Open Heavens Daily Devotional 11th December 2017 – Pastor E.A. Adeboye
Topic: A Sacrifice God Loves
Memorise: I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD. – Psalm 116:17
Read: Psalm 116:17-19 (KJV)
17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people,
19 In the courts of the LORD’S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.
Bible in One Year: Psalm 142-150, Haggai 1:1-11
Hymn: Sing Hymn 8 – Great Is Thy Faithfulness
MESSAGE: If you have been washed in the precious blood of the lamb, thanking God for the salvation of your soul is something you need to do daily for the rest of your life. Some people throw parties to celebrate milestones and achievements in different areas of life, but Jesus said that what should give us the greatest joy is the fact that we are saved and have our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Luke 10:20). That your name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life is a great testimony that you should regularly thank God for whenever you pray.
However, giving thanks to God is not always a very easy thing to do, particularly if you have been going through a spate of negative and very sad events or experiences. In such situations, thanking God requires sacrifice. Our God loves sacrifices – particularly a sacrifice of thanksgiving. No wonder the Psalmist says thus in Psalm 116:17
“I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.”
When you offer thanksgiving to God at a time when every situation in your life is saying that He doesn’t deserve it or that He has forsaken you, it is sacrificial.
Similarly, your thanksgiving is sacrificial when you thank God even when he has not granted your request. This is an expression of faith. Sacrificial thanksgiving glorifies God and proves to Him that your faith in Christ has spiritual substance. Do you know that most people remember to thank God only when they believe He has “earned it’? Such people live by a personal philosophy which says “whenever God does something for me, only then will I give Him thanks in return.” Such an attitude is simply calculative and myopic.
There are so many things God does for us every day which we take for granted as normal everyday occurrences, but the truth is, nothing is ever really “normal”, and every day comes with its challenges. Those who give God a sacrifice of thanksgiving do so because they choose to. They choose to see things from God’s perspective, which makes them see reasons why they ought to be grateful to God, even when other people cannot see any reason why.
Action Point: Apply the lessons learnt in today’s study to offer God a sacrificial thanksgiving today.
Open Heavens Daily Devotional Messages was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God.