TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 9TH MARCH 2023)
“That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “you must be born again.”
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” John 3:6-8 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 68th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
Glory be to the LORD God for another day. It is out of His mercies that we are not consumed, for His compassion fails not.
Day unto day we have seen His mercies, and night unto night His power. There is no aspect of our lives that have no testimony to tell about this gracious GOD. He is our king, our LORD, our Judge, and our law giver.
Now, talking about Jesus, being our law giver, understand that the word law is not limited to rules and regulations. It is much more. It is the person who gives you the laws you live by, that actually govern your life.
Through His Holy Spirit that is presently on earth, Jesus have been giving us the laws, words, truths, principles and insights to live by because He is the governor of Our lives. And if Christ governs your life, no crisis can vanquish it. If Christ governs your life, no crises can consume your life.
If Christ is the governor of your life, He will be your light and your salvation, or deliverance. You will not fear or be in captivity of any kind. Meaning, you will not be going for deliverance, because there will be no devil or spiritual attack you will need to be delivered from. His governing influence over your life will make it impossible for devils to be on your case.
In speaking of the rewards of having the LORD, as governor over our lives, the Psalmist says;
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.
Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me. In this I will be confident.” Psalm 27:1-3 NKJV
From this scripture, it is clear that when Christ governs a life, the person will not live in fear.
THOSE WHO WILL COME TO EAT UP HIS FLESH WILL STUMBLE AND FALL.
Now, this is not referring to just physical protection against cannibals, but a revelation of the very protection Jesus had while His body was in the grave. Corruption came to eat up His body, but it stumbled and fell, because God governed His life while He was alive.
When He was alive, He spent each day in submission to GOD’s governing influence, saying, “I can of my own self do nothing; as I hear so I speak.” That was why the one who governed His life while He was alive, took care of Him while He was dead, and brought Him back to life on the third day. Hallelujah!!
That is a great demonstration of the reward of having the LORD as governor of our lives. When the enemy comes to eat up any part of our lives, described as flesh, he will stumble and fall, because the governing influence of our LORD will paralyze him.
What is the flesh within the prophetic context of that scripture? We have seen it within the context of messianic prophecy, now let’s see it as it concerns us, the body of Christ.
If we are the body of Christ, we are His flesh and bone here in earth at the present.
All the attacks we face, are Satan’s attempt to eat up the flesh of Christ; in other words, to eat us up because we form His flesh or outlook on earth. The divinely pre-determined results of such attacks, is that he Satan, will stumble and fall. That was why Jesus said in Luke 10:18, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
But this pre-determined result is not possible if our lives are not under the governing influence of Christ. The promise also says, “though an army may encamp against us, our hearts will not fear; though war rises against us, we will be confident of victory.” Indeed, it is beautiful to have our lives governed by the LORD!
It will hide us in Him and make Him our refuge. It will make Him the strength of our lives. People who come up against us will stumble and fall.
Sometimes we think that our enemies stumble and fall if we pray hard and fast long. Strong prayers and lengthy fasting are for us to stay healthy in the Spirit, and Have God’s burning presence in our lives; that is their basic functions.
WHAT MAKES OUR ENEMIES STUMBLE AND FALL IS WHEN OUR LIVES ARE GOVERNED BY THE LORD.
Now, there is nothing wrong with prayer and fasting, so long as it is a product of the governing influence of Christ over a man’s life. It is a life that is governed by Christ that will enjoy the best He has to offer, especially when we are face to face with the enemy, not just a life of prayer and fasting.
Any prayer and fasting that is not governed by Christ, is a hunger strike that may cause you ulcers, or a religious exercise that may cause you a spiritual break down. Sadly, those are the kinds of fasting and prayer many find themselves in today.
Most are induced by reckless deliverance gurus, who prescribe fasting like medication, using the “this kind cannot go out…” scripture, to toast their lack of scriptural insight around. We have met people who are not even born again involved in intense fasting and prayers. What do you thing such a life will get?
At most they will touch the dark supernatural and come out with some miracles, standing on a salvation that lack conversion.
Those who seems saved pray and fast, but all they do is not a product of the governing influence of Christ that should be over the life of the redeemed; giving them the same results like that of the unsaved. Our devotional text is about the kind of life we are to live after being born again. It says;
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “you must be born again.”
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:6-8 NKJV
This scripture perfectly describes a life that is governed by Christ; it is like the wind, you hear its sound but cannot tell where on earth it is outsourced from, because it is not outsourced from the earth realm.
We have been looking at faith positions of word carriers; in other words, faith positions to take for the word of the LORD we carry, to be richly fulfilled in our lives.
WE HAVE SEEN QUIET SOME, AND THIS SCRIPTURE PRESENTS THE NEXT (FAITH POSITION) TO US, AND THAT IS, “A LIFE THAT IS LIVED LIKE THE WIND.”
When the Bible talk about the wind, it is not referring to the natural wind, because through the wind gauge, we can tell where the natural wind is coming from and where it is going. The wind in the Kingdom of God means (1) Doctrine and (2) Spirit. In this case, it means the doctrine of Christ and the Spirit of Christ.
A life that is lived like the wind, therefore, is a life that is governed and controlled by both the doctrine and Spirit of Christ; it is a life that is shaped by the doctrine of Christ and administered by the Spirit of Christ. Such a life will be very powerful.
Jesus says, it is a life you cannot tell where it’s coming from, and where it’s going to. Such a life will be experiencing the rich fulfillment of God’s word in it from time to time.
The word of the LORD it carries, will be abundantly fulfilled because the life will be operating within the pathways that allow eternal words from Heaven, spoken into lives in time, to be fulfilled in those lives.
If you try to study their life, you will be confused because it will constantly be defeating all forms of natural indices for living, because of the doctrine and Spirit of Christ governing and sustaining it. Paul was such a life.
He generated such a power on earth, that we are still in awe of what manner of man he was under GOD. He said in his own words;
“From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;” 2 Corinthians 11:24-25 NKJV
Who will pass through this kind of torture and not be incapacitated for life? But this man passed through even more, leaving his persecutors and haters wondering if he was an ordinary man.
INDEED, THE BIBLE SAYS;
“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” says the LORD. Isaiah 54:17 NKJV
This scripture was fully and richly fulfilled in his life because of the faith position he took in the midst of the sufferings. He still allowed the winds of the doctrine and Spirit of Christ to lead him. It takes a man whose life is govern by Christ that way, to live such a victorious life. It takes a man governed by the winds of the doctrine and Spirit of Christ, to see GOD’s word fulfilled in his life.
These truths are the reasons why we must avoid false doctrines. They will govern our lives and defeat the manifestation of the precious word we carry if we give heed to them. We must turn our ears away from charlatans and all heretic teachers, and pursue only the doctrine and Spirit of Christ.
It is my prayer that we all make the winds of the Spirit; the doctrine and Spirit of Christ, the governors of our lives, in Jesus precious name. Amen!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“For many deceivers have gone into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
Look to yourself, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.
Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house no greet him; For he who greets him shares in his evil deeds” 2 John 1:7-11 NKJV