OPEN MY EYES, O LORD

REVELATION 3:14-18 (From DADDY E.A ADEBOYE)

Today, we shall learn more lessons from the church in Laodicea.

SELF DECEPTION

In the letter to the Laodiceans, Jesus said they taught that they were rich. However, as far as God is concerned, they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. This is the description of every Christian that is lukewarm especially if it is due to being rich Rev.3:17; Ps.36:2; Gal.6:3.

    You know the story of the fool in Luke 12:16-20. He had a lot of riches. He then told his soul to relax and enjoy. God called him a fool. If God calls a man a fool, he must be a fool indeed. God said he would leave the world that day.

    |He went on to say that the church in Laodicea was naked even though they had lots of clothes. Those of us who have Christ do not need the best clothes before we look important. When God wants to honor a man, He will clothe him with salvation.

    Jesus said the church at |Laodicea should ask for gold that is tried in fire from Him. The best gold, which is gold tried in fire, is faith in the Almighty God. The faith that God will meet all your needs is the gold that will never perish. Without faith, you cannot please God Rev. 3:18; Heb. 11:6; 1 Pt. 1:7.

     Jesus went on to say that the church in Laodicea should buy from Him eye drops to clear their eyes. All the while, they were doing wrong but they did not know. They did not stop anybody from preaching, yet, they were lukewarm. They did not know that they were doing anything wrong. Some of us are like this John 9:40-41.

                                          CONCLUSION

May the Almighty God open our eyes to know whether we are lukewarm or not because we have to discover whether we are good or not to be able to amend our ways. we have to know and accept that we are wrong before we can change.

DIVINE PARTNERSHIP

2 CORINTHIANS 6:14-18

It is great to partner with the Most High God. However, there are certain conditions you must satisfy if you truly want to be God's partner.

CONDITIONS FOR DIVINE PARTNERSHIP

1. To partner with God, you must not partner with unbelievers in business, marriage or in any other area. Why?
a. You are made righteous by the blood of the lamb but they are not.
b. You are light but they are darkness and both cannot combine: one must displace the other.
c. When you are looking up to God for help, they will be looking down for help from satanic forces.
d. When you are praying for Jesus to guide and direct your meetings, they will be making enchantments.
e. You belong to Christ but they belong to Belial and each must serve his master or Master.
f. You are God's temple while they are for idols 1 Cor. 6:15-20

2. To partner with God, you must come out from among unbelievers Ezra 10:10-11. It is a backslider that abides in the midst of the dead Prov.21:16. Unbelievers are already condemned Jn.3:18. It is only when they receive Jesus that condemnation is lifted Rom. 8:1. The best friend of some Christians are unbelievers. This is unfortunate. If you are always in the company of unbelievers, something is wrong somewhere Lk.24:5; Eccl.9:3-4; Matt.22:32 Matt.8:21-22.

Why must you be separated from unbelievers? Although the scriptures Matt.5:45 talks of general blessings, certain rain showers of blessings will only come on believers. God has the ability to release rain on one part of the city and leave out the other. Amos 4:7. Be wise and do not let your partnership with unbelievers rob you of your blessings.   

OPEN DOORS

Today, we want to look at more lessons to learn from the church at Philadelphia.

IF GOD BE FOR US  
God said that He has set before the church in Philadelphia an open door which no man can shut because even though they had little strength, they still kept his word- Rev.3:8. With your little strength, if you have Jesus backing you up, you will be more successful than someone with great strength. Everything will be easy when God is backing you- Jn.15:1-2.
He said no one could shut the door that he will open. This is beautiful. When God is the one who    opened the door for you, let all the wicked people in the world try to shut the door. they will fail. When God wants to promote you, nobody can hold you down. This is why you must do his business fearlessly- Rom.8:34.

TYPES OF DOORS

What are the kinds of doors that God will open unto you? One could be the door of missionary opportunities- 1Cor.16:8-9.
God has a way of rewarding those who are witnessing for Him. He gives them more opportunities to witness. The most difficult soul to win is the first one. After this, it will become easier and easier. God will open the door for you to win soul and win it more in the name of Jesus.
There is also the door of prayer. It is open to everybody. Anybody can pray. Nobody can stop you from praying. Even if there is a government decree against prayer, those who will pray will still  pray Lk.18:1-8;

There are several promises that the Lord made to the children of Israel. After sometime, they lost their place with God and he created a new Israel which He called Israel of God. These are the born-again Christians- Gal.6:15-16; Gal.3: 28-29. All of us that are in Christ shall inherit all the promises of Abraham.
   
