OPEN HEAVEN DEVOTIONAL 2017

Thursday March 9, 2017

YOU ARE BLESSED

Memorise : And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. - Genesis 1:28

Read: Genesis 1:26-30

1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.


MESSAGE :

God’s voice is so powerful that it can bring about abundant increase. When He speaks in a situation of lack and acute shortage, whatever is responsible for that anomaly is arrested and there is bountiful provision. An example of this can be seen in the lives of the children of Israel. In Genesis 46:26-27, we read that all the people that Israel brought with him into Egypt including Joseph and his family were 70. However, when they were leaving Egypt, the men alone were numbered at 600,000 (Exodus 12:37).

In fact, the Israelites’ rate of multiplication in Egypt was so rapid that it became a source of worry to the Egyptians (Exodus 1:7-10). Sometimes, we think that such miracles can only occur in Bible times. By the grace of God, in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, we have seen God’s faithfulness demonstrated in the area of multiplication. In 1952, the Church started with about 12 people. By the time I became the general overseer in 1981, we had only 40 parishes including the headquarters. The convention we had in 1980 had a little over 600 people in attendance, yet we thought that was quite large. Today, through the grace of the Almighty God, this same Church has spread to over 174 nations of the world! Why? It is simply because there is a God who can speak from Heaven to make something little increase abundantly. This shall be your portion today in Jesus’ Name!

A blessing summons all the forces in heaven, on earth and underneath the earth to help an individual to succeed. To bless someone, you have to open your mouth to declare it. When God blesses you, all the angels of God will assist you, and even demons will fight one another to clear the way for you. In Genesis 48:8-20, Joseph, while visiting his father Jacob with his two sons, carefully guided his father to rest his right hand on the head of the elder son, Manasseh, and to rest his left hand on Ephraim the younger. At this time, Jacob was old and sick, and could no longer see. When Jacob crossed his hands over the two boys, Joseph protested but Jacob insisted, saying the younger will be greater than the elder, and then he blessed them. Within a short period of time, the younger son had become 10 times more blessed than his elder brother (Deuteronomy 33:17).

This is what the declaration of a divine blessing can do in the life of a person. Ask God to declare His blessings on you. You can also seek the declaration of blessings from a father that is connected to God.

PRAYER POINT :
Father, from today, let me experience Your blessing of multiplication in every area of my life.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR :
Genesis 42-43;
Isaiah 55



HYMN 10: THERE SHALL BE SHOWER 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.

[Chorus] 
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.

[Chorus] 

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.

[Chorus] 

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!

[Chorus]