TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER 2022)
Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.
He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” John 12:20-26 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 255TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
Truly, the LORD our GOD has been mindful of us. He has been our help and keeper.
There is no promise of His to us that has not come to pass. It is the manifestation of His promises that has kept us for the 255 days of the year that we have seen. We believe the manifestation of His promises will keep and help us go through the remaining days of this year.
It is a new week from the LORD and our hearts are full of expectations. The LORD has given us so much to expect from Him. Hallelujah!
It is good to face a week with ideal expectations based on one’s walk and talk with the LORD. God wants our expectations or hopes not to fail. That is why He has put things in His Kingdom to make sure our expectations do not fail.
Sometimes when expectation fail, it can kill or destroy. Failed hopes and expectations can even make someone sick. That is why God hates it when our ideal expectations fail. The Bible says;
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12 NKJV
This scripture tells us why the enemy will not want our expectations to come to pass. Child of God, Failed expectations can ruin someone’s health. They can even take someone’s life.
There are people who have committed suicide because failed expectations. Some have left God and no longer want to hear anything called Church because of same. It is very important that when expectations fail, we look back to check why and take corrections.
THE MANIFESTATION OF EXPECTATIONS, EITHER IDEAL OR NOT, DEPENDS ON SO MANY FACTORS.
The Bible teaches that not every expectation can be made manifest. It all depends on the nature of a man’s heart.
The words say;
The hope of the righteous will be gladness, But the expectation of the wicked will perish. Proverbs 10:28 NKJV
From this and other scriptures, it is clear that Ideal expectations coming to pass do not depend on God sometimes, neither do they depend on prophetic utterance or the anointing of the person who spoke them into your heart. Ideal expectations coming to pass depends on so many factors including the nature of a man’s heart.
If your heart is righteous, expectations spoken over your life will cone to pass, also the ones you conceive will come to pass because they will be ideal and righteous. But if the heart is wicked, its expectations will perish because they are not ideal in God’s sight.
No wicked heart can conceive expectations that can be made manifest by the LORD. The Bible says;
“Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, For the reward of his hands shall be given him.” Isaiah 3:10-11 NKJV
The wicked may be prosperous in a season, sometimes even making the heart of the righteous sad, but the Bible says it shall be ill with him when time comments. On the other hand, the righteous may be suffering like Job, with everyone thinking God is punishing him, the Bible says, it shall be well with him when time comments.
God will handle their expectations differently because He will give to each one the fruit of their doing.
Friend, there are forces Heaven has put on earth and in motion to frustrate the expectations of the wicked and prosper that of the righteous over time. That is why we are all still alive.
It is very important to note that it is a blessing for us when the expectations of the wicked fail, because in their manifestation is our destruction. For instance, if the eternal expectation of the devil concerning the human race come to pass in our lives, there would be no soul in Heaven. There will be no salvation for anyone, no forgiveness for our sins, no redemption from eternal damnation.
PEOPLE WILL BE SICK AND THEY WILL NOT BE HEALED UNTIL THEY DIE.
They would be no record of a sick soul that was healed. All demonic plans against us would come to pass, leading to the greatest loss in eternal History. It is because of the decree of the almighty to frustrate the expectations of the wicked that salvation from sin and eternal destruction became possible.
You see, Satan had not, and will not be able to fully fulfilled his vision for the human because of the forces Heaven has put on earth to frustrate his expectations concerning our lives. The death, burial and resurrection of Christ was for the purpose of making sure no expectation of the devil or any of his seed come to pass in our lives.
It was for the purpose of helping us become all He has called us to be, and none of what Satan expects us to be that Jesus came. His redemptive death was primarily to destroy the expectations of the wicked concerning our lives by destroying him. The Bible says;
“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Hebrews 2:14-15 NKJV
This scripture made it clear that Jesus destroyed the devil by His redemptive death on the cross. He destroyed the devil to destroy his expectations. God can do anything to destroy the expectations of the wicked. That is why no matter what happens, it is very important that we be on His side.
He said in His word;
“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:9-10 NKJV
BEING ON THE LORD’S SIDE INVOLVES ENTERING BY HIM INTO THE KINGDOM. ENTERING THROUGH GENUINE ENCOUNTERS WITH HIM.
Once we are inside, we are covered. No expectation of the wicked concerning our lives will be fulfilled. Only His own expectations for our lives will be fulfilled, and His expectation is that we have life and have it more abundantly.
Now, talking about having life from the LORD, and life more abundantly, we have been on a 30-day journey of faith on Biblical fasting. We have seen some difference between Biblical fasting and religious fasting.
One major blessing of Biblical fasting is the abundant life it brings to our spirits and souls, then our bodies. Like we said yesterday, we do not fast to make God do anything, we fast to let God do anything He may have said He will do.
The Bible says Jesus came that we may have life and have it more abundantly.
This has to do with the eternal life He brought to us, and the life of God that should be flowing in and through us on daily bases to make life worth living. I have learned by experience that Biblical fasting brings us to the realm where the LORD pours an abundant life into us, making us do supernatural things naturally.
You see this in the life of Christ in the Holy Scriptures.
The Bible says after a 40-day fast and victory over temptation
….Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.” (Luke 4:14-15 NKJV).
This is one of the major reasons you should never engage in religious fasting. It will never produce the abundant life of God like we see in the life of Christ.
Do not forget, the Pharisees and leaders of Israel where fasting before Jesus came, but none of their fast could result in an out break of God on anyone. The disciples of John where fasting also, but none of them could step into the realm of life; none could return in the power of the Spirit like Jesus did.
MOSES DID IT FOR 40 DAYS BUT CAME DOWN WITH A FACE THAT NO ONE COULD LOOK AT.
That was life more abundant, contacted through fasting. Religious fast will not give you that kind of life. It will give you nothing Heavenly!
What happened to the LORD after His fast in the days of His flesh is proof that Biblical fasting is a form of dying that results in supernatural life after the fast. It is a seed or grain of corn falling to the ground to die so that it will not abide alone.
A major portion of our devotional text says;
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.
He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” John 12:24-26 NKJV
We are to follow the LORD in the kind of fast He led not the fast of our so-called spiritual fathers who are cut off from Him. If We follow the LORD, our fast will be resulting in abundance life, leading to manifestation of our expectations.
Jesus established His expectation through Biblical fasting, and made them prosper. We can do the same because we have His Holy Spirit with us now!
That part of our devotional text says except a grain or seed of corn falls and dies it abides alone. The part gives us more understanding of what can happen through Biblical fasting.
From it, we can clearly see that Biblical fasting is a dying process that usually results in the outbreak of God in our life; an outbreak that makes sure we do not abide alone.
A DYING PROCESS THAT BRINGS INCREASE AND MULTIPLICATION AS A RESULT.
It can lead to increase of profit making in righteous business pursuits, increase in the prosperity and success one is recording and etc. There is so much you will never become in life if you do not engage in the dying process of Biblical fasting regularly.
You will stagnate and eventually die because except a seed of corn falls and dies, it abides alone.
In fact, you will die because you refused to die. I hope you understand me!
As we bring this to a close, understand that we are often surrounded by enemies and wicked hearts that may be smiling at us and even feeding by our hands and serving us but do not want to see us succeed.
If we lead lives of Biblical fasting, we will generate an abundant life that will make sure their expectations concerning us do not come to pass. That is why it is important that we lead our lives form the prayer knee when we are surrounded by wicked hearts.
It is my prayer that God will use what He has shared with us this morning, to keep building us up, and giving us an inheritance among they that are sanctified. Amen and amen!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Luke 4:13-19 NKJV