Open Heavens Daily Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.

DATE: TUESDAY 12TH APRIL, 2022.

THEME: IDLENESS DESTROYS

MEMORISE:

“The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.”

(Proverbs 13:4)

READ: 2 Thessalonians 3:11-12 (KJV)

11. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.

12. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

MESSAGE:

We see clearly in Ezekiel 16:49 that one of the major problems that led to the destruction of Sodom is idleness. Idleness also caused David great sorrow.

At a time when kings went to war, he stayed at home and this led to him committing adultery and murder. These sins invoked God’s anger and a curse was placed upon him and his lineage (2 Samuel 11-12).

Solomon also fell into the trap of idleness, which caused his heart to be turned away from God.

After he had built the temple of God and a new palace, he had nothing else to do. There were no wars to fight, no territories to conquer, and so he relaxed.

He started marrying women he had no business with until he ended up with 700 wives and 300 concubines. In his relaxed state, his wives began to turn him away from the Most High God, and before he knew it, he was already building temples for and sacrificing to strange gods. Solomon started with so much respect and honour for God that he gave the largest sacrifice in the Bible to the Lord.

This was a man who God appeared to twice, but idleness brought him to the point where he began to serve other gods. He displeased God greatly, and this led to him losing part of his father’s heritage (1 Kings 11:1-11).

Jesus Christ said His father works and likewise Himself (John 5:17). Who then do you want to emulate by being idle? Imagine if, in your house, everyone - including the father of the house helps out with chores, yet one of the children never works but loafs around the house every day. That child would be very annoying to the parents and his or her siblings.

Beloved, there are many souls to be saved out there (Matthew 9:37); are you working to reach them quickly?

When you consider the story of the rich fool in Luke 12:16-20, you may think, “What did this man do wrong? Is it wrong to work so hard and gather a large harvests? Why did God kill him?” God took his life because he had decided that since he now had a large harvest, he was going to become idle. Idle people are very dangerous to the Kingdom of God and the society.

No matter how much you have achieved, still strive for more. There is a lot of work to be done in the Kingdom of God. Serve Him now that you have the privilege to do so (John 9:4).

KEY POINT:

A good child of God will be busy doing His work.

Click here for TODAY'S OPEN HEAVENS PRAYER POINTS.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:

1 Kings 8-9

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE

HYMNAL: - ONWARD, CHRISTIAN SOLDER!

1. Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus going on before.

Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe;

Forward into battle see His banners go!

Chorus

Onward, Christian soldiers,

Marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus

Going on before.

2. At the sign of triumph, satan’s host doth flee;

On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!

Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise;

Brothers lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.

Chorus

Onward, Christian soldiers,

Marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus

Going on before.

3. Like a mighty army moves the church of God;

Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod.

We are not divided, all one body we,

One in hope and doctrine, one in charity.

Chorus

Onward, Christian soldiers,

Marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus

Going on befor.

4. Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane,

But the church of Jesus constant will remain.

Gates of hell can never gainst that church prevail;

We have Christ’s own promise, and that cannot fail.

Chorus

Onward, Christian soldiers,

Marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus

Going on before.

5. Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng,

Blend with ours your voices in the triumph song.

Glory, laud and honor unto Christ the King,

This through countless ages men and angels sing.

Chorus

Onward, Christian soldiers,

Marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus

Going on before.

Open Heavens Prayer Points

PRAYER POINTS ON TODAY'S OPEN HEAVENS:

(Monday, April 11, 2022)

STAND UP

Special Note:

These prayer points are not written by Pastor E. A. Adeboye, but by one of his numerous disciples, of Christ, who was inspired and mandated by the Holy Spirit, effective, January 1st, 2015,, to start writing these prayer points, based on the Open Heavens Daily Devotional, authored by Pastor E. A. Adeboye.

Some of the prayer points are deep spiritually and may not be understood by carnal minds.

If you want to be blessed from these prayer points, you must first, surrender Your life, to the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, by saying this prayer:

“Lord Jesus, I come to You with a deeply repentant heart, please, forgive me all my sins. I surrender my life to you, today, and, I accept You, as my personal Lord and Saviour. Please, come into my life and save my soul from eternal destruction in hell fire. In Jesus' name, I pray.”

Prayer Points:

1.Thank You, Father, for creating me in Your image and likeness, and for Your purpose and pleasure.

2.Father, in anyway I have fallen short of your glory, please, have mercy and forgive me; let Your mercy prevail over any judgement of sin in my life, in Jesus' name.

3.Father, let Your fire consume every spirit of complacency, procrastination and lukewarmness, that have crept into my life, in Jesus' name.

