OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL DATE THURSDAY FEBRUARY 2ND 2023

MEMORISE: “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” – (Psalm 41:9)

1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.

2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.

4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.

5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.

6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

Today, I want to share with you a secret that took many great men and women a long time and a lot of pain to learn: it is that you must be very careful who you bring close to you. Most of the people who parade themselves as friends are not genuine. For some of them, they had ulterior motives from the beginning of your friendship while for many others, the moment things get a little tough, they betray your friendship. Only a few, and I mean a tiny little number of people can be called real friends.

The information you let out to someone can never be retrieved, so you have to be careful what you tell your ‘friends’. When I joined The Redeemed Christian Church of God, I became very close to two brothers. One day, God revealed to me that one of them is not a real friend, but a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I confronted him about it and he strongly denied being a fake friend to me. A few years later, when I became General Overseer, I was going to discuss my new role with him when he opened up and told me that he had hated me from the day I came into the Church. Many of us have had similar betrayals; unfortunately, not everyone learns from their experiences.

Your real friends are those who are happy when you are happy and sad when you are sad. When the soldiers came to arrest the Lord Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane (John 18:1-10), Peter drew a sword and tried to defend Jesus. How can one man stand against several armed soldiers? He faced them as if it were he they had come to take. That is a friend. Judas on the other hand in John 12:3-6 showed that he only cared about himself and not Jesus. When he saw a woman pouring expensive ointment on Jesus, he should have been happy to see his friend being celebrated that much, but instead, he complained and tried to stop the woman from worshipping Him. That is not a true friend. You need to watch out for these things over a long period of time with the help of the Holy Ghost, to sift out who your true friends are.

Be careful who you bring close to you

AUTHOR: PASTOR E A ADEBOYE

1 I have found a friend in Jesus-

He’s ev’rything to me,

He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;

The Lily of the Valley- in Him alone I see

All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.

In sorrow He’s my comfort, in trouble He’s my stay,

He tells me ev’ry care on Him to roll;

He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,

He’s the greatest of ten thousand to my soul.

2 He all my grief has taken and all my sorrows borne,

In temptation He’s my strong and mighty tow’r;

I have all for Him forsaken and all my idols torn

From my heart, and now He keeps me by His pow’r.

Though all the world forsake me and Satan tempt me sore,

Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal;

He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,

He’s the greatest of ten thousand to my soul.

3 He will never, never leave me nor yet forsake me here,

While I live by faith and do His blessed will;

A wall of fire about me, I’ve nothing now to fear-

With His manna He my hungry soul shall fill.

Then sweeping up to glory I’ll see His blessed face,

Where rivers of delight shall ever roll;

He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,

He’s the greatest of ten thousand to my soul.