The super judge- Open heavens devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Lev 8-10
THE SUPER JUDGE Thursday, March 04, 2010
MEMORIZE: “I CHARGE thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his  kingdom” (2 Tim. 4:1) READ: 1 Tim 4:1-2 “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Col. 1:16). Jesus Christ is linked with all creatures by virtue of being their Creator.  Not only did He create you, He created you for Himself. Yes, you were made by Him and for Him. If you are not living to please Him, then you are not yet living. Anything that does not please the Creator is useless. Jesus Christ is not just that baby born in a manger; He is the Everlasting Father - the Word that took the form of human flesh just to save His lost creatures (John 1:14). How are you relating with your Creator today? Apart from being linked with His creation, the Lord Jesus Christ is also linked with other things. For instance, He is linked with the judicial system of earth and Heaven hence, He is called the Judge of Israel (Mic. 5:1), the Advocate (1 John 2:1-2) and the Faithful and True Witness (Rev. 3:14).  If you know Him by any of these titles, and you have a case in an earthly or Heavenly court, you are assured of victory.  He is the Super Judge. Every judge is under His influence. If an earthly judge has written his judgment on a particular case, the Judge of the whole earth can cancel it. As the Advocate, His arguments are weightier than the best of arguments advanced by earthly advocates. If He takes up your case, you have won. Similarly as the Faithful Witness, He can upturn any false witness against you. Do you have a case before God, men or agents of darkness today? The Lord is stepping into it this moment. He will give you favor and victory.  He is also the Judge of the living and the dead (2 Tim. 4:1). That means even after this life, as long as you were a friend of Jesus, eternity - bound decisions will favor you. Are you a friend of the most important Judge? ACTION POINT: If you are connected to the Super Judge, you have already won your case before setting your feet in the court.

Thirtyfold return- Open heavens devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Lev 5 - 7
THIRTYFOLD RETURN Wednesday, March 03, 2010
MEMORIZE: “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10) READ: Galatians 6:9-10 “And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some a hundred” (Mark 4:8). When you sow on good soil, you will definitely receive your harvest. The harvest may be in thirtyfold, sixtyfold or a hundredfold. You can determine the kind of harvest you want by the ground you sow on. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10). When you give to fellow believers, your seed will attract a thirty fold return on your investment. Some believers think they lose by meeting the needs of fellow believers. Or that they are favoring that needy one by their assistance or sacrifice. Oh, how wrong they are! When you invest in shares of publicly quoted companies of your choice, do you feel you are doing them a favor or you consider yourself favored by the opportunity to multiply your money? If you keep the money to yourself, it will depreciate in value or at best maintain status quo.  It is the same with sowing in the Kingdom. If you fail to sow what you have, there is no way it can increase. This was why the Master was angry with the servant who wrapped his pound in a napkin instead of putting it in the bank where it could attract a little interest (Luke 19:12-27). Yes, you could do good to all men including unbelievers. The harvest you can get from sowing into unbelievers is less than the thirtyfold return except when you lead that individual to Christ. That guarantees Heaven’s greatest yield.  The greatest seed you can give to an unbeliever is not money or any other valuable but Salvation. But for fellow believers, Paul says you should be the one looking out for needy brethren so as to sow into their lives. You have your thirtyfold return on that investment. On the other hand, when you see believers in need and you fail to help out, it becomes a sin to you. In this regard, instead of an opportunity to get thirtyfold returns, you get a minus (James 4:17). Be a wise spiritual investor today! ACTION POINT: Prayerfully identify three needy brethren in your local church and sow into their lives this period.

