OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
THURSDAY AUGUST 25 2016
THEME : NOTHING GOES FOR NOTHING
MEMORISE : And after six days Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth
them up into an high mountain apart, MATTHEW
17 : 1.
READ : MATTHEWS 17 : 14 - 21 :
14 And when they were come to the multitude,
there came to him a certain man, kneeling down
to him, and saying,
15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is
lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth
into the fire, and oft into the water.
16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they
could not cure him.
17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless
and perverse generation, how long shall I be with
you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither
to me.
18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed
out of him: and the child was cured from that
very hour.
19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and
said, Why could not we cast him out?
20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your
unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith
as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto
this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place;
and it shall remove; and nothing shall be
impossible unto you.
21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer
and fasting.
MESSAGE :
In secular environments, it takes diligence to get
to the top and it takes even more diligence to
remain there. There are many people who work
really hard to get to the top but upon getting
there, they soon begin to relax. Diligence is even
more important when it comes to spiritual
responsibilities. You need to work hard to have
an encounter with God but you need to work
twice as hard to keep your encounter intact. To
get the answer to all your requests, you have to
invest a lot of time before God. Many people just
get born again and begin to relax. If you want to
command the miraculous you must be ready to
pay the price. You have to keep running until you
get to the finish line. There are people who have
not given God their entire lives, yet they want
God to always respond to all their requests. If
you want a spiritual transformation in your life,
you have to give attention and seriousness to the
business of growing daily. Following Jesus Christ
could be very costly, His standards are always
high and He will never compromise His standard
for anyone. If you want to operate in the
miraculous, you must be willing to die daily. Self-
denial is a basic qualification for discipleship and
there are many courses you have to register for
in the school of exploits. That includes fasting
while others are feasting. It includes praying
while others are sleeping. You have to study the
Bible while others are spending time on things
that will not add significant value to their lives. It
involves spiritual discipline while some people
are wasting their time away. Paul testified that
he kept his body under in order to win the prize.
Keeping the body under is self-denial. You are
deliberately doing something to achieve
something. Somebody asked me how I am able
to fast for many days and I replied that it is
always very easy for me to do so because each
time I want to start a long fast I just go to the
calender and count the number of days I want to
go and I tell my stomach "look at that day very
well, that is the time next time we shall be
taking food" it is as simple as that.
To command supernatural situations, nothing
goes for nothing. You have to engage in spiritual
exercises ;
"Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer
and fasting." Matthew 17 : 21.
If Jesus said "men ought to pray and not to
faint" ( Luke 18 : 1 ), it is very obvious that
prayer covers a wide range of issues that should
keep one very vigilant. It is in the place of prayer
that there is a guarantee of continuous Open
Heavens for every child of God. At the same
time, there are many people who have lost many
opportunities because of their understanding of
the significant prayer in commanding the release
of their heart desires. Fasting is not just a
religious exercise as some think. When you
engage in fasting, you are equipping yourself with
strong weapons to counter every attack of the
wicked ones and take your victory in every battle
of life. When faith is actively coupled with prayer
and fasting, there is nothing that can stop your
prayers from being answered. Every barrier that
wants to stand on your way will always give in
like we observed in the case of Daniel with the
prince of Persia.
KEY POINT : Fasting and prayer is a combined
spiritual weapon that commands the miraculous.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: ISAIAH 56 : 9 - 59 : 21 AND
PSALMS 41.
AUTHOR : PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE.
THURSDAY AUGUST 25 2016
THEME : NOTHING GOES FOR NOTHING
MEMORISE : And after six days Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth
them up into an high mountain apart, MATTHEW
17 : 1.
READ : MATTHEWS 17 : 14 - 21 :
14 And when they were come to the multitude,
there came to him a certain man, kneeling down
to him, and saying,
15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is
lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth
into the fire, and oft into the water.
16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they
could not cure him.
17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless
and perverse generation, how long shall I be with
you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither
to me.
18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed
out of him: and the child was cured from that
very hour.
19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and
said, Why could not we cast him out?
20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your
unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith
as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto
this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place;
and it shall remove; and nothing shall be
impossible unto you.
21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer
and fasting.
MESSAGE :
In secular environments, it takes diligence to get
to the top and it takes even more diligence to
remain there. There are many people who work
really hard to get to the top but upon getting
there, they soon begin to relax. Diligence is even
more important when it comes to spiritual
responsibilities. You need to work hard to have
an encounter with God but you need to work
twice as hard to keep your encounter intact. To
get the answer to all your requests, you have to
invest a lot of time before God. Many people just
get born again and begin to relax. If you want to
command the miraculous you must be ready to
pay the price. You have to keep running until you
get to the finish line. There are people who have
not given God their entire lives, yet they want
God to always respond to all their requests. If
you want a spiritual transformation in your life,
you have to give attention and seriousness to the
business of growing daily. Following Jesus Christ
could be very costly, His standards are always
high and He will never compromise His standard
for anyone. If you want to operate in the
miraculous, you must be willing to die daily. Self-
denial is a basic qualification for discipleship and
there are many courses you have to register for
in the school of exploits. That includes fasting
while others are feasting. It includes praying
while others are sleeping. You have to study the
Bible while others are spending time on things
that will not add significant value to their lives. It
involves spiritual discipline while some people
are wasting their time away. Paul testified that
he kept his body under in order to win the prize.
Keeping the body under is self-denial. You are
deliberately doing something to achieve
something. Somebody asked me how I am able
to fast for many days and I replied that it is
always very easy for me to do so because each
time I want to start a long fast I just go to the
calender and count the number of days I want to
go and I tell my stomach "look at that day very
well, that is the time next time we shall be
taking food" it is as simple as that.
To command supernatural situations, nothing
goes for nothing. You have to engage in spiritual
exercises ;
"Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer
and fasting." Matthew 17 : 21.
If Jesus said "men ought to pray and not to
faint" ( Luke 18 : 1 ), it is very obvious that
prayer covers a wide range of issues that should
keep one very vigilant. It is in the place of prayer
that there is a guarantee of continuous Open
Heavens for every child of God. At the same
time, there are many people who have lost many
opportunities because of their understanding of
the significant prayer in commanding the release
of their heart desires. Fasting is not just a
religious exercise as some think. When you
engage in fasting, you are equipping yourself with
strong weapons to counter every attack of the
wicked ones and take your victory in every battle
of life. When faith is actively coupled with prayer
and fasting, there is nothing that can stop your
prayers from being answered. Every barrier that
wants to stand on your way will always give in
like we observed in the case of Daniel with the
prince of Persia.
KEY POINT : Fasting and prayer is a combined
spiritual weapon that commands the miraculous.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: ISAIAH 56 : 9 - 59 : 21 AND
PSALMS 41.
AUTHOR : PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE.
No comments:
Post a Comment