Open Heaven For Today 2024 Saturday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Vessels Unto Dishonour
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TOPIC: Vessels Unto Dishonour
MEMORISE: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” – Psalm 51:17 (KJV)
READ: 1 Samuel 15:1-28 (KJV)
1 Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord.
2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
4 And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
6 And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.
8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
10 Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying,
11 It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night.
12 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.
14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
16 Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
17 And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?
18 And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?
20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.
22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.
26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
28 And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Hosea 5-9
Open Heaven For Today 2024 MESSAGE
Amongst the people you find in church, some are unto honour while others are unto dishonour, as we see in 2 Timothy 2:20:
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
God, however, is not the One who makes some vessels unto honour and others unto dishonour. Rather, people, based on their behaviour toward God and His instructions, choose for themselves if they will be unto honour or unto dishonour.
There are many people who say that since God is merciful, and His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), they can commit sin multiple times and ask Him for mercy multiple times. Therefore, they commit sin purposely, trusting that when they ask for mercy, God will have mercy. Some even say things like, “God, forgive me for what I am about to say.” They know it is a sin, but they ask for forgiveness and go ahead to say it. People like this are trying to make a fool out of the Most High God and will become vessels unto dishonour if they do not repent. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Even if a Christian gives a big sacrifice or worships God deeply, if his or her heart is still in a sinful state, the wages of sin remain death.
In today’s Bible reading, God told Saul to kill all the Amalekites, but he decided to play on God’s intelligence by saying that it was the people who brought the king of Amalek and the chosen animals back with them to Israel. We see the result of the disobedience in 1 Samuel 15:28:
And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.
Saul begged Samuel to let him worship God, but it was not out of true repentance. He only did that because he did not want to be embarrassed in the presence of his followers. In the next chapter, you will see that as much as Samuel pleaded on his behalf, God still asked him to anoint a new king as his replacement. God later sent an evil spirit to torment Saul, as he had become a vessel unto dishonour.
Beloved, be careful. Don’t toy with sin, and don’t try to play on God’s intelligence so that you don’t end up like Saul.
REFLECTION
Do you still indulge in the things that God has been warning you about? Beware, so that you don’t become a vessel unto dishonour.
HYMN 20 – Stand Up! Stand Up For Jesus
1 Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
Ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high His royal banner,
It must not suffer loss:
From vict’ry unto vict’ry
His army shall He lead,
Till every foe is vanquished
And Christ is Lord indeed.
Stand up for Jesus
Ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high His royal banner,
It must not, it must not suffer loss.
2 Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
The trumpet call obey;
Forth to the mighty conflict
In this His glorious day.
Ye that are men, now serve Him
Against unnumbered foes;
Let courage rise with danger.
And strength to strength oppose.
3 Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
Stand in His strength alone;
The arm of flesh will fail you;
Ye dare not trust your own.
Put on the Gospel armor,
And, watching unto prayer,
Where duty calls, or danger,
Be never wanting there.
4 Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
The strife will not be long:
This day the noise of battle,
The next the victor’s song;
To him that overcometh
A crown of life shall be;
He, with the King of glory,
Shall reign eternally.
Open Heavens 2024 Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC. Open Heaven for Today 2024
Open Heaven Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:
Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus’ name Amen.
If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], +234-1-8447340, +234-0-7098213112.
Open Heaven For Today 2024 Friday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – God’s Commandments
Click HERE for the Previous Open Heaven Devotional
TOPIC: God’s Commandments
MEMORISE: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” – 1 John 5:3 (KJV)
READ: Luke 11:27-28 (KJV)
27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Hosea 1-4
Open Heaven For Today 2024 MESSAGE
When God gives a commandment, many people think that it is for His own good, whereas every commandment that He gives is for our good. When you disobey God, you are actually hurting yourself; He remains God whether you obey Him or not. Those who choose to disobey God are the ones that are actually losing, not God.
When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son to Him, it was not because He wanted to eat the boy for breakfast; it was because He wanted Abraham’s obedience to open the door to irreversible blessings for him and his seed. If Abraham had disobeyed, he would have missed out on such a great blessing. When Elisha told Naaman to go and wash in the river Jordan, it was not because he wanted to humiliate him, it was because he wanted him to be healed of leprosy. Naaman almost missed his healing because of his pride. If he had not gone to wash, Elisha would not have lost anything, but Naaman would have died a leper. When God gives you an instruction, no matter how difficult it seems, you stand to gain a lot more from obeying it.