Instant Touch- Open heavens devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Lev 1-4
INSTANT TOUCH Tuesday, March 02, 2010
MEMORIZE: “I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.  Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) READ: 1 Kings 19:19-21 During the Holy Ghost service held at the National Stadium, Lagos, in January 1998, a man with a big goitre sat beside a sister.  With such a health challenge, that will be the first thing anyone who sees the fellow will notice on arrival. As I emerged from the prayer room, with the floodlight in my direction, I went to the podium not knowing who was where. While preaching, the Lord asked me to tell someone in that gathering that the goiter was gone. As soon as the sister heard that word of knowledge, she immediately turned to look at the man sitting next to her, and observed that the goitre had flown away like a bird.  She was so dazed by this miraculous event that after the program was over, she trekked from Surulere to Palmgrove before she recalled she had left her car in the parking lot at the stadium. The Lord is bringing a dramatic and instantaneous change into your life and circumstance this period.  Elisha - a farmer boy had a new life immediately Elijah laid his mantle on him (1 Kings 19:19-21). Although the pouring of the anointing oil did not go beyond a minute, yet he was no longer the same forever.  He had joined the league of the Lord’s anointed.  His life was instantly changed to the extent that he eventually took a place on the lineage of Jesus Christ. He became one whose dead bones could raise the dead (2 Kings 13: 20-21). It does not take God a life time to perform what He wants. If only you could yield to Him like David and Elisha, it won’t take Him long to make you what He wants you to be. On the other hand, when light comes, whatever result you get will be determined by which side you belong. You will receive good things if you are on God’s love side according to 1 John 4:8.  But if you fall on the side of the Consuming Fire like Gehazi in 2 Kings 5:20-23, you will receive judgment. There are some instant blessings God will want to release to you this year.  How prepared are you for them? If you are sluggish in obeying the commandment of the King of kings, instant blessings may elude you. To qualify, you may need to have a track record of hasty obedience to God’s Word.  Prompt worship, praise and service. Nothing deferred. You can be a candidate for instantaneous blessing today! ACTION POINT: Thank God for adding another year to Pastor E.A. Adeboye.  Ask God to honor his requests, anoint him afresh and make him more relevant to God’s eternal plan.

In love with darkness? - Open heavens devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Matt 26-28
IN LOVE WITH DARKNESS? Monday, March 01, 2010
MEMORIZE: “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” (John 3:20)  READ: John 3:18-21   “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Physically, men hate darkness except those who need it to perpetrate their nefarious activities such as armed robbers, hired assassins, secret societies and occult groups. Everyone operating in the dark is reflecting the color of their heart - darkness! Spiritually, most people prefer darkness to light because darkness can rationalize and accommodate their weaknesses, evil tendencies and evil nature. If you are running away from attending a Bible - believing church so that nobody will hit you with the truth that advance fee fraud, polygamy, immorality, etc. are sins and detestable to God, it is because you want to maintain the dark color of your heart. No matter how long you run from the truth, one day you will be confronted with it. If you yield to it today, you can have a change of heart but if you shut up your heart to the truth of God’s Word throughout your life time, when you meet with it after death , there will be absolutely nothing the truth can do for you but to judge you. The light of Christ in you can go out and you will be groping in darkness. This could be when you allow your heart to entertain evil thoughts. You have not sinned when an evil thought crosses your mind. It comes as a suggestion. But if you welcome it and begin to dwell or ponder on it, you break your code of righteousness. In the same way, through your eyes, you can invite darkness - by looking at the wrong things - anything that does not glorify God.   Whatever you continue to feed your eyes on has a way of affecting your thoughts and deeds. Sometimes, the deeds may not follow immediately but because a seed was sown when the eyes were exposed to that evil picture, it will compel a commensurate act of darkness. One thing we learn from the fall of king Saul is that immediately light leaves an individual, darkness takes over.  What do you expose your eyes or heart to? Ask God to destroy every love you have for darkness today. ACTION POINT: You cannot love darkness and light at the same time.  Any affection for dark activities shows your true hatred for the light.

