TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 15TH MAY 2022)
“ And they shall rebuild the old ruins they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.
Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
But you shall be named the priests of the LORD, they shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory you shall boast.
Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs.” Isaiah 61:4-7 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 135TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to His name. He is the Most High. It is a good thing to declare His lovingkindness in the morning, and His faithfulness every night.
Yes, if possible, on an instrument of ten strings, on the lute, and on the harp, with harmonious sound. For The LORD God has made us glad through His marvelous works.
This morning we will continue our journey with the Cry of the Spirit on practical Christianity, even as we get ready for the May Edition of our Citizen/MCTV international Broadcast.
When we say practical Christianity, we are referring to how to conduct ourselves in a sick Church and a dying world as believers. In other words, living the life of Christ.
We must understand that It is through our conduct that the sick Church gets healed and the dying world get saved.
God heavily needs our conducts as the salt of the earth and the light of the world to heal the sick Church and save the dying world. That is why we are not to lose our flavor or get ourselves hidden in baskets of bad conduct and evil deeds as the light of the world. We are to retain our flavor and get ourselves placed on God’s lampstands of truth, shining His light through righteous conduct and preserving the earth as its salt.
He said in His word,
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16 NKJV
It is obvious that most of us Christians have lost our flavor and have become good for nothing, hence the successful trampling of Christianity. Yes, it is obvious that our light as Christians are not shining bright on established lampstands.
Most of us are right under baskets of secret sins, scandals after scandals, claiming imperfections and the weakness of immoral humanity as an excuse. But we forget that God will never make what is imperfect or what is immoral the salt of the earth or the light of the world.
IT IS WHAT WAS IMPERFECT AND IMMORAL (BUT NOW IS NO LONGER THAT WAY) THAT HE WILL MAKE.
Yes, it is what was imperfect and immoral but has now been made perfect and morally sound by His blood, word and power, that He will display on lampstands as the light of the world. Oh yes, it is what was lost in sin and wickedness but is now saved, made holy, pure and righteous that will be used as the salt of the earth.
If we therefore keep claiming imperfection, like our present day spiritual fathers are teaching us to do, instead of pressing into perfection as the Bible teaches, we will never fulfill our destinies as the salt of the earth or the light of the world.
I have said it over and over, that if you want to know how to live as a Christian, do not look at the believers and spiritual leaders of today. Look unto Christ and those He shaped in the early Church.
Immoral preachers and their followers always say “no one is perfect, we are human” drawing inspiration from the David that took another man’s wife and killed the husband, the Solomon that married seven hundred wives and get three hundred concubines (some of which he saw only once in his life time and never slept with them), the man in the Corinthian church (who was not yet part of Christ) who slept with his father’s wife, and other perverts whose stories appear in the new testament.
They will say the Church is for sick and immoral people. But will never look at Paul, Peter, John the beloved, James and the rest of the holy, righteous and pure seeds of Christ in the early church who presented the church, not as a placed of imperfect and morally people, but a pillar and ground of truth where the imperfect and immoral are made perfect and morally sound.
Most of the preachers who say such things as “we are not perfect, we are all sinners” are the very preachers people call fathers of faith.
I submit to you thus day that If you call such men fathers of faith, you are spiritually sick yourself or maybe blind because you do not know who a father of faith is. Or maybe you do not understand what the word father means.
If you want to know who a father of faith is, check out our Apostolic fathers in the New Testament.
CHECK OUT JOHN THE BELOVED, PAUL AND PETER.
Maybe, you are right calling these breed fathers of faith because the Christian faith is not the only faith on earth. Because most of them are fathers of the faith that leads to hell not to Heaven, the dwelling place of GOD. I reiterate again that what is imperfect and immoral cannot heal a sick Church or saved a dying world.
That is why we have not been able to heal the sick Church and save the dying world. Most of those we claim to have been saved, only recited the sinner’s prayer but are yet to renounce the sinners’ life.
