TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 17th FEBRUARY 2025)
After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.
Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. Luke 10:1-5 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 48TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY
We give God the glory for giving us another day and pray that His mercies be upon us today. I am not worthy of being alive, but He gave me this day. I give Him praised for not dealing with me according to my sins but according to His faithfulness.
Maybe there is someone there who thinks they are worthy of being alive, well some of us are not.
We have sinned so much and are just products of His mercies and sanctification power. That is why we now have a purity to hold unto. God gave us that purity and righteousness that purged away a life of sin and now covers us like a garment.
His mercies have been the fuel of our lives and reason for our living. Some of those who are dead now are far better than us by all righteous standards, but He kept us. The lines fell unto us in pleasant places, yeah we have a godly heritage.
May we fulfill the purpose of His mercies that is still standing strong in our lives in Jesus precious name. Amen! The Bible says,
“Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.” Psalm 130:1-4 KJV
The ultimate purpose for showing us mercies lies in this scripture. Yes, the reason God forgives our sins lies in this scripture. The scripture made it clear that God does not mark our iniquities, and the reason is clear, so that He may be feared.
MEANING IF GOD’S MERCY UPON YOUR LIFE IS NOT STIRRING YOU TO LIVE RIGHT BEFORE HIM, YOU ARE MAKING A MOCKERY OF IT.
This is something that is worth repeating a thousand times. God forgives our sins iniquities and trespasses so that we begin a walk of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. It is not for us to keep sinning. If we keep sinning, we will end up frustrating His grace and unleashing hell upon ourselves. The Bible says.
“Our God is the God of salvation; and to God the Lord belong escapes from death. But God will wound the head of His enemies, the hairy scalp of the one who still goes on in his trespasses.” Psalm 68:20-21 NKJV
I am sure no leading father of the faith of today quotes the scripture above to their teeming followers. But it is true. God is the judge of all, and the God of all grace. To Him belongs escape from death, however He will wound the hairy scalp of those who continue in their sins despite multiple forgiveness and show of Mercy from Him.
It is important that we understand and fulfil the purpose of His mercies in our lives early enough before our persistent sins unlock disaster upon us. Sadly, very few church gatherings will ever remind us of this. That brings me to an additional truth I want to share with us. Hope we are ready!!
At the point of His departure from the earth, Jacob placed blessings upon the tribes that came out of his lions. Some got judgments for what their father did years back, while others received blessings because of the prophetic destinies they are to fulfill on earth.
One of the tribes that got the blessing was the tribe of Judah, whose lion is our LORD and savior Jesus Christ. The word lion is a metaphor not reality. It is a symbol of strength, authority, and victory. The very things you naturally walk in if Jesus Christ lives in you.
The Phrase “lion of Judah” on the other hand represents Jesus’ role as the fulfilment of God’s redemptive promise and plans.
THE BIBLE SAYS HE BLESSED THAT TRIBE SAYING.
“Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up?The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” Genesis 49:8-9 KJV
These prophetic words gave us insight on why the body of Christ gather every now and then in corporate fellowship in our different churches. It tells us who we gather to. It made it clear that our gathering is unto the LORD not unto any god, lord or thing.
But sadly, we have turned these gatherings into gatherings that gather unto everything but the LORD. As a result, people now gather but get no deliverance from living a life of sin.
They gather daily in churches but obtain no deliverance from the very thing that will dump many into hell. We now have a lot of money-spinning philosophies and the gatherings we say are unto the LORD are unto mammon or other gods. But in the beginning, it was not so.
You see, there are three or four kinds of gatherings unto the LORD predetermined for every Child of GOD, and we need to look at them briefly.
The first is our regular gathering here on earth where we all assemble every Sunday or weekday for corporate fellowship. It covers all our conferences, seminars, summits, and all kinds of fellowship meetings we run on this side of eternity as Children of God.
THIS GATHERING, LIKE OTHERS, HAS ITS ETERNAL PURPOSE.
Its purpose is to prepare us for the remaining two or three kinds of gatherings unto the LORD. The preparation involves helping us to obtain or secure salvation from a life of sin, the captivity of Satan, and the pollution of the evil and corrupt system of this world, so that we can be ready for the other two kinds of gatherings.
