Open Heavens: Normal and Assisted Progress by Pastor E.A Adeboye

Memorise: He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:
 Psalm 78:70;
Read: Genesis 27:1-10,

Bible in one year:
Genesis 5-7,
John 11:28-44

Message:
On the scale of progress, after the state of retardation comes the state of normal promotion. This refers to a state of progress where growth occurs at a normal rate or at a generally acceptable pace. A person operating on this level moves step by step and from stage to stage. In some organisations, it is normal to be promoted from one level to another once in four or five years. However, the problem with this kind of promotion is that it is ordinary; there is nothing exceptional about it. It is at variance with the abundant life Jesus came to give us (John 10:10).

Normal promotion is not exactly what God has planned for you as a child of destiny. It is crowded at this level of progress. In all their lifetime, some people have never experienced any type of progress beyond the normal. If you are in this category, the Lord is moving you to something higher this season in Jesus’ Name. From a crowded school of prophets and teachers in Antioch, the Holy Ghost separated Paul and Barnabas to an exceptional life in ministry (Acts 13:1-2). The Lord will separate you from the crowd and make you exceptional in Jesus’ Name.

Beyond the state of normal promotion is a state known as assisted promotion. This is experience when someone is personally interested in your welfare and choose to assist you by taking you to a level you are not yet due for. The three Hebrew boys Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego experienced this in Daniel 2:49

“Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.”

After their friend, Daniel, was made a great man, they were assisted to the top based on his recommendation. Note however that this state of progress still requires hard work, as this may even be the reason why you were considered for elevation in the first place. Another example of assisted progress can be found in the story of Isaac and his family. Isaac called his beloved son and firstborn, Esau, and instructed him to go hunt and prepare him a delicious meal so that he could transfer the generational blessing to him. As he left to do so, his mother, who overheard her husband’s instructions, decided to arrest the blessing from Esau and pass it over to Jacob, her own beloved son.

She therefore designed a plot to assist him, and she schooled him on what to do. In the Name of Jesus, the Lord will raise people to assist you into a level you were not expected to attain. Human and divine assistance shall work in your favour this season in Jesus’ Name.

Prayer Point
Father, let human and divine assistance relocate me to the top.