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

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Wednesday 29th September 2021)

“We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.”

“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”

“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” 1 John 5:18-21 NKJV

WELCOME TO THE 272ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!

Glory be to the LORD GOD who daily loads us with benefits. He has given us another day. To Him belong the glory. He has been faithful and marvelously kind towards us.

Day unto day He utters speech and bring us closer and closer to our day of final redemption. Our fathers so look up to that day that they lived in their age and times operating the powers of the age to come. Hebrew 12 tells us of how some of them used what they got from visions of the age to come to walk with the LORD in very hostile environments.

Today we are going to visit a devotional that was published few years back on divine backing. It is my prayer that as we read, we will come into fresh revelation on this heritage of the kingdom. Amen and amen!

THE BLESSING OF DIVINE BACKING

I have come to discover that in the battle of life our enemies are not actually our problem. Lack of divine backing in our lives is our problem. If we can secure divine backing in anything we may be doing or are involved in, God will move swiftly against whatever comes against us.

Divine backing is God standing by man in every endeavor of his life. It is supernatural support from a loving God to a people who seek Him. It is God standing by you as a ‘Mighty Terrible One’ (MTO) to help you come out victorious in the battles of life.

When Jesus was in the flesh as man he never did anything without divine backing. He was able to raise the dead, heal the sick, come out terrible storms, walk upon the water and do all He did because the Bible says “God was with Him.

DIVINE BACKING IS GOD BEING WITH YOU BEYOND YOUR COMPREHENSION!

For instance, concerning the redemptive sacrifice, the Bible made it clear that He prayed and cried unto the Father (His source) with strong cries – He cried to Him who is able to save Him from Death – activated the divine backing He had before coming into the world. The result was awesome.

Death could not hold Him captive. On the third day after His crucifixion and burial, He came out of the grave victoriously, freeing us from the pangs of spiritual, eternal and natural death forever. That is why today, to those who are saved and spirit filled, death is no longer a threat but a horse to use in riding to the next life!

The point I am making is this; if Jesus needed divine backing to pass through all that, you will be stupid not to crave for divine backing in anything you may want to do. In the world we live today, you will crash and come out terribly beaten without divine backing. The enemy will hinder you in all fronts!

IT TAKES DIVINE BACKING TO DO ANYTHING MEANINGFUL ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH TODAY.

I remembered saying to an audience that ‘if God throws me into an Island with just my Bible and no one to support me, I will fill that ‘Island’ with people and provision through prayer. My understanding was drawn from what I know one man can do with divine backing. One with God is a more than a million. Divine backing will multiply your strength in battle and help you do things that will shock you.

When the LORD brought us here, it was as if He wanted to test that word because we came knowing no one and receiving help form no one. It was like being thrown to an island with just your Bible in your hand and God by your side.

But we bowed our knees to the God who alone we have; the God who called and sent us to East Africa without external support from anywhere, and sought Him, listening to the little steps He asked us to take in response.

We also had a divine decision not to beg, borrow, or go into business of any kind. Because if you are backed by the LORD, you have to be careful not to engage the arm of flesh; you have to be careful of what you try to do to survive. So we soldiered on, seeking Him to make way for us to preach His word and execute the apostolic mandate he brought us here to execute.

Today we few of the results He showed us on ground and many more will come. With so many friends, sons and daughters in the LORD that never existed when we came, but today birthed by the Spirit of the LORD through prayer, we owe God gratitude. We are a living testimony that ONE WITH GOD is indeed majority.

But stories like ours will always have some who will be claiming to have been responsible for one’s survival. Some even claim to be our spiritual fathers or mothers because we worshiped in their churches at one time when we came. Each time I hear these things I just laugh. Humans will always be humans. Sadly, sometimes they use such stories to downgrade us before those who hate us and present themselves as some messiahs in foreign lands.

BUT WHAT THEY DO OR SAY DOES NOT AFFECT US, AGAIN THANKS TO DIVINE BACKING.

Our story is a story of the power of God and His mercies. He created something out of nothing. That is what we have today all over. You may be alone in life, look up to God alone like we did, and you will see His wonders. He can do for you what He did for us. The Bible says;

“They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.” Psalm 34:5-7 NKJV

This scripture is true of us. We looked unto God and today our faces ARE not ashamed. We cried unto Him, and are still crying unto Him even today, and He heard us and is still hearing us. Do the same! Do not cry unto people.