4.Father, empower by Your grace to always obey You to the letter and do Your perfect will at all times, in Jesus' name.

5.Father, give me the spirit of discernment, to enable me test and know every spirit, whether they are of You or not, in Jesus' name.

6.Father, renew my strength at every point, on this journey, and empower me to recover lost ground and to fulfill my destiny, in Jesus' name..

7.Father, empower me by Your grace, not to rest until I get to my destination and accomplish Your purpose for my life, in Jesus' name.

8.Father, let everything beyond my power hindering my dreams from being fulfilled, be destroyed today, in Jesus' name.

9.Father, in my old age, let me still be strong and fruitful, and fat and flourishing, in all good works, in Jesus' name

10.Father, bless your son, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye and renew his strength, in Jesus' name.

11.Father, bless Your son that You have been using to prepare these prayer points, beyond measures, and all those who have been rebroadcasting them, in Jesus' name.

12.Father, let every challenge, hindrance and obstacle of getting these prayer points across to Your children, timely, and on daily basis be removed, in Jesus' name.

13.Your Personal petitions.

( Philippians 4:6)

14.In Jesus' name I pray.

(John 14:13-14; 15:16)

15.Thank you Father for answered prayers.

(1 Thessalonians 5:18).

#GodBlessOurNation

Please, share the Word of God.

These prayers have no expiry dates! Please, pray them, irrespective of the time they get to you. Remain blessed, in Jesus' name. 

Kindly, purchase your own hard copy or online version of the Open Heavens devotional & buy for your friends too, as a potent evangelism tool. God bless you, as you sow, into Pastor E.A. Adeboye's book Ministry, in Jesus' name.

Note:

You may not add, subtract or rearrange these prayer points. The Holy Spirit is the author, though He used someone, who, out of humility has refused to take glory for it, by not putting his name. It is plagiarism to use, or pass as your own, someone's else writing or work. The original author of these prayer points is the Holy Spirit. So, share, but don't share His glory with Him in the process. Remain blessed, as you obey, in Jesus' name.

Open Heavens Daily Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL

DATE: MONDAY 11TH APRIL 2022

THEME: STAND UP

MEMORISE:  

Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. 

Joshua 13:1

READ: 1 Kings 13:1 - 25

1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.

2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.

3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.

5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.

7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.

8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:

9 For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.

10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.

11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.

12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.

13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,

14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.

15 Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.

16 And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:

17 For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.

18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.

19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.

20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back:

21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,

22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.

23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.

25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

MESSAGE

The problem with many Christians is that they are ‘seated’. They think they have arrived, so they rest earlier than they should. I have seen it happen now and again where a man or woman of God is doing so well for the Almighty God and the work of the Lord is prospering in his or her hands, then all of a sudden, the person decides to rest. No more prayers at night, no more Bible study, no more self-sacrifice. From the story of the young prophet in our Bible reading today, we see that there are many people who God wants to take to the sun, but they get to the moon and relax. The moment a person decides to take a break from serving God and sits to rest, he or she begins to retrogress.

In Psalm 1:1, the Bible says that a Christian doesn’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the seat of the scornful. The Bible goes from walking, to standing, to sitting; that is retrogression. To be seated means you used to be a champion, but now you are irrelevant. In 1 Samuel 10:1, Saul was captain; in 1 Samuel 16:14, he had become irrelevant (he was seated). In Luke 15:11-19, the prodigal son was wealthy, but he rejoiced too soon and things became so bad that he sought to eat with pigs.

When we moved to the Redemption Camp, we had just a few acres of land, then we bought some more and got to about thirty acres of land, After this, we bought a little more and by the time we got to about a hundred acres, people came to me and said, “What do you want to do with all this land?” The Almighty God woke me up one day and said “What is wrong with you; are they the ones who called you? Are they the ones who brought you here?” I got up immediately. Today, the Redemption Camp in Western Nigeria alone is on about 30,000 acres of land and we have only just started.

Beloved, STAND UP! It’s not yet time to rest. You have not arrived at your destination yet, you have not reached where God is taking you to. Don’t stop praying, don’t stop working hard, don’t stop making sacrifices; God still has a lot in store for you. Instead of Joshua to hear “Well done, my son” from God at the end of his sojourn on earth, God informed him that there was a lot he had left undone as seen in the memory verse of today. God forbid that this will be the report you get when it is your turn, in Jesus’ name.

KEY POINT

Don't relax until you reach the point God wants to take you to.

Click here for TODAY'S OPEN HEAVENS PRAYER POINTS.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 King 5-7

AUTHOR: PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE 

HYMN 26: WE ARE NEVER NEVER WEARY OF THE GRAND OLD SONG

1. We are never, never weary of the grand old song;

Glory to God, hallelujah!

