OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL THURSDAY 8TH MARCH 2018
OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
DATE: THURSDAY 8TH MARCH 2018
THEME: FAVORED BY MERCY.
MEMORISE:
It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. Lamentation 3:22
READ: Romans 9:14-16 Genesis 37:19-21.
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Genesis 37:19-21.
19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.
MESSAGE
Nobody can succeed in this world if the Lord withholds His mercy from him or her. I pray that God will show you His mercy by granting you divine favor today in Jesus’ Name. one character that illustrates a life operating under divine favor is Joseph. Genesis 39:21 says this concerning him:
“But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”
When you consider the events of His life, you will begin to understand the magnitude of God’s mercy available to someone operating under divine favor. For example, from today’s bible reading, we see that nobody can kill a person operating under divine favor. When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they said amongst themselves, “Let us kill him”. However, they were not able to carry out their devilish intensions because Joseph was operating under God’s favor. When powerful people decide that the time has come for a divinely favored person to die, they will surely fail. I want to assure you today by the word of the Lord, you will not die before your time in Jesus’ Name. Why am I so sure of this? My assurance stands on the declaration of the Almighty God in Deuteronomy 32:39:
“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.”
Based on this declaration, when you are operating under the favor of God, nobody can kill you or terminate your destiny. As a matter of fact, Isaiah 54:17 says this about you:
“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”
By this word of the Lord, every weapon formed against you shall be neutralized in Jesus’ Name. When you are operating under divine favor of God, rather than you dying, as wished by the enemies of your destiny and vision, the Lord will strengthen the arms of your spiritual hands to fulfill your destiny. Here is what the Holy Spirit says about Joseph in Genesis 49:23-24:
“23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)”
As the Lord did for Joseph, so shall He do for you today in Jesus’ Name.
PRAYER POINT:
Father, as your hands strengthened the arms of Joseph to fulfill destiny, strengthen the arms of my hands today in Jesus’ Name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Number 16-17; 2 Corinthians 4:1-5:10
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 11: OH GOD, OUR HELP IN AGES PAST.
1. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
2. Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
3. Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4. A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
5. Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
6. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while life shall last,
And our eternal home.