OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
DATE: FRIDAY MAY 12TH, 2023.
THEME: DIVINE HELP III
MEMORISE:
But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:26
READ: 2 Chronicles 20:1-25
1 It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
2 Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.
3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.
5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,
6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?
8 And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,
9 If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.
10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
11 Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.
12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.
13 And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
14 Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;
15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.
16 To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.
18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.
19 And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.
22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
24 And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.
25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.
MESSAGE
God can help you even when the odds against you are overwhelming. When He decides to, He will show the odds that He is still the All-Sufficient God. In Isaiah 43:13, the Almighty God says no one can hinder Him when He decides to work. In other words, it doesn't matter how many forces are at war against you; when God decides to help, nothing can stop Him.
In Daniel 3, when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were to be thrown into the fiery furnace, the furnace was heated seven times more, yet the only people who died were the soldiers who threw the boys inside. The people thrown right into the furnace came out alive. In Judges 15:11-15, the Bible says that Samson's relatives handed him over to the external enemies, but by the end of the day, a thousand of these enemies were dead while the rest fled. It doesn't matter how many enemies you are dealing with; God will help you deal with them all, in Jesus' name.
My God is the One who makes a way where there is no way, so when it looks like there is no way out, God can still make a way. One day while l was abroad, l was told that one of my spiritual sons was in the hospital, suffering from an advanced case of cancer. Humanly speaking, his case was completely hopeless. I went to visit him at the hospital on a Saturday and prayed for him. By the following Wednesday, my son was discharged completely whole. The beauty of that story is that every other person who had been in the ward when l prayed for him was also discharged.
There was also the case of a lady that had been told by doctors that she had a 99.9% chance of dying from a particular disease. I couldn't go to the hospital at that time, so l prayed on a handkerchief instead and sent it to her. God used the remaining 0.01% that the doctor left out to save her life. She wrote a book titled, "Rescued from the Jaws of Death", testifying of her divine healing. I don't know how hopeless your case seems to be; everyone may have even given up on you, but l decree that God will make a way for you today, in Jesus' name.
PRAYER POINT
Father, nothing is impossible with You. Please, come to my rescue today, in Jesus name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Chronicles 17-20
AUTHOR: PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 5: BLESSED ASSURANCE
1 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
2 Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
3 Perfect submission, all is at rest,
in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
