BE FAITHFUL

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL...

DATE : SUNDAY 21 AUGUST 2016

THEME : BE FAITHFUL 

Memorise: 

Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 1st Corinthians 4:2

Read: Luke 12:37-44, (KJV)

37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

39 And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.

40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

41 Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?

42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?

43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

44 Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.

MESSAGE

One of the reasons why God saved us is that He wants to partner with us in His kingdom. God is in search of faithful men, He is looking for people who will produce fruits of righteousness within and without. Faithfulness in the discharge of whatever assignment God has given us is a proof that we are partners with Him. Our assignments must be done in a manner that will bring glory and honour to Him. As teachers of the Word, we are not permitted to teach what is convenient; we have to teach the absolute Word of God. As pastors in our churches, it is required of us to be found faithful and have a good oversight over the flock of Jesus. As co-labourers in the vineyard, we must not do anything without the Master’s instruction. We must do it according to His prescription. There are many people today who are in ministry but are running it as convenient. This will not meet the requirement of the Owner of the work when He comes with His reward. Ministers of the gospel must make effort to have a good conscience and to earn trustworthiness on the part of those they are presiding over.  

As children of God, we must be in the business of building His Kingdom in expectation of His return. We are stewards of the Most-High God and much trust has been committed into our hands. The work of God must not be handled anyhow. It should not be seen as something that should be done with indulgence. The expectation is much and one must be faithful and wise so as to be rewarded. No matter the difficulties one meets on the way, one must forge ahead as a Christian soldiers and fulfil the ministry which has been committed into his hand.

“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.”

Revelations 22:11

It is the motive with which you desire to do things that will be judge. By the time the hour of reward comes, there will be different levels of reward for different people based on how they have fared in the business of God. By the time Jesus returns, He will not return empty-handed. This is why those who are lazy need to challenge themselves to do something profitable before it is too late. Hard work is expected and those living a life of holiness must continue to strive for a life that glorifies God. You cannot deceive God, you cannot cheat God. I can assure you that whatever you do for God, He will reward you in due season. Nobody trades with God and loses. Nobody partners with God without having something great to show for it. God is always faithful to His word and promises. I always pity those who expect their reward to come from their spiritual head. It is very possible for the General Overseer to forget you and your labour of love. He may not even know you are somewhere working. He sees only what is within his range of vision, but there is a God who sees beyond the reach of any General Overseer or Senior Pastor. 

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”

Galatians 6:7

If you are praying, remain faithful in your prayer ministry. If you know how to praise God keep on praising Him. If you know how to give quality offerings, keep it up. Keep on paying your tithe. I can guarantee you that your reward is coming. 

Prayer Point;

Father, please help me not to be found wanting in faithfulness in Jesus’ name.

Bible in one year: Isaiah 43:1-45:13 and Psalms 38

AUTHOR : Pst E. A ADEBOYE 

HYMN 2: O JESUS, I HAVE PROMISED. 

O Jesus, I have promised, 

To serve Thee to the end;

Be Thou forever near me,

My Master and my Friend;

I shall not fear the battle

If Thou art by my side,

Nor wander from the pathway

If Thou wilt be my Guide.

Oh, let me feel Thee near me;

The world is ever near;

I see the sights that dazzle,

The tempting sounds I hear;

My foes are ever near me,

Around me and within;

But, Jesus, draw Thou nearer,

And shield my soul from sin.

Oh, let me hear Thee speaking,

In accents clear and still,

Above the storms of passion,

The murmurs of self-will;

Oh, speak to reassure me,

To hasten, or control;

Oh, speak, and make me listen,

Thou Guardian of my soul.

O Jesus, Thou hast promised

To all who follow Thee

That where Thou art in glory

There shall Thy servant be;

And Jesus, I have promised

To serve Thee to the end;

Oh, give me grace to follow,

My Master and my Friend.

Oh, let me see Thy footmarks,

And in them plant mine own;

My hope to follow duly

Is in Thy strength alone.

Oh, guide me, call me, draw me,

Uphold me to the end;

And then to rest receive me,

My Savior and my Friend.

DIARY OF A CHRISTIAN GIRL

Prior to 5:30am this morning, i had a view that stickers were for physical show of identification and for intimidation. But I didn't understand why some cars or home doors would have as many as 4-5 stickers. I thought the occupants/vehicle owners were crazy.

