Sunday, March 29, 2015

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL (SUNDAY 29 MARCH 2015)

Open Heavens Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye
Sunday March 29

EMMANUEL

Memorise:
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.
Zechariah 8:23

Read: Matthew 1:18-25
18  Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.   
19  Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.   
20  But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.    
21  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.    
22  Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,    
23  Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.    
24  Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:    
25  And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.  

Message
One reason why the Holy Spirit caused the Gospel of Matthew to be written is to show that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophesies concerning the Messiah. One of such prophesies is found in Isaiah 7:14 which says,
  "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
This prophecy was shown to be fulfilled by Jesus in our Bible reading today. One of the key points of this prophecy is that Jesus will be referred to as Emmanuel. The name Emmanuel means "God with us". There is nothing as good as when God is with a person. God is the eternal, independent, self-existing Being. He is the Being whose purpose and actions spring from Himself without any external influence. God is absolute in dominion and infinitely benevolent. He alone is the cause of all existence and the upholder of all things. Numerous benefits accrue from the presence of God. One advantage of having God with you is that no force, known or unknown can successfully detract you from fulfilling destiny (Romans 8:31-32).

For you to fully key into the revelation of "God with us", you need to understand who God is. God revealed who He is in discrete parts through His redemptive Names to the saints of old. He said to Moses in Exodus 6:3:
 "And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them."
An understanding of His redemptive Names gives us insight into His personality and allows us to profit from the consciousness that this personality is with us.

God is the Elshaddai: He is the All-Sufficient One. This means that He has enough resources to meet all your needs - be it spiritual, physical, emotional or psychological. Also, God is Jehovah Jireh: the Great Provider. He has the ability to turn your austerity to prosperity and poverty to wealth (Philippians 4:19). Another Name for God is Jehovah Rapha: the Healer. Are you sick? He has the ability to cure you of all ailments - be it pathological, soul sickness or spiritual sickness. God is also Jehovah Nissi: He is the Man of War. Are you facing any battle? The Almighty God has the ability to fight all of your battles for you and to grant you total victory. Are the enemies of your life mammoth? Turn to Jehovah Nissi today. Let Him be your Emmanuel. I prophesy that you will experience victory in all the battles of your life in Jesus' Name. 

Action Point:
Consciously carry the presence of God along with you wherever you go.

Bible in a year: Micah 1-4 & Matthew 10:40-11:19... Read after the cut:

Micah 1-4; 

Mic 1:1  The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. 
Mic 1:2  Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. 
Mic 1:3  For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. 
Mic 1:4  And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. 
Mic 1:5  For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? 
Mic 1:6  Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof. 
Mic 1:7  And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot. 
Mic 1:8  Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. 
Mic 1:9  For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. 
Mic 1:10  Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust. 
Mic 1:11  Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Bethezel; he shall receive of you his standing. 
Mic 1:12  For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem. 
Mic 1:13  O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. 
Mic 1:14  Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath: the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel. 
Mic 1:15  Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel. 
Mic 1:16  Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee. 



Micah 2

Mic 2:1  Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. 
Mic 2:2  And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. 
Mic 2:3  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil. 
Mic 2:4  In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields. 
Mic 2:5  Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD. 
Mic 2:6  Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame. 
Mic 2:7  O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? 
Mic 2:8  Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war. 
Mic 2:9  The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever. 
Mic 2:10  Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. 
Mic 2:11  If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people. 
Mic 2:12  I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. 
Mic 2:13  The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them. 


Micah 3

Mic 3:1  And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? 
Mic 3:2  Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; 
Mic 3:3  Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron. 
Mic 3:4  Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. 
Mic 3:5  Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. 
Mic 3:6  Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. 
Mic 3:7  Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God. 
Mic 3:8  But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. 
Mic 3:9  Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. 
Mic 3:10  They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 
Mic 3:11  The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us. 
Mic 3:12  Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. 



Micah 4

Mic 4:1  But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 
Mic 4:2  And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 
Mic 4:3  And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 
Mic 4:4  But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. 
Mic 4:5  For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. 
Mic 4:6  In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; 
Mic 4:7  And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. 
Mic 4:8  And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. 
Mic 4:9  Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. 
Mic 4:10  Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. 
Mic 4:11  Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. 
Mic 4:12  But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. 
Mic 4:13  Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. 



Matthew 10:40-11:19

Mat 10:40  He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. 
Mat 10:41  He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. 
Mat 10:42  And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. 


Matthew 11:19

Mat 11:1  And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. 
Mat 11:2  Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 
Mat 11:3  And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? 
Mat 11:4  Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: 
Mat 11:5  The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 
Mat 11:6  And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. 
Mat 11:7  And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? 
Mat 11:8  But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. 
Mat 11:9  But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. 
Mat 11:10  For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 
Mat 11:11  Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 
Mat 11:12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 
Mat 11:13  For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 
Mat 11:14  And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. 
Mat 11:15  He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 
Mat 11:16  But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, 
Mat 11:17  And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. 
Mat 11:18  For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. 
Mat 11:19  The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. 

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