Open Heavens 2022 Daily Devotional Messages, By Pastor E.A Adeboye.

THE CENTRE OF A WISE FAMILY Memorise: Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. 1 Peter 3:8; Read 1 Corinthians 7:1-7; Bible in one year: Matthew 23:37-25:30, Job 15:7-21 A Christian home is a training ground where virtues are developed. It is a place of safety and security. It is centre of creativity and the transmission of values such as the importance of people, the idea of love, as well as moral and spiritual values. For the survival of Christianity and the betterment of society, parents should employ godly wisdom in the number of children they give birth to. In addition, money, time and energy must be invested in training children according to the perfect will of God. Children are gifts from God stated in Psalm 127:3: “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” Children should be trained to love God, especially from infancy to childhood. A Christian family will achieve good...

A LOVING & PERMANENT GUEST Memorise: Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better then they. Matthew 6:26; Read John 7:38-39; Bible in one year: Matthew 21:28-23:36; Job 14:18-15:6 Based on the fact that the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Jesus after His baptism (Luke 3:22), the dove is used as an emblem of the Holy Spirit. A study of some characteristic of the dove will therefore gives us insight on the Person of the Holy Spirit. The most striking characteristic of the dove is that it is one of the cleanest birds on earth. God the Holy Spirit is pre-eminently holy. Holiness is so essential to His nature that His name consists of the word “Holy”. Wherever the Holy Spirit moves, He convicts the heart of men of sin, of righteousness and of judgement (John 16:8). He is a clean Spirit, and to be a friend of His, you have to move close to Him in holiness. A...

ARE YOU A HYPOCRITE? Memorise: And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Matthew 6:5; Read- Mark 7:1-6, Bible in one year: Matthew 19:1-21:27; Job 14:7-17 Hypocrisy is a type of behaviour in which a person pretends to have moral standards or opinions, but does not actually live by them. Hypocrisy is a decadence condemned by the church and society. Paradoxically, its manifestation is commonplace in both the church and the society. The Bible warns against and condemns hypocrisy in the strongest terms. Luke 11:44 says, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.” Hypocrisy is manifested in many ways. First, it is manifested in giving (Matthew 6:1-4). Giving is good and scriptural. A Christian is expected to giv...

PERIODIC REVIEW Kindly provide answer to the following questions as honestly as possible: 1.      Have the devotional studies been enhancing the quality of your spiritual life?..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2.      Is your zeal for evangelism still the same as it was when you started using the Devotional?.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3.      Has your obedience to God improved tremendously?......................................................................................................................................................................................

A FRIEND IN JESUS Memorise: Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. John 15:14 A friend is someone who you share your heart with and who you can trust. A friend is also a person you like a lot. There are different categories of friends. There is a friend in need who is a friend indeed. This is a friend who helps you when you really need help. Ideally, friendship is reciprocal and the Bible enjoins those who have friends to reciprocate with a friendly attitude. Proverbs 18:24 says: “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Jonathan was a friend indeed to David. He could perceive that David would succeed his father – Saul as king. Although this was a threat to his own personal ambition of becoming the king of Israel, nevertheless he loved David as his own soul. Are you a friend indeed? There are many so called friends who will always scheme to frustrate and destroy the destinies of others. Such people c...

SUCCESSFUL THROUGH MEDITATION Memorise: This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Joshua 1:8 One of the inevitable benefits of righteousness is the ability to generate good success. Success is self-inviting and attractive. It has a compelling force around it that draws people to its possessor. Everyone desires good success. We all are being drawn by the compelling force of success consciously or unconsciously. There are many ways of describing success. Success describes the process of setting out to achieve an outcome and actualising this outcome as anticipated. Someone observed that there are at least two indispensable requirements of good success. There are creativity and innovation. Creativity describes thinking up new ideas and concepts while innovation describes doin...

BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS! Memorise: Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. 1 Corinthians 12:3 To succeed on earth and make it to heaven, we should beware of false prophets. One of the ways to identify false prophets is through their disposition to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:3, we are told that no one speaking by the Spirit to God says: “Jesus be cursed”, and that no one can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit. False prophets have a negative attitude to the Lordship of Christ. It is true that false prophets are deceptive. Some are so deceptive that they pretend to say and to do many good things in the Name of Jesus. However, their actions always portray Jesus in bad light and make His Lordship inconsequential. The state of their heart is described in Matthew 15:8 which say, “This People draweth nig unto me with their mout...

READY TO WORK? Memorise: Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, Philippians 3:13 Climbing new heights in your assignment will require a new level of diligence. When you ask God to enlarge your coast, you are inviting “trouble” because the bigger the church or assignment, the harder you work. When we were a smaller church, I could sit down with some of my children and we would eat, drink, gist and enjoy ourselves. But now, I may see them once in three years and our exchange of pleasantries normally goes thus: “Long time, no see” and the reply would be: “Is that how it is now, Daddy?” similarly, years ago, I used to attend Sunday service at our Ebute Metta (Lagos) headquarters. I recall once that I was there for 16 Sundays while taking a series, but now, if they see me once a month, they will rejoice. If you truly desire the next level in ministry, you must...

