TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 28TH FEBRUARY 2023)
“Lord, do pity and have mercy on my son, for he has epilepsy (is moonstruck) and he suffers terribly; for frequently he falls into the fire and many times into the water. And I brought him to Your disciples, and they were not able to cure him.
And Jesus answered, O you unbelieving (warped, wayward, rebellious) and thoroughly perverse generation! How long am I to remain with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to Me.
And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked privately, Why could we not drive it out?
He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of firmly relying trust]. For truly I say to you, if you have faith [that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:15-21 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 59th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
Today is the last day of our 28-day journey of faith with the Cry of the Holy Spirit on supernatural living. It’s been a beautiful journey of faith full of insights and life-giving truths.
Doubtlessly, our faith has been built up on the supernatural, and our discernment heightened by the warnings we received on the dark supernatural, and the apostolic truths that were dissected on how to spot it.
For all of us who absorbed these truths that came to us constantly for 28 days, our lives will not remain the same if we will put them to work.
The best part of this journey was the faith building truths that came to us each day; the rhema word in the truths, and the streams of divine presence that touched our hearts through them. Then the practical side of dealing with diseases according to God’s plan for our health, it was such a beautiful journey of faith.
I believe, a hard-working Christian, who will work out these truths in his or her life, will begin to move in the supernatural of God from this day forward, in Jesus precious name! Amen!!
Today we want to wrap up the journey with what Jesus presented as “the ultimate trigger of the supernatural of God.” I hope we are ready!
We have to distinguish these things because, there is the dark supernatural depicted in the Bible as the Kingdom of darkness, and there is the supernatural of God. We are looking at a trigger of the supernatural of God not that of darkness; the ultimate trigger that must be in place for anyone to move in the miraculous power of Jesus, that is available to us today.
In modern warfare, no matter how powerful or effective a fully loaded gun is, if it has no trigger, you will not be able to use it. No matter how destructive a bomb can be, if it has no trigger or detonator, even a stone will be more useful than it. Triggers or detonators are useful and necessary for the release of fire power or kinetic energy.
What is true of the natural is also true of the supernatural, especially the supernatural of God.
ACTUALLY, BOTH THE DARK SUPERNATURAL AND THE SUPERNATURAL OF GOD HAS TRIGGERS.
The dark supernatural has a lot of sinful, demonic, and satanic steps as its triggers. People trigger it when they seat under dark preachers and do what they say they should do.
They trigger it when they use the water, they give them, the stickers, the prayer clothes, or offer money as seed for it, and sometimes offer sex. I have met people who offered sex to dark prophets and prophetesses to trigger the supernatural in their lives. Some have offered prescribed sacrifices, of even animals and humans.
There is so much people who follow the dark supernatural do to trigger it, but we are not going into that. We are looking at how to trigger the supernatural of God; the ultimate key is in our devotional text. The Bible presented it as the ultimate trigger of the supernatural of God. But to uncover it, we shall take the text, precept upon precept.
What is a precept? A precept is a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought. In the Bible, a precept is an authoritative rule or a divine command, through which a man’s responsibility to God and His ways is set. There are divine rules or commands in our devotional text, that can help us grasp the full revelation of the ultimate trigger of the supernatural of GOD. Those are the precepts we want to uncover.
The first precept is in the first set of verses. The verses contain the words of a frustrated father who brought his tormented son to the disciples of Christ, in hope that they will solve his problems since they have been working with him. But they could not. The verses say;
“Lord, do pity and have mercy on my son, for he has epilepsy (is moonstruck) and he suffers terribly; for frequently he falls into the fire and many times into the water.
And I brought him to Your disciples, and they were not able to cure him.” Matthew 17:15-16 AMPC
You know, most times, like this frustrated father who appear to love his son so much, did, people come to us with problems, hoping we can solve them, since we are either men of God or followers of Christ, but we disappoint them like the disciples did in Bible days.
