TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Friday 24th December 2021)
“Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” Proverbs 3:9-10 KJV
WELCOME TO THE 358TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS.
This is the Day the LORD has made we shall rejoice and be glad in it. The Bible Described Jesus as the Day. It also said by Him were all things created. We can say, this is the day that the Day has made, and we shall rejoice and be glad in it.
Yes, when the Day make a day, it will first be a blessing in the lives of the Children of the Day. The Bible calls every born-again child of God “Child of the Day.” Paul said;
“But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.” 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 NKJV
As Children of the day, we are not to be of the night for any reason. The words Day and night in this scripture are metaphors for divine light and spiritual darkness. We are to constantly walk in the Light of God and not in the spiritual darkness of the flesh, the evil and corrupt systems of this or the devil.
We go through a lot as believers sometimes. But as Children of the Light, if we choose to stay away from the spiritual darkness of this world, whatever we may be going through will do us no harm. It will not consume us.
Walking in divine light is such an insurance for the believer that many do not realize. We cannot afford to walk in any other thing but the light of GOD. The Bible says;
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.” Isaiah 43:2 NKJV
This scripture is one of the promises that is bound to manifest in our lives because we are not of the night nor of darkness.
The promise describes one of the insurance packages available for the saints in light not the ones in darkness; because some are really living in the moral darkness of living in persistent sins and seeking forgiveness without repentance.
A LOT OF PREACHERS AND CHURCH MEMBERS ARE NOT LIVING DIFFERENT FROM THE LOST WORLD.
We are not living different form the lost world that is why we suffer what they suffer. We go through the very things they go through as if our God is dead. Scriptures like Isaiah 43:2 and other lofty ones in scriptures has become alien to us. They do not manifest in our lives, especially in the day of trouble when we need them most.
Why is it that we belong to a kingdom where the devil can do citizens no harm and yet we are being hunted and destroyed by everything in his kingdom? Have you ever thought of that? There is no total victory in warfare for so many. They speak in tongues and wallow in affliction. That is not the plan of God for our lives.
I just came back from Nigeria. On my way to the airport to catch my flight, my younger sister and I in company of one of their friends stopped by a shop to buy something, and while I was introducing myself to the person selling, she cautioned me and said; “do not use the word pastor to describe yourself, because people will see you as a con man.”
She said even the person living in my mum’s house who has refused to pay the rent is a pastor. I was awestruck. We cannot benefit from things that are designed to happen to us in light if we walk in any form of moral darkness.
In a festive season like this some are good at forgetting the LORD and following the world in all they do. Anyway, like earlier stated, majority of those we call believers do not even live their lives different from the world. So, in seasons like this they will even sink further and further in moral decay.
May the LORD use this word to quicken us!
There is a life style that is expected of us. There is a way of life that is expected of us both by Heaven and the earth. Yes, there are things we are not expected to be found in as believers. This seems to be unknown to many in the faith.
SO MANY EVEN IN MINISTRY LIVES VERY WICKED LIVES AND STILL GO ABOUT PREACHING; HEAPING JUDGMENT UPON THEMSELVES BY THEIR LIFE STYLES.
We began this devotional by saying we are children of light and not of the night. We are not saved to live unsaved lives. Let no one deceive you about that. We are saved to live saved and sanctified lives. If we claim saved and keep on living unsaved lives, we are as good as hell bound lost sinners out there. We will spend eternity where they will spend eternity.
Many do not know that God is a just God. And because of His just nature He will not allow you to go to Heaven living the very life those who are going there are living.
The blood of Jesus was shed and the Holy Spirit given to saved us from both the penalty and practice of sins, by washing us from a life of sin, and empowering us to bear fruits of our salvation; which are holiness, purity, Holy Spirit led and Holy Spirit enabled Christian life, a healthy prayer life, a Heaven governed way of life and a life that is completely opposite the evil and corrupt system of this world. Our devotional text said;
“Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.”
A lot of preachers have used this scripture to collect money from people calling it first fruit offerings. But this was an Old Testament scripture that encouraged people of that dispensation to demonstrate the shadow of the feast of First fruits so that our generation will come into the substance.
If they had not been encouraged with scriptures like that, they would not have been obedient. And the substance of the feast was the most critical part of God’s redemption plan for mankind; it would not have happened leading to a major deficit in GOD’s redemptive plan for us.
The substance is the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the new Life from the Old one that should be buried at salvation. If these three resurrections that the feast represent are removed from God’s salvation plan for mankind, there would have been no salvation at all.
OUR GENERATION MUST STOP BEING FOOLED BY GREEDY AND MISLED PREACHERS AND LISTEN TO PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES.
God had to encourage that generation to bring the specific substance he requested to be brought to the temple to mark the feast with such lofty promise, but it has nothing to do with asking people to give their first fruit as we see today.
A lot of Churches have turned this Heaven making feast into a money-making practice, thereby hindering the fulfillment of the feats in the lives of many.
We do not find many Christians honoring the LORD with their substance (their bodies) and the first fruits of their increase (the new holy life that should spring from the old sinful life). They have been taught to bring first salaries, first profits from business and all that in replacement.
Many have been put in a Christian faith where they call Him “Lord, Lord,” but do not do what He says in His word. They do not lead the holy and chase lives to match their salvation. Do not join these misled believers to destroy God’s salvation plan for your life.
Stop following the majority that is wrong and follow those who are walking in genuine scriptural light. It is your responsibility to watch over your soul using the grace of God upon your life. You are too important to God to be wasted in hell because of heretic practices steaming from the greed of preachers and the ignorance of scriptures in the hearts of believers.
I know many are being prepared to bring their first fruits in January, don’t join the fray. Stand on the paths of scriptural light because you are a child of light. Do not walk in the darkness of twisted scriptures and heretic practices.
There is so much lying ahead of us, so much to bless and build us. But we must be perfect as our Heavenly Father is. We must come into maturity and quit the babyish way of spiritual living that virtually all of us in the present Church have been plunged into.
We must fight every inch of the battle for our souls and not allow the enemy to use anything in the mouth of preachers to draw us back to perdition, after declaring Christ as LORD over our souls. We must keep believing to the saving of the soul.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
“For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Hebrew 10:35-39 NKJV