TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Friday 10TH September 2021)
“I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.
I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.” Ezekiel 34:25-26 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 253RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
It is out of His mercies that we are not consumed because His compassion does not fail. I trust God that we all woke up well this morning. To Him belong all the glory for keeping us. I admonish that you take some time out to thanks the LORD for His marvelous works and great deeds.
Let us thank Him for bring us to the 9th month of the year and let us believe Him for the remaining days of the year.
God has a word for us today, as always. I have come to realize that truth is consistent. What is true in the Old Testament is true in the New! What is concealed in the Old Testament is revealed in the New. What God concealed in the Cities of Refuge of the Old Testament is revealed in the New as the Church of the living God.
The Church of the living God ought to be a City of refuge but most Churches have become Cities of spiritual refuse. Don’t forget, I sated this few years back, that our lives will be like a refuse dump if we do not become part of any City of spiritual refuse called Church.
A lot will be dumped in it; from false doctrines to heretic teachings, bringing abominable beast into it.
There are more things to uncover in the revelation. These things were first taught in 2016 to open the eyes of the elects. To those who attended the meetings then, this will be a refreshing of memory!
Actually, as we can see in scriptures, the different between “places of spiritual Refuge” and that of spiritual refuse is like the difference between light and darkness.
THE FIRST DIFFERENCE IS THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF GOD’S GLORY!
Every Church that is truly a place of spiritual refuge has the glory of GOD as its covering. But every one that is truly a place of spiritual Refuse has no glory of God as its’ covering – at best it will be full of the glory of anointed men and women but not God.
You cannot find the covering shelter of God’s glory in a City of spiritual refuse called Church. What you will find at most is the anointing, hence you see them struggling with devils using anointing Oil, and other forms of deliverance inventions, and asking people to sow seeds.
Now talking about the glory, it is the need of the hour. That is why people have never been “freed indeed” following anointed men or women of GOD. But everyone who has ever followed the glory has ever being freed, and “freed indeed” without even sowing seeds.
They just sowed their lives into the glory and it yielded great dividends giving them rest on every side.
WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT THE GLORY?
First of all, it is something that the devil cannot handle.
I have seen the devil handle many anointed men and women of God but I have never seen him successfully handle a man or woman of God who moves in the glory of God! I have seen him sway anointed men and women of God into a life of sexual sins and all forms of deceit. But he is yet to do so with men and women who move in the glory.
I have seen him chain these anointed preachers and their Churches into all kinds of “sin cells” in the spirit realm, using the power of twisted scriptures. For instance, some had the Biblical account of the life and times of David twisted to them saying, “David was an adulterer yet he was a man after God’s heart. So, if God called him a man after His heart in spite of who he was, then there is no problem with whatever we may be doing.”
They transmit that heresy into the lives of people calling it the gospel of grace.
Sadly, they deliberately conceal the fact that God did not use David when he was an adulterer. As an adulterer he lost his kingdom for three months, had the sin of incest in his house, lost two of his choice sons in bloody confrontation and had his daughter violated for life. In fact, he almost lost his mind as an adulterer because he also became a murderer.
God did not use him as an adulterer; God used him as a holy and righteous man. If there is anything using you while living actively in sin, it cannot be the God of Heaven and earth.
DAVID WAS NOT AN ADULTERER WHEN HE KILLED GOLIATH – HE HAD NOT EVEN KNOWN A WOMAN IN HIS LIFE.
When he was anointed king and carried out great exploits for God, He was not an adulterer or murderer. He became all that after the exploits and suffered dearly for it.
His sin so burnt him that he received the highest royal disgrace of his life when his son slept with his concubines in the sight of all Israel, and people who were less than him in life hurled insults and curses at him. His reputation was almost eroded, but for genuine repentance.
So, it is wrong to say David was an adulterer yet God called him a man after my heart. He did not call him that when he was an adulterer. He allowed sin to treat him like an adulterer and a murderer when he was one, and released the Holy Spirit to treat him as a man after his heart when he was one. The dichotomy must be understood!
The Bible indeed says, “Our sins will find us out.” And it also made it clear that sin burns. It will consume anyone who lives in it. It’s just a matter of time!
That is why men and women who move in the glory do not give in to the devil to take them to any “sin cell.” But like we have seen, anointed people do. Because they are blindfolded by their carnal desires to believe twisted scriptures and do the unthinkable!
I reiterate again that any anointed man or woman can be kept in a “sex” or “sin cell” by the devil. But no one who moves in the glory can even be taken there. Like Joseph did in the days of the Bible, they will resist the devil and he will flee from them.
There are other damaging things the enemy does to keep anointed people in “sin cells;” he removes the true meaning of repentance from their understanding of scriptures and sale another dummy to them. He will allow them to be remorseful and feel bad about their sins but they will never bring forth fruits of repentance.
Turning away from sin and darkness and living a righteous life in replacement is the fruit of repentance. But you will never see this in their lives!
HE ALSO MAKES MANY OF US LOOSE THE TRUE MEANING OF THE GRACE OF GOD.
