TODAY’S DEVOTION (Sunday 2nd January 2022)
“Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:3-4 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 2ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
The beginning of our devotionals this year instructed us how to live our lives especially in the area of sleep and talk – it instructed us to stay in the Hands of the Holy Spirit by not sleeping the kind of sleep that breeds poverty or engaging in the kind of talk that does the same.
It is important to note that the hands of the Holy Spirit formed us in our mother’s womb, and that only His hands can keep us in a trouble world. Hence obeying what He teaches us to do and how He leads us to conduct our lives is a necessity.
I will advice that someone go back to that devotional and read!
It may interest you to know that the Holy Spirit also scheduled our days long before our great grandparents thought of getting together to conceive whoever became our maternal and paternal roots.
For instance, 2022 was scheduled long before we were ever conceived. The days have been scheduled by the Holy Spirit. We are expected to spend them as scheduled. Some of the things we learned yesterday are things God scheduled 2022 to respect.
Life will be full of trouble if we spend our days outside the schedule of God for it. That was what our Bible fathers knew. If you want to spend your days according God’s schedule for them you must live your life in the hands of the Holy Spirit by obeying what He teaches.
One of the things that the leaders of the early church did in their days was to spend their lives as governed by the Holy Spirit.
IT IS WHEN OUR LIVES ARE GOVERNED BY HIM THAT THEY ARE INDEED IN HIS HANDS
Bible Fathers never allowed anything to creep into their faith and destroy their relationship with the Blessed Holy Spirit. One of the things they did to remain in His hands was to go deep in their walk and talk with God! They never led a carnal life. They knew that carnality was not a blessing but a curse, hence going deeper in the Spirit and leading their earthly lives from that realm.
Sadly, many of us today have become so carnal; making hell excited.
Why is hell excited, you may ask? No carnal Christian will make Heaven. Sadly, very few know this. The many Christians who have died, who we labeled that they had “gone to be with the LORD” are not with Him at all because they died in carnality; most died without genuine intimacy with Jesus Christ, hence entering the next life separated from God in this life.
If you leave this world separated from God, Heaven will not be your home. There is a remnant that has seen these things in the Spirit and are adjusting their lives by getting closer and closer to God. They have responded to the call of God to go deep in their walk with Him.
I pray that you become part of that remnant!
Friend, intimacy with God is what eliminates carnality. Intimacy with God guarantees Heaven. It also guarantees a peaceful life in a wicked world. God never created man to live in shallow waters. He created man to live in the deeper places of His presence or Spirit.
When I look at the book of Genesis Chapter 1 and 2 and see how mankind ought to be and compare it with how we have all become now, I cannot but feel so sorry for myself and the entire human race. It is when you have not taken time to study these things that you feel comfortable.
There are certain things sin brought upon us and the entire creation that only the consummation of all things can cure.
THE LIMITATIONS AND IMPACT THE FALL CREATED IN US IS YET TO BE UNDERSTOOD.
For instance, mankind was created to live forever; spirit, soul and body. But when man fell, only our spirits and souls remained immortal. The body became mortal. It became possible to be sick, depreciate and grow old then die.
It became possible to even die premature. Before now, it was impossible for any of these or death to befall man.
Mankind lived in the glory and since there is no time in the glory, there was no death. It was impossible for life to come to an end. The glory is a realm where nothing comes to an end. Nothing comes to an end under the raw glory of GOD that man lived because the glory is the fullness of God on display.
Do not forget that God is eternal and cannot die. And since He cannot die or come to an end, everything in His glory cannot die or come to an end. The fall indeed changed these things and make them alien to us.
But the goodness news is, God wants us back in the glory.
He wants us back in the very realm we fell from and the journey back begins with accepting Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior and pressing on through unbroken intimacy with God. That is why we are looking at deep intimacy.
Our devotional text today was a spiritual decision the leaders of the early Church took. When growth came and things that where great but not multiplying their chances to spend quality time with God emerged, they reacted against those things and applied divine wisdom to control them.
You see, when your prayer life starts bearing fruits, there are chances that you will get up from your knees, but not these early Church leaders who knew things we do not even know; hence they were willing to remain intimate with the LORD and were not willing to trade anything for it.
A major highlight in the devotional text said,
“But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
ONE OF THE MAJOR STEPS TO TAKE TO BECOME DEEP WITH GOD IS TO GIVE YOURSELF CONTINUALLY TO PRAYER AND TO THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD.
We shared a Bible reading plan yesterday. Please make use of it properly to cultivate an intimate relationship with the LORD.
The truth remains, if we cultivate a consistent prayer life and are continuously exposed to the word of the LORD, we will find ourselves in the deeper places of the Spirit one day.
When you get to the deep, you will begin to touch the glory. When you begin to touch the glory, your ideal self will begin to come out. That is when age will begin to give way and you start looking younger than your peers.
You will begin to operate in the supernatural and see Heavenly things take place in your life in quick succession. Do not forget that everything begins from giving yourself to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
So, as you embrace this great day, take time to meditate on this devotional again and again, asking the LORD to speak to your Heart.
And let me make this clear to us; I don’t know what you may be going through, or what you may be battling with, if only you will go deep with God, all will be well.
If intimacy with God is the missing key in your life, no other key will bail you out of problems until you use it to navigate through the storms. Many times, we replace the key of intimacy with God with running after people. If you are too close to people, especially those who are far from God, you will not be close to God.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.” Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together,”
“Where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to the Testimony of Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord”
“For thrones are set there for judgment, the thrones of the house of David.” Psalms 122:1-5 NKJV