TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER 2022)
“Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone.
For the idols speak delusion; The diviners envision lies, and tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore, the people wend their way like sheep; They are in trouble because there is no shepherd.” Zechariah 10:1-2 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 264TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
We give God the glory of another day. This is the Day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it.
This morning, we join the Psalmist to say,
“Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction.”
Our redemption from destruction is the reason we are still alive today!
It is the reason we can sleep and wake up. It is the reason we have food to eat, shelter over our heads and even hope for tomorrow. We are simply candidates of God’s mercies, compassion, and marvelous helps. He gives us things we do not deserve and take away from us what we deserve. It is a mystery of His grace.
This morning we are continuing with our discourse on a kind of Biblical fasting called absolute fast.
Absolute fast is a fast that involves abstinence from food and water within a specific period, for the purpose of seeking God. A more stronger definition was given yesterday.
We discovered that this was the most common fast among our fathers. It was the fast they did that brought so much manifestations of God in their lives.
Some used it to change the course of History, Others used it to bring the strong hand of the LORD upon Satanic systems and cultures. Yet, under the cloud of glory, they abstained from food and water, and prayed until the satanic was no more.
There were those who brought kingdoms to their knees and took terrible kings from their throne with this kind of fast. People opened up cities for the gospel with this fast and rode on waves of God’s glory from eternity to time, and back to eternity, using the fast.
Absolute fast have been the key to the release of the destiny of so many in the History of God’s Kingdom on earth.
And like we saw yesterday, it is a fast that God Himself initiates. He said to Moses “come up here” before the man of God responded. In the case of Christ, the Bible says the Spirit of the LORD drove Him. So, it is not a fast you start by sitting down to decide.
IT IS A FAST WE ARE PROPELLED INTO BY THE CLOUD OF GLORY OR THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD.
That is why it is one of the most lethal fast in God’s kingdom. Because one must step into the cloud of glory to begin, it has a way of unleashing God’s glory products in and through us.
I reiterate that it is a very lethal devotional posture and act of worship in God’s kingdom. Something that carries a throne room force that the earth cannot withstand.
For instance, Religious establishments that stood against Christ where neutralized when our fathers engaged the LORD to do something about them using this kind of fast.
There is nothing that can withstand this fast.
At its advance level, you do not begin it setting some days by yourself. You do not say, “I want to fast without taking food or water for three, ten, twenty-one or forty days” no! That could kill you. Many did that and are no more today. Some are sick and insane.
In its scriptural definition, it is the cloud of glory that determines the number of days.
Our religiosity and spirituality do not determine.
The fast is not a fast you allow the spirit of religion to bring you into or to determine how many days to be in it. The spirit of religion has determined this fast for many and frustrated them everywhere they turn. But this is a fast that should be initiated and governed by the cloud of glory.
The number of days we stay in it should be determined by the cloud of glory.
For instance, Moses was there until the cloud was lifted. It got lifted on the 40th day and night. The Bible did not say Moses decided that he will be there for 40 days and night before embarking on the fast. The Bible says;
And he said to the elders,
“Wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.” Then Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain. Exodus 24:14-15 NKJV
So Moses did not step into the cloud deciding to fast for 40 days. If all of us in the body of Christ today were fasting the way Moses and Christ did it, there will be great results.
WE WILL HAVE NOT BEEN USING OIL, WATER, SALT, SAND AND ALL THAT IN PRAYERS. WE WOULD HAVE BEEN RIDING ON GREAT WAVES OF GLORY.
People use oil and etc. only when the religious spirit initiates the fast. God wants everything we do with Him to be void of religion. He wants everything to be governed by His glory; the substance and not the shadows.
Let me be prophetic a little because men and women have engaged in absolute fast from age to age, to provoke Heaven to fulfill prophecies spoken concerning their generation.
Understand that our generation is waiting for a later rain that was prophesied long ago.
I can’t forget the Prophecy of Joel, and other ancient Hebrew Prophet about our age and time. However, they were not the only ones who spoke about our days, women like Mariah Woodworth Etta did prophesied about the later rain of our days.
She was not referring to the later rain movement that you find in contemporary church history. That one birth the charismatic movement. She and others where referring to a movement that will be a swift witness against sorcerers and restore back apostolic Christianity.
Malachi saw these days and prophesied saying:
“But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap.
He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.
“Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem Will be pleasant to the LORD, As in the days of old, As in former years.
And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien— Because they do not fear Me,” Says the LORD of hosts.
“For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore, you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Malachi 3:3-6 NKJV
When prophecies of dispensational outpourings like this are pending in the Throne Room of God, it will take men and woman who are hungry and thirsty for fresh moves of GOD to sit in the council of the LORD, through absolute fast, and walk with the LORD to bring them to pass.
THERE ARE SO MANY SORCERERS, ADULTERERS, PERJURERS, AND OTHER KINDS OF EVILS AMONG THE CLERGY TODAY.
They are not repenting and have no plan to repent. They are building a Christianity that is different from what the LORD established by the hands of our fathers. So many souls have been lost from the Church because of them. The manifestation of apostacy is looming. This is the time for the later rain of our age to be poured. But people must ask for it through absolute fast.
Our devotional text says;
“Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone.
For the idols speak delusion; The diviners envision lies, and tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore, the people wend their way like sheep; They are in trouble because there is no shepherd.” Zechariah 10:1-2 NKJV
There are so many diviners today envisioning lies and telling false dreams. There are so many apostates today parading themselves as apostles. There are so many sons and daughters of Balaam today being treated as sons of God.
There is a wave of religious insanity and darkness in the Church today that need to be taken care of by the rain of the Spirit for our age and time.
Sons and daughters of the King must catch the burden and respond adequately; seeking the LORD with their fast. The kind Christ did. A fast that the glory initiates and the Spirit governs.
The message today is simple: We have been sharing about absolute fast in scriptural design. There have been a lot of absolute fast by men’s design and by the design of religion. That is why we have not been gaining so much through our fast.
Absolute fast in scriptural design can be very lethal.
Like stated earlier, most of time the fulfillment of prophecies spoken concerning any generation depends on it. The act of worship is lethal enough to deal with any situation we may be facing.
The message here is this, we should cease from engaging in absolute fast by men’s design and begin to engage in absolute fast by scriptural design. That will save us a lot and bring so much glory down. Do not forget, we can only find the LORD when we seek Him with all our hearts.
Absolute fast in scriptural design is one way we seek the LORD with all our hearts. It is my prayer that we will all respond to these things in Jesus precious name.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.” Jeremiah 29:12-14 NKJV