The Open Heaven 19 December 2025 devotional for today is YOU CAN NOT CHEAT GOD
This is a daily devotion written by Pastor E. A. Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).
OPEN HEAVEN 19 DECEMBER 2025 TODAY DEVOTIONAL
TOPIC: YOU CAN NOT CHEAT GOD
MEMORISE:
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Galatians 6:7
READ: Proverbs 3:5-7:
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
RCCG OPEN HEAVEN 19 DECEMBER 2025 TODAY MESSAGE
Years ago, a man who was completely stiff was brought to the RCCG headquarters; he couldn’t move his hands or bend down. We asked him if he would give his life to Jesus, and he did. We prayed a simple prayer, and immediately, he was healed. He was able to kneel, raise his hands, clap, and move his body in ways he couldn’t do before.
For about two weeks, he was regular at church services, but after that, he stopped coming. We decided to follow him up, so we visited him at home and asked why he had not been coming to church.
He responded by asking us if it was the church that healed him. We told him, “Of course not; it was God, but He used the church.” Then He said, “What then is the problem? If you go to a hospital and you get well, won’t you go home? I came to your church, and I got healed. There is no need for me to keep coming back.”
We eventually left him alone, and some months later, as I was driving by, I saw him by the roadside in a worse condition than he was before his initial healing. This time, not only was his entire body stiff, his mouth was wide open, and saliva was dripping uncontrollably from it.
One thing about demons is that they don’t rest. When a demon’s host runs to God and gets delivered from the demon, after some time, it will return to see the state of the fellow. If it sees that the fellow, having received his or her miracle, has decided that he or she doesn’t need God again, it will invite seven more demons that are stronger than it to possess the fellow again. Eventually, the fellow who thought that he or she could use God just to get healed will realise that his or her case has become worse (Matthew 12:43-45).
Some men who are living wayward lives join churches because they want to get married to good Christian ladies. However, they often discover, after getting married, that they have been deceived into marrying someone like themselves who is not genuinely born-again, and also came to the church to look for a Christian husband.
Beloved, in my over 50 years of walking with God, I have discovered that people who think that they can use God and turn their backs on Him always regret it. Never be like such people!
KEY POINT
Those who try to use God deceitfully always end up regretting their actions.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR
Hebrews 9-10
HYMN 34: YIELD NOT TO TEMPTATION
OPEN HEAVEN DEVOTIONAL 19 DECEMBER 2025 COMMENTARY
MEMORISE: Galatians 6:7
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
This verse is the immutable law of spiritual consequences. It confronts self-deception head-on, declaring that God’s moral order cannot be tricked, manipulated, or treated with contempt. The harvest is infallibly tied to the seed. To attempt to use God for selfish gain is to mock His omniscience and holiness, guaranteeing a proportionate and often severe reaping.
BIBLE READING: Proverbs 3:5-7
This passage outlines the antithesis of using God—the posture of wholehearted trust and reverence:
v.5: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” This forbids the independent, utilitarian mindset that sees God as a tool.
v.6: “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Continuous acknowledgment, not temporary exploitation, is the key to divine guidance.
v.7: “Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” The fear of the Lord—awe, reverence, and obedience—is the only wise posture. Self-cleverness is folly.
The Catastrophe of Attempting to Use God
Pastor E.A. Adeboye shares a chilling, firsthand account to illustrate a grave spiritual truth: God is a Person to be known and served, not a force to be exploited. The devotional starkly warns that those who approach God with a consumer mentality—seeking His benefits while rejecting His Lordship—invite a harvest of compounded spiritual ruin.
1. The Consumer Mentality: God as a “Hospital”
The Miraculous Encounter:
The man received a genuine, instantaneous, and powerful miracle—a total healing from debilitating stiffness. This demonstrated God’s limitless power and mercy.
The Fatal Misinterpretation:
The man’s reasoning—“If you go to a hospital and you get well, won’t you go home?”—revealed a profound error. He categorized the church (and by extension, God) as a service provider, and himself as a consumer who had received a product (healing). The transaction was complete. This reduced the Almighty to a celestial doctor’s office and salvation to a cured symptom.
The Rejection of Relationship:
His question, “What then is the problem?” exposed a heart that saw no need for ongoing fellowship, worship, or discipleship. He wanted the gift but spurned the Giver. This is the essence of “using God.”
