TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 27TH OCTOBER 2022)
“So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the warriors with him and all the mighty men of valour. And the Lord said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hand; there shall not a man of them stand before you.
So, Joshua came upon them suddenly, having gone up from Gilgal all night. And the Lord caused [the enemies] to panic before Israel, who slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and chased them along the way that goes up to Beth-horon and smote them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.
As they fled before Israel, while they were descending [the pass] to Beth-horon, the Lord cast great stones from the heavens on them as far as Azekah, killing them. More died because of the hailstones than the Israelites slew with the sword.
Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, be silent and stand still at Gibeon, and you, moon, in the Valley of Ajalon!
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance upon their enemies.
Is not this written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.
There was no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man. For the Lord fought for Israel.
Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.” Joshua 10:7-15 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 300TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
We hit the 300 day of this amazing year today and to God be the glory. He has kept us, He has watched over us, He has fed us, He has fought our battles, He has been our God in all fronts, He has been our everything.
That is why nothing from the kingdom of darkness has been able to wipe us away.
If God is your everything, nothing from hell can neutralize you. Except we yield to our flesh, nothing from hell can neutralize us if God is our everything.
When we say God is our everything, we are saying He is our peace, He is our righteousness, He is our shelter, He is our provider, He is our weapon of war, He is our strong tower, He is the life that runs through us, He is the source from which all blessings flow. He is our everything.
If there is a need, He is the supply, the ultimate solution to all our problems. Except one does not know How to tap into His available resources, He is the ultimate solution to all human problems.
His words remain the secret of success in the pursuit of any worthy venture. The reason for that is simple. God’s word is Him, and there so much in Heaven that backs it on earth, making it the most ultimate secret of success in life.
He said to Joshua;
“This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.” Joshua 1:8 AMPC
This scripture is the only place the word “success” was mentioned in the early English versions of the Bible. It tells us of GOD’s will for our lives and shows us one of the major attached conditions to seeing it come to pass.
Now, there is success in the realm of the flesh and the realm of the evil one. That is not the success GOD referred to here. That is why He called what He referred to good success; success in His will, programs and purposes.
DO NOT FORGET, JOSHUA WAS COMMISSION TO LEAD ISRAEL INTO THE PROMISED LAND.
The scripture is a reference to success in GOD not in the pursuit of selfish ambitions. Understand that, Since mankind was not created by God for man but for God, the best way to succeed in life is not in selfish ambitions but in God.
We have been talking about the Holy Spirit, God’s intentions for us to function as His gods or Sons on earth, and the gifts of the Spirit that can make that happen. But I want to submit to us this morning that if what our lives are living or dying for have nothing to do with success in God, none of what we have been sharing about the blessed Holy Spirit and the capabilities of His gifts can be possible in our lives. It is therefore, important that we look at matters of success in God.
Now, there are two kinds of success in God. The first is eternal success, which among other things involves accomplishing an eternal aim or purpose.
This is a success type that transcends time, and is not subject to change. It is highly recommended.
If you look at the lives of our Bible fathers who lived on this earth before us, you will see many sides of this type of success. One major side you will see is the accomplishing of the righteous desire to spend a life time within the boundaries of God’s revealed will for our lives; like apostle Paul did.
This is also a major secret to peaceful living on earth; it is also a secret to being relevant to all generations.
Remember, Paul spent His entire life pursuing God’s revealed will for His life. He spent it doing only the things he was sure were assigned to Him by the LORD Jesus. Today, he is still relevant both in time and eternity.
HERE IS WHAT HE SAID TO KING AGRIPPA, ONE OF THE NOBLE MEN OF HIS DAYS;
“When on the road at midday, O king, I saw a light from heaven surpassing the brightness of the sun, flashing about me and those who were traveling with me.
And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice in the Hebrew tongue saying to me, Saul, Saul, why do you continue to persecute Me [to harass and trouble and molest Me]? It is dangerous and turns out badly for you to keep kicking against the goads [to keep offering vain and perilous resistance].
And I said, Who are You, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting.
But arise and stand upon your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, that I might appoint you to serve as [My] minister and to bear witness both to what you have seen of Me and to that in which I will appear to you,
Choosing you out [selecting you for Myself] and delivering you from among this [Jewish] people and the Gentiles to whom I am sending you—
To open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may thus receive forgiveness and release from their sins and a place and portion among those who are consecrated and purified by faith in Me.
Wherefore, O King Agrippa I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision,” Acts 26:13-19 AMPC
This scriptural passage contains the things that were assigned to Paul by the LORD Jesus, which he spent his entire life pursuing. That is how to pursue eternal success.
His decision to remain obedient to the Heavenly vision is an example to all of us who desire eternal success. He never lived for his assignment, rather he died for it.
I do not think there is any eternal aim or purpose that can be stronger than that.
Our lives as humans will indeed worth nothing, except we spend them doing exactly what Paul did; doing only the things we are sure have been assigned to us by the LORD Jesus.
Friend, there is a purpose behind your life on earth. That purpose comprises of things assigned to you by the LORD Jesus Christ, the second person in the Godhead who redeemed us from sin and Satan.
You may not know Him yet, but He knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb and ordained you to accomplish some eternal things in time with Him. Wisdom demands you find those things and begin to, not live for them, but die for them.
I hope you understand me!
UNTIL YOU FIND THEM AND LIMIT YOUR LIFE TO THEM, YOU ARE NOT LIVING THE LIFE YOU WERE CREATED TO LIVE.
You are rather living a life you were not created to live, and at the same time defeating an eternal aim or purpose. Trust me, that is the secret of lack, poverty and all evil, because our prosperity, abundance, and peace on earth are hidden in our God given eternal purposes for living.
