Alone With God (OPEN HEAVENS Devotional)

OPEN HEAVENS Devotional – Thursday April 14th 2016

TOPIC: WHEN YOU NEED A MIRACLE

Memorize: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Psalms 50:15

Read: 1^st Samuel 1:9-13,

⁹ So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord.

¹⁰ And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.

¹¹ And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.

¹² And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth.

¹³ Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.

Bible in one year: 2^nd Samuel 3:1-5:16, Proverbs 10:8-21

MESSAGE

There is one thing that a child of God needs to know and do when he or she needs a miracle. This is to call upon the Lord in prayer. What is a miracle and why do we need it? Simply explained, a miracle is the supernatural intervention of God in the affairs of men. This intervention basically alters the established laws of nature. At times, the devil manipulates some natural phenomena to deny human beings some basic things that make life pleasant. For example, when Jesus Christ was travelling in a ship with His disciples, the devil manipulated the wind against them so that they may suffer a shipwreck. The disciples went to Jesus Christ in the ship and cried for help. Matthew 8:26 says:

“And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great clam.”

Some so-called children of God are so hypocritical that, even in the presence of the Lord, they still pretend as if all is well, whereas they have unimaginable issues with their spiritual, physical, material and financial needs. In the case of the disciples, they cried to Him for help; they told Him exactly how they felt about the tempest. The danger of death was imminent and the disciples did not pretend as if nothing was wrong. So, Jesus Christ responded to their cry and stilled the storm. I pray that as you cry to the Lord today, He will not just hear but also respond to your cry in Jesus’ name. The storms in your life will miraculous cease today in Jesus’ name.

In our Bible reading for today, we see what one must do when he or she needs a miracle. Hannah needed a miracle, but from year to year she had been going casually to Shiloh until that wonderful year when she realised she needed to do what she had not been doing before; she offered fervent and heart-rending prayers. She prayed so hard that she lost her voice and Eli thought she was drunk. At times when I see how some of my children pray at our periodic meetings at the Redemption Camp in Nigeria, I rejoice because the tempo of their prayers signifies that they are people who need urgent miracles.

“And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore… now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.” 1^st Samuel 1:10, 13

The amazing thing about the above story is that Hannah was not even offended, when she was misunderstood by the high priest who was supposed to know when an individual was in serious communion with God. With joy also I always pray with my children when I see them praying desperately in need of miracles. My prayer is that as you pray to God today, your miracle will reach you sooner than you expect in Jesus’ name. 

Action Point

Tender your deepest heart desires to God today in faith.