Divine acquaintance- Open heavens devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Matt. 22-25
DIVINE ACQUAINTANCE Sunday, February 28, 2010
MEMORIZE: “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want  any good thing” (Psalm 34:10) READ: Job 22:21-29 One lesson we learn from 2 Kings 8:1 is that it is better to avoid a famine than survive it. Prophet Elisha told the Shunammite woman to take to her heels when famine was imminent. He did not ask her to stay and slug it out in faith. Sometimes, you may not need to go through certain famine situations. It is better to run at such times. For instance, those Christians who are saying they will be here when the antichrist comes and are preparing how to survive are toying with a severe famine that could be avoided. They call fellow believers who are doing everything possible to avoid meeting with antichrist, cowards. Call me a coward and I agree with you but I will not wait for the antichrist. If you want to wait to go through that severe era of famine and darkness, its your decision. There are losses during famines that may never be recovered. For instance, in 2 Kings 6:26-29, after two women jointly cooked and ate one of their sons, two days after that, the famine was over but the mother of that boy never recovered her son. Whatever famine that the enemy has programmed in your way, the Lord will deliver you from it in Jesus’ Name. Moreover, there are certain principles contained in today’s reading that could secure abundance for you in time of famine. First, get acquainted with God. Who you know determines whether a famine will affect you or not. While famine was at its peak in various lands including Egypt, Jacob and his family were having a wonderful time because they knew the prime minister of Egypt. When you are acquainted with God, you will never lack any good thing irrespective of prevailing economic condition (Psalm 34:10). By the grace of God, I shall never lack anything. Lack comes when God is angry with you. As long as there is no quarrel between God and I, my children will never beg. That is God’s word. Are you acquainted with God? Do you know Him? Is there a personal relationship with God? If there is, do you daily cultivate that relationship by fellowshipping, worshipping, thanking and praying to God? Do you like Jesus always do those things which are pleasing in His sight. To what extent do you seek Him via the Bible? ACTION POINT: You are identified by your acquaintances. Who do you know - God or man? Pray for the salvation of members of your family and loved ones.

EVIL HEART- Open heavens devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Matt. 18-21
EVIL HEART Saturday, February 27, 2010
MEMORIZE: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9 ) READ: Jeremiah 17:9-11 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). The human heart is capable of taking on a positive or negative form. Like a chameleon, it blends with the environment - the spirit that hovers around it for long. Where is your heart tilted presently? The deceitful heart is one that deceives its owner. It sees the owner as an enemy and seeks to destroy the fellow. When your heart assures you that you won’t get caught if you indulge in a particular sin, it is operating in deception. Almost everyone who got into trouble and started regretting their foolishness in following their heart, had been deceived by their heart. Some people say “Follow your heart” when it comes to taking certain decisions. Sorry: your heart can deceive you. You have to pray against deception or deceptive tendencies of the heart or else you will become its casualty. Another negative nature that a heart can lean towards is pride. “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished” (Prov. 16:5). Anyone with a proud heart is a candidate for divine rejection, demotion and destruction. If you have a proud heart, it will show in your words, comportment, attitude, over -bloated ego, etc. The proud rubs shoulders with the Most High God. There are some people with a proud heart who feign humility. They fail to know that their words and works are defined by their heart. The most humble words said from a haughty heart will still have elements of haughtiness. If you have a proud heart and feel you are better than everyone else and so only your voice should be heard; don’t start by refining your words; start from the heart. Learning to talk like believers in Christ cannot change your heart. True transformation starts from inside out and not vice versa. On the other hand, if you are fond of devising mischief, evil thoughts and negative inspirations or ideas, you have a wicked heart. Such a life will be full of wickedness. Is any of these in your life? Call upon the Lord to deliver you today! Ask God to remove every evil heart in you. ACTION POINT: Ask God to uproot every evil heart from you. Also ask the Lord to rekindle His fire in all ministers during the Solemn Assembly.