This first gathering is the gathering that is most critical to every human being on earth, which is why it has come under intense attack in recent times. It is the very gathering that will prepare the souls of those who are willing for the other two gatherings. This is the gathering called Church.
One of the major attacks this gathering is facing is the establishment of the image of jealousy at the core of its existence. That is why Church has become either a political party, social club, money making machine, metaphysical cult or places of theatrical performances.
Due to the image of jealousy at its core, most local churches now have this money-spinning Philosophy that says, “a service is not complete without taking an offering.” This lie is one of the many money-spinning philosophies that has defeated the purpose of the church.
Even men of God one think should know better sell this lie to their audience. When good men are made to say bad things, the bad things they say will sound good in the ears of listeners who know them as good men. That is how lies are accepted as truth by victims.
Teaching about this important gathering that prepares souls for the other two, Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20 NKJV) But this scripture is not so in many gatherings.
What gathers with most church people who claim to be gathering in the name of the LORD are devils and all kinds of unclean spirits. That is why their pastors, prophets, apostles, and prophetesses talk more of devils than the God they claim to have gathered to!
The motive for gathering is what determines the presence that gathers along with a people, not what they profess with their mouths.
THAT IS HOW THE SPIRIT REALM FUNCTIONS.
What lies in the heart of the head of the ministry determines what gathers with those who gather under His ministry. Yes, what drives the preachers is what determines what gathers with them. Sadly, out of every 10 preachers today 8 of them are driven by the love of money, carnal craving, or the need for money.
As we can see in our devotional text today, Jesus made sure His disciples never carried “money bags” into ministry when He sent them out; that was to prevent the money virus from infecting their hearts or soiling the execution of the great commission.
The greatest virus stopping the execution of the great commission is not a disease of the body but a disease of the spirit in the lives of many preachers called the money virus.
Many years ago I preached a message titled; “The great Omission in our execution of the Great Commission.” You can order the messages. One of the major things we have omitted in our execution of the great commission today lies in the realm of “motives for ministry.”
Amazingly, most present day preachers don’t even know what the Great Commission is in prophetic detail, that is why their Churches and what they call prophetic or deliverance ministries are coordinated like shops or commercial centers, where the word, Oil, water, salt, sticks, or perfumes along with prayers, are sold out, and the people (or victims) pay through what I call “The Sowing Seeds Money Scooping system” (TSSMSS).
No one can accurately execute the great commission carrying “money bags” into ministry. Money will become the motive for gatherings, and it will be clear to all who are not fooled that money is the master there, not God!
WHAT MONEY BAG IN MINISTRY IS
There is no space to exhaustively tell you what the phrase means. But a major highlight in our devotional text this morning quoted Jesus’ commission to (first His disciples and now to) every preacher saying;
“Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road.”
A money bag in the days of the Bible was like a purse for keeping money, and Jesus said they should not carry it into ministry. That alone tells us that Jesus never intended that ministry be driven by a money-making spirit. Today a money bag is a “heart” that is full of all kinds of money-making tricks and gimmicks in ministry.
Sometimes it will involve the use of sorcery in place of prophecy, and divination in place of revelation to collect money from those who have gathered.
Where sorcery is involved with other tricks, you will see the preacher performing what they call prophetic similitude or power instruments, using either water, Oil, salt, sand, sticks, brooms, or any other thing to pray for the ‘victims’ after collecting their monies.
That is to further seal their minds so they may think they are dealing with GOD.
As one called into prophetic and apostolic ministry, I want to make it clear to you that the Bible teaches about genuine prophetic similitude and made it clear that they are not for religious display but for dispensing truths. They are not for stealing people’s minds but restoring them back.
As we bring this to a close, let me show you the presence people experience whenever they gather in a Church or ministry of a preacher with the “money-bag heart.” This may shock you.
The Bible teaches that they experience the throne of Satan. Sometimes it will manifest with all kinds of lying wonders. Other times it will just be silent in manifestation (Sadly, most of these preachers with a money bag heart do not know this).
We see all that in the book of Revelation, but we cannot go into it now. I pray that God use these words to improve your “walk” and “talk” with Him in Jesus precious name. AMEN!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father.
And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.
This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.
For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” 2 John 1:4-7 NKJV