OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL-WAKE UP 1

OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL

WAKE UP 1

9^TH , APRIL 2022

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Kings 1-2

READ: 1 Samuel 26:4-16

4 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul had indeed come.

5 So David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Now Saul lay within the camp, with the people encamped all around him.

6 Then David answered, and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, saying, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.”

7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and there Saul lay sleeping within the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the people lay all around him.

8 Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore, please, let me strike him at once with the spear, right to the earth; and I will not have to strike him a second time!”

9 But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?”

10 David said furthermore, “As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish.

11 The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. But please, take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us go.”

12 So David took the spear and the jug of water by Saul’s head, and they got away; and no man saw or knew it or awoke. For they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen on them.

13 Now David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of a hill afar off, a great distance being between them.

14 And David called out to the people and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Do you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered and said, “Who are you, calling out to the king?”

15 So David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy your lord the king.

16 This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have not guarded your master, the Lord’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is, and the jug of water that was by his head.”

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MEMORISE:

“But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.” - Matthew 13:25

THE MESSAGE:

The statement, “Wake up” implies that the fellow being spoken to had been sleeping. Sleeping at the wrong time can be very dangerous while sleeping spiritually is even more dangerous. In the Bible reading for today, we learnt that King Saul slept. He was surrounded by mighty men of Israel – not ordinary soldiers, but the best in the land, and they all slept too. While they were sleeping, David (the man they were seeking to kill) and his men came and took the sword of the king as well as his water bottle. Abishai, one of David’s men said to him, “Let me smite him just once-not twice, just once and he will be dead”. When you are sleeping, no matter how strong you are, you would be helpless and open to the attack of the enemy. That is why you must never sleep spiritually. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: – (1 Peter 5:8)

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The above passage says that the devil is walking around, and his only mission is to look for people that he can devour. If he gets to you and finds you sleeping spiritually, just one stroke from him can kill you.

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As strong as Saul’s bodyguards were, the moment he slept, they slept too. When you sleep spiritually, you disconnect your protective covering in the spirit. The moment you stop fasting, stop praying, stop studying your Bible and you now begin to dip your hands into one little sin or the other, the protective covering that God had put over you and your family members begins to weaken, giving a chance for the enemy to attack successfully. In Numbers 22-24, Balaam tried to curse the Israelites but could only bless them because of the protective covering that God had put over them.

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That covering was however, lifted when the people of Israel began to sleep spiritually. This led to a plague killing twenty-four thousand of them. Many ‘Christians’ are suffering from the oppression of the devil today because they are sleeping spiritually. Where they should be victors, they are victims. WAKE UP!

Start praying again! Start evangelising again! Run away from those ‘little’ sins! Stop being a prey to the devil! WAKE UP!

KEY POINT

Wake up from your spiritual slumber.

DO HAVE A BLESSED DAY

©2022 OPEN HEAVENS IS a daily devotional by PASTOR E.A ADEBOYE (General Overseer, THE REDEEMED CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF GOD )