OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL by Pastor E.A Adeboye (DATE: MONDAY 18 JULY 2016) THEME: NOT A HINDERANCE!

Memorise :
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose - Romans 8:28

Read : Philippians 1:12-21
12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the
furtherance of the gospel;

13 So that my bonds in Christ are
manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;

14 And many of the brethren in
the Lord, waxing confident by my
bonds, are much more bold to
speak the word without fear.

15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:

16 The one preach Christ of
contention, not sincerely,
supposing to add affliction to my
bonds:

17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.

18 What then? notwithstanding,
every way, whether in pretence,
or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

19 For I know that this shall turn
to my salvation through your
prayer, and the supply of the
Spirit of Jesus Christ,

20 According to my earnest
expectation and my hope, that in
nothing I shall be ashamed, but
that with all boldness, as always,
so now also Christ shall be
magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

21 For to me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain.

Message:
While man does not have a way
of getting solutions to his problems, God has uncountable ways of solving universal problems. This is because He is the Almighty. Another thing about the ways of God is that it does not appeal to the natural man.

This truth is what Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ tried to convey to us in our memory verse for today when he wrote:

"And we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his
purpose." - Romans 8:28

Paul wrote to encourage believers by telling them that the hardship he was going through was for the advancement of the gospel. It takes the eyes of faith to come to terms with this type of truth.

In chains, he was moved from one place to another as a criminal under trial. However, at every given time and opportunity to speak, he preached the gospel.

In Acts 24 and 25 alone, he
addressed three different very
important personalities namely
Felix, Festus, King Agrippa. It was King Agrippa that said to Paul:

"Almost thou persuades me to be
a Christian" Acts 26:28

Then Paul said:

"I would to God, that not only
thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and
altogether such as I am, except
these bonds." Acts 26:29

This is a level all children of God
must reach if we will enjoy our
walk with God. This same truth helped Joseph from misbehaving
when he came to power in Egypt
and his brothers were afraid of
revenge. He told them:

"And Joseph said unto them, Fear
not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." - Genesis 50:19-20

In all these, we must learn that
challenges will not be a hinderance if God is with us, rather, it will be a stepping stone to our destiny. Some children of God attribute their failure to certain hinderances. This should not be, because the Captain of our battle never lost any battle.

As a matter of fact, we are more
than conquerors and all things
will always work together for our good if we believe. I pray for
someone using this devotional;
all the seemingly hindering
situations on your way to success will become a stepping stone to your breakthrough in Jesus name.

Prayer Point :
Father, I command all hindering
mountains in my life to give way
today in Jesus' name.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : 2 Corinthians 5:12-9:15 and Psalms 13-14

AUTHOR : Pst E. A ADEBOYE