That is why People who spend their days defeating the eternal purpose of GOD for their lives ends up with either broken and battered lives in time, or eternally damned lives in eternity.
That should explain to us what Paul was running away from when he chose not to be disobedient to the heavenly vision.
The vision was a revelation of things assigned to Him by the LORD Jesus.
I reiterate again that there are things assigned to you by the LORD Jesus in glory. You must find them and limit your entire life to pursuing them. That is how to achieve eternal success.
The second type of success is temporal success. Temporal success is accomplishing an aim or purposes that is limited to time. Most times it takes multiple temporal success to achieve an eternal success. That is why temporary success should not be ignored.
Not many serious-minded Christians understand the power of accumulated temporal success in helping us achieve eternal success.
Earthly life goals like having a successful marriage or other forms of righteous interpersonal relationships, being very successful in business or family life, rising to the top of your career, being the best in anything you set your hands to do, becoming the most sort after entrepreneur, writing the best books in life, traveling to build an economic base somewhere for the kingdom, becoming a scholar, and all that could be very powerful in helping one achieve eternal success.
Temporal success involves succeeding in earthly life goals that ends here on earth but are important to our eternal success.
Let me say that most times we demonize temporal success, but there is nothing wrong with temporal success, so long is it will ultimately result in achieving an eternal success. The only thing wrong with temporal success is if it is not in the direction of God’s earthly plans and purposes for a man’s life.
IT IS GOD’S WILL FOR US TO SUCCEED IN OUR MARRIAGES. IT IS HIS WILL THAT WE SUCCEED IN OUR FINANCES.
It is His perfect will that our families run well and our earthly lives prosper in all aspects. It is God’s will that we lead very peaceful and successful earthly lives. If anyone preaches otherwise, you are being misled. And the original way God intend that to happen was what we saw in Adam yesterday, the way of being His gods on the face of the earth.
Honestly, if we want to have both eternal and temporal success, the easiest way remains going back to our original design.
The original design is the design to function as gods of the Most High God on the face of the earth. If we do not do that, we will never have good temporal or eternal success. Many of us fail in life just because of that. We fail in marriage, finance, career, interpersonal relationships, and even in the pursuit of eternal success because we are not divine nature active.
Child of GOD, there are so many supernatural things that usually militate against our success in life.
There are principalities, principles, powers, processes, activities, evil men, and demonic traffic that will not let us have successful family, financial, or achieve eternal success. If we do not become divine-nature-active, we will never succeed in life, especially by God’s design.
We must get our settings and spiritual components back and function as gods or Sons of the One and only True God, to succeed on earth.
To get his settings and vital spiritual components back was the reason Joshua was told to spend his days and nights meditating on the word of the LORD. Meditating in the word of God is one way we feed on the word of GOD.
Now, the principle of feeding is this; we become what we feed on. In other words, what you eat will eat you. So, if you feed on the word of the LORD, it will eat you, and then restore back your settings and vital spiritual components, thereby transforming you to function as god, or Son of the One and only true God.
That was what happened to Joshua.
He got his settings and vital components back when he obeyed the LORD, and manifested as god in the pursuit of both temporal and eternal success. He spoke to the sun and the moon and they obeyed.
ALL THAT WAS POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF THE TIME HE SPENT WITH THE LAW OF THE LORD.
Our devotional text says;
“So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the warriors with him and all the mighty men of valour. And the Lord said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hand; there shall not a man of them stand before you.
So, Joshua came upon them suddenly, having gone up from Gilgal all night. And the Lord caused [the enemies] to panic before Israel, who slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and chased them along the way that goes up to Beth-horon and smote them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.
As they fled before Israel, while they were descending [the pass] to Beth-horon, the Lord cast great stones from the heavens on them as far as Azekah, killing them. More died because of the hailstones than the Israelites slew with the sword.
Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, be silent and stand still at Gibeon, and you, moon, in the Valley of Ajalon!
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance upon their enemies. Is not this written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.
There was no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man. For the Lord fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.” Joshua 10:7-15 AMPC
This Bible passage gives us one of the most beautiful battle fields on earth. A battle field where the One and only true God partners with His gods to push back forces of darkness. This is real spiritual warfare.
In real spiritual warfare we do not fight as humans. We fight as gods in humans…we fight in our original design, restored in Christ.
In the passage, we can see god Joshua manifesting who GOD originally designed us in Adam to be. We can see him speaking to one major creation of God. It takes genuine gods to speak to the Sun and the Moon the way he did.
Joshua needed to have the Sun and the Moon in the proper place so that he could succeed in what he was doing that day, and was able to put them where he needed them to be. As a result, he came out very successful that day.
The Bible says,
“there was no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man” proving a very important principle of God’s kingdom. The principle says, “it takes God to listen to gods.”
In other words, the One and only True God, make us gods by listening to what we say and bringing it to pass. Hallelujah!
This brings us to the next set of Spiritual gifts that will help us manifest as gods or sons of the Most High God on the face of the earth. We call them the power gifts of the Holy Spirit. We pick up from here tomorrow!
MEANWHILE, LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!
“Those five kings fled and hid themselves in the cave of Makkedah. And it was told Joshua, The five kings are hidden in the cave at Makkedah.
Joshua said, Roll great stones to the cave’s mouth, and set men to guard them. But do not stay. Pursue your enemies and fall upon their rear; do not allow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has given them into your hand.
When Joshua and the Israelites had ended slaying them until they were wiped out and the remnant remaining of them had entered into fortified cities, all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace; none moved his tongue against any of the Israelites. Joshua 10:16-21 AMPC