We can sing it loud as ever, with our faith more strong;

Glory to God, hallelujah!

Refrain

O, the children of the Lord have a right to shout and sing,

For the way is growing bright, and our souls are on the wing;

We are going by and by to the palace of a King!

Glory to God, hallelujah!

2. We are lost amid the rapture of redeeming love

Glory to God, hallelujah!

We are rising on its pinions to the hills above:

Glory to God, hallelujah! 

3. We are going to a palace that is built of gold;

Glory to God, hallelujah!

Where the King in all His splendor we shall soon behold

Glory to God, hallelujah! 

4. There we’ll shout redeeming mercy in a glad, new song;

Glory to God, hallelujah!

There we’ll sing the praise of Jesus with the blood washed throng;

Glory to God, hallelujah!

Open Heavens Prayer Points

PRAYER POINTS ON TODAY'S OPEN HEAVENS:

(Sunday, April 10, 2022)

WAKE UP 2

Special Note:

These prayer points are not written by Pastor E. A. Adeboye, but by one of his numerous disciples, of Christ, who was inspired and mandated by the Holy Spirit, effective, January 1st, 2015,, to start writing these prayer points, based on the Open Heavens Daily Devotional, authored by Pastor E. A. Adeboye.

Some of the prayer points are deep spiritually and may not be understood by carnal minds.

If you want to be blessed from these prayer points, you must first, surrender Your life, to the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, by saying this prayer:

“Lord Jesus, I come to You with a deeply repentant heart, please, forgive me all my sins. I surrender my life to you, today, and, I accept You, as my personal Lord and Saviour. Please, come into my life and save my soul from eternal destruction in hell fire. In Jesus' name, I pray.”

Prayer Points:

1.Thank You, Father, for the salvation of my soul, and for bringing me out of the darkness of this world into Your marvelous light in Christ Jesus.

2.Father, in anyway I have fallen short of your glory, please, have mercy and forgive me; let Your mercy prevail over any judgement of sin in my life, in Jesus name.

3.Father, please, forgive every sin, that has kept me moving in circles and wandering for years, in the wilderness of life; let them be blotted out today, by the blood of Jesus.

4.Father, please, go ahead of me and straighten every crooked path, and remove every obstacle on my way, in Jesus name.

5.Father, let everything hindering the fulfilment of my dreams, hopes and aspirations, in life, be destroyed today, in Jesus name.

6.Father, let every yoke of failure, stagnancy, unfulfilled dreams and expectations, be terminated in my life today, in Jesus name.

7.Father, let everything beyond my power hindering my dreams from being fulfilled, be destroyed today, in Jesus name.

8.Father, let every peg that the enemies have been using to peg my life to the same spot, all these years be uprooted today, in Jesus name.

9.Father, please, wake me up from my slumber and grant me accelerated progress and promotion in all areas of my life, in Jesus name.

10.Father, bless your son, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, and, grant all his heart's desires, in Jesus name.

11.Father, bless Your son that You have been using to prepare these prayer points, beyond measures, and all those who have been rebroadcasting them, in Jesus name.

12.Father, let every challenge, hindrance and obstacle of getting these prayer points across to Your children, timely, and on daily basis be removed, in Jesus name.

13.Your Personal petitions.

( Philippians 4:6)

14.In Jesus name I pray.

(John 14:13-14; 15:16)

15.Thank you Father for answered prayers.

(1 Thessalonians 5:18).

#GodBlessOurNation

Please, share the Word of God.

These prayers have no expiry dates! Please, pray them, irrespective of the time they get to you. Remain blessed, in Jesus name. 

Kindly, purchase your own hard copy or online version of the Open Heavens devotional & buy for your friends too, as a potent evangelism tool. God bless you, as you sow, into Pastor E.A. Adeboye's book Ministry, in Jesus' name.

Note:

You may not add, subtract or rearrange these prayer points. The Holy Spirit is the author, though He used someone, who, out of humility has refused to take glory for it, by not putting his name. It is plagiarism to use, or pass as your own, someone's else writing or work. The original author of these prayer points is the Holy Spirit. So, share, but don't share His glory with Him in the process. Remain blessed, as you obey, in Jesus' name.

Open Heavens Daily Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL

DATE: SUNDAY 10TH APRIL 2022

THEME: WAKE UP II

MEMORISE: 

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. 

