Open Heaven 30 November
MEMORISE: O lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Psalms 38:1
BIBLE READING: PSALMS 38:1-9
O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!
2 For Your arrows pierce me deeply,
And Your hand presses me down.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh
Because of Your anger,
Nor any health in my bones
Because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head;
Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds are foul and festering
Because of my foolishness.
6 I am [a]troubled, I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my loins are full of inflammation,
And there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am feeble and severely broken;
I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.
Read yesterday’s Open Heaven Devotional here
It is disastrous for a Christian not to know the source of his or her challenges. It is indeed very possible that the challenge you are going through may not even be from the devil.
It may be a chastisement coming directly from the Lord. Once you are able to confirm this, like the Psalmist in todays Scripture reading, you must humble yourself in repentance before Jesus.
You must always look inward anytime you feel that your relationship with God is strained. That is what the Psalmist always did. Sadly, today, many Christians always want to exonerate themselves; they are so quick to attribute the challenges of their lives to the devil.
At times, I imagine the devil saying You’ve missed it. You are a child of God; I dare not come near you. How I wish all Christians would be spiritually sensitive.
You must know that sin brings the wrath of God upon a sinner, irrespective of the spiritual standing of the fellow before he or she fell into sin.
I know this because Ezekiel 33:12 says: “..The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: …neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.”
Thank God for 1 John 2:1-2 which offers hope to anyone who strays into sin. It says: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the world.”
If you have sinned, you must not be too proud to repent. Likewise, when others have sinned, it is not your place to say whether they would be forgiven or not. As a body, we are not to bury wounded soldiers who are still struggling to survive.
Unfortunately, that’s what many so-called Christians do; we take away the life support from dying soldiers and make their journey to hell faster! There is enough room at the top for all children of God, so there is no need to pull anyone down in order to rise.
Don’t become an enemy to yourself. A house divided against itself shall not stand (Matthew 12:25).
PRAYER POINT: Father, please open my eyes to see the true cause of every challenge I am facing, in the mighty name of Jesus.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: DANIEL 7:1-28, DANIEL 8:1-27, DANIEL 9:1-27, DANIEL 10:1-21 , DANIEL 11:1-45, DANIEL 12:1-13
Thank you for studying today’s Open Heaven – It May Not Be The Devil – written by Pastor Enoch A.
Don’t forget to Follow Elanhub on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Open Heaven 30 November 2021
