THE CRY OF THE SPIRIT DEVOTIONALS – BY RICHARD E. S. TAKIM

TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 2ND JULY 2022)

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:7-10 NKJV

WELCOME TO THE 183RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE

May the LORD touch your life today as never before!

May His mercies be upon you and yours. May His goodness not forsake us. May we all be in good standing with Him. In Jesus precious name.

It is a new day and we give Him thanks.

Our days, these days, seems to be running very fast. Well, some may say they are slow. It all depends on what you do with or in a day. For me they are running really fast. We are already seeing the second day of a new month that just began Yesterday. Before you know it, we are at the end of the month.

We must all understand that our days are passing and that our Life span is reducing by the second. We are all aging bit by bit. Our eyes must be on our final days even as we embrace each day.

Final days are the final moments of a man’s life on earth.

There are also present days (not in a prophetic sense). Present days are the very days you are seeing right now. For instance, today is your present day. Tomorrow down to the end of the year are all your present days. Present days are the days that forms your youthful age and early old age and it is important that we get that straight.

The Bible says,

“The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.

It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD.

It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.” Lamentation 3:25-27 NKJV

This scripture contains the things that are good for a man’s life on this side of eternity. It says it is good for a man’s life to wait on God and hope quietly for His salvation. That the LORD has a history of being good to those who wait for Him. Hallelujah.

THAT IS WHY THE HASTE OF A FOOL REMAINS THE SLOWEST THING IN THE WORLD.

The next truth in that scripture says, it is good for a man to bear his yoke in His youth. Meaning, it is good to carry any yoke that you would have carried in old age during your youthful age.

For instance, it is good not to be lazy (not to dodge work or a noble opportunity to pay the price for things worthwhile) in your youth. It is good not to be foolish in your youth.

If you are both lazy and foolish or you are either, you will not beg at old age and die like a fool.

People who work hard and smart, who walk in wisdom in their youthful days, will have a blessed old age, with God by their side. The message of that scripture is clear! We must know how to handle present days well. And one way to handle them is to work hard and smart in your present days, with your eyes on the salvation of the LORD!

Let it be clear to us that it is what we do with our present days that determines how we end in our final days.

Final days are days of reaping what we have sown in present days. That is why it is good to bear your yoke in present days – Bear all the troubles that would have come to you in final days – pay all the necessary prices you need to pay. So that your final days can be blessed.

Final days are days of getting the harvest of all our decisions, choices and knowledge or ignorance applied in life during our present days. They are critical days because they do not give us the opportunity for making corrections. If we do not live well, they will be filled with regrets, leading to a sorrowful ending.

For instance, if you did not marry the right person during your present days, or if you bore the right child with or for the wrong person, you will not be happy in your final days. If the LORD gives you an opportunity to serve His anointed or His purposes in your present days and you did not use them well, you may end up like Ghehazi in your final days.

If you made very bad financial decisions in your present days, you will end up very poor and most time sick at the same time in your final days.

If you made very bad relationship decisions in your present days, like having no regard for those the LORD placed in your life and loosing them rapidly, you will suffer the consequences in your final days. You could be alone in life in your final days.

How we handle present days is what determines how our final days turn out.

EVERYONE HAS PRESENT AND FINAL DAYS ON EARTH. PRESENT DAYS ARE THE ASSETS OF FINAL DAYS.

Yes, present days are the assets of final days because they give us the opportunity to correct our ways, redeem whatever is lost, so that we can have better final days. They give us the opportunity to move from bad decisions to good decisions. They are the greatest assets of final days.

For instance, if we have made a decision that will make our final days sorrowful, God in His mercies, will reveal it to us through His word. Maybe as His servants preach. If we respond positively, we will change a lot of things that will make our final days the most blessed days.

In God’s plan, our present days should be blessed, and final days more blessed. You see that in the life of Job. His present days were blessed, and his final days were more blessed; especially after going through the trials of his present days.

Yes, a man’s present days do have test, trials and temptations that shape them; things he must overcome to have better final days. That was exactly what Job had. He went through hell, but stood firm and overcame, ushering in one of the best final days a man can have on this side of eternity.

The Bible says;

“Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.

He also had seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first emimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch.

In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days.” Job 42:12-17 NKJV

God wants our final days as blessed as what was made manifest in the life of Job. However, it will not come cheap.

If you look at the story of Job you will realize that such final days do not come cheap. They come if a man spends his present-day fearing God, eschewing evil, working hard and smart, following the friendly counsel of the LORD in business and financial matters, watching over his children in the Spirit, touching the lives of others positively and lots more.

WE CAN HAVE VERY BLESSED FINAL DAYS LIKE JOB HAD.

It will be a product of the miraculous arm of the LORD, a healthy relationship with God and etc. Simply put, if you want to have the kind of final days that Job had, then you must study His life in the eyes of the New Testament and adopt the principles he lived by.

I believe there is someone reading this who is handling their present days in a very bad way. Someone reading this is making very bad present-day decisions that will result in very painful final days.

God sent this word to admonish you to change your ways and choices in life. Our devotional text spoke about sowing to please the flesh. It cried against living according to the dictates of the flesh.

Do not live according to the dictates of the flesh in your present days. If you spend your present days living according to the carnal desires of the flesh instead of the righteous desires of the Holy Spirit in your life, you will have very sorrowful final days.

The full text says,

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:7-10 NKJV

Yesterday we started a fresh 31-day journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit on Miracles. We saw the scripture that says “with God, nothing shall be impossible.” Mark the words “with God.” That means if we lead a life that is without God, there will be things that will be impossible in our lives.

IF WE MAKE GODLESS DECISIONS, WE WILL COME INTO THINGS THAT NO MIRACLE CAN TAKE CARE OF.

These are not days of walking in ignorance. We must all understand that there are things that miracles cannot correct permanently. Those things are the things we of without GOD; the Godless and ungodly things we do sometimes. The Bible says if we sow to please the flesh, we will reap corruption.

Pleasing the flesh is Godless. It will yield things that will not attract any miracles from GOD except we repent.

So, if we spend our present days walking in the flesh, or sowing to please the flesh, we have shaped our final days already without realizing it. Do not be mistaken about it. The result of present day carnal and sinful decisions is usually final days of captivity and sorrowful living.

Some of the set of things we must learn from the Cry of the Spirit concerning miracles, are the set of things we should not to get ourselves involved with in our present days so that we will not have issue of life that no miracle can come from God to take care of in our final days.

There are things that even after you have believed God for them will not happen. There are things that will never change despite your faith in GOD because of certain spiritual laws that guides them. You see that in our devotional text.

If the law of seed, time and harvest was responsible for your predicament, believing God to change things will not work. If sowing to please the flesh was what brought problems upon your life, faith and confession will not solve your problems. You must begin to sow to please the Spirit in other for things to change.

Yes, you must key back into the same law to change things. And that has nothing to do with giving some money to a preacher in the name of seed sowing. Monetary gift is not the seed. The Bible says the word of the LORD is the seed!

I believe the LORD has spoken to us this morning. Time for application!

MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!

“Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap.

For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.

So then, as occasion and opportunity open up to us, let us do good [morally] to all people [not only being useful or profitable to them, but also doing what is for their spiritual good and advantage].

Be mindful to be a blessing, especially to those of the household of faith [those who belong to God’s family with you, the believers]. Galatians 6:7-10 AMPC