2. The Spiritual Dynamics of Regression (Matthew 12:43-45)
The Vacuum Principle:
Deliverance creates a cleansed but empty “house.” If that house is not occupied by the Holy Spirit through a living relationship with Christ, it becomes vulnerable. Demons are relentless scouts; they return to assess the state of their former property.
The Law of Worse Condition:
If the “house” is found empty—devoid of the new occupant (the Holy Spirit) and the furnishings of faith (prayer, the Word, fellowship)—the returning demon initiates a hostile takeover with reinforced strength (“seven other spirits more wicked”). The final state is “worse than the first.” The man by the roadside, stiff with an open, drooling mouth, was a living portrait of this terrifying scripture.
3. The Deception of Ulterior Motives
The Case of the “Bridal Hunter”:
The example of men joining church to find a virtuous wife extends the principle beyond healing. It highlights using the church community and the guise of faith for a selfish social or personal agenda. The tragic irony—“deceived into marrying someone like themselves”—reveals that God is not fooled. The harvest of such deception is a marriage built on mutual pretense, not godly foundation.
The Principle of Sowing and Reaping:
In both cases, the individual sowed seeds of deceit, pretense, and utilitarian faith. They reaped a harvest of compounded bondage and relational disaster. They mocked God’s discernment and reaped the consequences.
4. The Wisdom of a 50-Year Walk: The Testimony of Truth
The Unfailing Verdict:
Pastor Adeboye’s authoritative conclusion from a lifetime of ministry is sobering and absolute: “people who think that they can use God and turn their backs on Him always regret it.” This is not a theory but an observed, spiritual law confirmed by countless testimonies of ruin.
The Exhortation:
“Never be like such people!” This is a direct, pastoral command. It calls for vigilant self-examination to root out any hidden, manipulative, or consumerist attitude in our approach to God.
How to Cultivate a Heart of Reverence, Not Exploitation
1. Examine Your Motives in Prayer:
Regularly ask: “Am I seeking God’s hand for what He can give, or His face for who He is?” (Psalm 27:8). Let your primary prayer be for deeper relationship, not just resolved needs.
2. Embrace Discipleship as the Goal of Salvation:
Understand that salvation is not a ticket to heaven but the beginning of a lifelong apprenticeship to Jesus. The miracle is the invitation into the Kingdom, not the end of the journey.
3. Fill the “House” Daily:
After any deliverance or blessing, be doubly diligent to fill your life with the Word, prayer, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. A blessed life must become a fortified life.
4. Serve Without Agenda:
Engage in church and ministry as a servant, not a schemer. Serve to give, not to get (position, spouse, connections). Let your service be an outflow of gratitude, not a strategy for gain.
Warning: You Cannot Mock the Discerner of Hearts
God sees the intent (Hebrews 4:13). To come to Him with a hidden, selfish agenda is the height of folly. It insults His intelligence and treats the blood of Christ as a mere transaction fee. Such deception is always uncovered, and the reaping is often public, painful, and irreversible in its earthly consequences.
Conclusion: Choosing Fear Over Flippancy
Pray this:
“Sovereign Lord, Discerner of all hearts, search me and reveal any way in which I have treated You as a means to my own ends. Forgive me for a consumerist faith. I renounce all deception and ulterior motives. I choose to fear You, to acknowledge You in all my ways, and to seek Your face above all Your gifts. Fill every chamber of my life with Your Holy Spirit, so that I may never be an empty house for the enemy. I receive You as my Lord, not just my Helper. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Action Steps:
- Conduct a Motive Audit: Before your next major prayer request, write it down. Then write your answer to: “Why do I want this? How will receiving this deepen my relationship with and dependence on God?”
- Study the Consequences: Read Matthew 12:43-45 and the story of King Saul (1 Samuel 15). Note the pattern of partial obedience/initial blessing followed by rejection and a worse state.
- Commit to “Abiding”: Memorize John 15:4-5. Let it be your daily reminder that your calling is to remain in vital, submissive connection to Christ, not to occasionally visit Him for supplies.
Remember: God is a loving Father, not a cosmic vending machine. He gives good gifts to His children, but He will not be manipulated by spiritual customers. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; the attempt to use Him is the beginning of destruction.
“The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you” (2 Chronicles 15:2). Seek Him, not just His works.
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