Open Heaven 11 March 2023

Open Heaven Topic:

COMMITMENT BEGETS COMMITMENT

Memory Verse:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. – Matthew 22:37 (KJV)

Bible Reading: 

Genesis 22:1-18 (NIV)

1Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

² Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love —Isaac— and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

³ Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

⁵ He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,

⁷ Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

⁸ Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

⁹ When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

¹² “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

¹³ Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

¹⁴ So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

¹⁵ The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time

¹⁶ and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

¹⁷ I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,

¹⁸ and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Open Heaven 11 March 2023 Message

Many years ago, when The Redeemed Christian Church of God was much smaller, one of my daughters-in-the-Lord told me,”Daddy, you must be at my wedding”.

I laughed and said, “Okay, let’s look through my diary for a free date”. We looked through the Saturdays for the rest of that year and even the one after, but could only find one free in July the next year. She said, “Glory be to God; that is the date of my wedding”.

The next year came and my mother died in July, while I was in London on an assignment and because I hadn’t written the lady’s marriage appointment in my calendar, my wife saw that Saturday free in my calendar and said, “Yes, this is when we will bury Mama”.

I loved my mother very much – I am her last born and only son, but because of how committed this lady was to having me at her wedding, I couldn’t let her down. There was no other free day so I decided that we would do the funeral on Friday so that I could attend the wedding on Saturday.

When God sees a committed fellow, when He sees someone that will do anything to fulfil His will, He will also be committed to that person. Abraham’s heart was totally committed to God – so committed that he was willing to sacrifice his son just to fulfil God’s will.

That is why God was so committed to blessing him, even to the extent of swearing thus, “… By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son…” (Genesis 22:16).

Some people are not even committed in paying just 10% of their income to God as tithe and they want Him to be committed to their financial success. Some church workers are not committed enough to the work of God so they either go late or miss workers’ meetings, yet they want God to be committed to their businesses.

Some Pastors hardly fast and pray for the work that God has put in their hands, yet they want God to be committed to the growth of the ministry. He can see your level of commitment and He is using it to weigh His commitment to you as well.

Open Heaven Hymn: 

Take My Life And Let It Be

Open Heaven Point:

Are you as committed to God as you want Him to be to you?

Bible In One Year:

Joshua 21, Joshua 22