I remember crying unto some of the people claiming to be one thing or the other to us, during the days of sorrows, but they turned me down. I thank God they did. If they had not, I would not have returned to the prayer room to seek the LORD. Thank God when people turn you down, don’t get angry at them.

If God is the one you are looking up to, prayer should not cease from coming out of your mouth. You should be spending hours, days, weeks and even months on your knees, cooperating with God to create the future He may have promised or shown you. That is when He will respond with great divine backings that even will involve the release of encamping angels.

Divine backing will prevent successful demonic attacks. Divine backing will take you from where you are to where God wants you to be. Divine backing will make you a blessing where others are made a curse. Divine backing will distinguish you in times of trouble. It is like a SEAL on one’s forehead not to be touched by the evil one. The Bible says;

“Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” Revelation 6:2-3 NKJV

GOD seals His servants (leaders and followers who are truly serving Him) with divine backing in the battle fields of life. It is one of the seals of the living God on His servants; people He is using to accomplish things on the face of the earth. That is why you should not be at ease in Zion. Make sure you are part of those He is using to accomplish things on earth.

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF OUR DEVOTIONAL TODAY?

The message is simple. Don’t go into anything without divine backing. If you step into a thing with all the human backing you need, you will achieve little or nothing. But if you step into things with all the divine backing you need, you will achieve much within a short time.

With divine backing, you will not be running in your own strength. You will be running in the strength of the almighty. People will be wondering why you are making such great waves and gaining such great speed. Those who are wise will know it’s not you but something and someone bigger than you.

I have discovered that a man who try to copy or compete with those God is backing will end up frustrating himself.

When you run against men who are not running spiritually with their natural feet but the feet of God almighty, you will just weary yourself. The race is actually not to the swift and the battle not to the strong. It’s God’s divine backing that makes the difference in life and ministry.

You will need divine backing to marry that man or woman or to succeed in that business or ministry. You will need divine backing to go through school and come out well. You will need divine backing to live in a foreign land like we do. You will need divine backing to escape from the sword of your enemies.

There are no words to accurately describe what your life will become if you lack divine backing as a Child of God in whatever you may be pursuing to do.

MARRIAGES WILL BREAK DOWN WITHOUT DIVINE BACKING;

Businesses will fail without divine backing. Churches and ministries will fold up without divine backing. God will open a great door for you but without divine backing, you will not be able to enter. Paul the apostle wrote down in one of his letters saying;

“For a wide door of opportunity for effectual [service] has opened to me [there, a great and promising one], and [there are] many adversaries.” 1 Corinthians 16:9 AMP

It’s impossible to deal with the many adversaries that surround divine opportunity without divine backing.

Friend, our present world is under the sway of the evil world. He will sway people to speak ill of you, hinder you from achieving, withhold good from coming to you, and build a wall against those God may have raise to help you, basically to prevent them from reaching you. We have seen all that in this nation. If you do not have divine backing, you will never achieve anything meaningfully.

A major highlight in our devotional text today says;

“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”

If you do not have divine backing in whatever you may be doing, the enemy will saw people against you and there will be no help from God to conquer them.

THE QUESTION NOW IS HOW DO WE SECURE DIVINE BACKING?

There are so many ways we can secure divine backing. But the most powerful and effective way is to seek God’s will for a thing before doing the thing. It’s easier to do what God has blessed than to do what you will need to pray for Him to bless. The most effective prayers are prayers we do in God’s will, during such prayers you do not just ask God to do things, you commune with Him, then He reveals to you what step you are to take to get them done.

If you are not in God’s true will in whatever you may be doing, you will never secure divine backing even if you spend your entire life on your knees. God does not back what He did not start. He does not prosper what He did not initiate.

Jesus came into the world in God’s will that was why His prayers unlocked divine backing for Him. We came into East Africa in God’s perfect will, that is why He is backing us. If you are not in His will, you will not see His backing. Become a child of God who seeks His will concerning anything before venturing into it. If you do, you will erase struggles out of your life.

We are stepping into the new month in two days time. You will need divine backing for the new month, and ultimately for the rest of your life. May the LORD God bless you with the most glorious things you need to be what He has called you to be in Jesus precious name. AMEN!

LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU 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