OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL 21ST MARCH 2019

THEME: TOYING WITH SIN?

MEMORISE:
For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land? Psalm 137:3-4

READ: Judges 16:23-30

23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.

24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.

25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.

26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.

27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.

28 And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.

30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

MESSAGE:
A careful study of the Bible will reveal to you that it is possible for someone that God has librated from all forms of bondage to return into the captivity of the enemy. Sin is the number one instrument the enemy uses to recapture his targets (Romans 6:16). 

After the children of Israel were set free from oppression in Egypt, they return into captivity in Babylon because they refused to obey God’s commandments, leading to the sad narrative of today’s memory verse. In captivity, the enemy tormented them by requiring them to sing their sacred songs. Every mockery of the enemy comes to an end in your life comes to an end tonight in Jesus’ Name. 

Samson was another child of God ridiculed by the enemy because he dabbled into sin. After putting out his two eyes, the enemy mocked him and put him on display in the temple of Dagon, the God of the Philistines. They turned the great Samson into a pitiable object of sport and forced him to entertain them with the power he had once used to attack them. Sadly, he died with the enemy in the temple of Dagon.

Just like Samson, some people play with sin, believing that they will have the opportunity to repent, engage in long term fasting and prayer and bounce back on their spiritual feet. Such people should learn from Samson and abandon the assumption this assumption. Judges 16:20 says this of Samson:

“And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.”

If you live a life that toys with sin every now and then with the hope of always bouncing back, may I announce to you that there is a journey you may take into sin you may undertake that would be your last. This is the reason why the Bible says we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). 

There are things people do that are equivalent to singing the sacred song in Satan’s temple. As God’s peculiar people, we must rid the Church of strange practices that conform to the way the world does its things (1 Peter 2:9). We cannot afford to destroy uniqueness in the name of making the gospel appealing to the world. 

With this in mind, we must beware of singing satanic songs on God’s altar in our bid to win the world. If because we want to catch monkeys we begin to behave like monkeys, we will only end up multiplying the number of monkeys, and the souls we are trying to win to Christ will never partake of the image of God that we have. A word is enough for the wise.

KEY POINT:
Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces (Matthew 7:6 NIV).

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Corinthians 8-10, Jeremiah 2:26-3:5

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE

HYMN 2 : OH JESUS I HAVE PROMISED

1. O Jesus, I have promised
To serve Thee to the end;
Be Thou forever near me,
My Master and my Friend;
I shall not fear the battle
If Thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway
If Thou wilt be my Guide.

2. Oh, let me feel Thee near me;
The world is ever near;
I see the sights that dazzle,
The tempting sounds I hear;
My foes are ever near me,
Around me and within;
But, Jesus, draw Thou nearer,
And shield my soul from sin.

3. Oh, let me hear Thee speaking,
In accents clear and still,
Above the storms of passion,
The murmurs of self-will;
Oh, speak to reassure me,
To hasten, or control;
Oh, speak, and make me listen,
Thou Guardian of my soul.