HURT FREE- Open heavens devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Matt. 13-17
HURT FREE? Friday, February 26, 2010
MEMORIZE: “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9) READ: Isaiah 11:6-9 When you let sin dominate you, it will reduce you from the level of man to that of an animal. At the beginning, we were meant to eat fruits but sin made us to be eating the same food with animals - vegetables. In the story of the prodigal son, because of sin - wanting to live independently of his father, he who wined and dined as a prince was reduced to desiring to feed from the food of pigs which nobody was even prepared to give him (Luke 15:14-16). If you find yourself in a situation where you are feeding at the level of an animal, ask God to deliver you fast. According to today’s reading, there are other beautiful changes to be noticed in the Messianic Age. The enmity between man and beast will cease. Similarly, the enmity between beast and beast will also go. Before the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, all animals were friends of man and of one another. They lived in such peaceful and serene environment that they were like one big family. But after the fall and the curse that followed, man-beast and beast-beast relationships were no longer the same. Man who was supposed to eat fruits - particularly the tree of life now had to have a change of diet. He was now required to eat animals and vegetable. No single animal was killed before the fall, but after the fall, God had to kill an animal to cloth man. From that time animals are killed for just any reason - including fun. Sin changes diet. Whenever sin comes in, the sinner’s diet must change. When sickness comes into the sinner, the fellow will switch from taking food to drugs. Similarly, the relationship between man and beast became sour. They became enemies as each sought opportunity to kill the other. But during the Millenial Reign, that enmity will cease. They shall no more hurt or destroy one another! Praise God! Do you know that you can enjoy such benefits today? Mark 16:18 and Luke 10:19 says that you can be free from being hurt by physical and spiritual beasts. That is if the Prince of Peace is a permanent resident in you and you are committed to the ministry of peace in reconciling sinners to Him. Every power of hurt operating in your life is silenced now in Jesus’ Name. This season, you shall be hurt free. ACTION POINT: Father, from today, make me completely hurt free both to men and beasts. Also during this year’s Special Holy Ghost Service, Father let us witness the unprecedented move of Your Spirit with lots of miracles.

WEEPING: AN ACT OF FAITH- Open heavens devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Matt. 9-12
WEEPING: AN ACT OF FAITH Thursday, February 25, 2010
“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23) READ: John 11:34-35 John 11:35 makes a statement that raises a number of questions in the hearts of many. It says Jesus wept. You may want to ask: Can God weep? Why would the Almighty God weep? Some time ago, a governor wept. The captions that described that show of emotion in the press was about the ‘weeping governor’. But why would Jesus weep and do it openly? One thing we learn here, is that His divinity did not stop Him from expressing grief through tears. Many people think the more you are able to hold back tears, the more macho you are. You cannot be more man than Jesus! If Jesus could weep, why can’t you? Some Christians fight tears while deep in worship before God. But that’s the place to weep. When you weep while worshipping Him, that is an act of faith. It is your faith and focus on Him that took you to that level. When you weep like that, He dries up your tears. This is different from weeping as a result of a problem which is an act of unbelief and rather prevents God from intervening in the situation except for mercy. When you go into His presence, be focussed on Him and worship Him. Forget all your worries, sorrows and problems. Concentrate on Him and involve your spirit man. By the time you get to the point of weeping profusely, you will know that Heaven has recorded your worship and God is drying up your tears. If your worship is dry and flat, it is possible it never went beyond the ceiling in the first place. Intense worship often times provokes tears, expressing God’s awesomeness. But feigning tears while worshipping attracts no dividend. When you freely weep in His presence during worship, it brings a release. If there was an area of darkness surrounding you, you would observe that it has disappeared. Anytime you get to that point in worship, you can be sure that you were able to establish a contact with Heaven. When Heaven touches earth, there must be a sign. When you weep in faith, joy follows. If there was heaviness before entering His presence, it will be lifted. Weeping in faith has a way of refreshing you in God’s presence. It also renews your strength and gives you a take - away while leaving. However, to get there, you must make Him your focus, give Him your undivided attention, worship Him in spirit and release yourself to Him.  ACTION POINT: Weeping in unbelief robs you of what you have and leaves you hopeless, but weeping in faith adds to you and lift you up. One type of weeping is obviously better than the other.