TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 18TH NOVEMBER 2022)
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.
You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.” Matthew 10:16-18 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 322ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
For 322 days we have seen the wisdom of the Holy One on different subjects of the Kingdom of God.
It has been a fulfilling year so long as this platform is concern. We give God the glory for all that and owe Him a lot of gratitude for being faithful to His word.
To be able to pen something different from the word to our hearts, on daily bases, is not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of the Living God, who is here to show us things that have been freely given to us. The Bible says,
“But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 1 Corinthians 2:9-12 NKJV
Indeed, this scripture has been so true.
The things that have been prepared for those who love God to perfect their walk with Him and come into the fullness of Christ, are the things the Spirit have been revealing to us; things that “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man” are been revealed freely to us by the Holy Spirit.
If the Spirit of the Living God has not been powering the devotionals, there would have been no substance for us each day.
This time around, we are on another edition of a 30-day journey of faith with the Cry of the same Holy Spirit who was released to help us know the things that have been freely given to us by God. He has been speaking to us about practical wisdom.
THE PRACTICAL WISDOM OF HAVING SUCCESSFUL INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS HAVE BEEN THE FOCUS OF LATE.
We have seen quite a few but significant things about the subject. Today we want to look at how to relate with the lost according to the prophetic purpose of Christ for them established in scriptures.
For those who may not know, the prophetic purpose of Christ for the lost is to save them. It is not to thrown them into hell for their wickedness, but to save them from it.
He Himself said in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” The Bible further says,
“The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 AMPC
If the prophetic purpose of Christ for every lost soul is to have them in Heaven and not in hell, every believer in Christ must understand that we have a lot to do while alive. We have alot to do because we are God’s instruments for fulfilling His prophetic purposes on earth.
In God’s plan, wherever a lost soul is, a saved soul should be positioned there to save the lost soul. That is the intention of the Kingdom of GOD. But many of us resist it and rather want the lost dead through our prayers.
So, it is important that we come to the realization of our primary assignments as believers and direct our relationship with the lost towards that direction.
I hope you are ready!
To start with, every child of GOD must understand that in the school of interpersonal relationships, there are two sets of people; the lost and the saved. You find both sets either in the secular system or the religious system.
We must also understand that there are unsaved people even as preachers, because revelation and experience has taught us that the fact that one is carrying a Bible, and going about preaching, does not mean the person is saved. In fact, with what I have seen here in Kenya and in the book of Acts, it might even mean the person is either possessed or gradually becoming insane.
THERE HAVE BEEN CASES WHERE DEMON POSSESSED AND THOSE WHO ARE BECOMING MENTALLY UNSTABLE CARRY THEIR BIBLES TO GO PREACH.
You find them presenting or uncoordinated pointing men to the way of salvation, either directly or indirectly. So, you will be making a mistake calling every preacher “saved” or even “sane.”
There are very insane teachings or preaching today being dished out to people by preachers who do not know what the gospel is all about. You find them both on social media and other forms of in person meetings.
For instance, I received a message from someone this week sharing with me of a funeral service here in Kenya where a Bishop preached about wife inheritance.
He said the man said “the three Friends of Job were wishing that Job curse GOD and die so that they could inherit his wife.” He called that wife inheritance! But every Bible student knows that is insane!
No sane preacher will preach that.
No sane preacher will preach about wife Inheritance in a funeral service. If they want to talk about inheritance, they will preach about the inheritance of the saints in Christ Jesus.
I reiterate again that it is wrong to call everyone you see preaching “saved” or “sane.” So, interpersonal relationships must be cultivated following the knowledge of the Holy One on the subject.
God wants us to be strategically positioned among the lost, either in church or in the world, so that we can be used of Him, when they would hit their moments of truth, to reap them into His Kingdom.
In cultivating interpersonal relationship with the lost, that should be our goal. We are to remain friends with them until the LORD open their hearts for the word He has planted in our hearts.
Yes, we are to remain acquainted and friendly for that very purpose nothing else. If we go beyond that, we could be contaminated.
If we are contaminated, our salvation will come under the influence of hell. Sadly, we will not know when our feet will be planted on the broad way that leads to hell with Bibles in our hand.
