OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
DATE: MONDAY NOVEMBER 11TH 2024
TOPIC: HOLD FAST TO YOUR VISION III
MEMORISE:
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” - (Hebrews 12:2)
READ: GENESIS 30:25-43 (KJV)
25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country.
26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.
27 And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.
28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.
29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me.
30 For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?
31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock:
32 I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.
33 So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.
34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.
35 And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.
36 And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
38 And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.
39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.
40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle.
41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.
42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.
43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.
MESSAGE:
Today, I will conclude my teaching on vision by emphasizing that you can become what you see. In today’s Bible reading, Laban agreed to give Jacob all the speckled sheep in his flock as wages. However, because he wanted to cheat him, he secretly removed all the speckled sheep, leaving only plain-coloured sheep within the flock. Despite this, Jacob peeled tree barks and made marks on them. He placed the marked barks at the place the sheep usually drank from so that whenever they came to drink, they would see them. He also ensured that the animals faced the marked barks whenever they were mating. Before long, the plain-coloured sheep started producing speckled offspring until the speckled sheep were more than the plain-coloured ones within the flock. Jacob changed the DNA of the sheep by changing what they saw.
(2 Corinthians 3:18) says that as we keep looking at Jesus Christ, we are transformed into His image. You should pay attention to what you are looking at now because that is what you will become in future. Deliberately fix your attention on the things and people that will influence you to become what you intend to become in the future.
The first time I went to South Korea to attend Dr. Yonggi Cho’s church, I saw that they held seven services in a fifty thousand seater capacity auditorium on that Sunday. They had to beg those who had come to the services that day not to come the following week. I saw something that depicted what I wanted to become, and so I took that vision to God and cried to Him about it. Some years later, I went back there and this time, I was able to meet with him and he said, “I have heard of you, will you please pray for me?” I caught a vision the first time I went there and God began to align things to make me become what I saw. When I went back, I was a different person. If you have a vision and you remain focused on it, you will become what you see in your vision.
Lastly, what you indulge in will determine your destiny. In Judges 16, Samson kept indulging in the wrong things. He kept visiting harlots and committed all manners of atrocities; that was why he died young. Gehazi could have become a greater prophet than Elisha, but his love for silver and gold made him end up as a leper (2 Kings 5:25-27).
Beloved, what vision are you holding on to?
KEY POINT:
What you see will determine what you will become.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: ACTS 4-5
AUTHOR: PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE
HYMNAL: 15 - PASS ME NOT, O GENTLE SAVIOUR
1 Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.
Savior, Savior,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.
2 Let me at Thy throne of mercy
Find a sweet relief;
Kneeling there in deep contrition,
Help my unbelief.
3 Trusting only in Thy merit,
Would I seek Thy face;
Heal my wounded, broken spirit,
Save me by Thy grace.
4 Thou the spring of all my comfort,
More than life to me;
Whom have I on earth beside Thee?
Whom in heaven but Thee?
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