Proverbs 13:12

READ: Psalms 37:3 -6 

3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

MESSAGE

In Isaiah 29:8, the Bible says that a hungry man can eat in his dream but then when he wakes up, he will realize that he is still hungry. If a poor man sleeps and dreams of himself living in a mansion and having many servants, when he wakes up, he would still find himself on his little bed in his little room. The sleeping state hence can also be described as a state of unfulfilled dreams. When a fellow continually has beautiful dreams which never come true, that is a state of sleep.

When I was a lecturer at the University of Lagos, there was an engineering student who, after years of not being able to move beyond 100 level, was asked to withdraw. He then changed his course of study again, this time to fine arts. He never graduated. This is a classic example of unfulfilled dreams. If you have noticed that your dreams just never seem to get fulfilled, then you may just be sleeping. I decree that everything beyond your power, hindering your dreams from being fulfilled is destroyed today, in Jesus’ name.

If you have noticed that for many years, you have not been making any significant progress in your life, then you are in a sleeping state. You must wake up today. Physically, check those things that you have been doing which have not been giving you results and change your strategy. Stop moving round in circles; look for the direction that will take you to your goal and go in it. For some people it is a habit or a bad attitude that has kept them in the same spot for years; prayerfully search for the cause of any stagnation in your life and get rid of it.

Spiritually, you must pray to break every barrier to your moving forward in life. Make sure that you are not the one who is a hinderance to the fulfillment of your own dreams; make sure that you don’t have any sin in your life that is hindering your progress. Pray against that enemy that has stopped you from moving forward and you will soon begin to see progress in your life.

You will soon testify, in Jesus’ name.

PRAYER POINT

I decree, everything that has hindered the fulfillment of my dreams must be destroyed today in the name of Jesus.

Click here for TODAY'S OPEN HEAVENS PRAYER POINTS.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 King 3-4

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE 

HYMN 2: CONQUERORS AND OVERCOMERS NOW ARE WE

1. Conquerors and overcomers now are we,

Thro’ the precious blood of Christ we’ve victory,

If the Lord be for us, we can never fail;

Nothing ‘gainst his mighty pow’r can e’er prevail.

Refrain:

Conquerors are we, thro’ the blood, thro’ the blood;

God will give us victory, thro’ the blood, thro’ the blood,

Thro’ the Lamb for sinners slain,

Yet who lives and reigns again,

More than conquerors are we,

More than conquerors are we.

2. In the name of Israel’s God we’ll onward press,

Overcoming sin and all unrighteousness;

Not to us, but unto him the praise shall be,

For salvation and for blood-bought victory. 

3. Unto him that overcometh shall be giv’n

Here to eat of hidden manna sent from heav’n;

Over yonder he the victor’s palm shall bear,

And a robe of white, and golden crown shall wear.

Open Heavens Prayer Points

PRAYER POINTS ON TODAY'S OPEN HEAVENS: 

(Saturday, April 9, 2022) 

WAKE UP 1 

Special Note:

These prayer points are not written by Pastor E. A. Adeboye,. but by one of his numerous disciples, of Christ, who was inspired and mandated by the Holy Spirit, effective, January 1st, 2015, to start writing these prayer points, based on the Open Heavens Daily Devotional, authored by Pastor E. A. Adeboye.

Some of the prayer points are deep spiritually and may not be understood by carnal minds.

If you want to be blessed from these prayer points, you must first, surrender Your life, to the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, by saying this prayer:

“Lord Jesus, I come to You with a deeply repentant heart, please, forgive me all my sins. I surrender my life to you, today, and, I accept You, as my personal Lord and Saviour. Please, come into my life and save my soul from eternal destruction in hell fire. In Jesus' name, I pray.”

Prayer Points: 

1. I worship and adore You, my Father;  You're my shield, my buckler and my keeper; and You that keepeth me will never sleep nor slumber.

2.Father, in anyway I have fallen short of your glory, please, have mercy and forgive me; let Your mercy prevail over any judgement of sin in my life, in Jesus' name.

3.Father, surround me with Your fire, and shield me from every satanic attack either in my vulnerable state of sleep or when I am fully awake, in Jesus' name.

4.Father, I decree that the sun shall not smite me by the day, nor the moon by the night, in Jesus' name.

5.Father, please, preserve my going out and my coming in, from this time forth, and even forevermore, in Jesus' name.

6.Father, please, preserve me from all evils, and preserve my soul, from eternal destruction in hell fire, in Jesus' name.

7.Father, please, keep me strong spiritually at all times, and, do not allow Your protective cover over my life and family to be weakened or removed, in Jesus' name.

8.Father, restore unto me the joy of Your salvation, and, empower me to run away from every appearance of evil, in Jesus' name.

