TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 19TH AUGUST 2022)
His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, every one for his own gain, From his own territory.
“Come,” one says, “I will bring wine, and we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink; Tomorrow will be as today, And much more abundant.” Isaiah 56:10-12 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 231ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
We thank God for His marvelous helps and great deeds. It’s another weekend in this year of weeks. We give our God thanks for keeping us.
Weeks has always characterized years. It takes 52 weeks to make one year. God has given us another weekend, meaning He has seen us through for another week. Glory to His marvelous name!
Today as we continue our journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit on spiritual fathering, I pray that we find something from the Heavenly father to feed our spirits with.
The Heavenly Father remains the path and pattern of spiritual fathering. He remains the path and pattern of the authentic spiritual fathering – a fathering system built around the Tree of life. I hope we are ready.
To start with, a fathering system built around the Tree of life will not manipulate anyone. It will not demean anyone. You will develop a spiritual independence around it. You will have a sense of prophetic purpose in your spirit under it, and start seeing yourself as very important to God.
A spiritual fathering system built around the Tree of life will not enslave anyone. You feel very free around it. It will not make you feel you are responsible for its needs to be met so that GOD can bless you. In other words, it will not tight your blessings to you treating it fairly without it treating you fairly in return.
There are people in church today who are in terrible economic enslavement that they call fathering. They have been made to feel obligated to take care of the economic needs of their so-called fathers, even to their own detriment.
No spiritual fathering around the tree of life will do that to you!
There are also those who feel spiritual fathering is having a preacher who take care of their economic needs. I call this abuse of fathering. While Jesus instructed us to take care of the physical needs of the young ones we minister to, especially if it will boost their walk and talk with Him, the essence of spiritual fathering is not to take care of your economic needs.
The ultimate essence of spiritual fathering is to boost your access to the Tree of life Himself, where you receive all you need from the LORD to live this life in a godly, righteous, pure and prosperous way.
SADLY, THIS HAS NOT BEEN THE CASE IN THE LIVES OF SO MANY WITH SO-CALLED SPIRITUAL FATHERS.
They do not have access to the Tree of life, that is why their fathers lead them to raise altars, silence some, or break others. They lead them to break Generational curses, because they do not have access to the Tree of life where generational blessings are present.
You find so many being led to break curses endlessly, even to the point of losing their minds in the process.
Their fathers collect their properties in the name of the LORD, make them forget their own needs through intense manipulations, reduce them to wrecks using sorcery if they do not follow their instructions.
Child of God, there are so many spiritual fathers today who use black powers in ministry. They will prophesy that you will fall sick or suffer one mishap or the other for not meeting their ungodly needs, and it will happen.
You think that GOD will strike a man for not taking care of the greed and covetousness of a so-called prophet, apostle, pastor or Bishop? No, He won’t because He is against greed and covetousness. He is against greedy preachers.
Our devotional text contains how He feels about greedy preachers. The text says;
His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, every one for his own gain, From his own territory.
“Come,” one says, “I will bring wine, and we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink; Tomorrow will be as today, And much more abundant.” Isaiah 56:10-12 NKJV
The first time I came across this scripture I was shocked that God could describe His servants in those terms. If He was physically here with us using the terms many will say He is destroying the body of Christ. He is attacking men of God.
THEY WILL NOT KNOW IT IS THE OWNER OF THE VINEYARD THAT IS SCREAMING AT HIS WORKERS.
But in these prophetic words, the words are still potent and authoritative. If you look at them side by side what is happening in church today, you will realize that the same rebuke is upon us today.
You will find God addressing us, His so-called servants, using same words because they accurately describe what most of us have become in ministry.
In those days, He called them watchmen that are blind, and ignorant; dumb dogs that cannot bark; Sleeping spiritually, lying down, and loving to slumber. This descriptions fits what many of us I’m ministry have become.
Now, how can you have this kind of a preacher as a spiritual father and have access to the Tree of life? It is impossible. But God did not stop there. He went on to call some of us greedy dogs. That is a strong word there my friend.
Yes, most of us in ministry have become mare greedy dogs looking for the next victim to milk money, properties and etc. from with our prophecies, religious performances in the name of prayers and strategic preaching.
Our greed have become terrible.
Greed is an intense desire for something, especially wealth, power or food. When God describe His servants as greedy dogs, He is saying in addition to our intense desire for wealth and power, most of us preachers have gone back completely to our old ways.
As a result, we have become shepherds who are selfish and cannot understand Him or his ways. Even when ministering to people we are not actually concern about them but just about us; we are looking for what to get from them for ourselves.
The Bible says every one look for his own gain, from his own territory.
How can you have this breed of preachers as spiritual fathers and have access to the Tree of life. That is why many believers are yet to have that beautiful glorious access.
Their so-called spiritual fathers lead them in prayer jamborees that only increase their relevance and revenues. They are fooled and exploited through what they call prophetic acts. They lie to them while speaking in tongues.
They manipulate them while laying hands on them. They pray with their mouths what is not in their hearts. It has become an eyesore to the Godhead having these kind of spiritual fathers over glorious destinies.
GOD WANT US OUT OF THE GRIP OF SUCH PLAGUES. HE WANTS YOU OUT!
You will never fulfill your destiny under such trees of death presenting themselves as trees of life. Don’t you see the prophecies they release to you whenever they feel offended? Where were the prophecies when you were blessing them with things?
There is so much about these plagues many called spiritual fathers. But I believe the LORD has spoken to us this morning. Time to become wiser than the enemy. Time to apply truth to your life so that you can enjoy the freedom that is in Christ to the full.
The message this morning is to cut off from greedy dogs, and let God lead you to His serving servants whose lives and ministries are around the Tree of life. That is where you will find a spiritual fathering that will outsource life from Heaven to the earth for you. That is where you will begin to enjoy access to the Tree of life, eating the fruit of the tree on regular bases.
A spiritual father that is built around the Tree of life will be a source of the Heavenly life to the lives of those who sit under it. Paul was one, which was why he was a source of the Christ life to all who sat under him. Some of us today still sit under what he was inspired by the LORD to write, enjoying the very life they enjoyed then.
It is my prayer that God will use these words to add to your faith building process in Jesus precious name. Amen!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY.
“Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” 2 Peter 3:14-16 NKJV