TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 8TH April 2023)
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.
When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28: 16-20 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 98TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
We give God the glory for another day and for waking us up this morning. We thank the LORD for keeping us in the land of the living. With all we have seen, I will say the LORD is our portion in the land of the living. That is why we have not been consumed.
Nothing in God’s kingdom is by might or by power. All is by His Spirit. However, it is not just by His Spirit, but by our will allowing His Spirit to do the work, because if we do not cooperate with His Spirit, we will never become what he wants us to be. The Bible says,
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;” Isaiah 1:18-19 NKJV
This scripture makes it clear that everything God want to do in us, through us or with us, depend on if we are willing and obedient. Yes, it is not by might nor by power but by His Spirit, but it all depends on if we are willing and obedient.
GOD CAN DO NOTHING WITH ANY MAN IF THERE IS NO WILLINGNESS AND OBEDIENCE.
Willingness is the quality or state of being prepared to do something. It is not just being prepared to do it, but being happy to do it. If we do not show a willingness to work with the LORD in His move to redeem us, if we are not prepared and happy about it, there will be nothing He can do.
It is those who are prepared and happy to work with the LORD in His redemptive plans for their lives that will be obedient. That brings us to the subject of sound doctrine. If we are not willing to follow the doctrine of Christ, by being prepared and happy to do all He say to us, we will not become what His doctrine is capable of making us to become.
We discovered that the doctrine of Christ can make us a home for the Godhead if we do what it says. In one of our prophetic apostolic training sessions last year, we discovered that the doctrine of Christ is what God uses in impressing the inscription (Christ – the Heavenly pattern) into our lives. When that happens, Christ will be seen in our lives; the mystery of godliness will be made manifest in our human lives.
That is why grounding our faith with sound doctrine remains the greatest way God equips us in His kingdom. There are so many believers today who are not exposed to sound doctrine.
What many church goers hear from time to time are the doctrines of men and doctrines of devils. That is why so many people are oppressed in so many local Churches.
What keep most pastors busy is how to bring deliverance to the oppressed, healing to the sick, breakthroughs to the suffering and etc.
As good as these things may be, they do not get Christ formed in any. They were the majors before the cross but not after the cross. Before the cross the focus was meeting these needs by praying for the people. The Bible says;
These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 10:5-8 NKJV
THIS SCRIPTURE CONTAINS THE FOCUS OF MINISTRY BEFORE THE CROSS.
The focus was the lost sheep of Israel, not the whole world. The ministers where to heal their sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons, and do all that freely without asking for a seed.
While all the instructions given here remain valid even today, the part of limiting this kind of ministration to the Jews only is no longer valid. The part of making healing the sick, delivering the oppressed, casting out demons, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers and etc. the main thrust of ministry is also no longer valid.
In other words, we do not go into ministry for any of these. Any believer whose faith is alive can walk in the supernatural and do all that. We go into ministry for things that are higher and heavier than these. But how many preachers today know that? How many are really equipped for the main purpose of ministry? That is why church goers are yet to come into perfection.
In fact, they have been made to believe that no one can be perfect, yet God commanded that we be perfect.
Sadly, the number of preachers today who have taken the ministry Jesus handed over to His disciples before the cross as the main thrust of their callings, do not know that they are doing God harm so long as his eternal plans for mankind is concern. They are not producing perfect works before God.
God said to one of the seven churches in the book of Revelation;
“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.” Revelation 3:2 KJV
This scripture describes the spiritual state of many ministers and the ministries or Churches they lead. Their works are not perfect; hence things are dying. The manifestation of the true presence is dying, and a counterfeit is displaying.
THEY ARE HOLDING ON TO THINGS THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS NO LONGER MAKING THE MAIN THRUST FOR MINISTRY.
We must understand that there is the ministry Jesus handed over to our fathers before the cross and there is another He handed over after the cross, and we will come to that shortly.
Everyone who is in Christ can tell that the church as it is today is mixed. It is mixed with so many Baals because many preachers are still limited to the ministry Jesus handed over to our fathers before the cross. They are not established in what He handed over after the cross.
