Making your voice heard- Open heavens daily devotional by Pastor E. A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Ezek 19 -21
MAKING YOUR VOICE HEARD Wednesday, October 06, 2010
MEMORIZE: “But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil” (Prov. 1:33) READ: Prov. 1:24-31 Apart from ordering your steps to cross the path of your helpers, when the time of your favor has come, God will make your helpers to listen to you. Do people feel you are a bore and refuse to hear you out? When your day of favor comes, your voice would be one voice everyone must hear and attend to. Abraham had a divine visitation, so also did Bartemaeus but while the former’s encounter came after he returned home after a hard day’s work, the latter had his by the road side (Mark 10:46-52). That your voice which has been shunned for years, will soon get the attention of your helper. And after you are heard, you will never be the same again. Bartemaeus’ voice was heard and so will yours be heard this season. Some years ago, while visiting a church in the Western part of Nigeria, the Lord ordered my steps to the house of a certain man of God. After praying with them, I was about leaving when the man’s baby girl who was strapped to her mother’s back suddenly stretched her hands towards me to the extent that if I had not immediately reached out to carry her, she could have fallen. Her parents were surprised at this since this same child would not allow anyone else to carry her. I laid hands on her and prayed. One or two years later, the child’s mother confessed that she was a witch: she had killed five of her children and had planned to take the life of that baby girl on the day of my visit. Thank God for hearing the cry of that baby! The witch is late but the little girl has grown and married. When your time of favor comes, God will send a messenger of joy to reverse any evil agenda the dark kingdom has put in place. However, if you want your voice to be heard on the day of your favor, begin to listen to and obey God’s voice today. In Proverbs 1:24-31, God says He can turn His back on those calling Him if they fail to respond to Him. If you fail to hear and respond to God’s call to salvation, call to ministry, call to support the needs of your church or to help a needy brother, how then would your voice be heard on your day of favor? Some people have missed their help as a result of this. Amend your ways today.  (N.B One way you can get God to hear you is by supporting the poor, support the www.10millionexercisebooks.com initiative today, a christian non-profit initiative towards eradicating illiteracy) ACTION POINT: Ask God to prevent you from doing whatever would cause your voice not to be heard.

CAST, NOT IGNORE- Open heavens daily devotional by Pastor E. A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Ezek 15 -18
CAST, NOT IGNORE Tuesday, October 05, 2010
(N.B. Affect somebody's life, support the www.10millionexercisebooks.com project today, a christian non-profit initiative towards eradification of illiteracy)
MEMORIZE: “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;” (Mark 16:17) READ: Mark 16:15-18 Hebrews 1:7 says God makes His ministers a fiery flame. Are you a minister of God? If yes, where is your identity card? Not your physical ID card but the spiritual ID - the fire of the Holy Ghost. No matter how many ministerial licenses, certificates and ID cards you have, without the spiritual ID that comes from the Holy Spirit, you are not prepared for what God wants to do with you. In Acts 19:11-16, a group of young men who were approved of men being the children of the high priest wanted to challenge a demon in a demon-possessed man. They had all the physical ID cards they needed. They lacked one thing - the fire of the Holy Spirit and instead of casting out the demon, at the end of the day, they were like victims of a car accident. Demons do not honor certificates or big titles. All they look for is the fire. If they can see the fire, they will leave, not because you said so, but because if they refused to go, the fire will roast them. Where is your fire? “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues” (Mark 16:17). The first sign that our Lord said would follow those who believe and follow Him, is the ability to cast out devils. Every believer should be able to cast out demons. But unfortunately, contemporary ministers and senior pastors either shy away from this or struggle endlessly with one demon. It is because there is no fire. But why do you have to cast out demons? One reason is because they are usually the unseen manipulators of unpleasant events and circumstances. They are couriers of sicknesses - particularly those that cannot be diagnosed by scientific gadgets and tests. They are also the avenues by which Satan monitors people and effect generational curses on family lineages. If you discover there is a demon at work in a given situation, leave the physical enemy and rebuke, paralyze and cast out the spirit behind that situation. A pastor was under intensive persecution by his senior pastor. One day the Lord revealed a monkey-like spirit manipulating the senior pastor that was influencing his negative moves. Ask for God’s fire today and dislodge every demon on assignment against you and your family. Jesus says you should cast out demons. Don’t allow any demon the freedom to operate around you henceforth. ACTION POINT: Every demon you ignore effects Satan’s mandate and defeats God’s purpose over that situation. Dislodge them today!

