is used casually at most times and this ought not to be so. It is pretty difficult to define love because love is a person. It is declared in 1 John 4:8 what God is love. To accurately define love, you must be able to define God correctly. After several years of walking with God ,Paul said: ” I still don’t know Him. I want to know Him” (Philippians 3:10). The word “love” is applied to different things and there are different kinds of love. For instance , Isaac asked for the food his soul loves in Genesis 27:1-4. Different people love different things;some may love vegetable soup while another may love sleep, play ,dance, etc. Some love are detrimental example of this is the love of sleep which leads to poverty ( Proverbs 20:13). There is a kind of love that patriotic citizens have for their country hence Psalms 122:6 says if you love Jerusalem, you will prosper. Another kind of love exist between a man and his wife, this can be seen in Genesis 29:18 where Jacob is said to love Rachel. Looking at the relationship between David and Jonathan, we are introduced to brotherly love which 2 Samuel 1:26 says is stronger than erotic love. Hebrews 13:1 says we should continue in brother love.Is the love you show to your fellow brethren as strong as the one you show to your spouse ? Ask for God’s grace to love members of God’s Kingdom with brotherly love. How do you love today ?

KEY POINT :Greater love has no man than this , that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Open Heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye

change

CHANGE

Wednesday 1 August                 Read the bible in one year : Proverbs 22-24

Memorise: And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail . Hebrew 1:12

The only constant thing in life is change. God’s covenant moved from the Old testament to the New.That was a profound change that shaped the whole world. When Jesus came, the Old Testament was in force. He introduced the New Testament during His ministry on earth , giving men a glimpse of the change to come and reorienting their understanding. After His death,burial and resurrection , the New Testament in His blood was established. Those who fail to go with the change end up blaming themselves. They will be cut off from so many benefits. For instance, during the days of the early church, when Paul travelled to Ephesus , he met some disciples who were baptised by John the Baptist. Based on what they knew, they were still expecting the Messiah who John had come to usher in . Unknown to these, the Messiah had come, affected their world and gone. One would wonder where these disciples were when great multitudes thronged the meeting organised by the Lord.  However , they were receptive to change based on the new information they heard, so they were baptised again as commanded by the Lord, and they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

We need to recognise that God is at the centre of several changes all over the world because He rules the affairs of men.Daniel 2:21 says He changes times and seasons to suit His purposes.But while He effects change, He does not change.He is the same ( Hebrews 1:10-22). He introduces changes so as to make room for a difference. When a piece of cloth is dyed and turns grey, it is said that it has changed colour.Change can also mean replacement, for instance when you change the tyres of your car. Change give room for variety, yet not all changes are desirable. When you change from good to bad, that is a negative change and undesirable. Equally bad is moving from success to failure. God expects positive change from you. Change from being a bench warmer in church to an active worker or minister. There are certain areas in your life that require change. Some things need to be dropped. You would also need to acquire healthy habits and behavioural patterns.Change now!

KEY POINT:  Life is all about change. If you do not adapt to change , you might be rendered irrelevant.

Open Heavens by Pastor E. A Adeboye