OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL-FRIDAY-01/07/2016-THE PRESENT HELP-BY PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE
THE PRESENT HELP
Memorise
God
is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalms
46:1b
Read
1st Kings 17:12-16
12 And
she said, As the Lord thy God
liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil
in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress
it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
13 And
Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me
thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and
for thy son.
14 For
thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until
the day that the Lord sendeth rain
upon the earth.
15 And
she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her
house, did eat many days.
16 And
the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to
the word of the Lord, which he
spake by Elijah.
KJV
MESSAGE
Bible writers
under the influence of the Holy Ghost wittily qualified or limited significant
nouns common to human experiences. For example, in Psalm 103:4 when the
Psalmist decided to qualify the kindness and mercies of God upon his life he
wrote:
“Who redeemeth thy
life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender
mercies.”
In other words,
the kindness he received from God was not ordinary but the loving type. Also,
the mercies were not the harsh type but the tender ones. My prayer for you is
that this will be your own experience too in Jesus’ name.
In our memory
verse for today, we read about an attribute of God that is noteworthy for our
advantage; “The very present help in trouble.” Going by this testimony of the
Psalmist, God is help personified, and He is never a belated help; He is always
on time. But for this attribute of God, the widow of Zarephath in today’s
reading would have eaten up her last meal before the messenger of the God of
multiplication arrived.
“And she said, as the
Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and
a little oil in a curse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go
in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
1st Kings
17:12
As I always
tell my congregation in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, I strongly
believe that the woman was saying that she was going to prepare the last meal,
eat it with her household and then commit suicide but help came for just on
time. However, before the Present Help can come to your aid, you need to have
the same spiritual conviction of the widow in our Bible reading for today. One
of the virtues of this widow is that she believed in the God of Prophet Elijah.
Another thing about this widow is that she believed that the God of Elijah was
alive. This helped her to respond positively to the instruction of the prophet
by going ahead to do what the prophet said, and there came the miracle of
multiplication. The Bible says in 2nd Chronicles 20:20
“Believe in the Lord
your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye
prosper.”
Beloved, if
you believe in God as your Present Help, it will show in your way of life. For
example, you will not live in doubt of His promises and so you will respond in
faith to his directives. You will not cut corners in order to achieve your
desires, because you know that the Present Help shall always be there for you.
This woman in our Bible reading had faith in the God of Israel and this she
showed by according respect to the man of God. Do you have regard for God? It
will show in how you regard you pastor and his words. May the Present Help be
there for us always in Jesus’ name.
Prayer Point
O, Present Help, please help
me today to solve all my problems.
Bible in one year
Acts 16:16-18:17, Song of
Solomon 4:9-5:1
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