THE CRY OF THE SPIRIT DEVOTIONALS – BY RICHARD E. S. TAKIM

TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 22ND FEBRUARY 2023)

“Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim.

Therefore David inquired of the LORD, and He said, “You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees.

And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the LORD will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”

And David did so, as the LORD commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.” 2 Samuel 5:22-25 NKJV

WELCOME TO THE 53rd DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!

God has kept us for 53 days this year. We are not taking that for granted. Like we have always shared on this platform, surviving just for one day is not cheap. What happens in the intensive care Units of Hospitals, testify to this fact.

People pay fortunes to survive for one hour. If God were asking us for the fee to stay alive, none of us would have been alive. Aren’t you glad that He made the most essential things in life free?

The air we breath in is free, the availability of water to humans by God, is not paid for, the sunshine that powers natural life open earth is free. Yesterday I was sharing with one of our sisters in Christ, and she was refreshing my memory on the health benefits of the early morning Sun.

The best and most essential things of life are free, and they come from the God of all flesh, creator of Heaven and earth.

As the God of all flesh, He manifest as the Father of the fatherless, the defender of widows. He rules as one who sits in the circle of the earth, taking note of every life on it. Indeed, there is no God like our God, who alone rides the Heavens to help us, and does all these things.

Now, it is not just the aforementioned things GOD created that are free, even GOD Himself and all He has for us in His supernatural realm, is free.

His healing power is free, His deliverance package is free, His salvation for mankind is free, His protection for us is free. Though some preachers make people pay for some of these things, everything is free. Am a witness! All that GOD has in store for us, humans, is free.

His escape from premature death package, is free. His mercies, kindness, forgiveness, and all He offer to a sinner who turns to Him, are free.

WE DO NOT NEED TO PAY THE ANGELS HE ASSIGNS TO PROTECT US FROM NATURAL HARM ANYTHING.

Do not forget, we pay the security men we have around us, or our properties. But do not need to pay the angels, who provides the real security for us. Concerning what we freely benefit from the security system of GOD, through His angels, the Bible says;

“No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Psalm 91:10-12 NKJV

This scripture tells us of the free security services we enjoy from God’s angels. They protect us from both physical and spiritual assaults.

They can slap a messenger of death sent against you. We saw how an angel slapped a ruler in the Bible, and the man breath worms and died. They can make guns aimed at you to go back into the heart of the one shooting it at you.

They can mount a garrison of God around your family and all the curses that are speaking their will not come near you or your children. They can protect you from diseases, evil arrows shot against you from any realm, charms prepared to hurt you, spells casted at you, and much more than we can mention. God provides all these to us freely.

You can now understand why Moses the servant of the LORD said;

“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to help you, and in His excellency on the clouds.

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, ‘Destroy!’ Deuteronomy 33:26-27 NKJV

One way the eternal GOD rides the Heaven to help us, is by making His supernatural power or life, available to us freely. His supernatural is part of His everlasting arms. We only need to learn how to live in it, hence the 28-day journey of faith, with the cry of the Holy Spirit on supernatural living.

The word says, He is our refuge. Do not take it for granted, because the refuge that this Eternal God provides is free of charge.

IT IS LIKE NO OTHER REFUGE.

Can you imagine spending nights in any of the 7 stars Hotel at Dubai, free of charge? You know it’s not possible. You cannot get into the Palazzo Versace in Dubai, or the very beautiful Atlantis, the Palm, and take refuge there freely. Those man-made refuge places, are not free and will never be free.

Yet, none of them can heal us of any diseases, protect us from spiritual attacks, provide our needs, or cover us with the manifest presence of Heaven’s glory. But the refuge of the Eternal God does all that, and much more. And it does it freely!

It will shield you from sin, Satan and the dangerous demonic assaults from the evil and corrupt system of this world. It will neutralize any force the enemy sway against you, anywhere you may be living on earth.

If you make the eternal God your refuge, He will be Thrusting the Enemy before you, and giving you the power to destroy Him. The Bible says, “and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, ‘Destroy!

Is there any scriptural story that expressed this verse of the Bible graphically? Yes, there is. That brings us to our devotional text and what we have been sharing on this 28-day journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit. The text tells us how God thrust the enemy before David and said “Destroy.” It says;

“Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim.