Some religious stickers were left on even apparently outdated and this baffled me a lot. I always wondered if these people had problems with making their cars/doors look better. Or maybe they used the many stickers as sun shield.

You'd see Stickers and Bands like:

"Manifestations of the sons of men 2012"

"Heaven on Earth 2013"...etc

The funny sites are wrist bands; where you see a person walking around with 3-4 bands.(why?)

But this morning after praying, I laid back on my bed to rest a bit then I started planning my activities for today when I heard a very clear instruction from God. ( Yea, I am at the level where God talks to me audibly. Sometimes it's a small voice that jerks me up to look around if there's someone else in the room. Other times, a scripture would drop in my mind and I would quickly check it and see that it is a scripture relating to a particular situation I am handling. God is amazing!)

So I reviewed the instruction and as usual my mind raised objections (this mind has refused to become righteous.)

My Mind: "We can't do that frequently because it will attract attention to us"

My Heart: "We can do it. People do it"

My mind: "Name one person you know who does it"

My Heart: "errmmmm...."

In my struggle to give a case-closing answer, the question "Why do people use stickers? was dropped in my righteous baby-heart. My mind as usual provided our customary answer.

My mind: "for publicity, identification or intimidation" 

Suddenly I got an understanding of the purpose of stickers and hand bands. 

What happens on the inside of you when you see a flier. You see it with your eyes, even if your mouth doesn't open, your mind reads and understands it and then give a feedback of processed information which is stored in your heart."

An Illustration, when you see a band or a sticker which states:

"Toddler in the car" 

Your eyes spots the sticker and you instantly start searching for a baby in the car. Where there is no baby, You begin to wonder where the baby could be. Then you would begin to make up possible locations of the baby. 

"Maybe the baby is at the school and the driver is on the way to pick the baby"... Etc but one thing is that the sticker stresses your mind to trail a bit and your senses are part of this process one way or another.

Another example is if you see a sticker

"Nigerian Army"

You would first of all look at the occupant(s) of the car. First, your mind will compel you to search for a person wearing a uniform. If he/she isn't, then your mind starts running with possible reasons why the person isn't wearing a uniform

"Maybe she/he is not on duty. Maybe he/she is connected to the Nigerian army"

And this makes you somewhat careful. If you are driving, you would make sure you don't drive careless around that vehicle to avoid some kinda harrassment.

This is also the case with stickers and hand bands.(spiritually and physically)

Physically:

When you move into a house and your neighbour has up a MFM sticker on the door, you expect that you would have many sleepless nights because you expect him/her/them to pray loudly at nights. So it's either you make up your mind to get back your rent money and move out or you join them at nights from your corner whispering "Amen". (No prayer is a waste of time)

Or maybe you become friends with some wearing a LFC band, you'd expect to be bombarded with fliers, tracts and eventually start attending the church one or another. (You cannot escape. Lol!)

Or you become friends with someone with a RCCG band on the wrist and sticker on the car, you'd expect that your phone would be bombarded with Open Heavens devotional every morning which you eventually would be compelled to read. (Lovely read by the way!)

Or you start dating a person with a DIGC hand band, you'd expect that during praise and worship session, your partner is singing beautiful and melodious songs but you don't know anyone of them because they were all composed by the Pastor. So you just listen to the words and God help you if your partner has a terrible voice. (BTW, The songs are totally awesome!)

I believe this also applies to the spiritual realm. Your identification also raises spiritual expectations. 

Let's say you have a sticker.

"I am a child of God. Devil beware"

Do you think the devil won't search for the cause of such boldness; why he should be wary of your identity.

For example,; when you spot a man wearing an army uniform but with a pierced ear and braided hair. First thing that comes to mind is the expected features of an ideal military personnel then you measure that standard with what is before you then you conclude that there's no way this freak could be a military man so your mind resets to default before you can treat the man anyhow you please.

This also happens in the spiritual realm. You affiliate with power which you apparently do not have. 

"Beware devil, I am untouchable"

And the devil is a publicity freak who thrives in the world's expectations. You are powerlessly threatening the devil in the eyes of the entire public, he would physically deal with you! 

You would just find yourself getting into unnecessarily fights with people.