Grace is presented as a license to sin instead of a lifter of men from sin. It is transmitted as freedom to sin instead of freedom from sin!
And talking about Grace, I want you to understand that the true grace of GOD is Christ Himself manifesting in a man or woman as the Holy Spirit! That is why the true Grace of God evokes righteousness and Holiness from people. It transforms a sinner into a saint and does not conceal or permit sinful living. Paul, a true apostle of Grace who was raised by God to be as a pattern for the Church, said;
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,” Titus 2:11-13 NKJV
From this scripture it’s clear that any grace that does not evoke right living is a polluted grace.
Another thing I have heard ‘anointed’ people who live in “sin cells” say is this; “It’s wrong to preach righteousness since Jesus has become our righteousness.”
I am sure they do not mean it because Jesus said, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things shall be added.” And everything He ever preached or moved holy men to write from Genesis to Revelation can be captured in one word – RIGHTEOUSNESS.
They claim we destroy the works of the Cross when we preach Righteousness. But the Bible made it clear that you don’t destroy the works of the cross by PREACHING or living RIGHTEOUSNESS, you rather ESTABLISH them by preaching, living and enforcing righteousness.
And talking about us being the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, I want you to understand that being the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus is not a confession to make but a life to live. Paul described it this way;
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Galatians 2:20-21 KJV
This scripture is not a confession given to us to make but a life given to us to live! If we are indeed crucified with Christ, our Old nature will be dead. The nature of Christ will become alive within us. We will no longer find ourselves living a life of sin because Christ never lived a life of Sin. We will find ourselves living the sinless and supernatural life of Christ on earth because Christ will be living in our spirits by our faith and transforming us to become a COPY of His sinless nature on the face of the earth.
That is why righteousness does not come by law, but by grace. The law teaches and DEMANDS righteousness but grace teaches and EVOKES it. That is the difference!
That is why Jesus said He has not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. But most preachers today are rather destroying the law and not helping anyone to fulfill it. Grace will help you fulfill the law by doing what it says through the work of the Holy Spirit in your life!
Meaning, it will help us do what the law demanded to be done without even knowing it.
For instance, the law demanded that people should not steal, commit adultery or fornicate. It demands that we give our tithes in the right place and faithfully, honor our fathers and mothers and etc. It demanded that we bow only to the one true God and serve Him only. This we can all do when Grace is released into our lives!
GRACE IS A PERSON – HIS NAME IN CHRIST JESUS.
When He lives in us by the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit, we cease to exist. Meaning people will no longer see the once wicked, sexually perverse, selfish and self centered, adulterous, lying, fraudulent, alcoholic, hateful, us. They will rather see Christ – the very righteousness of God – in us!
I hope you understand me!
Sadly, the anointed men and women who profess Christ but are kept in “sin cells” do not really understand Grace neither do they understand what righteousness is. They just call it “Right standing with God” without having the true revelation. That is why you cannot find one thing in their lives that they are doing IN RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD.
Like we shared earlier, RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT A CONFESSION TO MAKE BUT A LIFE TO LIVE! I hope God is schooling you this morning!
Because of lack of proper understanding of these things, so many preachers and their members today have become very good at “suppressing the truth” just to have their way. They believe they are the righteousness of GOD in Christ Jesus irrespective of how they live. But they do not know that if they continue living in sin calling themselves the righteousness of GOD in Christ Jesus, they will incur the wrath of God either in this life or the life to come. The Bible says;
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” Romans 1:18 NKJV
Satan will always use the carnal desires of anointed men and women to sway them to suppress the truth successfully basically to keep them in “sin cells” in the spirit realm. But He cannot do that with those who move in the glory!
THE GLORY OF GOD IS THE FULLNESS OF GOD ON DISPLAY.
But the anointing is like the perfume of the Holy Spirit – not even the Holy Spirit Himself. It is powerful but can be counterfeited by the devil. That is why it is not safe to remain at the level of the anointing. You must strive to move to the realms of Glory.
There is something God deposits in the glory that you only find in any ministry or Church that is a City of spiritual Refuge. It is called “the Covenant of Peace.” I wrote extensively about it in our book “RIDING ON COVENANT WINGS.”
That brings us to our devotional text for the day. God said in His word;
“I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.”
When you step into a Church that is a City of spiritual refuge you will begin to enjoy the covenant of peace. It will make wild beast or demonic activities to cease from your life! You will not need to be praying “die, die, die” or “catch fire” because you will cease being the man of war. God will take over your life as the man of war and you will become the man of REST. Hallelujah!
Like Solomon in the Bible, you will just be busy building the temple (you and your personal walk and talk with God) and executing God’s assignment for your life, while GOD will be busy taking care of your enemies and making sure you live in REST ROUND ABOUT.
Child of God, you will never know what this means until you experience it yourself. There is a place of rest in God, and it can only be found in “the glory of God in the City of spiritual refuge!”
Like I always say, we can go on and on but this is a devotional. Make use of what we have shared this morning and improve your walk and talk with God in Jesus precious name. Amen!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy — everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.
When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning,
then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering.
And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.” Isaiah 4:3-6 NKJV