TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 5TH OCTOBER 2022)
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.” Colossians 3:1-7 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 278TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
The LORD has been mindful of us, that is why we have successfully seen 278 days of this year by His amazing grace.
He has been so gracious and kind to us, the God of awesome wonders who have shown us so much mercy, much more than we deserve.
There are no words that can describe how our lives would have been without Him.
His marvelous deeds have given us so much color and value in life. His consistency has kept us going even when we lost our consistency. His faithfulness stood for us when ours disappeared.
Our lives would have lacked meaning if not for the meaning He have been adding to them. All these goes to proof that the shelter of the presence of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ is the most secured shelter in all the earth.
We are who we are by His grace! The enemy has not had us because He choose to keep us. What a marvelous God He is!
By His amazing grace, we will keep our salvation vows and not trade Him for anything. We believe our lives are secured in His hands.
Now, the best part of all these is this, He does not deal with us according to our sin all the times, but according to His faithfulness.
But this is not a call for reckless living but for righteous living. God’s steadfast love should not be used as a fertility for sinful living but a motivation for righteous living.
Yes, He does not deal with us according to our sins most of the times but there are times He deals with man according to his sins, like in the case of Eli and his Sons where the LORD changed his mind concerning His plans for their lineage, because as priests, they kicked at his sacrifices and slept with the women who had dedicated their entire lives to worship Him.
They promoted temple prostitution.
So, the LORD killed them all in one day and turned the ministry to Samuel. He replaced the priesthood with the Prophetic. You see the same justice system in the new Testament where He killed Ananias and his wife for lying to Him.
Yes, there are times God deals with us according to our sins.
SO, GOD’S MERCIES SHOULD NOT BE USED AS A FERTILITY FOR SINFUL CONDUCT BUT A MOTIVATION FOR RIGHTEOUS LIVING.
That brings us to our 31-Day journey of faith on the Holy Spirit. He alone can help us overcome sinful lives and use God’s mercies in our lives to lead righteous lives on the face of the earth.
The truth remains, no one can lead a holy and righteous life except by the sanctification works of the Holy Spirit. And no one can say Jesus is LORD except by the Spirit.
Now, the words “no one can say” does not mean “no one can utter.” They words means something deeper than that, because even a parrot can utter the words “Jesus is LORD.”
When the Bible says no one can say, it means no one can lead the life that declares Christ as LORD over their lives. Simply put, no one can live their lives under the LORDSHIP of Christ except by the power and sanctification of the Holy Spirit.
To say Jesus is LORD is to live under the LORDSHIP of Christ.
So, the Holy Spirit is the one that helps us in all Christian matters. Without Him there can be no Christianity but a form of godliness without power. That is why the Bible says;
“So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. Romans 8:8-9 NKJV
There are truths to glean from this scripture. The first one tell us how to live to be able to please God; it made pleasing GOD a possibility only when we live in the Spirit not the flesh.
Meaning, if we do not walk in the Spirit, we cannot lead lives that please God. It made it clear that to please God, one must have the Holy Spirit in their lives helping them to walk in the Spirit not the flesh.
The second truth we can glean that scripture clearly states that if the Spirit of God is not living in anyone, it is a sign that that person does not belong to Christ, or is not a Christian. It is the constant presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives that makes us Christians not a profession of faith or a religious claim.
And like we said yesterday, the ultimate vision of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives is to put us in order. There can be no significant blessing in our lives until they are in order. God will never bless anyone of us if our lives are in chaos or out of order.
GOD DOES NOT BLESS DISORDER. GOD CAN ONLY BLESS ORDER.
If a marriage , therefore, is not in order, there can be no blessing in it. If a Church is not in order, there will be no blessing in the lives of those who worship there.
If your personal life is not in order, it will be a struggling life.
Anything that is without form and void will never receive blessing from the LORD. That is why GOD pours His Spirit on all flesh. That is also why He made the gift of the Holy Spirit the first gift we receive once we come to Christ.
The purpose of all that remains to put our lives in order so that He can put a blessing on them. The Bible says;
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:38-39 NKJV
Until the promise of the Spirit is fulfilled in your life, please do not seek other promises to be fulfilled. You will end up leading a Christian life that will just be a form of godliness without power.
You will not lead a blessed life no matter how much you try. At best you will become gullible and an Automated Teller Machine for a greedy preacher.
