OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL…

DATE : Monday 11th January 2016

THEME: GENUINE PRAISE AND WORSHIP: A PATH TO VICTORY

MEMORISE:

And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. 2 Chronicles 20:22

Read: 2 Chronicles 20: 21-23

21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.

22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.

Message:

The issue of praise and worship cannot be overemphasized. As a matter of fact, the primary reason God created man was that man should praise and worship Him.

“The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelations 4:10-11

Despite the fact that we are created for the purpose of praising and worshipping God, the Lord still provides great benefits for us as we go about doing what we must do to fulfil the purpose of our creation. One of these benefits is the victory that God gives to us when we sing His praises, as is recorded in our Bible reading for today. When Judah began to sing the praise of God, the Lord arose and fought on their behalf. We have read this passage so often that we seem to have lost both its significance and implication. Ordinarily, the people of Judah would have found it difficult to do what their king asked them to do considering the impending doom of war. How many of us can sing the praises of God in the presence of danger or attack? At such times, instead of singing the praises of God we begin to query God, as if our righteousness is good enough to make us immune to the attacks of both spiritual and physical enemies. It is easier read than practiced, but only its practice can bring us blessings, not our reading about it.

Another thing we must learn in today’s reading is that the Bible says, ”he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness…” It is not all praise and worship that is genuine and acceptable unto the Lord; some are unto the flesh. I have often told my children in the faith that they should be mindful of the type of songs they sing in the name of praise or worship. Some of these songs are from the pit of hell, coated in Christian lyrics. Any song, dance, drama or general work of art that promotes promiscuity is abominable in the sight of God and will do the opposite of genuine songs of praise and worship. Our songs should come from a pure heart; its presentation should also be void of pride and ulterior motive. It is unfortunate that some so-called songs of praise and worship are the importation of songs from idol worship. They are melodious, so we embrace them without knowing the implication. From today, let us allow the Holy Spirit to give us songs that the Trinity will appreciate, and let us sing to the beauty of God’s holiness for irreversible victory over our adversaries.

Action Point:

Pray that the Holy Spirit should give you angelic songs from God’s throne so that when you sing here on earth, they will join you to sing “holy, holy, holy” unto the captain of life.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Deuteronomy 2:26-4:31, Job 1:20-2:6

Author: Pst E.A. ADEBOYE

This is for 11/1/2016 please change it

RCCG OPEN HEAVEN DEVOTIONAL

GENUINE PRAISE AND WORSHIP: A PATH TO PROSPERITY – Tuesday January 12 2016

Memorise:
The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
Proverbs 10:22


Read:
2 Chronicles 20:24-26 
24 And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.
25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.
26 And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the Lord: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.

MESSAGE:
Yesterday, we considered genuine praise and worship as a path to victory, today we want to consider prosperity; the genuine praise and worship.

“And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found  among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the soil, it was so much.”
2 Chronicles 20:25

When God tells you that He would prosper you, don’t insult Him by asking “how?” This is because while you do not have one way that canlead you to your prosperity, God has uncountable ways. All you need is to believe and obey Him (John 11:40). Is it not amazing, if not unusual, for the soldiers in our bible reading to go to battle with precious jewels and costly outfits as if they were going for wedding ceremonies? The reason for this was that God had determined to bless His people, because He knew from the onset that His people would praise and bless the beauty of His holiness, so He prepared their compensation beforehand! Another lesson we must learn from this story is that our praise and worship must be Holy Spirit inspired; it must not be offered from our carnal man. The way we sometimes sing God’s praise confirms that these songs are carnally motivated; not seasoned with grace. It would have been acceptable if we were singing it to praise men like secular musicians do. Unfortunately, the One we claim to be praising is a Spirit; He knows everything.

“But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
John 4:23-24

Moreover, the Almighty demands our praise and worship of Him. He is also prepared to bless our obedience to this divine mandate. In other words, if we deny Him the praise that He is worthy of, He will also deny us the prosperity that we can so easily get. I once visited a relation with the aim of blessing him with a certain amount of money, but changed my mind because he failed to give me a modest hospitality according to our custom. When I left his house, I used about 5% of the money I should have given him to buy the soft drink he should have entertained me with. He lost 100% because he did not host me with 5%. Let us cultivate the habit of giving God abundant praise and worship and He will bless us with abundant prosperity.

Action Point:
Throughout today, worship God in truth, in spirit and in holiness as you go about your daily business.

Bible in one year: Deuteronomy 4:32-6:25,
Job 2:7-3:2

We are Sorry for that error, above is the one for today.