WEEP NOT! Memorise: And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. Isaiah 63:5 In Revelations 5:4, John wept because there was no man who could open a scroll that needed to be opened to reveal secrets on things to come. Nobody was worthy enough to receive the information despite the fact that the Lord in Amos 3:7 had promised to reveal His plans or secrets to His servants the prophets before doing anything. It was truly sad. When secrets are not unveiled, people remain in dark without vision or direction. May you not be left in the dark concerning events about your life, family and church in Jesus’ Name. Does God trust you enough to disclose His secret to you before He does anything in the life of anyone close to you? One truth we can learn from Elisha and Gehazi is that when no one has paid the price for a heavenly treasure or gift, God prefers to withhold it than to c...

BLESSING AND LOCATION Memorise: He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifeth the needy out of the dunghill; psalm 113:7 Do you know that prayer gives specific directions for your blessings to locate you? This it does in addition to compelling your unwilling helpers and making helpers and making things happen for you in situations of despair. People lose their blessings when their desired packages do not meet them where God expects them to be. This story was told of some women who had been trusting God for the fruit of the womb. When God decided to answer them, an angel was sent by God decided to answer them, an angel was sent by God to bring them their babies. On arrival at the church, the angel began to give each of them their babies. But on that day, a particular sister who was one of them failed to show up in church. The angel looked for her everywhere within the church but could not find her, so the angel returned with her baby. The truth is: distance is not a limitation in...

HAVE FAITH IN GOD Memorise: For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Mark 11:23 In the course of this month, God has been speaking to us on building a new altar. You may want to ask: does God have details of what this altar should look like? The answer is yes. He expects you to build a very special altar to Him which must have this attribute: it must be an altar of faith. Stop doubting God! Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Four different times in the Bible, God said: “The just shall live by faith”. You cannot call yourself a Christian if you find it difficult to believe God. Whatever He promises, He must surely bring it to p...

ACTIVATE YOUR FAITH Memorise: The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. Exodus 14:14 When young David stood before Goliath, he was not afraid, because he had certain master keys to unlock the door of opportunity before him. He applied the master keys of prayers, God’s word, the Name of Jesus, holiness and faith (1 Samuel 17:23-51). David was a man of faith; in Psalm 27:1, he made an exuberant declaration of his faith saying: “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” It takes faith to confront and bring down the giant on the way. If you are given to fear, it would take only the size of your enemy to intimidate and defeat you. Even when David faced death, he was not afraid (Psalm 23:4). Faith sees beyond the moment. Faith sees beyond the problem. Faith is not bound to the present but creates room for the future to be realised. Faith focuses on the glorious outcome on the other side of a ...

RETURN! Memorise: A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you:   and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26 The sanctification experience involves God talking away your old rebellious heart and replacing it with a heart of flesh that enables you to do His will without being forced. This is enunciated in Ezekiel 36:26:                             “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you heart of flesh.” If you still struggle to obey God on any matter, it is doubtful you have received this new heart. If you are always out to do what you want, how you want it, when and where you want it, then this new heart is missing. If you are not yet broken, it...

TOTAL COMPLIANCE REQUIRED Memorise: Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it   Malachi 3:10 when we teach about tithes and first fruits, some people think that it is the pastor’s way of making money but they are making a great mistake. When you put God first, He will make sure that your blessings are irreversible. But if you decide to give Him second place in your life, you may not be happy to see what follows. Sometimes ago, one young man came to me and said, “Daddy, God has answered your prayer”. I replied” Amen. What exactly happened?” He said one prominent chief called him and asked him to sell his house. The property had thirteen flats: twelve regular flats and a penthouse on top. The chief told him how much he wanted to be paid from the proceeds of the sale, s...

CHANGE FOCUS Memorise: Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Colossians 3:2 We learnt on July 14 that consecration and commitment is the springboard to experiencing higher levels of God in ministry. Beyond consecration and commitment, another criterion for accessing a higher level of God in ministry is a reformed, robust focus. If you retain your old focus and pursue your old goals, there is no way you can attain your desired heights. There must be a change in focus hence in Colossians 3:1, Paul says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” As you grow in Christ and move up in ministry, what you pursue must change. You must move your focus from earth to Heaven; you must stop looking down or sideways and start looking up. Many men of God never get to this level because as soon as they are endowed with certain gifts of the Spirit or some miraculous works are made manifest in their mini...

THOSE GOD CALLS Memorise: For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 1 Corinthians 1:26 Who are those God calls? They are usually not the “special” type. 1 Corinthians 1:26 says: “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many might, not many noble, are called:” Those who are noble, wise, intelligent, mighty and wealthy already believe they have achieved, and so if God calls them, they may think it is because of what they possess or have achieved. If God makes use of such people, the tendency for them to arrogate God’s glory is high. This is why God specifically looks out for the foolish, weak, poor and base elements of this world. God calls the foolish to confound the wise, the weal to confound the strong and those who are nothing to confound those with reputation (1 Corinthians 1:27). How? When God picks a foolish fellow, He works on him and gives him a bit of Hi...