TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Tuesday 4th May 2021)
“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm.
For evildoers shall be [b]cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.
For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more.
But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Psalm 37:7-11 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 124th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
This is the day the LORD has made. We shall rejoice and be glad in it. Hallelujah! The Spirit of the LORD has made us; the breath of the almighty give us life.
Glory to His great name for being all He is in our lives; a shelter from storm, a stronghold in times of trouble, a refuge to run to, a mercy seat to submit to and etc.
One of the major thing a man or woman who is walking with God must learn to do is how to wait upon Him. It is only in eternity that people do not wait because there is no time to process things. But in time, you wait upon the LORD and walk patiently before Him.
I have come to realize that apart from walking in mercy as a Child of God, you must learn to walk in patience. Man is always in a hurry but God is not. The process of time is very important in helping a man become all that God has created Him to be.
No matter how critical what God wants us to do is, the word haste will never be part of the plan. God may want us to be swift but no hasty. Personally, if I had known this as a teenager, my life would not have had the scars it has today. I know too well that it would have been better and brighter than what it is now.
The Bible says,
“Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your reward.” Isaiah 52:11-12 KJV
THIS SCRIPTURE IS FULL OF THINGS TO EAT AND SWALLOW ON MATTERS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SEPARATION UNTO THE LORD.
Every true child of God knows the importance of walking away from the unclean in God’s kingdom. Yes, everyone who truly calls upon the name of the LORD knows how important it is to walk away from unclean things, people, places, relationships and etc.
But the Bible says in walking away from them, we should not be hasty. This confused me for some time. Why should I not be hasty in departing from unclean things? Why should I not go by flight? Child of God, there is a lot to learn there.
Sometimes you may be wrong seeing something as unclean while it is not. That is one major reasons why you must not be hasty. Other times also, you will see something as clean while it is very unclean. Not being hasty helps us to see things right. It helps us to make informed decisions. It helps us to escape the destruction buried in what is unclean.
Friend, in every walk of faith, making hasty conclusions can ruin your life. Not making swift decisions can also destroy you. You will understand the difference between the two shortly.
But haste is a dangerous thing. It does not allow a man to be guided by God properly. It puts us before the LORD, and that is dangerous.
Before the LORD means ahead of the LORD. If you read the Bible you will realize that there is one thing that is always before the LORD, hell and destruction. Meaning, haste can put us in a territory where hell and destruction exits in the spirit realm.
Anything placed before or ahead of the LORD will be engulfed by the spirit of hell, and plunged into destruction. It could be a marriage, a ministry, a life, a career, a passion, a project, a business, a health, and etc.
For instance, a lot of marriages are hell on earth because the people placed them before the LORD. You don’t do things before the LORD, you will be sorry for doing them. You do things IN THE LORD. It is when you do things in the LORD that you find rest.
If you do things before the LORD, they will become a god to you, and whatever becomes a god to us cannot be protected by God. It will be engulfed by the spirit of hell. That is why one of the ten commandments says that we should not have others gods before the LORD.
Haste put us before the LORD, but the swiftness of the Spirit puts us in the LORD! I believe there is someone reading this whose haste has almost destroyed. God wants you to stop being hasty and start being swift. But the enemy will want us to be hasty because haste does not allow a man to do things properly.
THE KINGDOM LIFE IS TO BE LIVED IN SWIFTNESS NOT IN HASTE. THE TWO WORDS SEEMS ALIKE BUT THEY ARE NOT THE SAME.
In kingdom life, haste means not keeping pace with the LORD. It means going beyond the speed He wants you to travel in a given season of life. In other words, not maintaining divine speed limits in your walk and talk with Him.
Child of God, God is always on the move but He has a speed limit for each and every one of us. We are all not designed to be traveling on the same speed. Sometimes, He gives us individual speed limits according to our spiritual capacities.
Yes, you have your private speed limit designed by the LORD. If you go beyond it, you will destroy yourself.
He gave a speed limit to king Saul when Samuel wanted him to wait until the seventh day. Saul waited but slipped into haste. The result was not good. He lost the kingdom. God had decided that his seed be part of the messianic lineage but he lost it to breaking divine speed limits.
When God ask you to wait for Him, He is simply requesting that you maintain divine speed limit in your walk with Him. Yes, He is saying “do not go in your own speed. Go in mine!” When you go in His speed, you are swift, but when you do in yours, you are hasty. That is the difference.
You see, in the Kingdom life, the word haste is applicable to the flesh, and the word swift applicable to the Spirit. When you walk in the flesh you will be hasty but when you walk in the Spirit you will be swift like the Eagle.
Inheriting promises in God’s kingdom and experiencing seasonal outbreaks of God in our lives is a product of being swift and not being hasty. People who are hasty; who do not lead their lives in the speed of Jehovah, will never make it to the promise land of divine manifestations.
So in addition to being merciful this month and the rest of our lives, we must learn to walk in patience with the LORD.
A MAJOR HIGHLIGHT IN OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT SAYS,
“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.
There are things that can only happen if we wait patiently for the LORD. One of it is the elimination of our enemies and what they are doing. There are victories that we can only get in life if we do not move in our own speed.
David knew this very well. The Bible said when the enemy came against him in second Samuel chapter five, He did not move in haste in response, he retreated to the stronghold, to find a word to travel with. He decided to move in the swiftness of an eagle not the haste of the flesh.
That is what we must always do when adversity strikes. Do not forget, the swiftness of an eagle is when we move in the speed of God; the speed of His word. You do not move in the speed of the adversity, you move in the speed of the word of the LORD in the midst of the adversity.
David had to withdraw to the stronghold to find a word from the LORD to move with in response. He wanted to move in the speed of the word of the LORD in the midst of his adversity. The Bible says,
“Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went down to the stronghold.
The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim.
So David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” And the LORD said to David, “Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.” 2 Samuel 5:17-19 NKJV
When David moved in the speed of the word of the LORD, he conquered the enemy and obtained a major breakthrough. You will never walk in victory moving in haste. The days are evil. It is the swiftness of an eagle that is required these days; a speed determined by the word of the LORD. The Bible says,
So David went to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there; and he said, “The LORD has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water.” Therefore he called the name of that place [d]Baal Perazim.
And they left their [e]images there, and David and his men carried them away. 2 Samuel 5:20-21 NKJV
If you want the LORD to break through your enemies, learn to be swift and not hasty. Do not walk in the hastiness of the flesh, walk in the swiftness of the Spirit like David walked.
As we bring this to a close, you must understand one important truth. A kingdom citizen, do not approach things the way the people of this world do. We do not come out victorious in battle walking in haste. We come out walking in the swiftness of an eagle. That is the message of this devotional.
Learn to walk patiently before the LORD. Learn to travel in His speed. Learn to response to life challenges in the speed of His word not the speed created by panic. Walk in the swiftness of the Spirit not the hastiness of the flesh.
You will never be able to conquer the battles of life if you are the type that is always hasty. You will only conquer them when you become swift in your approach like David was.
You will save your life if you are swift, and destroy it if you are hasty.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR TODAY;
Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim.
Therefore David inquired of the LORD, and He said, “You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees.
And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the LORD will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”
And David did so, as the LORD commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer. 2 Samuel 5:22-25 NKJV