    

THIS WORLD CAN NOT BE COMPLETELY FIXED WITHOUT JESUS

A pastor was struggling to prepare his sermon and didn't want to be disturbed by his five year old daughter, so he removed a map of the world from his study, tore it into pieces and gave it to her daughter to assemble with the promise that he would answer all her questions and play with her when she was done.

He knew she would never be able to fix it. To his amazement, in less than five minutes, she returned to him in his study with the map in perfect shape, every continent and every country in its place. The surprised father asked, "Honey, you don't know anything about geography, so how did you fix the world so easily and quickly? The five year old girl smiled sweetly and replied, "The picture of JESUS was at the back of the map and i knew that if I have JESUS in the right place, the whole world would be in perfect shape". That was just the right inspiration he needed for his sermon.

He thanked his daughter and prepared a powerful sermon on the subject Fix your world by placing JESUS at the right place. Just place JESUS in his rightful place and your life will be in order. I hope you understand this just like I do. Spread it to the world, let them know that all you need to fix your life is Jesus.     

THE POWER OF THE PRAYING STUDENT

UNDERSTANDING WHAT IS PRAYER?

Prayer is a communication between you and God in order to establish the will of God in your life, situation and society. Prayer is not just talking to God. Prayer is talking with God in order to effect his purpose on the earth. This means every prayer must receive an answer from God. You don't just talk to God, He also communicate with you. Psalm 99:6-8.

There is power available to the praying student and also through prayers you can establish God's will in your academics. God is waiting for students to pray.  Students are the ones facing the challenges; Students, we must pray now because some issues we are facing are not just physical but spiritually manipulated. Sadly to say, not many students are driven to prayers as a result of these evils. We must wake up to pray for God. I challenge you to shake the fallow ground of your school and let righteousness rain upon it.

One area I urge all students to pray about is their school calendar. Many students, apart from personal problems, have stayed in schools longer than when they ought to graduate. External and internal strikes have made many students over stayed their years in school. James 5:16 God will never change what you have not prayed through on your knees. There is a song that says Prayer is the key, prayer is the key, prayer is the master key Jesus started with prayer and ended with prayer, prayer is the master key. Prayer is the master key to every situation in your Academics. I believe it is ungodly to be strong in prayers and be lazy in your studies as a student. We need to study well as student as we also pray. We shall excell in our academic in Jesus name.  

STORY OF ANGELS

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement . As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, Things aren't always what they seem"

The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest.

When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field. The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel how could you have let this happen?  The first man had everything, yet you helped him, she accused. The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die.

"Things aren't always what they seem," the older angel replied.

"When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it."

"Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife i gave him the cow instead. Things aren't always what they seem."

Sometimes that is exactly what happens when things don't turn out the way they should. If you have faith, you just need to trust that every out come is always to your advantage. You just might not know it until some time later....

Some people come into our lives and quickly go... Some people become friends and stay a while.. Leaving beautiful footprints on our hearts... and we are never quite the same because we have made a good friend.

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow a mystery.
Today is a gift.
That's why it's called the present.     

FEELING BETTER HAS BECOME MORE IMPORTANT TO US THAN FINDING GOD

MATHEW 7:13-14 In the world today, we have moved away from finding God to finding ourselves. Fondness for one's self has become the highest virtue and personal pain is now the greatest sin. 1. Marrying Late- Pastor Kumuyi's present wife 2. No Children in the marriage- Father of Faith ABRAHAM 3. First Husband's death- Ruth won't have met Boaz 4. Got jilted at the last minute- Saul's promise to David if he kills Goliath, Samson's wife after the riddle 5. In love with the girl about Town- Rahab the harlot of Jericho 6. My husband is Foolish and not organized- Abigail of Nabal 7. Spent on a woman and got cheated- Jacob and Rachael 8. I was born in pain and into a curse- Jabez says to shut up 9. I love too many girls- Solomon says Vanity upon Vanity 10. The economy is harsh- Jesus was born in a manger..... The bottom line is this: DO EVERYTHING TO KEEP THE ANOINTING ON YOUR LIFE. LIVE FOR GOD AND LET GOD FIGHT FOR YOU. It is not true that if you marry the will of God for your life and stay in the will of God, your marriage will be problem-free. It is an aberration of the Gospel to think that if you are led by the Holy Ghost and filled with the Holy Ghost, your marriage will feel better and you will feel better without any pains in life. Mathew 3:16-4:2 ASK YOUR SELF WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOR?