THE CRY OF THE SPIRIT DEVOTIONALS – BY RICHARD E. S. TAKIM

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Wednesday 7th April 2021)

“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 97th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!

Today’s devotional will be longer than the rest. Sometimes people complain of devotionals being long. But they sit before lengthy movies and read novels of over 500 pages to pass exams or just fascinate themselves. Human beings can be very difficult to redeem sometimes.

If you call a devotional that is less than 10 pages long, then you are not ready for eternity, because it will be a timeless time of knowing GOD.

I want to begin by appreciating all of you who sent gifts, prayers, beautiful comments and expressions of love to my wife on the occasion of her birthday. You fulfilled a scripture that says,

“rejoice with those who rejoice” (Romans 12:15).

And may the LORD of all flesh bless and fill your lives with His goodness in Jesus precious name.

The LORD indeed used you to fill the day with joy. There is nothing as good as having people who care around you. They make you forget the presence of your enemies and those who you may have labored for but have no capacity for appreciation; ingrates whose lives would have been completely destroyed if not for the love of God expressed to them through you.

Again, it’s my prayer that the LORD will bless you dearly and keep making you a blessing in your generation in Jesus precious name.

Yes, it is a great day from the LORD and we shall rejoice and be glad in it. Indeed, it is out of His mercies that we are not consumed! We just finished a four day 12 sessions encounter with our great King. There are no words to accurately describe what the LORD did in our lives.

Human words are sometimes too weak to describe glory products. They will just fill your tongue with singing and your heart with rejoicing. They only thing you can say during such moments is “see what the LORD has done for me.”

THAT IS WHY THE PSALMIST SAYS;

“When the LORD brought back [a]the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the [b]nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”

The LORD has done great things for us, And we are glad. Psalm 126:1-3 NKJV

This scripture fits the expressions of our hearts coming out of the four days. In my opinion, it perfectly speaks what is in the hearts of those who met the LORD during those 12 glorious sessions. Today, in our midweek service, we are going to build on that.

As always, God has a word for us today.

We have been visiting previous wells of truth that were dug in time past in our most recent devotionals, and it has been a blessing visiting them again. These wells are full of refreshing of grace that are uncommon.

You see, like I have always said, the word of the LORD does not die because it’s part of the eternal God.

Anything eternal cannot die in time. That is why the eternal God, Jesus Christ, came into time and died, but was resurrected because anything eternal cannot die in time. He could even die because He put on something that could die, the flesh. But He resurrected again.

Time is too weak to kill what is eternal. There is no element of time that can kill what is eternal in nature. That is why when God blesses you eternally, the blessings lives from generation to generation.

When He calls you with an everlasting call, it spans for generations. When He loves you with an everlasting love, it spans for generations. Whatever He does in your live that is eternal in nature lives longer than you.

You see all that in the lives of our father Abraham, and the nation of Israel.

He blessed him eternally, Israel is still reaping the blessings today. He loved him with an everlasting love, we the Church and the nation of Israel are still reaping the results today. He cut an everlasting covenant with him, that is the covenant that brought Christ to redeem us. It is still speaking in the lives of those who are saved today.

God also cut an everlasting covenant with David, which is why Jesus is coming to sit on his throne in the New heaven and the New earth where righteousness dwells. Whatever is eternal in nature cannot die in time.

Whatever God did with Abraham, Israel and the rest of the Prophets and people He worked with in Bible days, is what we are reaping from today. Whatever He did with them was eternal in nature, that is why it still gives us life today. Indeed, time is too weak to kill anything eternal.

THE BIBLE IS AN ETERNAL BOOK THAT IS WHY IT STILL BREEDS LIFE TO THE SPIRITUAL DEAD TODAY

The Holy Spirit is an eternal Spirit that is why He is still alive today. What He did in ages past He is still doing in ages present, and He will continue to do in the age to come. The Bible says,

“For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, [d]sanctifies for the [e]purifying of the flesh,

how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without [f]spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Hebrew 9:13-14 NKJV

From this scripture, it is clear that, it is not just the Holy Spirit that is eternal in nature, even they shedding of the blood of Jesus is eternal in nature, that is why we can be washed from our sins after over 2000 years that His blood was shed.

In fact, the Bible made it clear that even the sins that were committed from the day Adam fell in the Garden were paid for. Why? Because the shedding of His blood was eternal in nature. The death of Christ was eternal in nature and His resurrection eternal in nature. Most of what God did in the past is eternal in nature, that is why we can still reap the benefits today.

Only those who will not give their lives to Christ will miss these eternal blessings we are talking about.

There is something else that we have all taken to be just natural that the Bible presents as eternal. Human blood! Yes, the human blood is eternal in nature that is why it is dangerous to shed it.

THE BIBLE SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT THIS IN THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL.

It says;

“So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is [d]for you, but you should rule over it.”

Now Cain [e]talked with Abel his [f]brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.

So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”

Do you know how many people today that are struggling with the very curse Cain fight with all his life because of blood shed? They do not know that human blood is eternal in nature and can ruin their lives after been shed.

That is why I will never join the military or any security firm if its mission is to fight unjust cause. The lives of so many military and security officers are in ruins today because their governments sent them to kill those God would not have wanted dead. That is why government of nations ought to be controlled by God so that He will lead them in matters of war.

There are so many criminals that have been killed that ordinarily God would not have wanted them dead. That is aside the innocent ones who are killed by security forces. That is why the lives of many of them are in shambles.

If you kill a soul that God wants alive, the eternal blood of that person will be crying against you for justice, and time will bring justice if you do not run to God for mercy and repent with deep sorrow for your sins.

Human blood is eternal in nature. It can ruin, not just your life but the lives of your children, from generation to generation. That is why God placed a law on human blood. He placed a law on blood generally.

THE LAWS HE PLACED ON BLOOD ARE CALLED THE LAWS OF BLOOD

Sadly, people have violated these laws, that is why their lives are in shambles. The blood they have shed, either directly or indirectly (most of us through abortions), is what is ruining their lives, but they blame it on other things. Blood has been crying against them for justice.

May you never marry from a family that blood is crying against, your life will be full of hell on earth. That is why you must Investigate a family line before going into covenant relationship with anyone in that line.

You must investigate to know if they have broken the law of blood, because if they are a family that breaks the law of blood, killing themselves or others, or aiding the death of people for any reason, the flames of justice will be burning in the blood line, from generation to generation. Making the lives of anyone who become part of them, especially through marriage, a plague on earth.

Friend, anything that is eternal in nature cannot die in time. We must be careful how we deal with such things. We must be careful how we handle human blood. We must not contribute to the death of anyone in any form. Not handling things that are eternal in nature the Bible way, is the reason for what some call generational curses. This is a major truth you should never forget.

Secondly, anything from eternity cannot come to an end in time.

It will fulfill its purpose of coming into time and transit back into eternity. That is another truth you must travel with in life. Like the first, you must make it a lamp unto your feet; that is a determine factor of your decisions on earth.

For instance, our spirits and souls are not just eternal in nature, they are from eternity. They are the eternal part of us; a part that is not from time. A part that came from eternity.

IT IS OUR BODIES THAT ARE FROM TIME, AND THAT PART OF US WILL COME TO AN END ONE DAY.

When our bodies come to an end, the eternal part of us will have to return back to where it came from; but this time to either face eternal judgment or escape eternal judgment. It will depend on who it was in covenant with when it was here in time – Jesus Christ or the evil one!

If it was in covenant with Jesus, it will escape eternal judgment because He is the judge of all. If it was not, it will face eternal judgment. That is why the Bible says,

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. John 3:16-20 NKJV

Why do we need to accept Jesus Christ as LORD and savior and be in covenant relationship with Him? It is because of this great truth; the truth of where to spend eternity when the part of us that is eternal comes to an end.

Sadly, so many of us are not ready for the day that the eternal part of us will return back to eternity. We live lives that seem not to care about it. We choose to stay in Islam, Buddhist, Animist, Christianity and all forms of religions, instead of being in Churches that will help us walk with the LORD Jesus Christ intimately.

We either forget or are ignorant of the fact that He is the one that will judge the living and the dead. The devil wants it that way hence helping us to live that way; he knows that the greatest revelation a man needs to be prepared for that day is the revelation of Jesus Christ, not the things being taught in religious circles.

If you read the Bible by yourself, you will discover that the early Church never taught about evil altar, evil foundations, monitoring spirits, spirit husbands and all the nonsense some in the present Church is teaching today. They knew it will never help anyone prepare for that day. The revelation of Jesus Christ was what they taught the people.

There is so much to write, but I want to bring this to an end with the question? Who is Jesus Christ to you? A Prophet? Founder of Christian religion? A Criminal who dies for his sins, like some puts it or one you are in covenant relationship with as LORD and savior?

Who Jesus is to you is what will determine your eternal destination when the day comes for the eternal part of you to return back to its creator.

You must make a decision today that will save you on that day! You must stop listening to preachers who teaches what is contrary to sound doctrine. You must align with the word of the LORD for your life!

Our devotional text today speaks of how the LORD appointed 70 people and send them out to rescue souls. To get then ready for the day the eternal part of them will return back to where it belongs. That’s the purpose of the gospel. Its the purpose for having Church and all related ministries.

God wants everyone prepared for that great day. His only business on earth is to get everyone who is willing ready for the final day. His true servants are driven by this one purpose. They are not driven by the money making or fame seeking propensities.

If you ask me, I will suggest we print this devotional and keep it in our Bibles or study rooms for reference.

LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY;

“Remember [earnestly] also your Creator [that you are not your own, but His property now] in the days of your youth, before the evil days come or the years draw near when you will say [of physical pleasures], I have no enjoyment in them—

Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened [sight is impaired], and the clouds [of depression] return after the rain [of tears];

In the day when the keepers of the house [the hands and the arms] tremble, and the strong men [the feet and the knees] bow themselves, and the grinders [the molar teeth] cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows [the eyes] are darkened;

When the doors [the lips] are shut in the streets and the sound of the grinding [of the teeth] is low, and one rises up at the voice of a bird and the crowing of a cock, and all the daughters of music [the voice and the ear] are brought low;

Also when [the old] are afraid of danger from that which is high, and fears are in the way, and the almond tree [their white hair] blooms, and the grasshopper [a little thing] is a burden, and desire and appetite fail, because man goes to his everlasting home and the mourners go about the streets or marketplaces.

[Remember your Creator earnestly now] before the silver cord [of life] is snapped apart, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern [and the whole circulatory system of the blood ceases to function];

Then shall the dust [out of which God made man’s body] return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God Who gave it. Vapor of vapors and futility of futilities, says the Preacher. All is futility (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and transitoriness)!

And furthermore, because the Preacher was wise, he [Solomon] still taught the people knowledge; and he pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs.

The Preacher sought acceptable words, even to write down rightly words of truth or correct sentiment. The words of the wise are like prodding goads, and firmly fixed [in the mind] like nails are the collected sayings which are given [as proceeding] from one Shepherd.

But about going further [than the words given by one Shepherd], my son, be warned. Of making many books there is no end [so do not believe everything you read], and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.

For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 AMPC