TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 25TH OCTOBER 2022)
“And there shall come forth a Shoot out of the stock of Jesse [David’s father], and a Branch out of his roots shall grow and bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord—
And shall make Him of quick understanding, and His delight shall be in the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord. And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, neither decide by the hearing of His ears;” Isaiah 11:1-3 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 298TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
The LORD God have been good to us, we give Him all the glory. He has not dealt with us according to our unfaithfulness but His faithfulness. That is why we are still alive.
Day unto day we have been seeing his mercies, and night unto night His unfailing love. With whom will you liken this God. There is no one. Our lives testify!
He was absolutely right when He said;
“To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” Isaiah 40:25-29 KJV
Indeed, if He were not the God who gives power to the faint or weak, if He had not been a reservoir of power for us, we would have long been silenced by the hazards of this life. And when the Bible say He gives power, its a reference to the many-sided power dimensions in Him.
For instance, there is the power of His love which is showered on mankind from time to time, there is the power of His mercy which cancels any judgment decreed upon us because of our sins, there is the power of His grace which forgives us of sins and gives us the strength to sin no more, and then the power of His faithfulness which is responsible in helping us escape temptations and bringing His word to pass in our lives.
All these power dimensions and much more are the very power components that make up the power of the Holy Spirit. Which brings us to where we stopped yesterday.
THE LORD BEGAN A FLOW YESTERDAY THAT TALKS ABOUT MALFUNCTIONING HUMANS.
He made us to understand that the Holy Spirit was primarily given to restore us back to our original settings so that we can be able to function normally again.
We saw in scriptures what it means to functional normally as gods of the Most High GOD, who are not to be worshiped but to offer worship to One and only true GOD, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
We saw that, to function normally involves knowing people’s thoughts before they even think about them. It is to see what people are doing even when you are not with them.
For instance, Jesus knew Peter will deny Him, long before the thought entered Peter’s heart, and Elisha was not physically present with Gehazi but saw how the young man collected what his greed took him to collect from Naaman. That is how a normal human was designed by the LORD to function.
Jesus walked on water, and also got money from the mouth of a fish. Philip rode on an invisible chariot to Azotus after preaching to the Ethiopian Eunuch. Paul slept for 24 hours in the Ocean without oxygen mask and survived. The three Hebrew boys walked about in the fire and were not consumed. These are the capabilities of humans who functioned normally in Bible days.
The Holy Spirit was given to restore back our settings and all the vital spiritual components that are necessary for us to function normally again, because sin, iniquity and trespass have been making us to function abnormally, leading to great suffering and sorrow in our lives.
The Holy Spirit was sent to use living truths and life changing impartations to restore us back to our original settings. The nine gifts He possess are the vital spiritual components that need to be released into our spirits to make us normal again because, if we cannot do the supernatural feats, we saw Jesus and the rest of those who walked with GOD in Bible days do, we are not normal.
Which means its abnormal not to know people’s thoughts before they think them. It is abnormal not to walk on water if the need arises. It is abnormal not to get money from fishes if we DO NOT have money in our pockets.
ITS ABNORMAL NOT TO RIDE ON INVISIBLE CHARIOTS IF THERE IS NO MEANS OF TRANSPORT.
Its abnormal not to be supernaturally smarter than others. Daniel and friends were ten times better than others in His days. It is also abnormal not to walk through fire without being hurt if that is the only way one need to escape death.
GOD made the supernatural feats, normal for us. Sadly, we call it abnormal and then call the fallen life normal. God’s normal for us is seen as abnormal, and our abnormal seen as normal by us. All that is because of our fallen natures.
Authentic Christianity will focus on taking care of our fallen nature and bringing us into God’s normal for our lives, through the impartation of the gifts and living truths of the Holy Spirit. Our goal as the redeemed of the LORD, should be to press daily into God’s normal for us and break forth into life without limits, as we spend our days doing His will.
Our devotional text for today says;
“And there shall come forth a Shoot out of the stock of Jesse [David’s father], and a Branch out of his roots shall grow and bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord—
And shall make Him of quick understanding, and His delight shall be in the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord. And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, neither decide by the hearing of His ears;” Isaiah 11:1-3 NKJV
In this text we can see another normal of God for us, “having a quick understanding and not judging by the sight of our eyes, neither deciding by the hearing of our ears.”
Show me a man or woman with this normal, and I will show you someone who is living life without limits.
THE AMPLIFIED VERSION OF THE BIBLE PUT SAME SCRIPTURE IN THESE CONTEMPORARY WORDS;
“And shall make Him of quick understanding, and His delight shall be in the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord. And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, neither decide by the hearing of His ears;” Isaiah 11:3 AMPC
That brings us to the vital spiritual components (gifts of the Spirit) that can bring us into this normal. The Bible made it clear that there are nine gifts of the Spirit, three are revelation gifts. The three revelation gifts are the gifts that brings us to this normal of God.
They are;
1. The word of Knowledge
2. The Word of Wisdom
3. Discerning of spirits.
If these three gifts are operational in your life, you will not just be operating a high-level supernatural intelligence. You will also have a quick understanding of things and will not be limited to the five natural senses.
For instance, the gift of the word of knowledge is a vital spiritual component that will help you walk in supernatural awareness of things you will never know naturally, even if you attend the best schools on earth.
It places one beyond the level of secular education. It makes one sound in mind than the best human brains on earth. It manifest different in our lives depending on what we are doing.
For me a preacher, this component tells me who God wants to heal, deliver or bless in a church service. For a medical doctor this gift will help him or her in proper diagnosis of diseases and what to do to bring quick healing, even when the diseases have proven to be scientifically incurable.
The spiritual component called the word of wisdom is what helps me, as a preacher and teacher of God’s word, to teach or preach with deep Biblical insight. But for a mechanic, a driver, a police officer, a medical doctor, a builder, a politician or any other profession it functions differently. It will manifest in their lives as the catalyst of uncommon insight in whatever they may be doing, leading do amazing feast in their fields of endeavor.
The spiritual component called discerning of spirits on the other hand will help me as a preacher to tell which spirit (human, diabolic or divine), is operational when, among other things, praying for people or solving their problems. But for people in secular fields, it will help them to know the spirit they are dealing with when doing their jobs, paving way for the word of wisdom to come in to guide on how to handle the spirits detected or neutralize them.
IT CAN HELP THEM IN NEGOTIATING FOR BUSINESS DEALS AND IMPROVING THEIR FINANCES.
It can also help them in detecting fraudulent deals or fraudulent people. If reinforced by the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom, this is one major spiritual component that helps the business man to curb loses in business and pull in great business deals.
It may interest singles to know that these are the three categories of Spiritual gifts or components that will help them in choosing a mate. In fact, these gifts or spiritual components do not just help us to get married in God’s will, they can also help us in staying married as well, especially in seasons of marital challenges.
Enough for the day have been shared. Now use it to add to the building block of your faith.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
Be not like the horse or the mule, which lack understanding, which must have their mouths held firm with bit and bridle, or else they will not come with you. Psalm 32:8-9 AMPC