OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL - SATURDAY - 1/2/2014 - THE BLESSING OF THE LORD - BY PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE

THE BLESSING OF THE LORD

MEMORISE

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

Proverbs 10:22

READ

1 Kings 17:8-16

1 Kings 17:8 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,

1 Kings 17:9  Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

1 Kings 17:10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

1 Kings 17:11  And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

1 Kings 17:12 And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

1 Kings 17:13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.

1 Kings 17:14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.

1 Kings 17:15  And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

1 Kings 17:16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.

MESSAGE

A human king sometime ago asked: what should be done for the one in whom I have delight (Esther 3:3)? At the end of the day, the fortune of that fellow in whom King Ahasuerus had delight was turned around. This fellow was Mordecai; his story is a confirmation of 1 Samuel 2:7. The King of kings has all the power and can turn any situation around no matter how seemingly hopeless it is. Time is not a limitation for Him, therefore He can do it within the shortest period, just as He did in the situation of Samaria (2 Kings 7:1-14). He will do much more for you in Jesus’ Name. The Lord loves to demonstrate His glory by decorating his own people with blessings. Sometimes in order to make it outstanding, he allows the situation of his beloved to become “hopeless” before intervening; this was the case with Lazarus.

The Bible says that Jesus loved Lazarus, yet when it was reported to him that Lazarus was sick, one would expect that He would rush down immediately to heal him, and by so doing, demonstrate to the people how He really loved him. Instead, Jesus waited another three days, and did not get there until the case had completely gotten hopeless – the point where the dead body of his friend (Lazarus) had started decomposing. He did all this in a bid to show how great God is and to make the testimony thick. Do you love God, do you make him number one in your life and yet there is a challenge in your life that seems to have defied solution? Maybe it is even getting worse. I have good news for you: this season, the Lord will step into the situation and make you a star by the time He is through with you.

Note that, following his being raised from the dead, Lazarus of Bethany became an insignia of the greatness of God. He became a wonder. Of course, God would not do this for just anybody, it is for the one whom He loves. However the one he loves must be a lover of God himself.

“I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.”

Proverbs 8:17

A lover of God would want to be in the presence of God first thing in the day. Jesus loved his Father when he was here, and so a great while before the day dawns, before others were up he would visit with his Father (Mark 1:35). How often do you do this?

PRAYER POINT

Pray that God will bless you and even more than that, make you a blessing.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

1 John 1-4;

 Psalm 30