PREVENTING SUNSET- Open heavens daily devotional by Pastor E. A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Ezek 12-14
PREVENTING SUNSET Monday, October 04, 2010
MEMORIZE: “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him” (1 Sam. 16:14) READ: 1 Samuel 15:22-23 Paul was progressively humble. He started out by boasting about his achievements but ended up saying he was chief of sinners. That is humility at great depth! However, it is possible to experience a negative progressive descent. King Saul is a befitting example here. He climbed the ladder right to the top and became king. But at some point, when it appeared he had suddenly become too big for God, he began a descent which started with rejection (1 Sam.15:22-23). This was followed by his replacement while still in power (1 Sam. 16:13). God always has a substitute for anyone in position of authority.  He can never be taken unawares. The memory of this should keep any sane believer from pride. If you have been rejected but yet to be replaced, there is still hope for your restoration. Immediately repent, and restitute your ways. After Nebuchadnezzar descended the ladder for seven years, God still reserved his throne for him. When he repented, the Lord restored him. Have you descended the ladder of grace into grass? May you still find a place for repentance in Jesus’ Name. If you compare king Nebuchadnezzar’s descent with king Saul’s, the former was better.  At least he could still repent even as a wild beast. But as king Saul declined, an evil spirit troubled him (1 Sam. 16:14). In his state of madness, he could not possibly think of repentance! He descended further down the ladder to a point that he who once passed a decree of death on witches in the land, went to consult a witch desiring to know the future. Finally, he committed suicide.  His descent was step-by-step but was total! Most great men who fell did not fall suddenly.  It happened little by little. The presence of a ladder shows that there could be an upward or downward turn. An upward turn refers to the possibility of a sunrise while a downward turn talks of a sunset. After healing a man who had been sick for 38 years, the Lord warned him against a possible sunset. Are your actions bringing you sunset or sunrise? Be careful! Whenever you observe a pause in your climb, find out the cause, correct it and move on. You must not tolerate any slight decline!  It could be the beginning of an endless fall!  (N.B Be a part of the future support www.10millionexercisebooks.com project today. A non-profit christian initiative towards the eradication of illiteracy.) ACTION POINT: While you may recover from certain falls, some others are total. Ask God to keep you from a fall you can never recover from.

YOU CAN EFFECT A CHANGE - Open heavens devotional by Pastor E. A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Ezek 8-11
YOU CAN EFFECT A CHANGE Sunday, October 03, 2010 (NB: SUPPORT THE WWW.10MILLIONEXERCISEBOOKS.COM PROJECT TODAY. A CHRISTIAN NON-PROFIT INITIATIVE TOWARDS ERADICATION OF ILLITERACY IN NIGERIA.)
MEMORIZE: “Jesus said unto Him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23) READ: Exodus 4:24-26 To remain relevant in God’s Kingdom, and to obtain a positive change, you have to do something. To grow in the Lord, young Samuel ministered to God. What are you doing to obtain a positive change? Any change capable of moving you forward will not come except provoked. On the other hand, Eli’s sons paid dearly for their waywardness. According to 1 Samuel 2:22-34, it was not that Eli did not correct his children at all: he did but they were adamant. When you correct your children and they continue to follow the path of destruction, what do you do? Would you say, ‘I have done my best, I will try no further?’ Or would you continue to try something until you get your desired change in your children? You can go to God prayerfully seeking for direction on how to handle your children. Simply obey whatever He tells you to do, afterall, He owns them. Where you do not have any specific leading on the matter, you can prayerfully try discipline, denial of something that child loves; take up the child in heart-felt intercession and keep loving the child. Are you having an impossible child or children? The Lord will turn his heart around today! 1 Samuel 2:25 says the reason Eli’s children would not listen to him was because God wanted to kill them. In other words, they had annoyed God to a point of bringing God’s judgment upon themselves. Yet, their father could not turn away God’s wrath! He had pegged his ability to intercede on their behalf. On the other hand, Zipporah Moses’ wife found herself in a similar situation but she did something about it. According to Genesis 17:14, any male Israelite that was not circumcised was to die. When God came to enforce His covenant with Israel, he found Moses defaulting - one of his sons was not yet circumcised, so the Lord sought to kill him. We cannot tell why Moses delayed the boy’s circumcision until that moment.But his wife was sensitive to the Spirit and got to know why death was hanging over her son. Instead of crying and rolling on the floor, she took a sharp stone and circumcised him and averted death. If Zipporah can prevent God from killing her son, you too can prevent death. Death through disobedience is a negative change. You can do something about it. Is your husband failing in his duty like Moses? Woman arise and save your family! ACTION POINT: Are you in any negative situation? exhaust all possible avenues to reverse it and yet don’t give up! All things are possible to believers!