About this Blog

Why I created this blog

30 March 2013. I found a need and decided to fill it, basically.

The Open Heavens daily devotional is the creation of Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), probably the largest and fastest growing Pentecostal assembly in Africa, with branches all over the world.

Apart from daily use by many, every branch of the RCCG all over the world is expected to use the devotional every Sunday to teach church workers as part of Workers’ Anointing Service, which is held before the Sunday service to prepare the Workers and Ministers for their day’s duties in church. It turned out that the Media department in my branch of the RCCG decided to start projecting the Open Heavens devotional during our Workers’ Anointing Service for the benefit of Workers who do not have a copy of the devotional. That meant they needed a soft copy. I confidently asked them to download it from the RCCG website rather than type it out. To my shock and disbelief, there was no soft copy of the current edition of Open Heavens devotional on the RCCG website! There was an e-copy, alright, just that it was not the current one needed. I browsed for e-Open Heavens but the best I got was from bloggers, who took the trouble of posting the devotional daily. What that meant was that Sunday’s devotional was posted on Sunday, but our Media department needed to have the soft copy before Sunday if they were to be prepared. I chose to make that available to them, and to as many others that may need it, through this blog. So, a day’s devotional is posted in advance of its actual date. That means bloggers who post on the date can also use it.

Why I like this blog

I like this blog because I won’t be running out of material. For as long as the Open Heavens devotional is made available in hard copy, I will have material to post! That’s very comforting to me and I’m so thrilled about it.

How I started out with this blog

I started out by typing out the text from the hard copy. This I found very tedious and was discouraged from the very first day! It took between 20 – 30 minutes to complete each day’s devotional – typing and formatting – depending on my sitting position. And I needed to type a minimum of two days’ devotional at a sitting if I was to meet my target of posting in advance. Also, as a habit, I avoid typing out Bible quotations: I prefer to copy them from an electronic Bible to avoid typos. So, it was quite some trouble. But then my goal was to meet a need and that I was determined to do. So I kept on, hoping to find an easier way to do the postings as time went on. I also consoled myself with the fact that typing it out would make me to read through the entire devotional and profit thereby.

How I go about this blog

9 April 2013. My days of typing are over! I borrowed this incredible scanner from a friend. I call it incredible because it has the capability to scan to a word processor and present your document in rich text format (.rtf) that can be edited. The scanner is really amazing because it inserts paragraph marks appropriately and you only need to do minimal editing and then format to your desired style. I actually found an easier way to do the postings as I had hoped to.

The morale:

Determination and hope can surmount discouragement. And to think I overcame in 10 short days, a hurdle that would have made me to give up from the very first day!

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.
Psalm 31:24

The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
Proverbs 10:28

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12

It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD
Lamentations 3:26

Romans 5: 3 – 5
[3] And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
[4] And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
[5] And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Romans 8:24 -25
[24] For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
[25] But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Romans 12:12
[12] Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

Romans 15:4
[4] For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

I Corinthians 9:10
Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

1 Peter 1:13
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

One snag, though: the scanner is sheet-fed. The implication of this is that I have to get my Open Heavens book into single sheets to be able to use this incredible equipment. Presently, I do a photocopy of the 2-page spread, slit it in two and scan per page. That’s additional trouble and expense. I’m thinking of ‘dismembering’ my Open Heavens devotional (the book costs $5 if you buy from the main source as I did) into single sheets and using it for the scan. It’s much less trouble, and cheaper too, than making photocopies of it. Although, it leaves me with the guilt that I’m destroying value. I’m consoled, however by the fact that I will be creating better value out of it with these postings.

Another down side of the scanning method is that I don’t get to read the devotional in the process. With typing, I read along and that’s a great opportunity for me.

The morale:

I guess you can’t always have it all.

[8] For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
[9] And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:8 – 9.

When I do this blog

I do the text once weekly, since I discovered this scan-to-Word option. I can get one week’s text ready in about the same time I used in typing out 2 days’ text. Posting is quite easy once the text is done.

What’s new on this Blog?

Today, 12 May 2013, I begin to provide links to Bible passages used in the Devotional. I will be posting the devotional for Monday 27 May 2013 and a few others today. You can click on the Bible reading and it takes you to the specific portion in the KJV Bible. Other Bible verses mentioned within the day’s devotional are also linked to their respective online Bible portions. The Bible in one year is not linked, however. You may want to right-click and select “Open in a new tab” or “Open in a new window” if your device permits, to avoid navigating away from your present page.

Happy reading!