Open Heavens 4 August 2018 Saturday Daily Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye
Topic: Laughter from Divine Visitation I
Memorise: “And there was great joy in that city.”- Acts 8:8
Read: Genesis 18:1-14 (KJV)
1 And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.
6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.
7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.
8 And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
9 And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
Bible in One Year: Job 5-8, Matthew 13:24-44
MESSAGE:
There is a link between divine visitation and laughter. When God comes visiting, He ensures He leaves behind something to laugh about before He departs. We see this manifested when Philip the evangelist took the presence of God to Samaria with the preaching of the gospel. The aftermath of this divine visitation was laughter (Acts 8:5-8). Today’s Bible reading also narrates how Abraham invited the presence of God into his tent without even knowing it. Because Abraham was given to hospitality, he was just doing what he knew how to do best. Little did he know that he was entertaining the angels of the Lord! After this visit, he and his wife received something to laugh about.
When you visit God in His sanctuary, you go home with what your faith can carry. A divine visitation is more awesome than this. During a divine visitation, the Almighty comes to you with his entourage, loaded with blessings, many of which money cannot buy. If God were to judge Sarah by her faith, she would have received nothing from Him. However, as Sarah’s case shows, when God comes visiting, He has already made up His mind to bless you regardless of the level of your faith. Many things happen when you receive an unexpected divine visitation, one of which is that God accepts your offering. When God was passing by Abraham’s tent, Abraham did not even know that it was God coming his way. Nevertheless, he extended an invisitation which activated this life-changing visit, which had been preordained by God Himself. It is therefore no surprise that God readily accepted his invitation and also accepted his offerings of food and drink. I pray that God will today accept your invitation of His presence into your life for salvation, healing, breakthrough, joy and great laughter. I also pray that He will accept the offering of your life to Him in Jesus’ Name. When the Shunammite woman invited Elisha into her home, little did she know that she was attracting a divine visitation into her life (2 Kings 4:8-17). Because God wanted to bless her, He accepted her invitation to abide under her roof through His prophet. As a result of this, the man of God was moved by God to consider that this woman who had been meeting his needs and those of his servant must also have a need of her own to be met. When he asked what he could do for her, she said she needed nothing. Thank God his servant recognised the one need which money could not buy in her life: she had no child and her husband was old. Nine months later, she was carrying her baby. You should learn from this woman’s experience that your need cannot be met unless you realise that you have a need. I pray that the Almighty God will choose your home for His abode today, and this gesture will be a point of contact for meeting your age-long needs in Jesus’ Name.
Prayer Point: Father, please visit me today and cause me to laugh in Jesus’ Name.
Hymn 6: A New Thing
(Tune: There shall be showers of Blessing)
1. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because GOD will do new things
Sinners will soon be forgiven
Prodigals will come home soon.
Chorus:
Shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
Rivers in desert now flowing
Halleluyah to our king.
2. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
Sickness and sorrow will be gone
Bondage will be forgotten.
3. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
The barren will be fruitful soon
Failure will be forgotten
4. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
Poverty will be forgotten
Stagnancy will soon be gone.
5. We will soon shout Hallelujah
Because God will do new things
To all miracles are given
There shall be celebrations
6. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
Many will have testimonies
Of prayers answered fully
7. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
One of us will chase a thousand
Two will conquer ten thousands.
8. We will soon shout Halleluyah
Because God will do new things
Songs of praises we will sing
Halleluyah to our King.
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