OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL

THE CITY OF THE DEAD

MEMORISE: “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;” — Colossians 2:13

READ: Ephesians 2:1-6 (KJV)

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Proverbs 30-31

MESSAGE BY: Pastor E. A. Adeboye

I. THE MACABRE METROPOLIS: LIVING UPON THE TOMBS

Several years ago, during one of my evangelical travels across the globe, I visited a particular country that housed one of the largest and most sprawling physical cemeteries in the world. As I observed the landscape of this massive graveyard, I noticed a truly shocking and sobering sight: on top of almost every single grave in that cemetery, there was a heavy concrete slab. Because of severe economic hardship and homelessness within that region, many citizens had actually set up temporary tents directly over those concrete slabs. They slept, cooked, raised children, and conducted their daily affairs among the tombstones. For that very reason, locals and visitors alike universally referred to that terrifying settlement as “the city of the dead.” It was a community where the living and the decomposed shared the exact same geographical address.

As bizarre and heartbreaking as that physical settlement was, it is a perfect mirror of a much worse spiritual reality happening all around us today. Do you know that every single person who has not explicitly surrendered their life to Jesus Christ—as well as those who hypocritically claim to be Christians but are still secretly indulging in lifestyle sins—is currently residing in a spiritual city of the dead? They walk, talk, eat, and buy houses, but in the diagnostic view of heaven, they are walking corpses. Our text in Ephesians 2 reminds us that before Christ intervened, we all once walked according to the system of this world and the direct promptings of the prince of the power of the air. We were structurally dead in our sins, awaiting ultimate destruction, until Jesus broke into our graveyard and made us alive together with Him.

II. THE RAID ON HELL AND THE CHANGE OF ADDRESS

When Jesus Christ hung on the cross at Calvary, He did not merely undergo physical execution; He embarked on a rescue mission into the deepest abyss of the spirit realm. He descended straight into the city of the dead, confronted the principalities of darkness, and completely disarmed them. Scriptural records confirm in Revelation 1:18 that He took the keys of hell and death entirely away from satan. He stripped the enemy of his legal right to hold humanity captive in spiritual graves. Jesus suffered that agonizing death so that absolutely no human being would ever have to experience the eternal torture of the second death.

If you are reading this devotion today and you know that your private life is still ruled by the lust of the flesh, deceit, compromise, or ungodly habits, you are still existing in that graveyard. I implore you with deep urgency to escape from that city of the dead right now before it is too late. The concrete slab of judgment could be sealed over your head at any moment. Turn your heart completely over to Jesus Christ today, and He will instantly cancel your spiritual debt, wipe out your past, and completely change your permanent address from the city of the dead into His magnificent Kingdom of Life.

III. THE BLINDNESS OF PERSONAL PROJECTS VS. THE MASTER’S BUSINESS

Once you have been delivered from this city of the dead, God does not expect you to become an idle consumer of grace. If you are truly a child of God, it is your absolute, non-negotiable structural responsibility to consistently preach the gospel to those who are still trapped in that graveyard. You cannot afford to become so utterly consumed with building your personal business, pursuing your career, or securing your earthly comfort that you completely neglect the Lord’s primary business of witnessing to lost souls.

In fact, many believers do not realize that the major breakthroughs and blessings they are desperately fasting and praying for are actually hidden inside their obedience to the Great Commission. When you prioritize the rescue of souls from the city of the dead, God automatically takes care of your personal life. He orchestrates your miracles without you having to struggle, because you have proven to be a trustworthy partner in His kingdom enterprise.

IV. THE LADY, THE HARVEST FIELD, AND THE PROMISED HUSBAND

Let me share a clear historical illustration of this principle. Several years ago, a young Christian sister came to me, deeply distressed because she was praying for a godly husband and felt her biological clock was ticking. She had fasted and prayed for a long time, but nothing was happening. When she inquired of the Lord, God gave her an unusual directive. He said, “Stop focusing on your marriage for a moment. Go out into the streets, win souls for Me, and make disciples. The man I have assigned to be your husband is not even a part of My spiritual family yet.

She did not complain or argue; she simply obeyed the instruction. She threw herself into evangelism, preaching passionately to the lost in her community. About six months later, she ran to my office and said, “Daddy, I have a big problem!” I asked her what the issue was, and she replied, “One of the young men that I recently preached to and won to Christ has just approached me, and he says he wants to marry me!” I smiled and told her to go home, pray thoroughly about it, and accept his proposal if she felt a genuine inner conviction. She did exactly that. Today, many years later, they are one of the most successful, blissful, and exemplary couples that I know in the entire ministry. God saved her husband through her own obedience, proving that when you mind His business, He fixes yours.

V. KEY POINT

It is the foundational duty and generational responsibility of every redeemed believer to aggressively witness to those who are still living in the spiritual city of the dead.

VI. FURTHER STUDY

John 5:24: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

Ezekiel 33:8: “When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.”

Mark 16:15: “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

VII. DAILY BIBLE READING TEXTS

Proverbs 30 (KJV)

1 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,
2 Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.
3 I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.
4 Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?
5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
7 Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
10 Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.
11 There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
12 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
13 There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
14 There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
15 The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:
16 The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.
17 The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
18 There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:
19 The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.
20 Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
21 For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear:
22 For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;
23 For an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
24 There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:
25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;
26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;
27 The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;
28 The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.
29 There be three things which go well, yea, four which are comely in going:
30 A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any;
31 A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.
32 If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.
33 Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.

Proverbs 31 (KJV)

1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.
2 What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows?
3 Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
8 Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
14 She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.
19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

VIII. HYMNAL: TO THE WORK! TO THE WORK! WE ARE SERVANTS OF GOD

1. To the work! To the work! We are servants of God,
Let us follow the path that our Master has trod;
With the balm of His counsel our strength to renew,
Let us do with our might what our hands find to do.

Toiling on, toiling on, toiling on, toiling on,
Let us hope, let us watch, and labour till the Master comes.

2. To the work! To the work! Let the hungry be fed,
To the fountain of life let the weary be led!
In the cross and its banner our glory shall be,
While we herald the tidings, “Salvation is free!” [Refrain]

3. To the work! To the work! There is labour for all,
For the kingdom of darkness and error shall fall;
And the name of Jehovah exalted shall be,
In the loud-swelling chorus, “Salvation is free!”

4. To the work! To the work! In the strength of the Lord,
And a robe and a crown shall our labour reward,
When the home of the faithful our dwelling shall be,
And we shout with the ransomed, “Salvation is free!”

IX. PROPHETIC DECREE

I decree and declare that on this Thursday, July 9, 2026, every demonic tie binding you or your loved ones to the spiritual city of the dead is shattered instantly by the consuming fire of the Holy Ghost! I command the spirit of compromise, stagnation, and hidden sin to pack its bags and leave your territory forever! Because you have been quickened together with Christ, you will no longer crawl beneath the shadow of fear or spiritual decay!

I decree that a fresh mantle for soul-winning and territorial evangelism falls upon you this very hour! Every blessing you have been crying out for—whether it is a spouse, a career breakthrough, or financial expansion—is released rapidly as you step out to do the Master’s business. God will cause your unchristian family members and associates to be pulled out of darkness and established in the Kingdom of Life. You shall walk in absolute victory, divine health, and high-velocity prosperity all the days of your life, in the mighty, matchless, and triumphant Name of Jesus Christ! Amen! Hallelujah!