TODAY’S DEVOTION (Saturday 1ST January 2022)
‘Rise, take your journey, and cross over the River Arnon. Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it, and engage him in battle.
This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the nations under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’ Deuteronomy 2:24-25 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 1ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
We begin another journey into a new set of days today – 365 Days. There will be 8,760 hours in this set of days and 525,600 seconds. You must understand that. Yes, we must understand that so that we can apply our hearts unto wisdom.
We have already eaten part of these set of days because of the seconds and hours we have already spent or wasted; it all depend on what we have already done within that time that has already passed. Wisdom demands that we come to terms with the 365 days, 8,760 hours, or 525,600 seconds we have to either spend wisely or waste foolishly.
It is important that we plan how many of these days, hours or seconds we will spend sleeping or talking, and how many we will spend doing very profitable things. Sleep and talk are two things that God spoke generously about in His word; especially the sleep and talk that produce nothing. The Bible says;
“How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep— So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.” Proverbs 6:9-11 NKJV
It is good to sleep a restful sleep, that is why God gives His beloved sleep. But there is a sleep that breeds poverty. That is what this scripture is talking about. If you spend a large portion of the 365 days, 8,760 Hours or 525,600 seconds of this year sleeping the sleep that makes men and women poor, the Bible says you will not need a demon to be poor. Poverty will come to cloth you like rags.
IT IS NOT JUST WASTING THE DAYS, HOURS AND SECONDS ON SLEEP, IT ALSO NOT WASTING IT ON TALK.
Many people have been made rich through talking. Motivational speakers, we preachers, news casters, radio and tv presenters, and so many others have used their vocal cords to make money for themselves. Sadly, there is a group that use theirs to either bring trouble upon themselves, stay poor or make themselves poor.
The Bible made it clear that life and death are in the power of the tongue. The way we use it will determine our peace on earth.
Let me share a story with you. Long time ago, there lived a man in a village full of evil speaking who made up his man not to allow any wrong word to come out of his mouth. He decided that he will not say anything evil concerning anyone; either good or bad.
As a result, there was so much peace in his life. But the villages were not happy with him. They began to look for ways to ensnare him.
One day a very wicked man died; this man was a terror to the village who made life terrible for everyone including the man who decided not to allow any evil or vulgar word to proceed out of his mouth.
So they laid the body of the wicked man for viewing, and the King gave an order that each villager must describe the dead man for who he was when he was alive. Off course, no one said anything good about him. Some even wept while describing him because of those they lost to his wickedness, asking God to punish him in hell.
Then came the turn of the man who had made up his mind not to say anything evil or bad about anyone. Everyone paid attention to what he will say because the Kings order was an order that must not be disobeyed or you pay a huge fine. He looked at the dead man, shook his head and said, “he had a good set of teeth” and that was all.
EVERYONE WAS DISAPPOINTED AND WALKED AWAY!
Someone reading this must make up his or her mind not to allow any evil word to proceed out of their mouth this year. Yes, we must become like this man in this story; except when telling Israel her sin and Jacob her transgressions as the LORD commands us in the book of Micah.
I believe the mouth has brought more trouble to the human race than certain demons. Believe it or not, your life is a product of what you have been saying with your mouth. The Bible says;
“Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure [g]of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:34-37 NKJV
Jesus was addressing the Pharisees in this scripture but there is a lot of lessons for men and women of every generation. The first is, we will never be able to keep the rule of not allowing any evil word proceed out of our mouths like the man in my story until we are no longer evil by spirit nature.
Jesus, our creator made it clear that what a person says is a direct reflection of who they really are by spirit nature.
Meaning, you will not be able to say any good word about people if you are evil by spirit nature. Our tongue is the first part of our body that tells our hearers if we are sound in spirit or not. That is why Jesus said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.”
If our hearts or spirit nature are good and pure, our mouths will speak good and pure words, there are no two was about it.
