Open Heaven Devotional 6th November 2023 Message
RCCG Open Heaven Devotional 6th November 2023, Monday Daily Devotional Guide written by Pastor E.A Adeboye
TOPIC: While Men Slept (3)
MEMORISE:
“Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” – (1 Thessalonians 5:6)
READ: 1 THESSALONIANS 5:5-9 (KJV)
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
MESSAGE:
Death is likened to sleep in (1 Corinthians 15:51). In other words, a believer who is spiritually asleep is actually in a state of spiritual death. (1 Thessalonians 5:5-9) tells us clearly that we should stay awake spiritually, be watchful and sober. Matthew 24:42 says you must stay awake and be watchful, for you do not know what day your Lord is coming. Romans 13:11 encourages us that the Lord’s coming is nearer now than when we first believed.
Some believers keep going in and out of spiritual sleep. They feel it is normal to be cold and hot. I pity such people because their end is not usually good. A good example of this is Samson, who slept and woke up a number of times but the last sleep put him into the hands of his enemies. You may have slept a few times before and woken up again; however, you had better stop because there is always the last time a man would sleep and wake up to find himself being tortured by the enemy.
If you used to love God with all your heart, but recently, other things have been competing with Him in your heart, then you are sleeping. God is saying to you like He said to the Ephesus Church in Revelations 2:4-5, “Return to your first love”. Ephesians 5:14 says if you awake, Christ will shine on you again.
Beloved, get back to your first love now. Put away those sins that easily beset you. Go for a retreat, look for fellowships with genuine believers, make a habit of spending quality time daily in prayers and Bible study. Jesus is ready to shine on you again if you are willing to wake up and get back to Him. He loves you and He is calling you back home. Don’t let the devil or anyone else hinder you from going back to the One who loves you enough to die for your sins. When He shines on you, everything the devil stole during your time of slumber shall be restored and you will become a better person at the end of the day.
ACTION POINT:
Spiritual sleep is likened to spiritual death. Go back to your first love before it is too late.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: JOHN 11-12
HYMNAL: 3 – ANCIENT WORDS
1. Holy words long preserved,
For our walk in this world,
They resound with God’s own heart;
Oh, let the ancient words impart.
REFRAIN:
Ancient words, ever true,
Changing me and changing you,
We have come with open hearts;
Oh, let the ancient words impart.
2. Words of life, words of hope,
Give us strength, help us cope,
In this world, where e’er we roam;
Ancient words will guide us home.
3. Holy words of our faith,
Handed down to this age,
Came to us through sacrifice;
Oh, heed the faithful words of Christ.
4. Holy words long preserved,
For our walk in this world,
They resound with God’s own heart;
Oh, let the ancient words impart.
Open Heaven Devotional 6th November 2023 Message is written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries