OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL. THURSDAY 1ST JUNE 2017

THEME: BE REFILLED

Memorise:

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Ephesians 5:18

Read: Ephesians 5:17-19

5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

MESSAGE

The moment you give your life to Christ, a long drawn out battle for your soul begins. While your spirit would want to begin to exercise control over your soul as it rightfully should, your body would resist it and ask you to go in the opposite direction. To be victorious in this protracted battle, you need to understand your new nature and the life of the Spirit, so that you can easily flow in it. From time to time, people ask me how I was able to grow in the Spirit, but they are never satisfied with the answer l give them. Let me share some of what helped me with you. The moment you become born again, your spirit mari is brought back to life. The fish is born in water and so cannot survive outside its natural habitat - water. John 3:6 says,
''That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Therefore, now that your spirit man is born again, you are expected to gravitate towards the things of the spirit if you want to grow. Your new birth is a spiritual experience, and only the things of the Spirit will help you grow.

One way to grow in the Spirit is to repeatedly experience being filled with the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, after the Holy Spirit descended, the disciples gained their first experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:4 says,
''And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Later on, when they gathered to table a pressing challenge before the Lord, they prayed earnestly, and they experienced the in-filling of the Holy Spirit against Acts 4:31 says
''And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness."

Furthermore, to successfully live the life of the spirit, it is not enough to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. You must pursue a growing, personal relationship with Him and crave for more opportunities to be filled by Him. No wonder Ephesians 5:18 commands us to be filled with the Spirit. Like the disciples, if you want to be filled over and over again, be separate from the things of the flesh, have fellowship with God where you can worship Him in spirit and in truth, attend Church services together with like-minded believers, feast on His word and pray in tongues regularly.

Action Point:

Consistently try to increase the amount of time you spend praying in tongues. Pray in tongues and sing in tongues. This will help your spirit grow.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Acts 22-23
Jeremiah 39:11-40:6

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE

HYMN 15: THE COMFORTER HAS COME

1. Oh, spread the tidings ’round,
Wherever man is found,
Wherever human hearts
And human woes abound;
Let every Christian tongue
Proclaim the joyful sound:
The Comforter has come!

The Comforter has come,
The Comforter has come!
The Holy Ghost from Heav’n,
The Father’s promise giv’n;
Oh, spread the tidings ’round,
Wherever man is found—
The Comforter has come!

2. The long, long night is past,
The morning breaks at last,
And hushed the dreadful wail
And fury of the blast,
As o’er the golden hills
The day advances fast!
The Comforter has come!

3. Lo, the great King of kings,
With healing in His wings,
To every captive soul
A full deliv’rance brings;
And through the vacant cells
The song of triumph rings;
The Comforter has come!

4. O boundless love divine!
How shall this tongue of mine
To wond’ring mortals tell
The matchless grace divine—
That I, a child of hell,
Should in His image shine!
The Comforter has come!

5. Sing till the echoes fly
Above the vaulted sky,
And all the saints above
To all below reply,
In strains of endless love,
The song that ne’er will die:
The Comforter has come!