OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL

DATE: WEDNESDAY 9th DECEMBER 2015

THEME: TRUNCATING YOUR CHILD'S DESTINY?

Memorise:

For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
Judges 13:5

Read: Judges 13:2-5

2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.

3 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.

4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:

5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

Message

Because God is a God of purpose, He never does anything without a purpose. When He speaks, He has a purpose for what He says. When He laughs, there is also a purpose (Psalm 37:13). When He created you, it was for a purpose. May you fulfil God's purpose for creating you in Jesus' Name. Do you know that God's plan and purpose for your life had been concluded long before He laid the foundations of the earth (Ephesians 1:3-5)? However, for you to fulfil this purpose, you need to understand it, and you need to do everything to ensure it is not derailed. Our Bible reading shows how crucial it is to understand purpose.

When an angel was sent to announce to Manoah's wife that she would conceive and give birth to Samson, it was for a specific purpose: the child was to be set apart unto God as a Nazarite. One lesson here is that even when God has a specific purpose for a person, it is the responsibility of parents not to derail this purpose, right from the point of conception, until God's plan is fulfilled. For example, if Samson's mother had insisted on taking alcoholic drinks or eating anything classified as unclean after she had been warned by the angel, she would have derailed God's purpose for Samson.

The plan of God for Samson was that the Holy Spirit would start working on him right from when he was in his mother's womb; but if his mother had consumed alcohol, two spirits would have been at war in her: the Holy Spirit and the spirit of alcohol (a demonic spirit). Because the Holy Spirit would not work where the spirit of alcohol holds sway, Samson would never have become what God planned for him to be. This simply tells us that the physical and spiritual state of parents, particularly mothers, is of great importance, right from the conception of a child.

The actions of a mother affect the foetus in her womb and can alter the destiny of a child. The actions of a pregnant woman who smokes cigarettes or marijuana, often takes alcohol or hard drugs such as cocaine and so on will definitely affect the baby in her womb. Sometimes, the physical structure of that baby is tampered with, leading to abnormal foetal development or deformities. Such children could even develop mental health issues and find it difficult to live normal lives. Worse still, if a child ends up being aborted, the destiny of that child is completely destroyed. Beloved mothers, abstain from anything that can cause harm to your unborn child! Do not be guilty of truncating your child's destiny!

Action Point:

You will give account of all the children who came into this world through you. Be careful!

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: PSALM 100-104 and HEBREWS 12:3-29

AUTHOR: Pst. E. A. ADEBOYE