OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR TEENS 12 FEBRUARY 2019 – RESTORING DIVINE COMMUNICATION
MEMORISE: Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10
Read: Luke 15:11-20
11 And He said, There was a certain man who had two sons;
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the part of the property that falls [to me]. And he divided the estate between them.
13 And not many days after that, the younger son gathered up all that he had and journeyed into a distant country, and there he wasted his fortune in reckless and loose [from restraint] living.
14 And when he had spent all he had, a mighty famine came upon that country, and he began to fall behind and be in want.
15 So he went and forced (glued) himself upon one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed hogs.
16 And he would gladly have fed on and filled his belly with the carob pods that the hogs were eating, but [they could not satisfy his hunger and] nobody gave him anything [better].
17 Then when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father have enough food, and [even food] to spare, but I am perishing (dying) here of hunger!
18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; [just] make me like one of your hired servants.
20 So he got up and came to his [own] father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity and tenderness [for him]; and he ran and embraced him and kissed him [fervently].
MESSAGE:
When the governance of the earth changed hands from men to Satan, communion with God was destroyed (Genesis 3:9-10). Adam ran from God because he was in sin. A sinner will keep running from the face of God until he deals with his sins (Proverbs 28:1). When a man sins, the first thing that happens is that he is cut off from God because sin is an abomination unto Him (Isaiah 59:1-2). The good news is that a lost communion with God can be restored if you examine yourself, locate areas of disobedience to God and repent. As long as you are sweeping sins under the carpet or retaining what He forbids, God can blank out on you.
It is a terrible thing to be cut out from God, it is better not to have known Him at all. David wrote the entire Psalm 51 crying for God to restore communication with Him after he had sinned. If you already know God, hold fast to Him through holiness so that you will never experience the torment of being ex-communicated from Him.
KEY POINT:
Have you experienced a broken communication with God? As you repent from its cause, it will be restored today in Jesus’ name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Leviticus 14
Matthew 26:55-75
Hymn 14
1. O 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!
Chorus:
The Comforter has come!
The Comforter has come!
The Holy Ghost from heav’n,
The Father’s Promise giv’n,
O 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 Kings of Kings,
With healing in His wings,
To every captive soul a full
Deliv’rance brings;
And thro’ 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!
AUTHORS: Pastor E.A. Adeboye and Pastor (Mrs.) Folu Adeboye.
