TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 13TH JANUARY 2023)
“But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, what eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed].
Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny].
For what person perceives (knows and understands) what passes through a man’s thoughts except the man’s own spirit within him? Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to] the world, but the [Holy] Spirit Who is from God, [given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-12 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 13TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
It has been a 31-day journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit on visionary living. Today is the 13th day of the journey, and our God has been faithful. We give Him the Glory for all He is already doing for us.
We have been sharing thoughts on some laws of visionary living. We have seen the law of visionary residency, the law of visionary hearing, the law of visionary relations, and the law of freedom; great laws that govern successful visionary living.
Yesterday we shared some thoughts on what should have been the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus when we shared thoughts of freedom from curses, especially freedom from what have become commonly known as curses of father’s house.
A lot of people believe they are under them, and the solution to that form of captivity was what we shared yesterday. We discovered that if anyone who is under the curses of their father’s houses come into life in the Spirit, they will become free from them.
Life in the Spirit is part of what is called “the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” It is another law of visionary living. Today we will be looking at this law, since we shared how it helps us to walk away from curses yesterday. This will be an additional revelation knowledge.
Visionary living for us in God’s kingdom is enabled by the Spirit of God, or the Spirit of Christ. There is visionary living in other realms of human existence; our journey is about visionary living in Christ Jesus. When it comes to visionary living in Christ, the Spirit of God is the source of it; the source of the very life.
YOU CANNOT LIVE IT WITHOUT KNOWING HIM, WALKING IN HIS LAWS AND EMBRACING HIM AS A FRIEND THAT STICKS CLOSER THAN A BROTHER.
He discovers each person’s predetermined visionary life from the storehouse, or library of the eternal plans and programs of God for human lives, buried deeply in GOD, and brings it to us to live on earth. He searches them out and bring them to us in form of visions and revelations, making them our life purposes or goals.
The Bible made it clear that the Spirit of God does a lot of work to take us from the realm of non-visionary living to the realm of visionary living. He begins by searching diligently; exploring and examining everything in the realm of the bottomless things of God. The bottomless things of God are His divine counsels and hidden things that exist beyond man’s scrutiny.
A major part of our devotional says;
“Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny]. 1 Corinthians 2:10 AMPC
Visionary living is shaped by the bottomless things of God; it is a life that is outsourced from the realm of the divine counsels of GOD that are beyond human scrutiny. And no man can get them except the Holy Spirit goes to that realm to bring them to him.
That is why the moment they are revealed to us, we are to embrace them and not scrutinize them. We are to make them our life goals unconditionally and allow them to shape our lives on earth.
The devotional text calls them things that eyes has not seen, ears heard or hearts conceived; things that GOD has prepared, made and kept ready for those who love Him or who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed upon them. Hallelujah!
These things exist as part of the bottomless things of God and do not enter into hearts, ears, or spiritual sights of men naturally.
THEY ARE THINGS THAT ARE CAUGHT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.
When the Holy Spirit opens our ears to hear them, most times when we are studying the word or sitting in an intense teaching session, they are then revealed to us. When they are revealed to us, they become revelation knowledge to live by.
He also opens our hearts during such moment. And when He opens our hearts to receive them, we catch things that are to become our convictions in life. If we are fully yielded, He will also open our spiritual eyes at the same time, and when He opens them, we see divine counsels in form of visions and dreams that are to be our life dreams and visions.
Now, it is such Holy Spirit-birth revelations, convictions, dreams and visions that shapes our lives, and the life of all who love the LORD and make it visionary. It is through that process we live lives that are based on things that eye has not seen, ear heard, or hearts conceived.
Another part of Our devotional text says;
“But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, what eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed]. 1 Corinthians 2:9 AMPC
The Spirit of the LORD enables the lives of those who love the LORD to lead visionary lives by bringing to them the very things God has made and kept ready for them in Christ Jesus. Things that other eyes, ears or hearts have not seen, heard or conceived but theirs only.
You find Paul experiencing this move of the Spirit so many times. That was why he spent his days pursing only the things assigned to him by the LORD Jesus. You also find it in the lives of all our fathers in the early church.
This critical work of the Holy Spirit in enabling us to live visionary lives, is the reason why we must embrace the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus because He is the Spirit or breath of any visionary life in God’s kingdom.
THE REST OF OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT SAYS;
For what person perceives (knows and understands) what passes through a man’s thoughts except the man’s own spirit within him? Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to] the world, but the [Holy] Spirit Who is from God, [given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-12 AMPC
The last verse of the text clearly states that there are two kinds of spirits on earth; the Spirit that belongs to God (the Holy Spirit), and other spirits called the spirit of this world. The first is the original and the other a counterfeit.
The spirit of the world counterfeits the Holy Spirit of GOD. Sadly, both can shape visionary living. Both can impregnate hearts with dreams, visions and purposes to live for. That is why we must be careful.
A lot of people, sadly even in Church, are living lives that are shaped by the spirit of this world. That is why fame and fortune is there overall interest in life, instead leading holy lives, pleasing God, patterning their lives according to His blessed will, duplicating Christ on earth and making Heaven at last.
They do not care about eternal things. They are just driven by earthly things.
Their minds are not set on things above but on things on earth. This breed is also visionary but not God’s kingdom oriented. You can become part of this even while speaking in tongues, prophesying, preaching, singing from coast to coast, and doing whatever you take to be God’s work. That is why we must be careful.
Visionary living in God’s kingdom is guided by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It is the very law that delivers us from the law of sin and death. The Spirit that owns that law is the Holy Spirit Himself.
Today we took time to share some thoughts on how He helps us to lead visionary lives. When we return tomorrow, we will be sharing more thoughts on this and the law itself.
LET OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT BE A WORD OF MEDITATION FOR US TODAY
“But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, what eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed].
Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny].
For what person perceives (knows and understands) what passes through a man’s thoughts except the man’s own spirit within him? Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to] the world, but the [Holy] Spirit Who is from God, [given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-