TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 1ST May 2023)
“Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” Revelation 14:12-13 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 121ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS & WONDERS!
It is a new month, and I wish you the best of God for your life this month. Last month, the LORD refreshed our minds on matters of doctrine. This month I believe Heaven has another word for us on this platform.
For us at the Cry of the Spirit Ministries, we are believing God to move us forward this month by making it our month of divine encounters. The LORD spoke to us strongly yesterday about encounters; He opened our minds to mysteries of dark encounters and divine encounters. We were awestruck by such amazing revelations of how our lives have been products of encounters, either dark or divine.
Dark encounters are sexual encounters, corrupt conversation encounters, relational encounters that alters God’s plans for a man’s life, encounters with demons, false prophetic anointing or deception, encounters that comes from bad experiences of life, and all forms of things that make one immoral, godless and etc. No one goes to hell without having a dark encounter, and no one goes to Heaven without having divine encounters.
Every encounter (either dark or divine) puts one beyond persuasion. It affects a man’s spirit, soul, and body.
One of the high points of yesterday’s delivery, was God’s system of helping us deal with the residues or negative impact of dark encounters in our lives. One will have to keep having multiple divine encounters until they stumble into the ultimate divine encounter that makes them stunning vessels in God’s hands.
There is so much in that message that I urge you to get the audio messages or go find it on our YouTube channel, present truth for present times.
Today we will be looking at one of the major values of the kingdom, that will be required, if one will walk away from things that gives us dark encounters, and become joined to the one and only source of divine encounters, GOD.
THAT VALUE IS PATIENCE.
To fill our lives with divine encounters, we must be able to walk with God. However, none of us will ever walk with God successfully without patience.
Our devotional text spoke about the patience of the saints. It is a major virtue that must be enthrone in our hearts if we will be successful in walking with God. It took me time to understand that if I am dealing with God I must not be in a hurry. The patience of the saints is key to the victory of the saints over sin, Satan and the evil and corrupt system of this world; and all that comes through divine encounters.
I grew up to realize that the most blessed people in the Bible were people who patiently walked with God. From Abel to Enoch, from Abraham to Jacob, from Joseph to Moses and to all who walked with God, patience was not an option but a necessity. Concerning Abraham, the Bible says;
“And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Hebrews 6:11-16 NKJV
Whatever God may have promised us, it will take faith and patience to inherit it. We will need to wait in prayer and wisdom, learning all that concerns it until it comes to pass. Patience is what reveals us to us and reveal God to us. And we need both revelations to walk with God successfully.
If you, have been revealed to you, by God using your patience, you will have something to always cry to Him for. That will lead to Him revealing Himself to you; it will lead to divine encounters. The revelation of God to a man is a child of divine encounters. Significant encounters with God, are children of the patience of the saints. The Bible says;
“But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 NKJV
Waiting upon the LORD, is what brings the cascade of divine encounters that we read in this scripture. Waiting upon the LORD may involve fasting and prayer, but it is not always demonstrated in fasting and prayer.
TO WAIT UPON THE LORD IS TO BE AT HIS BECK AND CALL; TO BE PATIENT IN YOUR WALK AND TALK WITH HIM.
Sometimes, we demonstrate our patience with the LORD, by waiting upon Him in frequent fasting and prayers. It could be fasting and prayers, it could be just being at His beck and call, no matter what it is, waiting upon the LORD will always lead to significant encounters with Him; encounter that will make it possible for us to mount up with wings like Eagles, over the circumstances of life.
I have seen and read in scriptures, of how patience helped people like Job mount up with wings like eagles, and granted them great encounters with God that turned their sorrows into joy, and gave them double for all their troubles. The enemy had wounded them severely but their patience with the LORD turned things around for them. The Bible says;
“If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes.” Job 14:14 NKJV
Job waited in his hardship, until His change came. He waited in prayer of communion with God, until His change came.
If significant encounters with God are your desire, you must learn how to do the same. You must learn how to wait in frequent fasting and prayer, mixed with the study of the word, impartation of sound doctrine, and fellowshipping with the saints, until your change come – until your desired encounter with God is granted.
Even if the enemy is on your case and you have cried unto God for intervention, waiting will still be required. You must not cease from being patient and crying unto Him. That is what will bring the encounter you seek. The Psalmist says;
“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, They shall inherit the earth.” Psalm 37:7-9 NKJV
The final inheritance of the earth, will take place in the ages to come, not in this age, because this age is passing away. That is one of the eternal blessings of the patience of the saints. But there is the inheriting of the earth in time also. That manifest in the restoration of anything the enemy may have destroyed in our lives, like it happened to Job.
Job was restored fully after the trial of his faith and the display of patience in his tribulation. You can be restored also if you embrace the same virtue – if you will allow patience to have its full play in your life, as you seek significant encounters with the LORD.
If patience has its full play in your life, you will not just be fully restored in terms of natural losses that may have occurred in your life, you will be developed spiritually and in your relationship with God, and all spiritual defects in your life will be obliterated. It will bring you to the place of perfection. Obviously, the enemy would not want that, hence plaguing us with impatience and making us to always be in a hurry. But the Bible says;
“Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.
But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.” James 1:3-4 AMPC
In Job, we see this scripture manifest long before it was written. It led to the manifestation of full restoration and spiritual perfection in His relationship with God. He used to know God by the hearing of the ear long before then. But during the display of patience, he had an encounter with GOD that changed all that.
Child of God you will never have significant encounters with the LORD, if you are not patience, especially in tribulation. The patience of the saints, manifest in all seasons and brings amazing blessings in return, both in time and eternity. Our devotional text says;
“Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” Revelation 14:12-13 NKJV
From this scripture, it is clear that walking with God in patience, promotes obedience to His commandments, and ushers us into rest. It has a way of giving us rest from the days of adversity. That is why you will never find people who are not patient with God having rest in life. Like Saul, they will be committing so many blunders, disobeying God, and destroying His plans for their lives.
As we bring this to a close, understand that being in a hurry will never bless you.
“The haste of a fool,” they say, “is the slowest thing in the world.”
Friend, God wants us to have rest from the days of adversity in time and eternity. He wants our lives full of divine and not dark encounters. But our patience with Him will be key in unlocking that. It will grant us encounters that will give us rest from the days of adversity.
It will make us obedient and submissive to His will, resulting in the manifestation in our lives, of the rest that was kept for the people of God.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!
“Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.” Hebrews 4:6-9 NKJV