OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL - FRIDAY - 17/10/2014 - ANGELS LOVE MUSIC TOO - BY PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE

ANGELS LOVE MUSIC TOO

Memorise

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

Psalm 22:3

Read

Acts 16:25–34

25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.

28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.

29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

Message

The charge “Occupy till I come” was an express command given by the Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples (Luke 19:13). Yesterday, we learnt that to occupy means to take charge of already conquered territories. As a child of God, it is your responsibility to exercise authority over your enemy - the devil. Though he was made perfect in beauty and wisdom, his beauty and wisdom have been tarnished and corrupted by sin (Ezekiel 28:17). The devil is now full of destructive wisdom, but his wisdom cannot stand even the foolishness of God; how much more the wisdom of God at work in believers (1 Corinthians 1:24). The devil, your accuser, is cunning (Revelation12:10), but you can live a triumphant life over him by the Blood of the Lamb, prayer, the word of your testimony (your confessions and proclamations) and by singing praises to the Lord. Revelation 12:11 says:

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

Many Christians lose out in the battle of life because they do not know who they are and the nature of the fight they are involved in. You are not fighting against flesh and blood. You are at war with an enemy who has thousands of years of experience with human beings, right from the Garden of Eden, where he attacked Eve. Satan knows his strategy well. He is a dangerous enemy who doesn’t get distracted. It is therefore imperative that you fight against this enemy with the word of God in prayer. Prayers are very powerful. A prayerful Christian is a powerful Christian. The greatest demoraliser Satan uses is fear. God has not given us the spirit of fear; therefore, we are not to be afraid of the devil (2 Timothy 1:7)! The exact opposite of fear is faith. It is a known fact that Satan loves music. He loves dangerous, perverse and distorted music. The day God made Lucifer who later became the devil, He built musical instruments into his body (Ezekiel 28:13). He was the choir master of heaven. Now, Satan takes more souls to hell through music than through any other means. Angels love music too. The more you sing praises to God, the more you irritate Satan because you remind him of his glorious past and his lost opportunity. Satan is irritated because he knows that whenever you praise God you are making God happy. God loves music too. The devil also knows that whenever you are praising God, the Almighty will draw nigh to you (Psalm 22:3). Christ was able to overcome the devil through compassion, love and humility. These are indispensable weapons you need.

Action Point:

Irritate the devil today by singing beautiful songs of worship to the Lord.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

2 Samuel 18:1-19:15

Proverbs 13:1-14