OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL MAY 24TH 2023 THEME: SUBMIT TO GOD

MEMORISE: Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. John 4:34

READ: Matthew 8:5 -9

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

Submission is different from cooperation. Cooperation is when you work together with someone to achieve a mutually desired goal. Submission on the other hand, is when you want something totally different from what the other fellow wants, but because you have to submit, you do what he or she asks you to do.

One who submits to God is that fellow who will do whatever God says – whether it is logical or not, convenient or not. Those who put their own wishes aside and just say, “If this is what God says, that is what l will do”. Once the devil knows you are that submissive to God, when you begin to resist him, he will flee. James 4:7 says:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

The devil knows those who are 100% submissive to God. Those who will do whatever God says even if they have to die doing it. On the other hand, he knows those who are submissive to their bellies or their sexual drive; those who are lovers of the world and those who are in it. It is only when your submission to God is complete that you can have authority to revenge any disobedience (2 Corinthians 10:6).

If you want to resist the devil so that he will flee from you, then you have to be completely submissive to God. Who you submit to determines how much authority you have. The commissioner of works submits to the governor of his state; he does not have much as much authority as the minister of works who submits to president. In Matthew 8:9, the Centurion said, “For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it”.

When you are truly submissive to God, then He gives you some of His authority so that once you speak, the devil trembles and flees. Some of those troubles the devil is causing in your life can be stopped once you submit to God.

Put aside your own desires and submit completely to God’s will.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Nehemiah 11-13

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE

1 What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow

That makes me white as snow;

No other fount I know,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

2 For my cleansing this I see—

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

For my pardon this my plea—

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

3 Nothing can my sin erase

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

Naught of works, ’tis all of grace—

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

4 This is all my hope and peace—

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

This is all my righteousness—

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!