God gave man a special gift, and that is free will. This free will is one of the things that makes us more special than all His other creations. You can decide to obey or disobey Him if you want. However, to justify any blessing that He wants to give to you, He wants you to obey Him out of your free will. If you disobey His instruction, you are using your free will against Him, and that will disqualify you from receiving the blessings that are attached to the instruction. When God sent Elijah to the widow of Zarephath for food, he told the woman to give him her last meal. It was not Elijah who needed a miracle; God had already been feeding him supernaturally up until that time. God wanted to test the widow to see if she would use her free will for herself or Him. She passed the test, and in return, she had more than enough food to last her through the famine. Also, when her son died in 1 Kings 17:17-22, because she had obeyed God, Elijah was there to bring him back to life.
Beloved, obeying God is always for your good.
KEY POINT
Never miss an opportunity to show God that your free will is for Him.
HYMN 30 – When We Walk With The Lord
1 When we walk with the Lord
in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
2 Not a burden we bear,
not a sorrow we share,
but our toil he doth richly repay;
not a grief or a loss,
not a frown or a cross,
but is blest if we trust and obey.
3 But we never can prove
the delights of his love
until all on the altar we lay;
for the favor he shows,
for the joy he bestows,
are for them who will trust and obey.
4 Then in fellowship sweet
we will sit at his feet,
or we’ll walk by his side in the way;
what he says we will do,
where he sends we will go;
never fear, only trust and obey.
Open Heavens 2024 Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC. Open Heaven for Today 2024
Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:
Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus’ name Amen.
If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], +234-1-8447340, +234-0-7098213112.
Open Heaven For Today 2024 Thursday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – The Power Of Service
Click HERE for the Previous Open Heaven Devotional
TOPIC: The Power Of Service
MEMORISE: “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.” – Matthew 10:41 (KJV)
READ: 2 Kings 4:8-17 (KJV)
8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.
9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.
10 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.
11 And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.
12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.
13 And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.
14 And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.
15 And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.
16 And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.
17 And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Daniel 9-12
Open Heaven For Today 2024 MESSAGE
Today’s teaching may be controversial to some people, but I will share the complete truth anyway. When there is an opportunity to serve God through a prophet that you are sure is sent by Him, no matter how small the service may be, don’t let the opportunity pass you by. When you serve or give to a prophet, because of God’s anointing on his or her life, you will receive a blessing from God.
I went to a foreign country for a programme, and throughout my stay, a very rich man drove me around. When he dropped me off at the airport, I wanted to show my appreciation, but since he was richer than me, I put some money in an envelope and said, “Please give it to your children on my behalf.” He collected the money and said, “Amen” several times. I became embarrassed, and I turned to the other pastor who came with us. The pastor said, “He has been waiting on God for the fruit of the womb.” On hearing that, I said, “Glory be to God, I don’t have money, but I am connected to the Most High God.” The following year, when I arrived in that country for another edition of the same programme, the man came to drive me again. This time, he had a gift with him and said that it was from his son. You might have prayed for certain things and not received them yet, but offering your service to God through a prophet could bring them to you immediately.
When you check through the Scriptures, you will see that those who served prophets genuinely got great rewards for their service. Samuel became a kingmaker and king-remover because he served Eli. Elisha got a double portion of the anointing because he served Elijah diligently. The Shunammite woman got a child even when she had lost hope because she served Elisha. Whenever you get a chance to serve God through one of His ministers, make the most of the opportunity.
Ministers of God, however, should not take anyone’s willingness to serve God through them for granted. God shows appreciation to those that serve Him, and His ministers ought to do the same. However, if you are serving God through one of His ministers and it seems like you are not being appreciated, as long as you are sure that he or she is a genuine minister of God, you will surely receive the rewards of your service from God.
KEY POINT
God never ignores a genuine heart of service to His representatives on earth.
HYMN 26 – There Shall Be Showers Of Blessing
1 There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.
Refrain:
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy-drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.
2 There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain.
3 There shall be showers of blessing:
Send them upon us, O Lord;
Grant to us now a refreshing,
Come and now honor Thy Word.
4 There shall be showers of blessing:
Oh, that today they might fall,
Now as to God we’re confessing,
Now as on Jesus we call!
Open Heavens 2024 Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC. Open Heaven for Today 2024
Open Heaven Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:
Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus’ name Amen.
If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], +234-1-8447340, +234-0-7098213112.