9.Father, wake me up from my spiritual slumber, please, don't let me ever sleep the sleep of death, in Jesus' name.

10.Father, bless your son, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, and, keep him spiritually awake for the rest of his life, in Jesus' name.

11.Father, bless Your son that You have been using to prepare these prayer points, beyond measures, and all those who have been rebroadcasting them, in Jesus' name.

12.Father, let every challenge, hindrance and obstacle of getting these prayer points across to Your children, timely, and on daily basis be removed, in Jesus' name.

13.Your Personal petitions.

( Philippians 4:6)

14.In Jesus' name I pray.

(John 14:13-14; 15:16)

15.Thank you Father for answered prayers.

(1 Thessalonians 5:18).

#GodBlessOurNation

These prayers have no expiry dates! Please, pray them, irrespective of the time they get to you. Remain blessed, in Jesus' name.

Kindly, purchase your own hard copy or online version of the Open Heavens devotional & buy for your friends too, as a potent evangelism tool. God bless you, as you sow, into Pastor E.A. Adeboye's book Ministry, in Jesus' name.

Note:

You may not add, subtract or rearrange these prayer points. The Holy Spirit is the author, though He used someone, who, out of humility has refused to take glory for it, by not putting his name. It is plagiarism to use, or pass as your own, someone's else writing or work. The original author of these prayer points is the Holy Spirit. So, share, but don't share His glory with Him in the process. Remain blessed, as you obey, in Jesus' name.

Open Heavens Daily Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL

DATE: SATURDAY 9TH 2022

THEME: WAKE UP- I

MEMORISE: 

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 

Matthew 13:25 

READ: 1 Samuel 26:4 -16

4 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come in very deed.

5 And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched: and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him.

6 Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee.

7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him.

8 Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time.

9 And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD'S anointed, and be guiltless?

10 David said furthermore, As the LORD liveth, the LORD shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish.

11 The LORD forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the LORD'S anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go.

12 So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the LORD was fallen upon them.

13 Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of an hill afar off; a great space being between them:

14 And David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art thou that criest to the king?

15 And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord.

16 This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the LORD liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the LORD'S anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster.

MESSAGE

The statement, “Wake up” implies that the fellow being spoken to had been sleeping. Sleeping at the wrong time can be very dangerous while sleeping spiritually is even more dangerous! In the Bible reading for today, we learnt that King Saul slept. He was surrounded by mighty men of Israel – not ordinary soldiers, but the best in the land, and they all slept too. While they were sleeping, David (the man they were seeking to kill) and his men came and took the sword of the king as well as his water bottle. Abishai, one of David’s men said to him, “Let me smite him just once-not twice, just once and he will be dead”’. When you are sleeping, no matter how strong you are, you would be helpless and open to the attack of the enemy. That is why you must never sleep spiritually.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring, lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

1 Peter 5:8

The above passage says that the devil is walking around, and his only mission is to look for people that he can devour. If he gets to you and finds you sleeping spiritually, just one stroke from him can kill you.

As strong as Saul’s bodyguards were, the moment he slept, they slept too. When you sleep spiritually,  you disconnect your protective covering in the spirit.

The moment you stop praying, stop studying your Bible and you now begin to dip your hands into one little sin or the other, the protective covering that God had put over you and your family members begins to weaken, giving a chance for the enemy to attack successfully. In Numbers 22-24, Balaam tried to curse the Israelites but could only bless them because of the protective covering that God had put over them. That covering was however, lifted when the people of Israel began to sleep spiritually. This led to a plague killing twenty-four thousand of them. Many ‘Christians’ are suffering from the oppression of the devil today because they are sleeping spiritually. Where they should be victors, they are victims. 

WAKE UP!

Start praying again! Start evangelizing again! Run away from those ‘little’ 

sins! Stop being a prey to the devil WAKE UP!

KEY POINT

Wake up from your spiritual slumber

Click here for TODAY'S OPEN HEAVENS PRAYER POINTS.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 King 1-2

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE

HYMN 6: HO MY COMRADES! SEE THE SIGNAL

1 Ho My Comrades See The Signal Waving In The Sky Reinforcements Now Appearing Victory Is Nigh

2 Hold The Fort For I Am Coming Jesus Signals Still Wave The Answer Back To Heaven By Thy Grace We Will

3 See The Mighty Host Advancing Satan Leading On Mighty Ones Around Us Falling Courage Almost Gone

4 See The Glorious Banner Waving Hear The Trumpet Blow In Our Leader’s Name We Triumph Over Every Foe

5 Fierce And Long The Battle Rages But Our Help Is Near Onward Comes Our Great Commander Cheer My Comrades Cheer