SO, STAY WITHIN THE PROPHETIC PURPOSE OF CHRIST FOR THE LOST IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM.
If you are working in an office together, limit everything to work related conversations, do not go beyond there until the LORD touch their hearts to seek to know your GOD. That is when you can open up your mouth in wisdom to share with them the matters of GOD’s kingdom they seek to know.
If you are seating on the same aircraft with any or in a vehicle traveling, limit the contact to friendly conversation on transit when it becomes necessary to talk, but be alert and heavily guided by the possibility of an opening in their spirits for the gospel.
Let your interaction or friendliness remain within the circumstance that brought you both together, do not take it beyond there until you sense their hearts ready for the word.
As earlier stated, our primary assignments as believers remain to seek and to save that which was lost, but that, on a personal level, might not be possible until we cultivated a level of friendship with them.
So, focus on cultivating that level of friendship without opening your mouth hastily to preach to them.
Let them touch your Christianity first before you talk to them about the Christ you are in relationship with. Do not bring out your religiosity to them. In most cases, your Christianity will make them to want to know your GOD but your religiosity will make them hate you.
Your religiosity is you singing to their ears, praying loud prayers, and appearing like a holy angel and treating them like sinful dogs. It is you trying to be spiritual before them, and doing all the religious things we do without leading a quiet and peaceful life.
That will make them hate you because the carnal mind cannot appreciate even the authentic things of the spirit.
Every child of GOD must understand that it is the Christianity in us that the lost will appreciate not the religiosity in us. Christianity is all about the sweet character and wisdom of GOD that oozes out of a man that have met the LORD to men who are yet to meet him.
NO ONE WILL NOT COME FOR THAT. IT’S LIKE HONEY TO THE SPIRITS OF MEN.
Friend, you will never be hated by many folks in today’s world for being Christlike. You will only be hated for being religious. Do not forget that, and do not mix it up!
Christlikeness is like a healing balm to sick souls, and all lost souls are sick. But religiosity is not.
Religiosity is an irritation to sick souls because it does not minister to them the healing virtues of Christ their innermost being needs.
Everyone Christ touched was healed. That was why He was loved by the lost and hated by the religious establishment who were profiting from their sick souls.
So, if He lives in you, every lost soul you touch will be healed from the sicknesses in their souls also, and religious people who profit from the sicknesses in the souls of men (and the lost souls they instigate) will hate you.
Our devotional text tells us all that.
It says;
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.
You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.” Matthew 10:16-18 NKJV
The first verse of this text contains the knowledge of the Holy One on dealing with the Lost or touching them through human interface. It says we should be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
He did not say we should be crafty as serpents. Being wise and being crafty are not the same.
Like most types of animals, serpent have two sides or shades of psychology. They have a side called craftiness that was employed in the garden of Eden, and a side called wisdom that made GOD to place it in the Garden in the first place.
JESUS SAID WE SHOULD FOLLOW THE SHADE OF ITS WISDOM NOT THAT OF ITS CRAFTINESS WHEN DEALING WITH THE LOST, AND THAT WE SHOULD BE HARMLESS AS DOVES.
There is a whole lot in that scripture that we cannot unpack in a devotional like this. But the truth remains, we will never be loved by the lost if we are as crafty as serpents and harmful as scorpions. We will only be loved if we are wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
The only people among the lost that will hate us will be hearts trapped in religious systems and people who have been instigated by them. That is why the text says,
“But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.”
I believe enough have been shared for the day.
In closing I want us to know that we are here for lost souls. Our relationship with them must not be to harm them but to win them to the LORD. We should touch them with our Christ-likeness not even our spirituality.
Jesus was not spiritual in any of His conversations. He was naturally supernatural and very earthly yet Heavenly.
He touched the lost with His virtues before they came for His voice. That is the pattern laid for us.
We are to touch the lost with Godly virtues else none of them will come for our powerful and maybe insightful voices. Until they are touched by our Godly virtues, they will never come for the voice of the LORD we want to present to them.
We should not forget that we are here in the world primarily to preach the gospel. May we use this devotional to perfect our walk with the LORD for the salvation of others. Amen!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDIATION FOR THE DAY!
“Jesus approached and, breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be).” Matthew 28:18-20 AMPC