Therefore David inquired of the LORD, and He said, “You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees.

And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the LORD will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”

And David did so, as the LORD commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.” 2 Samuel 5:22-25 NKJV

IF YOU LOOK AT THIS SCRIPTURE CAREFULLY, YOU WILL SEE TWO KINDS OF MOVEMENTS REVEALED IN IT.

You will see the movement of the eternal God on the top of the mulberry trees, and the movement of David under the trees.

God’s movement on top of the trees, was to thrust the enemy before David. David’s divinely guided movement under the trees, was to destroy the enemy that God thrusted down.

That brings us to the next law of the supernatural of God; the law of divinity’s partnership with humanity. Divinity will always require the partnership of humanity, to unleash the Supernatural of GOD on humanity.

David represents the humanity side, and GOD the divinity side.

In the story behind his victory by the power of GOD, it is clear that a man must stand with God, and do the human side, for God to break forth in the life of the man, or in the life of those under the man. That is the law.

You also find this all through the scriptures; if God has no intention to make sovereign moves, His supernatural will need the natural to move in the realm of mankind. It is only during sovereign moves of GOD, that you do not see GOD partnering with humanity.

Every supernatural move of GOD that is not sovereign, will need a man or men to stand with GOD, for it to break forth and do the impossible among men.

One perfect scriptural example can be found in the story of Jesus turning water to wine. The story made it clear that if you want the supernatural of God to move in your life, it will have to partner with you to move. You must be in tune with the LORD, and cultivate a listening ear and a hearing heart, so that when God want to do a thing in your life, you will be able to pick from Him, the natural thing to do, for the supernatural thing He wants to do, to be done.

In John chapter 2, where the story of Jesus turning water to wine can be found, Jesus and Mary where at a family wedding feast.

The people were enjoying themselves until they ran out of wine. This was not alcoholic wine, because I have seen the sample in Israel, during a visit. It was wine made up of grape juice. They ran out of it, and being a family member’s wedding, they had to approach Mary for help.

MARY IN TURN, SPOKE TO JESUS.

I was wondering, if they approached the LORD through Mary to get some financial donations to refill their wine vessels. I do not think they wanted it done supernaturally, because Jesus had not performed any recorded miracle until then.

Maybe they just wanted Him to use the money in His treasury to buy the wine for them. But He opted for the supernatural to solve the wine problem.

Jesus knew, the supernatural will need the natural to work. So, the first thing He did, was to put it in place. He asked them to fill some purification pots with water. After that, the supernatural moved and turned the water into wine. The Bible says;

“Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.

Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it.

When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.

And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.” John 2:6-11 NKJV

SO MUCH TO GLEAN HERE, BUT…LET’S STICK TO THE MESSAGE OF THIS DEVOTIONAL

The law of divinity’s partnership with humanity, for the release of the supernatural of GOD, is seen clearly in this supernatural move of GOD. Contrary to what we see today by the hands of dark men and women of GOD, this was not magic but God at work.

If there is no partnership from you, in any quest to work in the supernatural of GOD, there will be no supernatural move from GOD. The supernatural of God will need the natural of man for man to live in it. There is something for man to do, in other for man to be saved, or experience the outbreak of GOD’s supernatural.

There will be an action from you for God’s acts to be seen.
In Acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas while in prison, saw an outbreak of the Supernatural of God that none had ever seen before that day; prison break by the presence of GOD. They never expected it.

In their faith and zeal to obey the scripture that says, “when you are persecuted for Christ sake, rejoice; for great is your reward in heaven,” they forgot the beatings they were given, the wounds on their bodies, and the tough chains that were hurting their fist and feet, and sang hymns unto God.

Amazingly the power of God broke out and a lot happened. They never knew the hymns they were singing in obedience to the word of the LORD will provoke the supernatural.

From where we sit today, it is clear that God had pre-determined to deliver them long before they got there, and that their faith was what divinity needed to see from the side of humanity, for the supernatural of God to break forth and deliver them. That again buttress the importance of this law of the supernatural of God.

Sadly, in the dark supernatural, people also use what look like this law. It is important that we uncover it, so that we will not apply it to our lives, and end up sharing in the curse of God on the dark supernatural. However, we will pick up from there when we return tomorrow.

LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!

“But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.

And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.

But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”

Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:25-31 NKJV