If you want to know how to be the salt of the earth or the light of the world, you must learn to look beyond the current crop of preachers and their followers. You must stop following their narratives of what the church is and follow what the LORD established the church to be as depicted in the New Testament.
I tell you the truth, it is because of all these things that deliverance queues has never come to an end in all local churches. It is because we are not fulfilling our destinies as the salt of the earth and light of the world that our enemies are prevailing against us, diseases ravaging many, demons feasting on many, and spiritual and religious oppression is everywhere.
The glory of the LORD is absent because we refuse to be what we were called to be.
Our devotional text tells us how our lives will be when we begin to fulfill our destinies as the salt of the earth and light of the world. It says;
“ And they shall rebuild the old ruins they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.
Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
But you shall be named the priests of the LORD, they shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory you shall boast.
Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs.” Isaiah 61:4-7 NKJV
THERE IS SO MUCH TO GLEAN FROM THIS SCRIPTURE.
So much to study and meditate on so long as our divine destinies are concerned. But we will limit ourselves to the subject of today’s discourse.
Let me begin by advising that you get out of any church or out of the influence of any preacher who is not being used by God to make you the salt of the earth or the light of the world. You may hate me for this or not understand but just heed to this counsel.
A preacher who is not being used by the LORD to make you the salt of the earth and the light of the world in GOD’s hands, will be used by other spirits to make you the salt of their lives and the light of their ministries by what they make you say or do. You will be the one preserving them by the testimonies they make you share and the monies they make you give, and other things they make you do.
You may think am attacking other preachers by this counsel or whatever, please do not be that ignorant this morning. Warning people about the devil and his agents is only considered an attack on him and his agents by those who are part of his train not those who are not.
If you are accusing me of attacking other preachers for passing the same warnings that Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul and the rest passed to the Church in their own generation, then you are part of the problem; you are an extension of the works of the antichrist, functioning as his defense system.
Our devotional text can be divided into two portions.
The first portion is about the impact we will make on earth when the LORD corrects our imperfections, and make us pure, holy and righteous enough to function as the salt of the earth and the light of the world. That portion says, “And they shall rebuild the old ruins they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.”
Now, what is the connection? Here is it!
IF YOU FULFILL YOUR DIVINE DESTINY AS A CHRISTIAN, YOU WILL BE THE SALT OF THE EARTH AND THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
If you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world you will find yourself rebuilding the old ruins, raising the former desolations and repairing the ruined cities and the desolations of many generations.
I have never seen anyone God is using as the salt of the earth and light of the world to do these very important redemptive works in the lives of people oppressed by devils, or looking for help in one way or the other. God has always been their helper.
In fact, the next verses of our devotional text spelt out the blessings that usually break forth in their lives. It says;
“Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
But you shall be named the priests of the LORD, they shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory you shall boast.
Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs.” Isaiah 61:5-7 NKJV
If you truly understand what the Bible says in these scriptures, you will know why many are not near the blessings stated here.
Not being the salt of the earth or light of the world in deed is the reason many are not near these blessings. It is also the reason many prefer sowing seeds to get them instead of being the salt of the earth and the light of the world to get them.
The blessing of having people working for your economic wealth, having a great reputation without seeking it, eating the riches of the gentiles, boasting in their glory, having honor in place of shame, and rejoicing where there may be confusion only comes when we lead Christians lives that rebuilds or repairs the old ruins, raise the former desolations and repair the desolations of many generation (things we cannot go into detail into now).
Sadly, people try to get these things through faith and confession, fasting, prayer, sowing seeds, going for deliverance and etc. But they forget that when you try to get from God with your religious deeds or money, what only comes from Him through a release of destiny, you will key into the spirit of Baal and begin to get miracles from the demon of deliverance thinking they are coming from GOD.
There is so much we miss for not being practical Christians, for not being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. It is my prayer that the LORE use these few lines of truth to change the course of our Christian lives, and bring us to the blessing, in Jesus precious amen. Amen!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations.” Isaiah 61:1-4 NKJV