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Open Heaven Devotion

  • 06 Jun 2022

TEACH THEM WHAT TO APPRECIATE

MEMORISE:  Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1

READ: 2 Corinthians 3:18 

18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.


MESSAGE

There is a spiritual law called the Law of Transformation and it simply says that whatever you admire is what you are likely to become. We are designed to transform into whatever we focus our attention upon, as today’s Bible reading clearly states.

Beloved, as you behold the Lord, you are transformed into the same image from glory to glory. Elisha appreciated Elijah and he ended up with a double portion of the latter’s anointing. Joshua appreciated Moses; when Moses was about to leave, he deposited the Spirit of wisdom in him. What your children appreciate from their youth is what they will likely become when grown. Teach them to appreciate people who are relevant in the society, godly people who live by Christian values. They can appreciate musicians, politicians or someone in any profession that they want, but make sure that whoever they appreciate is godly and responsible, with a high level of integrity.

When I was very young, a teacher came to teach in our village. He came with one of his relatives. This boy never wanted to study. We would always hear noise from the teacher’s room as he flogged the boy because he didn’t want to study. One day, the teacher asked him, ‘What do you want to become?” the boy said he wanted to become a wheelbarrow pusher. Apparently, the boy had been admiring a wheelbarrow pusher, so he wanted to become like him.

I also recall vividly another incident when I was still in elementary school. An Anglican Bishop visited our village in a brand-new car. He was dressed in a magnificent robe, and all students in my school, including myself, lined the route he was to pass through, singing as he arrived. When he got down form the car, I noticed his beautiful, shiny shoes, when I got home that day; I told my mother I was going to become a Bishop, Although I am not a Bishop today, I am very close.

You will know what your children appreciate from what they talk about and the songs they sing around the house. Redirect their focus to appreciate godly values and when they are grown, they will not depart from such (Proverbs 22:6).

 ACTION POINT

Teach your children to appreciate godly values from their youth.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalms 12-17


HYMN 28: WHEN WE WALK WITH THE LORD 

When we walk with the Lord 

in the light of his word, 

what a glory he sheds on our way! 

While we do his good will, 

he abides with us still, 

and with all who will trust and obey. 


Refrain:

Trust and obey, for there's no other way 

to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. 


2 Not a burden we bear, 

not a sorrow we share, 

but our toil he doth richly repay; 

not a grief or a loss, 

not a frown or a cross, 

but is blest if we trust and obey. 


3 But we never can prove 

the delights of his love 

until all on the altar we lay; 

for the favor he shows, 

for the joy he bestows, 

are for them who will trust and obey. 


4 Then in fellowship sweet 

we will sit at his feet, 

or we'll walk by his side in the way; 

what he says we will do, 

where he sends we will go; 

never fear, only trust and obey.