Thursday Open Heaven Daily Devotiona
2016: Thursday daily
devotional by Pastor E. A.
Adeboye – Nothing goes
for Nothing
Topic: Nothing goes for Nothing
[Thursday 25, August 2016]
Memorise: And after six days Jesus
taketh Peter, James, and John his
brother, and bringeth them up into an
high mountain apart, – Matthew 17:1
Read: Matthew 17:14-21 (KJV)
Bible Passage below
14 And when they were come to the
multitude, there came to him a certain
man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he
is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes
he falleth into the fire, and oft into the
water.
16 And I brought him to thy disciples,
and they could not cure him.
17 Then Jesus answered and said, O
faithless and perverse generation, how
long shall I be with you? how long shall
I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he
departed out of him: and the child was
cured from that very hour.
19 Then came the disciples to Jesus
apart, and said, Why could not we cast
him out?
20 And Jesus said unto them, Because
of your unbelief: for verily I say unto
you, If ye have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, ye shall say unto this
mountain, Remove hence to yonder
place; and it shall remove; and nothing
shall be impossible unto you.
21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but
by prayer and fasting.
Bible in One Year: Isaiah 56:9-59:21, Psalms 41
MESSAGE:
In secular environments, it takes
diligence to get to the top and it takes
even more diligence to remain there.
There are many people who work really
hard to get to the top but upon getting
there, they soon begin to relax. Diligence
is even more important when it comes
to spiritual responsibilities. You need to
work hard to have an encounter with
God but you need to work twice as hard
to keep your encounter intact. To get the
answer to all your requests, you have to
invest a lot of time before God. Many
people just get born again and begin to
relax. If you want to command the
miraculous you must be ready to pay
the price. You need to keep running until
you get to the finish line. There are
people who have no given God their
entire lives, yet they want God to always
respond to all their requests. If you want
a spiritual transformation in your life,
you have to give attention and
seriousness to the business of growing
daily. Following Jesus Christ could be
very costly, His standards are always
high and He will never compromise His
standard for anyone. If you want to
operate in the miraculous, you must be
willing to die daily. Self-denial is a basic
qualification for discipleship and there
are many courses you have to register
for in the school of exploits. That
includes fasting while others are
feasting. It includes praying while others
are sleeping. You have to study the Bible
while others are spending time on
things that will not add significant value
to their lives. It involves spiritual
discipline while some people are wasting
their time away. Paul testified that he
kept his body under in order to win the
prize. Keeping the body under is self-
denial. You are deliberately doing
something to achieve something.
Somebody asked me how I am able to
fast for many days and I replied that it
is always very easy for me to do so
because each time I want to start a long
fast I just go to the calendar and count
the number of days I want to go and I
tell my stomach “look at that day very
well, that is the next time we shall be
talking about food” it is as simple as
that.
To command supernatural situations,
nothing goes for nothing. You have to
engage in spiritual exercises;
“Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by
prayer and fasting.” - Matthew 17:21
If Jesus said “Men ought to pray and
not to faint” (Luke 18:1), it is very
obvious that prayer covers a wide range
of issues that should keep one very
vigilant. It is in the place of prayer that
there is a guarantee of continuous Open
Heavens for every child of God. At the
same time, there are many people who
have lost many opportunities because of
their understanding of the significance of
prayer in commanding the release of
their heart desires. Fasting is not just a
religious exercise as some think. When
you engage in fasting, you are equipping
yourself with strong weapons to counter
every attack of the wicked ones and take
your victory in every battle of life. When
faith is actively coupled with prayer and
fasting, there is nothing that can stop
your prayers from being answered.
Every barrier that wants to stand on
your way will always give in like we
observed in the case of Daniel with the
prince of Persia.
Key Point: Fasting and prayer is a
combined spiritual weapon that
commands the miraculous.
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