INDEED, SO MANY HAVE BEEN FRUSTRATED BY OUR LACK OF FAITH, POWER, AND REVELATION KNOWLEDGE!
You find them sandwiched, between the activities of those who are ignorant of how the supernatural of God works, and those who operate in the dark supernatural.
Those who are ignorant of how the supernatural of God works, will engage them in very unproductive deliverance sessions. While those who operate the dark supernatural will ask them to sow this financial seed for what they are looking for, or the other seeds, or give them this water, that oil, this handkerchief, or the other miracle gadget to buy or use in prayers.
All these only ends up compounding their problems, by either giving them miracles from the dark supernatural, or filling them with activities of empty deceit.
God wants all who run to Him to be saved, sanctified and delivered. That is why we must all come into the light, like the disciples of Christ did before attempting to help the people.
However, even in the light, there are those who do not know how to unleash the supernatural of God. They are like the disciples in our devotional text. They do some prayers and call on the name of the LORD to deliver people, but nothing happens. Consequently, living the people in frustration.
Indeed, many afflicted people are usually frustrated by either the lack of power in the Church, or the dangerous consequences of the dark supernatural being dispensed by most preachers and their members. It is promoting the kingdom of darkness by not allowing those Satan bound, to be free indeed.
The freedom that the dark supernatural gives, is so dangerous that it will be better to be prayed for by a Christian or man of God, who is in the light, but do not have the revelation of the triggers of the supernatural of God, than to be prayed for by a Christian or preacher, who unleashed the dark supernatural successfully.
SADLY, THE NAÏVE WILL PREFER THE ONE WHO UNLEASH THE DARK SUPERNATURAL.
Our devotional text made it clear that, unlike those who are prayed for by people with the dark supernatural, who will eventually die or end up having additional problems, you will not have additional problems if a Christian in the light, who may not know how to turn on the supernatural of God, prays for you.
As we can see in the life of the boy who was prayed for by the disciples but with no results to show, your problem may receive a little or no help from God, but there will be no additional problems in your life.
But God wants problems cured. He wants each and every one of us to be able to trigger His supernatural power on the lives of others, in other to bring to them the freedom they need. You find that in the frustration Jesus expressed in that story. The Bible says;
“And Jesus answered, O you unbelieving (warped, wayward, rebellious) and thoroughly perverse generation! How long am I to remain with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to Me.
And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly.” Matthew 17:17-18. AMPC
When the disciples saw what Jesus did, against the backdrop of the frustration He expressed, and how easy it was for Him to do it, they were awestruck, and came asking Him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?” That is what everyone in the Light should be doing today.
Whenever you pray for someone, and nothing happens, go sit with the Spirit of the LORD to find out why you could not drive the person’s problems out. Do not just go away excusing your lack of results with some baseless thoughts. That will not help you walk in the supernatural of God.
If you go sit with the Holy Spirit to ask why your prayer did not work, it will bring you into the School of the Spirit.
I DID THAT IN MY DAYS OF LITTLE BEGINNING, FROM 1993 TO WHEN I STEPPED FULLY INTO THE REALM OF THE SUPERNATURAL OF GOD.
I cannot forget how I searched for answers, buying every good gospel book I could find, and reading the Bible side by side. I remember reading a book by one of those who birth the charismatic movement, titled, “The secret of God’s Miracle working Power.” There were other books I read that helped me then, that are no longer in circulation now.
After studying to discover why, I began by laying hands on people, and seeing results. This was without using any of the deliverance inventions preachers use today. Sadly, I would later stain the process when I was exposed to oil and water using ministries. Then the LORD came through for me; delivered me from those things and reset my feet on His supernatural.
Today we have grown to the point of just sending a text message, and seeing results. It all happened, not by our might; nor by our power, but by the Spirit of the LIVING GOD who showed us why we could not walk in power then. You are the next in God’s list.
