OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
DATE: MONDAY 1ST, APRIL 2024.
THEME: STIR UP THE GIFT
MEMORISE
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
2 Timothy 1:6
READ : 2 Kings 2:13-25
2 Kings 2:13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
2 Kings 2:14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
2 Kings 2:15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
2 Kings 2:16 And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send.
2 Kings 2:17 And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not.
2 Kings 2:18 And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?
2 Kings 2:19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.
2 Kings 2:20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
2 Kings 2:21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
2 Kings 2:22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.
2 Kings 2:23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
2 Kings 2:24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
2 Kings 2:25 And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria.
MESSAGE
There are many peoples who have received an impartation through anointing, however, miracles are yet to happen through them. When a fellow receives the anointing, it remains dormant in him or her until it is stirred up. When Elisha got Elijah's mantle, it remained an ordinary cloth until he used it to strike the river and asked the river to part.
I once attended a Kenneth Hagin meeting in Tulsa, USA, and saw a raw demonstration of the power of God. l made up my mind to see him, and by God's grace, I was able to. He asked me, "Young man, what do you want?" l replied, "Sir, I want everything in you that has made you who you are." After attending to everyone else in his office, he turned to me and said, "Young man, kneel down." I knelt and saw his two big hands coming towards my head - that was the last thing I remembered.
By the time I came around, I was on the floor, and he was kneeling by me with his hands on my head while praying furiously in tongues.
When we returned to Nigeria, I begged Papa, the General Superintendent of RCCG, to let me line people up and pray for them. In those days, we didn't pray for anybody, everyone prayed by themselves. Papa allowed me, and so, during the evening service on that Sunday, we lined people up. Some people who had been in Tulsa with me saw that people fell when Kenneth Hagin laid hands on them, so, they came to stand behind the people that were lined up to catch them if they fell. I laid hands on the first fellow, but he didn't fall. I wasn't discouraged because I knew that people falling is not necessarily an indication that miracles have happened.
However, by the time I got to the seventh fellow, someone fell under the anointing. After that, a couple of others also fell. I stirred up the gift that I had received and then saw it work mightily.
If hands have been laid on you, or you have been anointed by a man of God, it is not time to relax. The impartation will remain dormant if you don't use it. Look for opportunities to pray for people and stir it up. The first fellow you pray for may not be healed immediately, however, keep stirring the gift, and soon, you will see it work mightily.
KEY POINT
You should thirst for the anointing, and if you have already received an impartation, God is waiting for you to stir it up.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : 2 Samuel 4-7
AUTHOR: PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 3 : TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE…
1 Take my life and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in endless praise,
let them flow in endless praise.
2 Take my hands and let them move
at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee,
swift and beautiful for thee.
3 Take my voice and let me sing
always, only, for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
filled with messages from thee,
filled with messages from thee.
4 Take my silver and my gold;
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
every power as thou shalt choose,
every power as thou shalt choose.
5 Take my will and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne,
it shall be thy royal throne.
6 Take my love; my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee,
ever, only, all for thee.
