Open Heaven Devotional 22 August 2020 – How Hard Are You Joined To Jesus?

Topic: How Hard Are You Joined To Jesus?
(Open Heaven 22 August 2020)

Memorise: For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. – Philippians 1:21

Read: Romans 8:35-38 (KJV)

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Bible in One Year: Jeremiah 49-50

Open Heaven 22 August 2020 Saturday MESSAGE:
“And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.” – Acts 18:7

Justus’ house joined hard to the synagogue. How attached are you to the Church? Do you see the Church as just a part of your life or is it your entire life? Are you only a Church-goer or are you involved in the activities of the Church? Is Sunday the only time you think about Church or do you also attend mid-week services and other soul-lifting programmes? Are you more joined to your circular job than you are to the Church? Do those who you relate with everyday know you are a member of the body of Christ? How hard are you joined to Jesus?

If I have to be involved in something, I would be fully involved. If you are truly a child of God, you would not be dormant in your Father’s house. Get involved, join the workforce, give towards the work of God.

Years ago, we needed to fill an area of the Headquarters Church in Ebute-Metta with sawdust so as to reclaim land and have more to build on. I bore a basin of the sawdust on my head, back and forth, without any shame. A traffic jam on the main road caused a student of mine to seek an alternative route near the church to his destination. Seeing me, he cried out “Ah Oga” (meaning ‘Sir’). I looked at him and asked “Who is Oga? I am no Oga in the house of my God; I am merely working for Jesus my Master.” I am fully joined to the house of God. There is nothing being done to advance God’s kingdom that I will not get involved in, even if it is just to pray for them. How hard are you joined to the Church of Christ?

Those who are joined hard to the house of God always enjoy His presence in every area of their lives. Because they are very useful in His Kingdom business, He in turn makes anything that concerns them His business. It pays to be joined hard to the Church of Christ. I am a living witness.

Open Heaven 22 August 2020 Saturday Action Point:
Join the workforce in your local Church, if you haven’t done so already. Be more fervent for the things of the kingdom.

Open Heaven 22 August 2020 Saturday Hymn 12: I Am Thine O Lord
1. I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
But I long to rise in the arms of faith
And be closer drawn to Thee.

Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.

2. Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
By the pow’r of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine. [Refrain]

3. Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend! [Refrain]

4. There are depths of love that I cannot know
Till I cross the narrow sea;
There are heights of joy that I may not reach
Till I rest in peace with Thee. [Refrain]