For me, it all began when I asked the LORD, the Why-could-we-not-drive-it-out question, after attempting to pray for people in my beginning days. I got it from the steps the disciples took. I saw that it resulted in Christ laying their spiritual fingers on the ultimate trigger of the supernatural of God; faith. The Bible says;
“He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of firmly relying trust]. For truly I say to you, if you have faith [that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:20-21 AMPC
The ultimate trigger of the supernatural of GOD, as we can see in this scripture is FAITH. It is not praise, giving, fasting, or anything people do, but faith! Just faith!! Not faith in olive oil from Israel or anywhere, not faith in water, salt, prayer clothes or handkerchiefs given to you by a so-called miracle worker. But faith in God, faith in the power of GOD that does not need gadgets.
Now, do not get me wrong. Praise, giving, and fasting, could be great ingredients of worship, but faith in GOD’s power is what triggers the supernatural not any of that.
AND WHEN WE SAY FAITH, WE ARE NOT REFERRING TO AN ORDINARY FAITH, BUT A MIRACLE WORKING FAITH.
Faith is what move God, nothing else. It is the ultimate trigger of the supernatural of God. The Bible says;
“But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].” Hebrews 11:6 AMPC
Beautifully, the process of getting this kind of faith was also revealed. The Bible says,
“But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21 AMPC).
This scripture presented Biblical fasting, as the process of getting to the realm of the faith that unleashes the supernatural of God.
Jesus, whose Spirit presently governs the supernatural of God, was simply saying in that scripture; “the kind of faith that will cast out demons, move mountains, and turn lives around, using the supernatural of God, cannot come out of us until we consecrate through Biblical fasting and prayers.” That was why, when He fasted for 40 days and nights, He returned with power.
He returned with power because He was thrusted into the realm of faith by His fast; the realm of limitless impossibilities of God. Hence could cast out this devil from the boy without going for a fast. I hope you understand me. Faith is the ultimate trigger of the supernatural of God. The process of conceiving this faith, is encounter with God through Biblical fasting and prayers. That is the message.
As we bring this to a close, understand that, most people have mistaken the scripture of our devotional text to mean, a commission to fasting. People have been misled by so many preachers to take fasting as the ultimate trigger of the supernatural leading to so many fatal cases.
Sadly, those who did not die from their fast, became mentally unstable. That is why, if you look at the reasoning of many so-called spiritual people today, you can tell, “this one is going mad.”
THERE IS NO COHERENCE OR SANITY IN WHAT THEY DO OR SAY IN THE NAME OF GOD.
The misunderstanding of that scripture, especially by notable front-line preachers, have done so much harm to many in the body of Christ. You find even the most respected, reading it this way, “this kind of demon cannot come out except by praying and fasting.” Consequently, stirring people to embark in terrible fasting sprees that is leaving them with painful scars of life.
It is saddening to see that, virtually all preachers, who have great followership, cannot see that Jesus was not presenting fasting, but faith produced by Biblical fasting, as the trigger. They are not seeing that you can fast and still not have faith for miracles, hence fasting is not it. They are blind to the facts of the scripture.
They read that scriptural portion wrongly, because they do not realize that if it was a fast Jesus was referring to, He would have said to the man whose son was sick, “please, give me some time to fast about this, I will be back.” And then return after, to cast it out. But He never did that, He just casted it out. Meaning, Jesus was not referring to a fast but a faith when He said those words.
Child of God as you prepare for supernatural living in God, do not forget that no fasting can trigger the supernatural because Jesus did not fast to trigger it. It is our faith that triggers the supernatural. Fasting could help us get there, but faith remains the ultimate trigger of the supernatural.
May the LORD use all we have learned in this journey, to get our hearts and spirits filled with the faith and power that is required for us to begin a powerful life in the supernatural of God; that we will no longer lack the faith, the fire, and the power to walk in wonders, in Jesus precious name! Amen!!
The world is waiting for our manifestation, as sons of God. I hope we will not disappoint destiny!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.
And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.
Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen.
And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.” Acts 6:7-10 NKJV