Topic: Working For Peace [Open Heavens 31 July 2018 Tuesday Daily Devotional]

Memorise: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”- Matthew 5:9

Read: Hebrews 12:12-15 (KJV)

12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

Bible in One Year: Esther 1-3, Matthew 11:20-12: 8

Open Heavens 31 July 2018 MESSAGE:

Today’s memory verse reveals the blessedness of working for peace. It is amazing that the Master Himself said that working for peace is what truly identifies us as children of God. How I pray that everyone who professes to be a child of God will take working for peace very seriously! The first peace you need to work towards is peace with God. God Himself is trying to make peace with you. In 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 He says to you:

“19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

We broker peace with our Maker when, like the prodigal son, we come to the altar of repentance to confess our sins with a promise and commitment never to go back to them again. When we do this, we have this assurance from 1 John 1:9:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

In our Bible text, we are told to follow peace with all me. This cannot be possible until we have reconciled with God first. When we are reconciled with God, the Bible says God will make our enemies to be at peace with us (Proverb 16:7). When your enemies are at peace with you, that enemy that has been blocking your way to success will be used by God to pave the way to your breakthrough. This is the blessedness of working for peace. In addition to making peace with God, you should also endeavor to live peaceably with your neighbors. In Matthew 5:25, Our Lord Jesus Christ counseled us, saying:

“Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.”

It is unfortunate that some believers find it difficult to amicably settle their difference with fellow believers. This is dangerous, and as Jesus Christ said, the price of being irreconcilable may be as high as going to hell. May this not be our portion in Jesus’ Name. Have you been reconciled with your Maker and fellow men, especially those in the household of faith? Do not forget that those who work for peace are blessed. Tap into this blessing today.

Action Point: Reconcile with God and your neighbor today, if you have anything against him or her.

Also Read: Open Heavens 30 July 2018 – These He Did For You

Open Heavens 31 July 2018 Hymn 2: I Need Thee Every Hour

1. I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

Chorus:
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

2. I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their pow’r when Thou art nigh.

3. I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is vain.

4. I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

5. I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
Oh, make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son.

Open Heavens 31 July 2018 Tuesday Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries. The Open Heavens devotional application is available across all mobile platforms and operating systems: iOS, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile and PC.

Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.

If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.

Topic: When God Marvels! [DCLM Daily Manna 31st July 2018 Daily Devotional]

Text: Jeremiah 8:1-12 (KJV)

Key Verse: “Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return” (Jeremiah 8:5).

MESSAGE:

When a person deliberately ignores all that God has provided to help guide and keep him from being eternally lost but chooses to do otherwise, one wonders. Why will one continue to pursue a lifestyle when he knows the ruin of people who lived the same lifestyle?

In the text, God obviously expressed wonder at the people of Jerusalem. In spite of their knowledge of the love and mercies, teachings and warnings, punishments and ruin He had brought upon the sinful and rebellious people, they continued in the act of deliberate rebellion and rejection of His Word. It baffled God that lesser creatures like the stork, turtle, crane and swallow observe their times, but His people are not able to read the signs. They deliberately turned their backs on God and chose to live an unashamed life of uncontrolled sinfulness. Since they chose to deliberately ignore God, spurn His love and reject His entreaties, He had to visit them with judgment.

Many people still walk deliberately away from God. They go to church, hear God’s word but continue in their sinfulness. True, God is gracious and full of mercy. But He is also a Just and holy God who will judge and will not acquit the wicked if he takes His love and grace for granted and continue with a life of deliberate rebellion and rejection of His word.

God’s judgment will not spare anyone. He wants us to tremble and willingly surrender to Him when we hear His word. If we do otherwise, we run the grave risk of courting His fiery indignation.

Thought For The Day: Let your life please God and not baffle Him!

Bible Reading In One Year: Isaiah 59-63

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM Daily Manna HERE

DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.

Flatimes’ Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.

If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.

Topic: When God Marvels! [DCLM Daily Manna 31st July 2018 Daily Devotional]

Text: Jeremiah 8:1-12 (KJV)

Key Verse: “Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return” (Jeremiah 8:5).

MESSAGE:

When a person deliberately ignores all that God has provided to help guide and keep him from being eternally lost but chooses to do otherwise, one wonders. Why will one continue to pursue a lifestyle when he knows the ruin of people who lived the same lifestyle?

In the text, God obviously expressed wonder at the people of Jerusalem. In spite of their knowledge of the love and mercies, teachings and warnings, punishments and ruin He had brought upon the sinful and rebellious people, they continued in the act of deliberate rebellion and rejection of His Word. It baffled God that lesser creatures like the stork, turtle, crane and swallow observe their times, but His people are not able to read the signs. They deliberately turned their backs on God and chose to live an unashamed life of uncontrolled sinfulness. Since they chose to deliberately ignore God, spurn His love and reject His entreaties, He had to visit them with judgment.

Many people still walk deliberately away from God. They go to church, hear God’s word but continue in their sinfulness. True, God is gracious and full of mercy. But He is also a Just and holy God who will judge and will not acquit the wicked if he takes His love and grace for granted and continue with a life of deliberate rebellion and rejection of His word.

God’s judgment will not spare anyone. He wants us to tremble and willingly surrender to Him when we hear His word. If we do otherwise, we run the grave risk of courting His fiery indignation.

Thought For The Day: Let your life please God and not baffle Him!

Bible Reading In One Year: Isaiah 59-63

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM Daily Manna HERE

DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.

Flatimes’ Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.

If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.

Topic: Understanding Uprightness Of Character [Seeds of Destiny 31 July 2018 Daily Devotional]

Scripture: Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

Thought For The Day: What you believe and behave is what you become.

Our anchor Scripture makes it clear that righteousness is ey to elevation in life; but sin is a reproach. To maintain uprightness in character, there is a need to understand what it is to be upright because what you believe and behave is what you become.

Now, what does uprightness of character entail?
1. The possession of the fear of God
Uprightness of character is existence in the reverential fear of God like Job (Job 1:1). Many people in church today do not fear God and so, they do whatever they like. To fear God is to depart from evil.

2. It is a possession of a lively conscience
This is having a conscience that is alive and void of offence (Acts 24:16). To maltreat people is to live without conscience. To be upright in character is to possess a lively conscience.

3. It is operation with the right motive
To be upright is to do the right thing with the right motive. It is not uprightness to do the right thing with the wrong motive. (2 Chronicles 25:2).

4. Uprightness of character entails the passion to please God in our lives and in our actions
It is living, not just to please others at the expense of God but living to please God.

5. Consideration for the feelings and welfare of others
Righteousness is reflected in the way we treat people. Wickedness does not equal righteousness.

6. The willingness to take a stand even if it means to stand alone
Noah took a stand for God alone; God found only him to be righteous in his generation.

My counsel is, endeavour to live a lifestyle of righteousness.

Remember this: What you believe and behave is what you become.

Assignments:
1. Live consciously in the fear of God and maintain a lively conscience.
2. Develop a feeling for others
3. Always do things with the right motive.

Prayer: O Lord, I ask for the grace to live in your fear and have a lively conscience. Help me always to live in the right motive and to please You, Lord, in Jesus’ Name.

FOR FURTHER UNDERSTANDING, GET THIS MESSAGE: A LIFTING UP THROUGH UPRIGHTNESS.

Daily Bible Reading: 2 Chronicles 29:1 to 36, Romans 14:1 to 23, Psalm 24:1 to 10, Proverbs 20:12

Amazing Fact: The bird with the most feathers is the whistling swan, with up to 25,000 feathers.

Today In History: 31/07/2007 – The iTunes Music Store reached 2 million feature length films sold

Quote: If you are going to reign in this life as a king, one of the major ways you will do that is by the power of character and integrity. Culled from WHO ARE YOU? by Dr. Paul Enenche.

Also Read: Seeds of Destiny by Pastor Paul Enenche

Today’s devotional was written by Pastor Paul Enenche of the Dunamis International Gospel Centre (DIGC), headquartered at Abuja, Nigeria, with Pastor Paul and Becky Enenche, as the Senior Pastors. It is a power-packed arena where God’s Presence, Principles and Power are at work for the salvation, healing and restoration of human destinies and dignities

Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.

If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.

Topic: Don’t Serve the Problem [Kenneth & Gloria Copeland 31st July 2018 Daily Devotional]

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him. – Isaiah 55:7

You can’t win a victory as long as the problem is the biggest thing in your life!

The Lord woke me up to that fact a few years ago. At that time I was facing some difficulties in my ministry that seemed so big to me, I thought about them from morning till night. Even though I was standing against them, I was thinking more about those problems than about the scripture promises I was standing on.

Then I saw something in Matthew 6:24-25: “Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life….”

I’d read that scripture hundreds of times, but that day I saw something I’d never noticed before. I saw that immediately after Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters,” He said, “Take no thought.” Suddenly it hit me: We serve our thoughts!

That’s why Isaiah 55 says for us to forsake our thoughts, and by the Word, take God’s thoughts. That’s why 2 Corinthians 10:5 says to cast down thoughts that challenge the Word and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Do you want deliverance from your problems today?

Then quit serving them! Quit allowing them to consume your thought life. And don’t wait until circumstances change to do it. Instead, realize that circumstances won’t ever change until you switch from wrong to right thinking.

I know that’s not easy to do, especially in the midst of heavy darkness and trial. But you can do it if you’ll do these three things:

First, remember you aren’t alone. You have the Word (God’s thoughts). You have the Holy Spirit to strengthen you and you have the mind of Christ.

Second, get around people who are full of faith. Instead of rehearsing your problem, let them do the talking. Make yourself listen. Join in with their faith and resist darkness.

Third, praise God. Do whatever it takes to make yourself praise. When you begin to praise, God’s presence will turn back those worried thoughts and make them fall!

Your problems are not the biggest thing in your life. Jesus is. Serve Him with your thoughts and He will set you free!

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 55

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read “Kenneth and Gloria Copeland’s Daily Devotional Here’’

This message was written by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, the leader of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries (www.KCM.org) that specializes in teaching principles of bible faith – prayer, healing, salvation and other biblical topics.

Topic: Sinners Like Us [Our Daily Bread 30 Tuesday July, 2018]

Read: Luke 15:1–7, Bible in a Year: Psalms 54–56; Romans 3

This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Luke 15:2

I have a friend—her name is Edith—who told me about the day she decided to follow Jesus.

Edith cared nothing for religion. But one Sunday morning she walked into a church near her apartment looking for something to satisfy her discontented soul. The text that day was Luke 15:1–2, which the pastor read from the King James Version: “Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.”

That’s what it said, but this is what Edith heard: “This man receives sinners and Edith with them.” She sat straight up in her pew! Eventually she realized her mistake, but the thought that Jesus welcomed sinners—and that included Edith—stayed with her. That afternoon she decided to “draw near” to Jesus and listen to Him. She began to read the Gospels, and soon she decided to put her faith in Him and follow Him.

The religious folks of Jesus’s day were scandalized by the fact that He ate and drank with sinful, awful people. Their rules prohibited them from associating with such folk. Jesus paid no attention to their made-up rules. He welcomed the down-and-out and gathered them to Him, no matter how far gone they were.

It’s still true, you know: Jesus receives sinners and (your name).

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we can’t thank You enough for the radical love of Your Son, who drew all of us outcasts and moral failures to Him, and made the way for us to come to You in joy and boldness.

God pursues us in our restlessness, receives us in our sinfulness, holds us in our brokenness. Scotty Smith

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read “Our Daily Bread Devotionals HERE”

This message was written By David H. Roper [Our Daily Bread Ministries.]

Topic: The Right Righteousness [Andrew Wommack 31st July 2018 Daily Devotional]

Luke 16:15 “And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”

Text: Luke 16:14-15

Justification is not something to be earned, but a gift to be received. Seeking to earn salvation is the only sin that will prevent a person from being saved, because you cannot submit yourself to the righteousness of God which comes as a gift through faith as long as you are seeking to establish your own righteousness.

Most people are unaware that there are two kinds of righteousness. Only one type of righteousness is acceptable to God. There is our righteousness, which is our compliance with the requirements of the law. This is an imperfect righteousness because human nature is imperfect and incapable of fulfilling the law. And there is God’s righteousness, which only comes as a gift and is received by faith. God’s righteousness is perfect. Our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isa. 64:6). A person who believes that he must earn God’s acceptance by his holy actions is not believing in God’s righteousness, which is a gift. It has to be one or the other; we cannot mix the two.

Righteousness is not what Jesus has done for us plus some minimum standard of holiness that we have to accomplish.

Right standing before a holy God is not to be achieved in the keeping of the law, but in humble trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. No one who is trusting in his own righteousness can have the benefit of Christ’s righteousness. The righteousness that gives men relationship with God is the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, and it comes freely through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:22). It is true that the way we obtained this righteousness is by putting faith IN what Christ has done for us. But when we place our faith in Christ, then the righteousness that Jesus obtained by His faith becomes ours. We are possessors of Christ’s righteousness, which His faith produced.

Also Read: Andrew Wommack Daily Devotional 

This message was written by The Association of Related Ministries International (ARMI) is an extension of Andrew Wommack Ministries (AWM). ARMI is a unique partnership committed to providing resources to help like-minded ministers succeed in a spirit of excellence and to draw from the experience and expertise of both the AWM and Charis Bible College staff. (www.awmi.net).

Topic: Molding You [Billy Graham’s Devotional Tuesday July 31, 2018]

When we suffer and die for Christ it only means that we will begin living with him in heaven. — 2 Timothy 2:11 (TLB)

I have a friend who during the Depression lost his job, a fortune, a wife, and a home. But he tenaciously held to his faith—the only thing he had left. One day he stopped to watch some men doing stonework on a huge church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece of stone. “What are you going to do with that?” asked my friend. The workman said, “See that little opening away up there near the spire? Well, I’m shaping this down here, so it will fit in up there.” Tears filled the eyes of my friend as he walked away, for it seemed that God had spoken through the workman to explain his ordeal through which he was passing, “I’m shaping you down here, so you’ll fit in up there.”

Prayer for the day: Thank You, Lord, for all the “shaping” in my life, which brings me closer to You.

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read Billy Graham’s Daily Devotional HERE

Written by Billy Graham, Founder of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association(BGEA). BGEA exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ by every effective means and to equip the church and others to do the same.