For instance,

You enter a bus and the conductor for no reason starts yelling at you and before you know it, some altercation occurs. You hear phrases like

 "you don't have respect" 

"You talk anyhow"

"I will teach you a lesson"

You get home and more altercation and this time maybe a few blows come your way. Same phrases are repeated.

"No respect"

"You don't know your mate"

"You have not seen anything yet"

You go to work and you feel like the world is against you. You try to explain your predicament to people and they say you are paranoid. Trust me, you are not paranoid. The world is really against you. (Satan is the king of the world and you have powerlessly threatened him and you think he would sit still with folded hands and simply look at you)

Don't just wear bands and put up stickers but put on the whole armour of God.

Ephesians 6:10-13

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. 

Therefore put on the full armour of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground..."

Verses 14-18 displays the full armour:

1. Truth

2. Righteousness

3. Peace

4. Faith

5. Salvation

6. Word of God

7. Prayer.

These are the spiritual bands and stickers we need as our identification and also for intimidation in the spiritual realm. They are the features  by which we are evaluated in the supernatural realm. 

When you put these on, then you can boldly say: 

"Beware devil, I am touchable!

DIARY OF A CHRISTIAN GIRL

I have been AWOL and I would explain the reason in a testimony form.

I am not a testimony extrovert (someone who shares the testimony in public). The only time I did that was in a small house fellowship and I breezed through the entire story that by the  time I was done I saw the puzzled look on the fellows' faces like "did anybody get that? So I vowed never again.

Over the years I have heard some testimonies that left me with different impressions... Some with good effect, others with 'eye-rolling' effect then many with "did anybody get that? effect. (LOL)

Example of testimonies with good effect:

Testified: Praise the Lord

Response: Halleluyah

Testifier: I want to thank God for so and so. 

Response: wow. Halleluyah. *claps*

Example of 'eye-rolling' testimony:

Testifier: "praise the Lord"

Response: "Halleluyah"

Testifier: I am grateful for my life. I finished loosening my attachment in the night and I put it on the floor. When I woke up in the night to ease myself , I saw something curled up in the corner like a snake. I screamed and jumped up but I said out loud that I am fearless and I will tread upon snakes and scorpion and then I turned on the light switch and saw that it wasn't a snake. IT WAS MY ATTACHMENT! (True story!)

Response: WTH?

Example of 'did anybody get that' testimony:

Testifier: "praise the Lord"

Response: "Halleluyah"

Testifier: I don't usually come to give testimony because I am a shy person and I have to appreciate our pastor. God bless you sir. Please clap for our pastor. This man right here is truly a great man. Very humble, very accessible. I use to call him around 1am and he would pick up the phone. Thank you sir. This man ..... (At this point, someone would have collected the mic from his him)

Response: Did anybody actually get the guy's testimony?

But recently I got a higher understanding of the purpose of testimonies. No matter how small the testimony seem, its sole purpose is to ELIMINATE DOUBT(S).

Revelations 12:8

And they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony....

In other words, everytime a testimony is shared, the devil is being defeated. Therefore I am going to share a few of my testimonies to defeat the devil back to back. (Hehehe)

First testimony:

My CGPA after my second semester result was 3.34

I had already resigned my fate that I was going to graduate with a 2:2 but one day after listening to a message on Faith, I pleaded with God for a graduation gift of 2:1.

For the first time in my life, I got over 4.5 during my 400 level first and second semesters.  GOD IS AWESOME!

Second testimony; Service year.

I had a great service year and I was given a post of a supervisor in a transport company and earned a fat salary and other bonuses which made my fellow Corper very envious of me.  I was retained after service year and the whole experience was awesome till I got bored of the job and decided it was time to move on. GOD IS SO AWESOME.

Third testimony; the reason why I have been AWOL!

In my quest to move on, I started putting out my C.V. I saw an advert for a 15 years experience for a managerial position. I laughed my heart out while applying. I mean how old am I that I would have 15years experience. I didn't expect that I would be picked but fortunately I got called for an interview which I attended. At the end of the three-day interview I got the job, with an official apartment.

 The experience has been incredible. GOD IS TOTALLY AMAZING!!!

Nowadays I listen keenly to all kinds of testimonies. I don't care how ridiculous it may sound. I focus on its purpose; Glory to God, defeat to the devil.