TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 11TH JUNE 2022)
“O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.
And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.
The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure. Isaiah 33:2-6 KJV
WELCOME TO THE 162ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
God has been gracious to us, and have been our arm every morning and our salvation also in the time of trouble. We believe His unfailing arm will still be there for the rest of the year.
Indeed, blessed, happy, fortunate, to be envied is the man who makes the Lord his refuge and trust, and turns not to the proud or to followers of false gods.
Talking about following false gods, A lot of what people follow today are false gods and man-made systems. That is why the reward of following the true God is missing in so many lives.
But the LORD has been mindful of us that is why the enemy has not had the last laugh over us. Day unto day He have been showing us mercy and giving us light and understanding.
Now, Apart from demonstrating Great mercies, love and compassion on us, one of the greatest gifts a man can receive from GOD is light and understanding.
Light and understanding from God are what makes a man superior to the ground and air forces of the wicked one that are parading the earth.
If the enemy will not outwit us in battle, we must be ahead of him and his men in everything, especially in light and understanding. That was what the life of Daniel communicated to us.
Do not forget, in the days of Nebuchadnezzar he was far ahead of the magicians and astrologers because he had light and understanding from the LORD. The result was boldness even in the lion’s den.
Then After the death of Nebuchadnezzar, the next King he was serving was hit by an issue that rattled him. When that happened, the people did not go searching for a prayer warrior, as good as prayer is; they went in search of a man of light an understanding.
The man they were looking for was Daniel; also, a man of prayer. Which teaches that it takes a man of righteous prayer to be a man of Heavenly light and understanding. The Bible says;
“The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall. The queen spoke, saying, “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change.
There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers.
Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation.” Daniel 5:10-12 NKJV
THERE ARE CRITICAL LESSONS TO DRAW FROM THIS STORY!
We have been looking at the cry of the Holy Spirit on fear. If you read the entire chapter Daniel 5, you will understand that before Daniel came, the king was struck by a terrible fear. Though the message that formed the object of his fear was not pleasant. But after hearing Daniel speak and helping him to understand the mystery the fear left him.
He would have averted the disaster that followed thereafter if he had fallen to his knees and repented of the things the LORD pointed out to him. In other words, if he had replaced the fear of the experience he had with the fear of the LORD. But like most of us would do, he went headlong and lost his kingdom that night. The Bible says;
“That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.” Daniel 5:30-31 NKJV
The essence of the waring finger GOD sent was to help him avert the disaster but his pride or spiritual ignorance could not let him. Swiftly he was dethroned that night.
The first lesson to pick from the story is this, ignorance can make one afraid. But once light and understanding comes, fear disappears. Daniel got there and, in few minutes, dealt with the issue by giving light and understanding to the king.
He became bold and was no longer rattled. Knowing makes one bold, not knowing makes one afraid.
The next lesson we learned was in how Daniel handled the matter. He was stable and strong. He was not rattled by the hand of the LORD like the rest of the wise men who must have been affected also. He walked into the palace with boldness and solved the mystery in minutes.
THAT TELLS US THAT MEN OF LIGHT AND UNDERSTANDING SOLVE ISSUES OF LIFE WITHOUT TAKING MUCH TIME.
If you are struggling to solve an issue, just know that it’s because you lack insight and understanding for solving the issue; you need something superior from Heaven.
That is why even when we are calling upon the LORD for help, especially in time of need, we should be ready to receive light and understanding from Him first because righteous prayers are good at bringing a man’s heart to the place of light and understanding.
The Bible says;
“Thus, says the Lord Who made [the earth], the Lord Who formed it to establish it—the Lord is His name:
Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).” Jeremiahs 33:2-3 AMPC
Talking about fear, it is important to note that fear is usually sustained by things that are hidden in a mystery; things fenced in and hidden which we do not know, distinguish, recognize or have knowledge of.
That is why people who use fear to keep others under subjection hate eye opening messages, like apostolic teachings. And those who are always praying righteous prayers, especially with the Bible by their sides do not walk in spiritual illiteracy. They walk in Heavenly light and understanding.
You cannot force them into, or cage them in a box of fear presented as submission to authority or respect for spiritual fathers; the very forces that killed the young prophet from Judah!
They are bold and knowledgeable. They submit to authority and respect fathers based on love not based on fear.
Child of God, light and understanding are two forces that will make you bold and fearless even in the face of death. They place you beyond the panic bottoms of life. You will not be afraid of your life if you have them. Our fathers had them as evident in their lives.
For instance, prayer for long life was not one of their prayer points because they had light and understanding and were not afraid to die. But today we even give huge amount of monies to preachers for long life.
That goes to tell us that our version of Christianity is not having the same source with theirs, and that most of what we do today as believers that make preachers smile to the bank, is born out of fear.
STABILITY IN THIS LIFE COMES THROUGH HEAVENLY INSIGHTS AND UNDERSTANDING.
Our devotional text says;
“O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.
And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.
The Lord is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure. Isaiah 33:2-6 KJV
The word wisdom describes that mental ability to apply knowledge, while the word understanding means comprehension. If you have knowledge and the mental capacity to rightly apply it, you will not walk in fear. If you have a heavenly comprehension of things, you will not walk in fear either.
The cry of the Spirit today is saying, if we will not walk in fear, we must be mentally capable of applying acquired knowledge. We must also have or walk in a Heavenly understanding. This is a call on us to walk away from all forms of ignorance.
Its my prayer that the LORD increases us more and more! Amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“And there shall come forth a Shoot out of the stock of Jesse [David’s father], and a Branch out of his roots shall grow and bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord—
And shall make Him of quick understanding, and His delight shall be in the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord. And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, neither decide by the hearing of His ears;
But with righteousness and justice shall He judge the poor and decide with fairness for the meek, the poor, and the downtrodden of the earth; and He shall smite the earth and the oppressor with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.” Isaiah 11:1-4 AMPC