Open Heavens Daily Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL

DATE: THURSDAY JUNE 23RD, 2023.

THEME: WHEN GOD STEPS IN

MEMORISE: 

In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. 

Psalms 62:7

READ: Exodus 14:9 -28

9 But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.

10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.

11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?

12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:

16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:

20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians,

25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

26 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.

27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.

MESSAGE:

When God steps into the situation of a man, we call it a divine encounter. A divine encounter is actually a collision between God - with His supernatural powers and human beings - with their helplessness. In Luke 7:11-15, a widow on her way to bury her only son met with Jesus - in whose presence is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). The result was a collision that caused joy to swallow up sorrow. The widow's sorrow ended and she returned home rejoicing. The Almighty God is going to collide with you today and you will experience a great transformation in Jesus' name.

During one of our programmes some years ago. The Lord gave me a revelation for someone in the meeting and l announced: "The Lord said there is someone here who should have been married but the mother says she would not get married. If the mother does not repent she will be dead within a week". A lady that was of marriageable age believed the word was for her and she went home to tell her mother. The next day, the mother, furious, came with her to see me, saying, "My daughter came and informed me that you said l will die within a week". I tood her exactly what God had said, explaining that l hadn't mentioned any name. After this, she asked the girl to leave the office, then turned to me, "It is not that l don't want her to marry. It's just that she is the one taking care of me". I replied, "That is not a problem; l will talk to the husband and they will continue to take care of you". The mother then said, "In that case, she can marry". Six months later, the daughter was married.

In our Bible reading for today, we saw how God stepped into the situation of the Israelites and brought doom upon the Egyptians. This tells us that we must be careful when dealing with children of God because Jesus can decide to step into the situation at any time. When He decide to step into a situation, you had better be sure that you are on His side. If you surrender to Him willingly, then He will collide with all the forces against you but if you are not on His side, a collision with Him will bring about a negative result like it did for the Egyptians.

PRAYER POINT

Father, please step into my situation and collide with any force opposing me, in the name of Jesus.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalm 95-103

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, 2003