Open Heavens Daily Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL 

DATE: THURSDAY  MAY  4TH, 2023.

THEME: THE MEAL THAT GIVES LIFE

MEMORISE: 

For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 

John 6:33 

READ: John 6:48 -58

48 I am that bread of life.

49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

MESSAGE

Basically the reason we eat is so that we can have strength, good health and life. When l was younger, we had a slogan that said, "We eat to live, we don't live to eat". The regular meals we eat however, have some limitations. One of the limitations is that there is no one food that has all the nutrients in it, so no ordinary meal can give you all-round vitality. There is however one meal that gives life in abundance. It is the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. Until you eat this meal, you have no life in you (John 6:53).

In Joshua 14:6-14, one of the people who ate the Passover meal, Caleb, said at the age of 85, "l am still as strong today as l was 45 years ago". When you eat the Holy Communion, your strength is renewed; weakness becomes a stranger to your body. Some years ago. I went to hold a programme in a foreign country, and during one of my prayer walks in the morning, l started feeling faint. I couldn't walk much further and had to go back to my lodge. Later on, l recalled that we would be eating the Holy Communion that evening so that gave me hope. In the evening after eating the Communion, my strength came back to me. In Psalm 105:37, the Bible speaks about the children and of Israel who ate the Passover meal: there was no feeble one amongst them. They all had robust health. Sickness will become a stranger to you  when you eat this special meal. In John 6:54, the Lord Jesus Christ said concerning the Holy Communion:

Whoso earth my flesh, and drinks my blood, hath eternal life; and l will raise him up at the last day.

We eat to live, have strength and be healthy, but the Holy Communion goes far beyond those three basic things. It acts as a medicine - not an ordinary kind of medicine, but one that defies death. Exodus 12:13 says death will pass over you when it sees the blood. This is the blood of Jesus which is represented by the wine in the Holy Communion. I am believing God for you that when next you eat the Holy Communion, death will stay away from your home, in Jesus' name.

KEY POINT

The Holy communion is the most important meal anyone can eat. 

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Chronicles 17-19

AUTHOR: PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE

HYMN 9: IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE GOD ONLY WISE

1 Immortal, invisible, God only wise,

in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,

most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,

almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

2 Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,

nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;

thy justice like mountains high soaring above

thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.

3 To all life thou givest, to both great and small;

in all life thou livest, the true life of all;

we blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,

and wither and perish but naught changeth thee.

4 Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,

thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;

all praise we would render, O help us to see

'tis only the splendor of light hideth thee.

Worship and Rejoice