Open Heaven Daily Devotional 16th August 2024, Friday Reading Guide
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TOPIC: Prayer Extinguishers (3)
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MEMORISE
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. – James 1:6
READ: James 1:5–8
Today, I will conclude my discussion on some of the factors that can extinguish prayers. Some people get almost everything right in the place of prayer but miss out on just one thing – faith. Today’s memory verse says that believers should always make their requests to God in faith without having any doubts in their hearts. The next verse directly addresses anyone who makes requests from God without faith:
For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. James 1:7
When you pray without faith, that prayer is dead on arrival. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Believers cannot expect God to answer their prayers when He is not pleased with them. God requires that you have faith in Him when you ask Him for something.
Luke 17:6 says that even if your faith is as little as a mustard seed, God will use it to move mountains on your behalf. If your child asks you for food and then looks at you in such a way that says, “I know you will not give me; you probably don’t even have it,” you will feel insulted. This is what we do when we ask God for things that we are not really expecting Him to give to us.
When you come to God in faith, you come knowing without a doubt that what you have asked of Him is already done. You bring your requests with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6) because you know that your prayer has already been answered. The moment you pray, your hands are already stretched out to God, expecting what you asked for. This is how to pray; it is the kind of prayer that God cannot ignore.
Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the evidence of things not seen. In other words, when you have faith, even though you have not seen what you are asking for, you will be so sure that you have it that you can present it in court as evidence to any judge, telling them, “See what I have.”
For a long time, I tried by my own power to increase my faith, but it was difficult. Then, I read Mark 9:24, where a man cried to Jesus, saying that he believes but that Jesus should help his unbelief. In minutes, what Jesus was asking him to believe for was done. I also started praying that God should help my faith, and I have seen my faith grow tremendously since then. If you pray the same prayer, Jesus will give your faith a boost, and you will be able to overcome unbelief.
PRAYER POINT: Lord, I believe in you; please help my faith.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR
Jeremiah 44-46
HYMN 10
IN CHRIST ALONE
1.In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand
2.In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live
3.There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
4.No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
‘Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand
Open Heaven Daily Devotional 16th August 2024 guide was 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.
