TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 19TH JULY 2022)
“Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.” Jeremiah 3:14-17 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 200TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
When I look at how I have faired this year and how God’s mercies have been speaking in my life, I cannot but thank the LORD for His Amazing Grace. I guess you can say the same concerning yourself.
Sleeping and waking up alone for 200 days is not cheap, above all waking up in health and peace. Not because you are better than those who could not sleep and wake up like you did, but because of God’s unfathomable mercies.
When He was physically here, Jesus once had a conversation with people who came to tell him about a disaster that just happened. And His response still resonates the living truth that says we are not alive because we are better to this day. The Bible says,
“There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?
I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?
I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:1-5 NKJV
Child of God we are not alive because we are better. We are alive because God is merciful. And do not forget, not everything can be understood about God’s mercies on this side of eternity. The reason is simple; it is very clear in scriptures that on this side we can only know the part God chose to reveal.
WE WILL KNOW THE OTHER PART WHEN WE GET TO THE OTHER SIDE OF ETERNITY; WHEN THAT WHICH IS PERFECT COME.
That is why the Bible said;
“For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” 1 Corinthians 13:9-10 KJV
So, not everything about God’s mercy will be known or understood on this side of eternity.
Talking about the things that God has ordained we know, I grew up to discover that If we press into God harder and harder, we will get the part He ordained that we know. We will never get the part He kept away from us.
But sadly, due to spiritual laziness, the spread of false or heretic teachings, deception, personal pride and arrogance, and many other factors on the side of man, the things God ordained that we know is still unknown to many. The Bible says,
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV
Underline the words “but those things which are revealed.” Now, how many of them do you know as a Child of God? Most only know about demons and all they do.
Others just know nothing significant in God’s curriculum. They attend empty churches where the demonic is demonstrated or taught in form of what they call prophetic acts. They are basically ignorant of any living truth that has been revealed or sanctioned for us.
These things happen because a lot of believers do not spend time with their Bible searching for what the LORD has revealed. But it is also important to note that it is impossible for a new (or an average) believer to be able to sit down and connect some of these things directly if he or she is not under a strong spiritual leadership that has connected them.
SO MANY ARE SPIRITUALLY BACKWARD BECAUSE OF THE KIND OF PREACHERS THAT INFLUENCE THEM.
Sadly, they do not even know they are spiritually backward because the leaders make them believe they are okay, while before God it is not so.
Most Christians and local Churches have become like some of the seven churches in the book of revelation with so many things against them in God’s justice system. That is why they have to queue for deliverances and all that because of persistent oppression of Satan, which many have taken as the norm.
We must understand that in God’s scheme of things, preachers should be the ones helping believers know Him intimately and discover the secret things that have been sanctioned to be revealed to every generation.
But because of different agenda that creeps into the hearts of preachers, so many of us in ministry are rather making seekers of God stumble at His word, instead of keeping it.
Instead of our lips being the source of knowledge, especially the knowledge that comes through rebukes, correction in righteousness, and revelation, our lips are sources of money-making doctrines and all kinds of deliverance inventions that we call timeless ordinances and prophetic acts.
So many of us in ministry have imported occult practices and teachings into the gospel, hence our messages are not helping anyone live the Life that our fathers lived in the early Church; the very life that made the world to call them Christians. That is why God is also judging many preachers today by making them contemptible. The Bible says;
“For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
But you have departed from the way; You have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” Says the LORD of hosts.
“Therefore, I also have made you contemptible and base Before all the people, because you have not kept My ways but have shown partiality in the law.” Malachi 2:7-9 NKJV
One of the major assignments of a preacher, as we can see in this scripture, is to be the source of accurate truths to a perishing world and the sick church. But is that what we have today?
THE ANSWER IS EMPHATICALLY NO!
In fact, what people get from us is either false doctrines, polluted teachings, sexual immorality, ability to lie and not be caught, hypocrisy, pride, self-exaltation, Godless politics, or Christianity without the cross or so much evil and vices to fight for the rest of their lives.
There are so many people today who sit under preachers who do not have the noble kingdom character of spending quality time to study their Bibles. Consequently, you hear messages from very famed preachers that make you think “are they drunk.”
They say very unscriptural things with boldness and twist the scripture to suit the narrative of their man-made doctrines.
So many have great audience but with very cheap, polluted, mutilated and spiritually insignificant messages to tell their audience. You can only progress as far as the preacher who influences you has progressed.
The gift of men who can function as God’s messengers, with full respect for the covenant of Levi, bringing to us the fullness of the secrets things that have been revealed and sanctioned to be known in our generation, is one of the best gifts of God to mankind. The Bible says,
Therefore, He says:
“When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, Ephesians 4:8, 11-14 NKJV
This brings us to the subject of our 31-Day journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit; miracles, signs and wonders. We have been looking at miracles that proceeds from God’s throne. And one of those miracles is the miracle of having a pastor after God’s heart over your life as a believer.
GENUINE MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL ARE USUALLY DISPATCHED TO US FROM GOD’S THRONE.
That is why when you sit under a pastor given to you by the LORD, with a pure motive and a hungry heart, your life come under the Throne Room atmosphere of God.
Under the Throne Room atmosphere of God, you do not break curses, raise altars, offer sacrifice of any kind for any miracle or move of GOD you need. They just happen because you are where they happen. Any curses that may exist in your life is automatically replaced with blessings, your life becomes God’s altar on earth. In fact, you become the ark fulfilled.
That is why the true God will not ask you to raise an altar if things are not okay with you, neither will He lead you to this kind of curse breaking stuff you see in Church today if curses are hindering you in any front.
He will never even ask you to fast if your spiritual life is zero because that will never work until you are properly positioned. He will just give you the miracle of a pastor after His heart to feed you with knowledge and understanding until you become His ark on the face of the earth.
Our devotional text says;
“Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, the ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.” Jeremiah 3:14-17 NKJV
A LOT HAVE ALREADY BEEN SHARED FOR THE DAY.
But as we bring this to a close, there are two things I can see in this scripture as the primary purpose of having a pastor after God’s heart. The first is the fulfillment of the ark in our lives, the second is deliverance from walking after the imagination of an evil heart.
Your life will become a piece of Heaven on earth if the ark is fulfilled in it and you no longer follow the imagination of your evil heart to take place in it. And all that is not by might or by power but by the Spirit of the living God working through a pastor dispatched from God’s throne to you.
It is better to sit at home and wait on the LORD for such a leader than to jump into any Church sitting under one a preacher you are not sure the LORD gave you.
A lot of preachers are from the Throne of Satan that is why what they preach forms the depths of Satan in people’s hearts.
There are so many things that can form the depths of Satan in people. But two sets of doctrines doing it in Church today are the doctrines of Balaam and the doctrines of the Nicolaitans. One focus on seducing God’s people, the other focuses on dominating God’s people and breaking the influence of the Kingdom of God from their lives.
While Balaam will teach you to raise, break or silence altars, Nicolaitans will teach you a fathering and submission system that will make you one who run after men for anointings and even worship them for favors from God, instead of meeting God Himself.
You know you are under any of these doctrines when the depths of Satan are formed in you instead of the depth of God (Christ). You know you are under them when you find yourself under the throne of Satan, where among other things, demonic attacks are common, sin is normalized and righteousness down played.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” Revelation 2:12-16 NKJV