TODAY’S DEVOTION (Wednesday 2ND February 2022)
Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”
And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the LORD will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So, he went to a desolate height.
And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”
Then the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
So, he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab. Numbers 23:1-6 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 33RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
Yeah, today is a unique day because of its unique date – 02.02.2022. If God forbid, you are under the influence of a charlatan you call a pastor, you will be told how the date connects blessings or your destiny and all that you need to do the unlock them. To some, after a wonderful sermon about the date, they will be told to raise an altar of prayer (money, prayer and fasting) or something else.
Dates like these can be a very good zombification tool in the hands of some preachers. But to those who choose to be fair minded, God in His mercies have brought us again to another day of impact.
I believe each day in this 28- day period will be for us a day of impact. We just have to be ready and expectant of His moves in our lives. The focus is for us to have the Fire of Righteous prayers kindled in our lives.
It is the fire of Righteous Prayers that will take us into the Throne Room Realm where the presence of the LORD will remain an abiding blessing in our lives. The greatest need of man is not money, fame, power or influence. The greatest need of man is the Presence of the LORD. That is the only treasure that follows a man from this life to the next life. Every other treasure ends in death!
Sometimes, we are made to think that it is people we need in life. Yes, we need people some times because it is not good for a man to be alone, but we do not need people all the times. What we need all the time is God. He remains a Friend the sticks closer than a brother.
Why did the Bible calls God a Friend that sticks closer than a brother?
You see, Good friends may stick to us in times of adversity. A loving brother or any other blood relative may stick to you in times where none wants to stay with you. But none of them can follow us to the gates of death and accompany our souls as it leaves our bodies to the great beyond. Only the presence of God can do that.
If we carry His presence and abide in Him, He will be with us in all times and even follow us through the gates of death, to make sure nothing goes wrong with our souls, and then take us to our eternal rest with Christ. That is why I said the presence of God is the only treasure that follows a man to the next life and make sure He is submitted to the LORD Jesus Christ to spend eternity in His arms.
Wisdom demands that we pay the price that will be necessary to have the presence of GOD in our lives. That was why our fathers never made men their ultimate pursuit. They made God their ultimate pursuit! They paid every price to have His presence sit on their lives.
MOSES KNEW BETTER WHEN HE SAID TO GOD;
“Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”
And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”
So, the LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” Exodus 33:13-17 NKJV
What we just read in this scripture is an aspect of righteous prayers that has the capacity to bring us into glory dimensions. Can you see the flow of conversation and what Moses was asking for? He did not ask God for houses, death of enemies, or even healing for His trouble marriage, even when his wife was away at that time because of some disagreements they had when he was on his way to Egypt.
He did not ask for the mundane or carnal. He asked for the presence of the LORD. Righteous prayers are not prayers that are motivated by the carnal or mundane but the most ultimate need of a man in a trouble world like ours. They are prayers that are motivated by the presence of the LORD and what it can do or should do. I hope you understand me!
Moses knew what the presence of the LORD can do hence asking for it to be his companion. If we know what the presence of the LORD can do in our lives, we will make it our greatest pursuit in prayers. Sadly, we see prayer as a means of forcing God to give answers to our carnal needs. We do not see it as a means of being shaped in God’s presence until we can carry His presence wherever we go.
Righteous prayers will change us. It will not leave us the same the way we started it. That is why, any prayer that is not changing your moral nature, is not prayer but a form of Godliness without power. The Bible says we should turn from such.
MOST OF WHAT WE CALL PRAYER IS NOT PRAYERS THAT CAN RECEIVE HEAVEN’S ATTENTION.
If they receive Heaven’s attention, it is to destroy them. I mentioned that in yesterday’s word. And I promised showing us where it is in the Bible. To start with the Bible says,
“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But the prayer of the upright is His delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But He loves him who follows righteousness.” Proverbs 15:8-9 NKJV
Something that is an abomination to GOD is something that God cannot look at. From this scripture, it is clear that what God cannot look at is usually from the spirit of wickedness. Because the word says “The sacrifice of the wicked (which could be services rendered to God, sacrificial offerings given to Him or even prayer made) is something God cannot look at.
Whatever God cannot look at He either ignores or destroys. That is why it is important to check our hearts before we say anything to God with our mouths. In fact, I have come to realize that we must first of all hear from God, and allow His word to either circumcise our hearts or sanctify it before we open our mouths to talk to Him.
Someone may ask, where is that in the Bible? I will show you tomorrow. But for today let’s look the prayers God destroys when He sees them coming out of certain mouths; any prayer from a heart that is wicked or stained with the spirit of lawlessness or iniquity, will be either destroyed or ignore by the LORD.
IT WILL BE DESTROYED IF THE DEVIL WILL USE IT, AND IGNORED IF THE ENEMY CANNOT USE IT.
The Bible spoke about the Habitation of wickedness or tent of wickedness. A tent of wickedness is a place where the spirit of wickedness or the mystery of iniquity rules the hearts of men. The word iniquity and wickedness are one. They both describes the spirit of lawlessness and its nature or dynamics.