BUT THERE IS A PART OF THE SCRIPTURE THAT IS VERY SCARY.
That part says;
“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
The first time I read this, I thought the judgment will be in Heaven. Now I know it begins in time. Time has a way of judging us for what comes out of our mouths because words are seed. When we say them, we sow them into time, and the harvest is sure.
Sadly, speaking many of us do not know these things hence saying things that bring perils to us.
How many times we have blamed demons for what our mouths caused us? Severally! The spiritually lazy will say “it was the devil that made me say it” but the anatomy of the human mind say differently. Jesus Himself made it clear that we say the thing we say because of who we are, not because of the devil.
God never drop the consequences of what we say on the door step of Satan. He dropped it on the door step of our spirit nature or hearts. We must stop being lazy spiritually and take responsibility of our lips like the man in my story.
But this a new year! We must become different! If we keep doing what we have always done, we will keep having the results we have always had in life.
In a year of Amazing Grace, there is sufficient grace. We must therefore learn to take responsibility of our lives and stop playing the blame game. We must understand that our words are seeds and stop seeding the wrong words into time.
With our words we will be justified and with our words we will be condemn. That is the golden rule governing mankind. Time will either justify you for what you say or condemn you for what you say! Don’t forget that and do not mix it up!
YOU COULD HAVE A PEACEFUL MARRIAGE UNTIL YOU BEGIN TO SAY THE WRONG THINGS.
You could have a peaceful spouse until you begin to say the wrong things to him or her. You could have a peaceful single life until you begin to say the wrong things to the ears of people. You could have a peaceful home until you begin to say the wrongs.
The Bible says it is better to live in the house top that to stay in a house shared with a troubling woman. What do most troubling women do? They say the wrong things to their husbands or to those living in their home. It could be the other way round, but no matter what it may be, learn not to say the wrong things to people this year.
Do not say the wrong things to your boss this year if you are employed. Make up your mind not to say the wrong thing to your employees this year if you are an employer of labor.
Decide not to say the wrong things to your husband or wife this year. See that you do not say the wrong things to your pastor if you are a church member, your spiritual sons and daughters, if you are placed in spiritual fathering position by God, your fellow Church member if you belong to a local church, your neighbors, your colleagues in the office or whoever you have in your network of relationship.
This year God will give many people the gift of right relationships. That brings us to another talk of the lips that must be brought to our attention, and that is the talk of the lips that breeds poverty.
The Bible says;
“In all labor there is profit, But idle chatter leads only to poverty.” Proverbs 24:14 NKJV
Another translation puts it this way; “In all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty.” What kind of talk of the lips that breeds poverty? Let me try to explain!
To start with, you must understand that one of the ways God will blesses men and women is by lifting us and placing us among people in privileged positions of life. But there are those who do not know how to answer people in privileged positions, hence remaining poor all their lives. Hence not allowing the riches God has determined to give them to flow to them.
That is one way the talk of the lips breeds poverty.
There are people that I wanted to do good to who said things that stopped me from doing it. The things you say when God place you among privileged people will determine if the privileges, they govern will ever get to you.
Another talk of the lips that breeds poverty are the wishes that we make without attaching work to them. Wishing without working is dying without knowing; it is digging your financial grave and slipping into it gradually without knowing!
Idle chatter leads to Poverty. Gathering around News Papers and talking politic breeds poverty. It is sad that the people you gather to talk about are busy making money or stealing your money and you are there discussing them. You must drop the habit this year if it is was part of your life last year!
A major Rhema in of our devotional text says; ‘Rise, take your journey, and cross over …This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the nations under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’
If you want to see the LORD performing His word in your life this year, you must begin a fresh journey with Him. You must stop doing what you have always done, else you keep having what you have always had.
The secrets that have been shared in this devotional must be adhered to. You must change your sleep and talk life and align them to the scriptures.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.
How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep—
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.” Proverbs 6:6-11 NKJV