TODAY’S DEVOTION (Monday 28th February 2022)
Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”
And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” John 11:38-44 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 59th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
We bless the LORD God almighty for bringing us to the end of the second month of the year. What an amazing God, and His amazing grace!
We have had two months of peace, progress, rest round about and mercies from the LORD. It is not because of our righteousness, prayers or fasting.
For most of us there was no righteousness to even make the bases for His love. It is out of His mercies that we were not consumed. For He has not dealt with us according to our sins but according to His grace and mercy. To Him belong all the glory!
Yes, another month is beginning tomorrow and another week have been set before us. We believe He has also set His light to shine before us on daily bases. As we walk in His light, no evil shall befall. The blessing buried in it will be the characteristic of our lives.
Today we are going the wrap up the discourse on prayer that has been the focus of the month. It has been truth upon truth on righteous prayers. I believe the prayer life of those who have applied these truths has picked.
The concluding part of this discourse was on “How to bring Things Under Divine Control through Prayer.”
We shared that there are basic things to understand and apply on the prayer knee to be able to bring things under divine control. The first is the will of the LORD at an immediate present, the second is the promises of God, and the third the power of God.
Now let’s get to the rest; the fourth and the fifth.
The fourth is to stand in faith doubting nothing. The Bible says without faith, it is impossible to please God for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrew 11:6). The Bible also said that whatever things we ask in prayer, we should believe that we have received them, and we shall have them (Mark 11:24).
All these scriptures and others we find in the Bible expressed the importance of faith in bringing things under divine control through prayer.
BUT THERE IS SOMETHING THAT HAVE BEEN MISSING SO LONG AS THIS FAITH THING IS CONCERN.
There have been times I prayed and believed God as the Bible said, but got no answers to my prayers. Yes, I prayed and truly believed and had great confident that I will have what I had asked, but to my greatest surprise and disappointment I got nothing. That was when I began to ask questions about this faith thing.
The first insight I got from the LORD was this, “It does not matter how much confidence you have in your prayer, if you are not in the will of God, your prayers will never be answered.” This was so enlightening that I began to get some results in prayer.
Then after a while the next insight came. It came when I got to the point of praying in GOD’s will and still not getting some answers in prayers.
The Spirit of the LORD, through my studies made me to understand that since faith comes by hearing or seeing into the Spirit realm, I may be in the will of God in my prayer but will never get the results if my faith is not based on what I may have touched, seen, or heard in the Spirit’s realm on the prayer knee. And these things can happen in split seconds, depending on my sensitivity in the Spirit.
Meaning, faith in pray must be born out of the things I may have seen, heard, or touched while in prayer. That was when I realized that most times, we pray without touching, seeing or hearing anything in the Spirit realm, but believe that we will have what we asked the LORD in prayer.
The Bible made it clear that genuine faith is born out of things one must have seen, heard, or touched in the Spirit. It is a child of hearing the inaudible and seeing the invisible. If your faith in what you may be asking GOD to do is not born out of things you have seen or heard from God, it will lead to what I call faith failure.
FAITH FAILURE CAN BE VERY DESTRUCTIVE. IT ALMOST KILLED MY WALK WITH GOD IN MY DAYS OF IGNORANCE OF WHAT FAITH REALLY IS.
I came to realize that you need genuine prophetic anointing from the Spirit of GOD to come to the realm of faith while on the prayer knee. You may ask anything but if you have not come to the realm of faith; the realm of seeing and hearing from GOD at an immediate present, you confident will be built on emptiness.
You must see or hear into the Spirit that what you are asking have been released. In fact, you must touch it in the invisible realm on your prayer knee before believing. If nothing has been touched and you believe, you will never see the results you have asked the LORD of in prayer, hence will not be able to bring anything under His control. The Bible says,
“Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].” Hebrews 11:1 AMPC
From this scripture, it is clear that genuine faith is an assurance that is born out of the reality of spiritual things we have has seen and touched with our prophetic senses in the invisible realm, but the same things have not reached our natural senses. If your faith is different from the one just described, it will never bring desired results to you.
I understood that even if I am in divine will on the prayer knee, I must pray until I touch the answers in the invisible realm with my prophetic senses so I can have an invisible reality to believe in. My prayers, must not remain in the outer court of my natural senses. They must thrust me into the most holy place of spiritual realities concerning what I may be praying about.
THAT IS THE KIND OF PRAYER THAT WILL BRING THINGS UNDER DIVINE CONTROL.
The last thing to understand if you want to bring things under divine control through prayer is your part in the process. That brings us to our devotional text. A major portion of it says;
Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”…. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said,
“Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” John 11:38-44 NKJV
If you look at this scripture, you will discover that there was a partnership between GOD and man here as Jesus used prayer to bring the situation the family of Lazarus was in under control.
In every prayer step we take to bring things under divine control, there will always be our part and God’s part. On the prayer knee, we engage GOD to do His part, on our feet, we are to engage ourselves to do our part. But what to do must come from the LORD.
He is the one to show us the stones to roll away before the miracle happens, and what to do after the miracle has happened to bring things under control.
This month has been a month of great insight on prayer matters. As we prepare for the next month, may the LORD continue to use these truths to build you up and give you an inheritance among they that are sanctified. AMEN!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to Present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen. Jude 1:24-25 NKJV