There are two categories of tents of wickedness on the face of the earth. The first is in the Church, comprising of false preachers and every believer who walks in error or falsehood. The Bible describes them as all who practice a lie or walk in the spirit of lawlessness in Church. The next category is in the world. This comprises of all occultic centers, satanic shrines, witch doctors, psychic, wizards, and etc.
Sadly, prayers are made from these two categories of tents also; most time more often and intense than in a true Assembly of GOD’s people.
When prayer proceed from them, God will ignore them if they cannot stop His programs and destroy them if they can. Prayers from the tent of wickedness are answered by demons that masquerades as either Holy Spirit, Christ, or God. They are also answered by unclean spirits that power false prophetic anointings and masquerades as angels or saints.
For instance, many do not know that these group of spirits will work with the spirit of the antichrist these end time, power prophetic anointings that are not from the LORD, do great wonders that will be just to astonish people, and place the feet of many on the Broadway that leads to damnation. That is why Jesus says;
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:13-15 NKJV
Just as God placed His true prophets on the narrow way that leads to life to bring people there, so did the enemy placed his false prophets on the broad way to leads to eternal damnation to bring people there. It is a contest that only the truth that one knows can preserve him. The Bible even said these group of enemies of the cross will be able to call down physical fire. They will do such wonders that if possible, even the elects will be deceived.
EVERYTHING WILL BE GEARED TOWARDS SABOTAGING THE WORK OF THE LORD!
It will be geared towards taking as many souls as possible to the Broadway, and then to hell. It will be geared towards sabotaging God’s redemptive program for someone, a people or even an entire generation or generations to come. When God sees that, He moves to stop the prayers form being answered. That brings us to our devotional text today.
Our devotional text is a story of a false prophet called Balaam, who many see as true. Some call him a true prophet who went rogue.
The prayer of this man was an abomination to God and GOD tried to stop him but he refused because of the money he will get by raising his prayer altars. Don’t forget he raise the altars before he attempted to saying his prayers over them.
That holds a very important message for our age and time. So many preachers’ today’s who are into the altar thing are operating at the same level with this prophet that Apostle Peter Described as mad prophet. Our devotional text said;
Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”
And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the LORD will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So, he went to a desolate height.
What is the difference between what this mad prophet did to the man who came to him for prayers and what our apostles, prophets and etc. are doing today? None! What was the purpose of the altars? To destroy people and prosper the king.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE MANY ALTARS THAT ARE RAISED IN CHURCHES TODAY? TO DESTROY PEOPLE OR PROSPER OTHERS.
There is no difference. It is the same demon working in all of them. Thank God for intercepting some of the prayers made on such altars and destroying them. If not, some people would have destroyed all their relatives with prayers.
That means any prayer you say over an altar may not be answer by the LORD because today God no longer use altars of stones, people are the altars today. Our hearts are the altars.
The prayer of the wicked prophet Balaam was a prayer geared towards cursing God’s people. The Bible says he was hired to come curse Israel, or pray against them. While the prayer was still on his lips, God intercepted and prevented him from saying it. Because He knew the implication of the prayer on His people and program if it was answered.
The Bible says, the man confessed and said;
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. Numbers 23:19-20 NKJV
Whenever I read this scripture, I do ask myself, why he received a command to bless and did not do it until God took over and did it Himself? God took him over because he was not interested in obeying the LORD. So, when they guy resisted, God took his intended prayer over and turned it into a blessing for His people.
Imagine for a moment that God was not there? His prayers would have been answered and the messiah would not have come. The world would have been lost forever and you and I would not have been saved. There would have been no redemption, not salvation, no new heaven and new earth, no nothing. We would have just been lost forever and ever.
May God destroy all the prayers that wicked hearts are praying against you in Jesus precious name! Another highlight of our devotional text said;
And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” Then the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
Balaam was telling the LORD, “I have prepared the seven altars” as if it was the LORD that sent him to raise them. That is what many preachers do in their Churches. They will do things the LORD never asked them to do and go to speak to Him; sometimes he answers them to destroy them as the book of Ezekiel would later tell us, other times He does not.
What is the message of today, the message is simple! We should desire the manifest presence of God like Moses did. We should not embark on anything until we are sure we have secured God’s presence. If His presence goes not with us, every evil that comes against us will prevail against us.
His presence can be secured through righteous prayers. Now, not all prayers are righteous. Some are wicked prayers that our God goes after to make sure they do not come to pass. If you want to carry the presence of the LORD in your life, you must learn not to say such prayers. If you will not say such prayers, then your hearts must be right or sanctified before God!
I pray that God meets any Balaam in your life that wants to say an evil word or prayer against your destiny in Jesus precious name. I pray that the LORD neutralizes them and arrest every of their evil prayers, in Jesus precious name.
I pray that God turn their curses they call prayers into Blessings in Jesus precious name.
There is a generation that the more the wicked pray against them, the more God blesses them. It’s a generation of GOD’s people. God simply picks the prayers they prayed, destroys them, then turn them into blessings for His people.
May you become part of that generation. May no evil word rest upon you and your family in Jesus precious name.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a King is among them.
God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox. “For there is no sorcery against Jacob, Nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob And of Israel, ‘Oh, what God has done!’ Numbers 23: 19-23 NKJV