Most Preachers present giving them some sacrifices as the key to being blessed by the LORD. But the Bible presents having the Holy Spirit in your life as the key. Because no offering to a preacher can put your life in order for God to bless you. Only the Holy Spirit can put your lives in order for God to bless us.
In fact, in God’s order, we must receive the gift of the Holy Spirit first before we give anything to Him. The Holy Spirit must come first to put our lives in order before our gifts can attract Heaven’s attention.
BUT TO THE MONEY MINDED PREACHER IT IS NOT SO.
Child of God, understand that, if God want to bless us with a special treasure from Heaven through giving, He will first put His Holy Spirit in our lives to guide or sanctify us so that our giving can be sanctified. Until our giving is sanctified by the Spirit of the LORD who lives in us, we will never see His promised treasure coming to us through it.
Most givers do not have the Holy Spirit, that is why their giving is not producing what God intends in their lives. The Holy Spirit must therefore, first come into your life to put it in order before God can bless you.
If you followed yesterday’s devotional, that was the truth God transmitted to us..
Now, how does the Spirit put our lives in order? What are the steps He takes? That brings us to our devotional text. The text says;
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.” Colossians 3:1-7 NKJV
As we can see in this text, there are two things the Spirit will first do, or two major first steps He will take, to set our lives in order. The first step will be to set our mind on things above not on things on the earth.
The reason is because there is no way our lives can be set in order if our minds are set on things on the earth.
IT TAKES ETERNALLY MINDED PEOPLE TO HAVE LIVES THAT ARE SET IN ORDER BY THE ETERNAL SPIRIT OF GOD.
Those who are not eternally minded, who are earthly minded, will resist the Holy Spirit and even contend with Him whenever He tries to set their lives in order. If He is using a preacher like Paul or Elijah to do it, the people will show that preacher hell on earth. They will resist him or her and make sure the persons always have tears in their eyes.
It is not beautiful to be use of the LORD to set people’s lives in order.
You will earn a very bad reputation among the rebellious and those who are benefiting from the status quo. Human beings just want bad things to remain the way they are, especially when they are benefiting them, or if much sacrifice will be required to change them.
Those who are earthly minded will never let the Holy Spirit set their lives in order. They will resist Him steadfastly. The Bible says we should resist the devil steadfastly in the faith, but people who are earthly minded will do that to the Holy Spirit instead.
Friend, there is danger in resisting the Holy Spirit.
Yes, there is great danger in resisting the Holy Spirit, that is why He does not bother Himself with setting in order the lives of people who will resist Him.
He will only send prophetic warning fingers against them.
If you want God to set your life in order (to bless you), you must not set your mind on earthly things. If you do, you will build a resistance against the Holy Spirit and prevent Him from aligning your ways with God’s.
Yes, you will build a resistance against the LORD and prevent His Spirit from setting your life in order, thereby hindering blessings from breaking forth in your life.
Another word for the phrase “our minds” is the word “affection.” That scriptures says we should set our affection or love on eternal things. Again, that is the first thing the Holy Spirit will seek to accomplish in our walk and talk with the LORD in other to set our lives in order.
Sadly, as earlier stated, there are people who resist the Holy Spirit from doing that also.
It is important to note that one of the dangers of resisting the Holy Spirit from setting our minds or affection on eternal things, thereby resisting Him from setting our lives in order is, the LORD turning into an enemy to fight us.
YOU CAN SEE THAT IN THE LIVES OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL IN BIBLE SAYS.
The Bible says,
“In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore, he was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them.” Isaiah 63:9-10 NKJV
There is so much we can glean on this truth but there is no space for that on this platform. But our devotional text is clear; there is are two initial steps the Holy Spirit will take to put our lives in order so that any blessing from the LORD can rest upon us.
The first is to make sure we do not set our minds or affection on earthly things, the second is to help us put to death our members. This talking about the works of the flesh.
The Bible calls those members fornication, uncleanness, passions, evil desire, covetousness and etc.
In simply terms, we must use the grace of God upon our lives to start living the life of Godliness. Our lives will never be in order if any of those our members (as the Bible calls them) are alive in us.
We will pick up from here tomorrow. It is my prayer that the LORD will use what we have shared already to add to the building blocks of our faith. Amen
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God).
It is on account of these [very sins] that the [holy] anger of God is ever coming upon the sons of disobedience (those who are obstinately opposed to the divine will),
Among whom you also once walked, when you were living in and addicted to [such practices].” Colossians 3:5-7 AMPC