And since the Holy Ghost is the one powering ministries, He will not power a minister of the gospel to walk in signs and wonders for too long, if he or she makes what Jesus gave to our fathers before the cross, the main thrust of ministry.
A time will come that His power works in the life and ministry of the minister will cease. His power works will cease because they are not making what Christ gave our fathers after the cross the main thrust of ministry. These are some of the deep things of GOD that every believer of today must grasp.
It is the work of apostles by content to help the prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher to know when the powers of the Holy Spirit have ceased and why. Then thrust them into what the LORD wants them to do. But majority of our spiritual fathers are evangelists by content, hence both they and those they father are not aware of these things.
Sadly, since there are no apostolic fathers to guide, when that time comes when the Holy Spirit ceases to power ministries, for not making what Christ handed over to our fathers after the cross the main thrust of their ministries, Satan, who is always standing by in any church or ministry, to take over whatever GOD may no longer be doing and start doing with the aim of deceiving people, will use the desperation of the people, and the ignorance in the preacher, to bring in Baal and his team into the minister’s ministry.
It will work perfectly and the people will never know the Holy Spirit is no longer the one working, because Baal is the god of deliverance and economic prosperity. It has Ashtoreth – the sex goddess, Athaliah – the spirit of witchcraft, Tamuz – the god of fruitfulness, as teammates, which is why we see all them in Church today.
WHEN THAT HAPPENS, ALL THAT THE PREACHER WILL BE DOING WILL BE BY BAAL;
Most will major in dishing out prophecies and interpreting dreams. They will also be adopting and amplifying the doctrines of demons presented as teachings on deliverance. The demon of deliverance will be fully in charge, counterfeiting God in every way.
That is why wherever you hear preachers preaching about grace that is simply grass, altars, spirit spouses, money, redemption of first born, demonology, and related man made and devils induced doctrines, you should run for your eternal life. If you do not run and sit there, you will not be able to lead a clean and consecrated Christian life.
You will be living in one sin or the other and saying “no one is perfect, we are all sinners” putting your eternal life in danger. Your recitation of the sinner’s prayer will lack the renunciation of the sinners’ life.
We must understand that, when Jesus raise from the dead, everything changed in God’s scheme of things, so long as His redemptive plans for mankind is concern. The court of the temple was torn into two and the entire humans race ushered into GOD’s salvation by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Which brings us to our devotional text for the day. The text says;
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.
When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Go]therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 7: 16-20 NKJV
THIS SCRIPTURE CONTAINS THE REVELATION OF WHAT SHOULD BE THE MAIN THRUST OF MINISTRY AFTER THE CROSS.
Before the cross, Jesus made healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers and etc. among the Jews, the main thrust for ministry. But after His resurrection He made discipleship among the nations the main thrust for ministry.
While the majority of the ministers of the gospel are still with what He gave to our fathers before the cross, leading to the manifestation of Baal and its team in Church, very few are realizing it and moving to the post resurrection ministry of Christ; what He gave after the cross.
The Holy Spirit will never back a ministry with His power works if the ministers are not making the lost and suffering the disciples of Christ. Another Spirit will be the one working and they will be calling it Holy Spirit. If they are just praying for you but not grounding you in the faith through sound doctrine, you are being shortchanged. They are killing you without you knowing.
This brings us to the issue of doctrine.
You cannot make people disciples of Christ if you are not established in sound doctrine as a preacher. Discipleship steams from teaching what the LORD has used great apostles like Paul to teach us. That is why the Bible should be the greatest asset of a preacher. Countless hours with the LORD in study to let Him teach us, must become our hallmarks else we cannot help anyone.
I believe enough has been shred for the day. Sit with these words and let God speak to you further. The main reason for going for the doctrine of Christ is for you to become a disciple of Christ. If sound doctrine do not form the core of a Church or ministry just walk away no matter the miracles working in that place.
If there is no sound doctrine, we will become like one of the churches in Revelation chapter 3; we will be made rich by the false doctrines we are hearing or preaching, and convince ourselves that we are rich and have need for nothing, without knowing that we are poor, blind, wretched and naked in the Spirit.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.
So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—
I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Revelation 3:15-19 NKJV