*OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL*
*SATURDAY 18TH, March 2023*
*TOPIC*
*The Word Guides I*
*MEMORISE:*
2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
*READ:*
Psalm 119:97-105
Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
98 Your commands are always with me
and make me wiser than my enemies.
99 I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
100 I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
101 I have kept my feet from every evil path
so that I might obey your word.
102 I have not departed from your laws,
for you yourself have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.
105 Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.
*MESSAGE*
In 1 Kings 17:2-16, God sent His word to guide Elijah to where he would get food for a period of time. When the time elapsed, the word came again, telling him to go to Zarephath where God had already made arrangements for his feeding through a widow. The word of God guides; He tells you what to do when there seems to be no way out of a difficult situation.
I pray that the Lord will open your ears so that you can begin to hear from Him. You will solve problems faster if you can hear directly from God. When I was working on my PhD thesis, I ended up with many simultaneous equations. Even solving one of these is stressful enough, talk less of the volume I had to deal with! I tried and tried to solve them but I couldn’t. One day, before going to bed, I read Exodus 14 where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea.
Suddenly, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Bring your equations”. I did just that and then He began to say, “Put this one on the right, put this one on the left and so on”. By the time I finished and took a look at those on the right, they all had something in common. It was the same thing for those on the left. Because they were all jumbled together before, I couldn’t see that.
The Lord then said, “Solve the ones on the right separately, the ones on the left separately, then combine. That was exactly what happened at the Red Sea. The sea parted, the Israelites passed through and the sea came together again killing Pharaoh and his army.” Five hours later, my thesis was ready. God’s voice solved in 5 hours what I hadn’t been able to solve in 18 months.
When my thesis was taken to the external examiner, he read through and said, “Award this boy his PhD; I have no question for him”. He was told that there must be an oral examination, but he insisted that he had no questions for me. He had no questions because I wasn’t the one who solved that problem, it was the Word of God Himself who did.
If you allow the word of God to be your guide for every decision you make, you will never walk in darkness and He will guide you to the fulfilment of His purpose for your life (John 8:12).
*BIBLE IN ONE YEAR* Judges 14-16
*Hymn 10 In Christ Alone*
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
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
Till 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
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
No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand
