Open Heavens 7 June 2018 – The Sure Armour I

Topic: The Sure Armour I [Open Heavens 7th June 2018, Thursday Daily Devotional]

Memorise: Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; – Ephesians 6:14

Read: 2 Corinthians 1:7-11 (KJV)

7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

11 Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

Bible in One Year: 1 Kings 21, Acts 7:23-43

MESSAGE:

Life is full of complex challenges which can be overwhelming. These challenges have frustrated some people to the extent that they despair of life itself. Leading them to take drugs, join the occult or even commit suicide, all in a bid to “escape” the reality of life’s problems. I pray that you will never be overwhelmed by the challenges of life in Jesus’ Name. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not say we would be immune from trials and tribulations in life (John 16:33); rather He provided us with the sure armor with which we can confront and triumph over everything the enemy throws at us. To be victorious in life, you need to first understand that life’s most devastating battles are not physical, but spiritual. Challenges that have their origin in the spirit realm have to be confronted with spiritual tools, which might appear foolish to the natural man. To help us triumphant, Ephesians 6:14 introduces two important components of our armour: Truth and Righteousness.

A life of truth is a transparent and honest life that is based on the word of God, which Jesus declared to be the truth (John 17:17). Living a life of truth is powerful (2 Corinthians 4:2). Lies of any form are of the devil, and so when you live a lie, the devil will have foothold in your life with which to afflict you (John 8:44). However, if your life is based on the truth of God’s word, the devil will find nothing in your life to use against you. This was the case with our Lord Jesus Christ on the night he was betrayed. The devil came to examine His life if indeed He was without sin before going to the cross of Calvary, so that he could accuse Him of it and destroy the work of salvation before the last lap even started. In John 14:30 the Lord said:

“Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.”

Thank God Jesus had truth in His armor and there was no lie in Him. Little wonder He declared to Pilate that truth was the purpose of His life (John 18:37).

The breast plate of righteousness is another official part of our armor. 2 Corinthians 6:7 says:

“By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,”

Righteousness is a gift that puts us in right standing with God and produces a life of uprightness in us (Romans 5:17, Ephesians 4:24). Having received the gift of righteousness, we are empowered to do the work of righteousness (1 Corinthians 15:34, Romans 6:18). Standing upon and walking in Christ’ righteousness defeats every rage of the devil against us. Are truth and righteousness part of your armour today?

Key Point: If the devil examines your life, will he find a lie that he can use as a foothold for his attack?

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click HERE to read Open Heavens 6 June 2018 – Something More Than Gold

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 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.

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Christian Aid Group World Help Activates Crisis Response to Aid Volcano Survivors in Guatemala – Urban Christian News

As the eruption of the Fuego volcano in Guatemala has killed at least 75 people since Sunday and about 200 others remain missing, the Christian humanitarian group World Help has activated its crisis response program to provide relief to families impacted by the disaster.

Over 1.7 million people have been affected and more than 3,000 have evacuated as Sunday’s explosion has buried villages on the slopes with volcanic ash and mud, according to the BBC, which reported a new eruption Tuesday.

The eruption, which is being called the country’s most violent in over a century, has also injured hundreds of Guatemalans.

World Help, which has been working in Guatemala for more than 11 years, says it’s providing food, medical aid and personal hygiene items to affected families.

“Our hearts are broken for the loss of life and for the thousands of families that have lost everything,” said World Help CEO and founder Vernon Brewer in a statement. “This is a moment when our kindness and compassion should meet the level of need. We are calling everyone who is able to give to help us provide emergency aid to families that have lost everything, and to give them hope for a better tomorrow.”

Click here to read more.
Source: Christian Post

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Eddie Long’s Successor at Georgia Megachurch, Bishop Stephen A Davis, Resigns

(Photo: Facebook/New Birth Missionary Baptist Church)Bishop Stephen A. Davis ministers at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia.

Bishop Stephen A. Davis, who took over as senior pastor at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, following the death of controversial longtime pastor Eddie Long in January 2017, has resigned.

According to the megachurch, Davis stepped down to concentrate on the New Birth ministry he founded in Birmingham, Alabama, which was formerly the Refiners House Church before becoming part of the New Birth expansion in 2010.

The resignation was accepted by the church’s board of directors.

“I love my New Birth family both in Birmingham and Stonecrest. However, at this time my wife, my children and the New Birth Birmingham family need my full attention,” Davis said in a statement Wednesday. “We will remain a[t] New Birth Church in Birmingham and maintain our relationships with New Birth Stonecrest Congregation.”

According to a press release sent by the church, Davis’ 16 months as senior pastor “allowed the New Birth ministry to continue moving forward following Bishop Long’s transition.”

The church expressed its gratitude for Davis for guiding the congregation with “heartfelt dedication and commitment.”

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.

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Christian charity appeals for help in South Sudan schools programme

Officials said seven million people in the African country are facing a hunger crisis as the lean season between harvests approaches and fighting continues.

The Scottish-based charity, which provides a daily meal to children attending school in some of the poorest parts of the world, has worked in South Sudan since 2008.

 

It already feeds more than 20,000 children but more young people are now trying to enrol at schools serving Mary’s Meals as a number of other schools have been destroyed in the war.

Charity founder and chief executive Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow said: “The plight of children in South Sudan is truly heartbreaking.

“For them, the promise of a daily school meal has never been more important.

“We are determined to keep our promise to the 1,257,278 children around the world who rely on Mary’s Meals.

“With more hungry children arriving at schools in South Sudan each day, we also need help to meet the growing demand there.

“We hope to ensure that every new child enrolling at schools in South Sudan already serving Mary’s Meals can receive a daily meal and, as funds allow, also expand our programme to reach 1,657 additional children at five new schools there.

“We can do this with support while continuing to expand our programme around the world to reach many more children.”

Mary’s Meals has been working with the Diocese of Rumbek to feed children at 40 schools in…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

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Quest Church Founder Eugene Cho Resigns, Assures Congregation There Was ‘No Moral Failure’

(Photo: Twitter)Eugene Cho, founder and lead pastor of Quest Church in Seattle, Washington.

Eugene Cho, founder and lead pastor of Quest Church, an urban, multicultural and multigenerational church in Seattle, Washington, announced his resignation Sunday after 18 years at the helm of the church. The pastor, whose resignation becomes effective Sept. 30, assured his congregation that his decision is not due to moral failure but the need for a new leader who has a fresh vision for the church.

“Let me assure you, there is no moral failure! There is no crisis, conflict, or tension—though, certainly, all of us are aware of the many ups, downs, and emotional toll of leadership. This has truly been an incredible journey,” said Cho, who is also founder and executive director of One Day’s Wages.

One Day’s Wages is a grassroots movement of people, stories, and actions that is working to alleviate extreme global poverty. Cho said one of the reasons he was stepping down from the church was that he felt he was unable to keep splitting his time between working as a pastor and leading One Day’s Wages.

The organization was founded by Cho and his wife, Minhee, after they witnessed the challenges faced by impoverished communities in Burma (or Myanmar).

“For me, this is a principle of…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.

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Vicar of Baghdad Canon Andrew White defiant after Met Police drops investigation

Rev Canon Andrew White learned he will face no further action after a probe into an accusation he paid terrorists in order to secure the release of six or seven Yazidi women being held as sex slaves in Syria and Iraq.

He always insisted that the captives were freed thanks to successful negotiations utilising his contacts in the region – and not by illegal payments to the group, which is also known as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

 

Speaking on Premier’s News Hour with a touch of sarcasm, the 54-year-old said: “I have had this police investigation hanging over my head because I did the awful thing of trying to get back sex slaves from ISIS.

“What I didn’t do at any time was pay money to ISIS.

“It was a story which really had no foundation because at no time had I ever committed this crime.”

When the allegations surfaced, Canon White was suspended as president in 2015 from a charity he founded – the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East.

Facebook/Canon Andrew White

 

An investigation by the charity watchdog into the organisation is currently ongoing. The Charity Commission told Premier it will publish a report “once the inquiry has concluded”.

Last year, Canon White posted on social media that the Foundation “kicked” him out – despite officially being “retired” by the organisation.

In a statement given to Premier, the…

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Wanna Have Sex With a Robot? Think Twice, Doctors Say

(Photo: Warner Brothers and Dreamworks)Still of Jude Law and Ashley Scott as sexbots, Gigolo Joe and Gigolo Jane, in A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Sex with a robot could be bad for you and society, an editorial published by the British Medical Journal has warned.

Susan Bewley, women’s health professor at Kings College London and Chantal Cox-George of St. George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, expressed their concerns in an editorial published on Monday by BMJ.

Titled “I, Sex Robot: the health implications of the sex robot industry,” the doctors warned that there is a “paucity of an evidence base” to backup the claims that sexbots can reduce any criminal or unhealthy behavior.

“This might falsely reassure clinicians not to concern themselves with changing their current clinical practice,” wrote the medical experts.

“However, an absence of evidence does not excuse the medical profession from discussing and debating the issues, as there will inevitably be consequences for physical, mental and social well-being.”

The editorial went on to explain both the arguments for and against using sexbots for things like safer sexual intercourse, and therapeutic treatment for pedophiles and rapists by encouraging them to engage their fantasies with a human-looking robot.

Bewley and Cox-George called for more research…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.

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Deputy Says He Saved Little Girl from Burning Building ‘By the Grace of God’

Deputy Says He Saved Little Girl from Burning Building ‘By the Grace of God’



A Texas deputy who ran into a burning house and saved a toddler trapped inside says God helped him that day.


“God put me where I was supposed to be,” said Cody Downs, who is a Jasper County Sheriff’s deputy in Texas.


“By the grace of God I happened to be in the area when the call dropped,” Downs said. “It was one of the scariest things I’ve been on because I didn’t know if the child was breathing or not.”


Downs responded to a call on Saturday night to a house fire where a 3-year-old girl was trapped inside.


Two other children who were inside the house were able to escape, Sheriff Mitchel Newman and Child Protective Services told reporters.


Downs said he arrived on scene and told himself he wouldn’t quit until he saved the girl.


“You can’t give up,” he said he told himself. “You have to keep fighting until you get this baby out. She is your No. 1 priority. Get her out and then we will deal with whatever you got going on later.”


A neighbor said Downs and her son broke the door down to the house, but Downs told the son to leave when he saw the severity of the fire. He found the girl in the master bedroom of the house.


“[I felt] joy because I found the child and she was alive and she was breathing. And by the grace of God, you know, He put her under a blanket. I firmly believe that God wrapped a blanket around that child to keep her from getting…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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Andy Stanley Starts Sermon Series Titled ‘Me & My Big Mouth’

(Screenshot: North Point Community Church)Pastor Andy Stanley preaches at North Point Community Church June 3, 2018.

North Point Community Church Senior Pastor Andy Stanley has begun a new sermon series, which is centered on the issue of being careful with what one says to others.

Titled “Me & My Big Mouth” and scheduled to take place over the next four weeks, Stanley preached the first part of the series on Sunday.

The first sermon in the series looked at James 1:19, which reads, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

During the sermon, Stanley told those gathered at North Point that the main purpose of the sermon series was to be introspective on the issue.

“This is not about your husband and his big mouth, your wife and her big mouth, your boyfriend and his big mouth, your sister-in-law and her big mouth, your boss and his big mouth. This is about you and your big mouth,” said Stanley.

Stanley stressed the need for people, including himself, to do what James says in the Bible, which is to make listening a priority, especially during times of disagreement with others.

“We argue, argue, argue,” he continued. “But if you can learn, if you can hit pause, if you can be curious, and if you…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.

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Religious cleansing spreads from Muslims to Christians in Myanmar

Release International, which supports persecuted Christians worldwide, said the military stepped up its campaign against the mainly Christian Kachin people in April.

They launched attacks using artillery, helicopter gunships and infantry. Troops have displaced thousands, driving them from their burning homes.

 

The military have also occupied churches and interrogated entire congregations.

There are reports that the soldiers are using rape as a weapon of war and are deliberately targeting camps for the displaced, which is a war crime. They are also said to be sowing landmines to make villages uninhabitable.

Andrew Boyd, spokesperson for the charity, told Premier the oppression amounts to war crimes.

“We’re talking about something like 10,000 people displaced and what we saw happening with the Rohingya Muslims, all of the brutality of that, exactly the same kinds of tactics, we’re now seeing happening with the largely Christian Kachin people,” he said.

“People have been displaced. They’ve been moved from their homes to camps, they’ve been moved from one camp to another camp. If that’s true, and the evidence certainly points in that direction, these are war crimes.”

 

According to Release International, conflict between the controlling Myanmese people and other peoples erupted after World War Two. Some Christian tribes, who…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

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