TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 23RD May 2023)
“[Aroused] by faith Moses, when he had grown to maturity and become great, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
Because he preferred to share the oppression [suffer the hardships] and bear the shame of the people of God rather than to have the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life.
He considered the contempt and abuse and shame [borne for] the Christ (the Messiah Who was to come) to be greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt, for he looked forward and away to the reward (recompense).
[Motivated] by faith he left Egypt behind him, being unawed and undismayed by the wrath of the king; for he never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly as one who gazed on Him Who is invisible.” Hebrews 11:24-27 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 143RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS & WONDERS!
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. Day unto day the LORD shows us mercies. Night unto night we are surrounded by His goodness.
The Bible spoke about the terror by night and the arrow that flies by day. His mercies by day and goodness by night has watched over us from they all. To Him belong all the glory!
It’s been a great journey of faith through these daily devotionals. Anyone with “Heaven at last” as their goal in life, has found a resource center for faith building.
The faith, purity, and patience of the saints will play a great role this end times. We have been looking at the purity of the saints which is major booster of the faith and patience of the saints. It has brought us to matters of sanctification. We have seen the sanctification of the spirit and the soul. Now we are looking at the sanctification of the body.
So far, we have learned that a sanctified body is a reflection of a sanctified spirit and soul. The body literally carries out what it gets from the spirit and the soul, that is why we made it clear from the onset that we can not have our bodies sanctified from sin, iniquity and trespass if our spirits and souls are not.
To have our bodies sanctified, simply means to keep it from sinful deeds, by making it a slave of righteousness. It means to keep it separated from spiritual pollutions that happens through sexual sins, the wrong use of the tongue, strife, bitterness, and etc. It means to stay clean and flee from such sins.
It also means, to refrain from using any parts of our bodies for sinful purposes or for purposes that do not glorify God or show our fear for Him.
People who sleep with animals, same sex, cousins, nephews, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, aunties, or any close or far relatives, are defiling their bodies terribly. Some of those kinds of defilements breeds curses. The sanctification of the body will involve keeping away from such abominable practices. Those who lie with their tongue, hate with their hearts, destroy with their looks, and kill with their hands are also defiling themselves.
SANCTIFICATION OF THE BODY IS STAYING AWAY FROM SUCH EVIL DEEDS.
Whatever we do that goes against God’s will, ways, or word will ultimately defile our bodies at the end. To sanctify our bodies, we must respect the principles of the first chapter of the book of Psalm. It says;
“Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.
But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.
And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity]. Psalm 1:1-3 AMPC
When you become like a tree, firmly planted and tended by the streams of water, your body will feel it. It will become fruitful in its season, eliminating all forms of barrenness, and leading to sound health. Many have not really realized the connection between a defiled body and their health.
Most diseases people carry in their bodies are products of spiritual defilement in their bodies. That is why healing for such illnesses come when people repent of their sins and receive forgiveness from God.
God designed the body to function optimally through sanctification. When we are planted in the word and are watered by the Holy Spirit daily, our bodies will blossom, resulting in sound Health. There will be no diseases in them. To stay healthy therefore, we should keep the principles stated in Psalm chapter one. The word says;
(1) We must not walk and live in the counsel of the godly, following their advice, their plans, and purposes.
(2) We must not stand in or submit to the paths of sinners, because we will absorb their ways and atmospheres and defile our bodies.
(3) We must not relax and rest where the scornful and mockers gather.
(4) We must delight and desire the precepts, the instructions, or the teachings of God.
(5) WE MUST HABITUALLY MEDITATE, PONDER AND STUDY IT BY DAY AND BY NIGHT.
Applying these five steps to our daily lives, is one of the most effective ways to keep our bodies sanctified. The principles contain, three things to stay away from and one to stay very close to. The principles say we should stay away from the counsel, plans and purposes of the ungodly. The reason is because they will lead to defilement of our bodies.
Dinah the only daughter of Jacob was defiled that way. She stood on the paths of the ungodly, by visiting people who were not sexually disciplined. There are people who have been raped that way. They did not stay away from the sexually indiscipline hence defiling themselves.
Sadly, bloodshed became the result in Dinah’s case, and she went off record.
The principles also said, to keep our bodies sanctified, we should not submit to, or stand inactive in the ways of sinners. Samson did. He submitted to the way of the seductress Delilah, and stood inactive in it, consequently his body was defiled. To stand inactive means not to resist it. It also means not to walk away from it.
In those days the Spirit of God do rest on the body of the sanctified as well. The Bible says, after defiling himself, the Holy Spirit walked away from him. Samson’s story tells us how costly it is not to keep our bodies sanctified.
Lastly, the steps or principles in those verses, says we must not relax in the paths of sinners. David relaxed at one time, and today he is still an example of adultery for many people who want to be promiscuous. Though they ought to be drawing virtues from the path of his life that is full of divine secrets on walking with God, they choose to look at the dark side, because they want to be dark, and do not want any to see it as a bad idea.
MANY OF US TODAY ARE WORSE WHEN IT COMES TO RELAXING IN THE WAYS OF SINNERS.
It has defiled our bodies terrible, as a result, and some have become sick. The final principle we can see in those verses, made it clear that when the word washes our souls and spirits, it will send its potency into our bodies, keeping us sanctified spirit, soul, and body.
Now, there are those who have taken personal hygiene to be sanctification of the body. Well, as good as it is to maintain personal hygiene or cleanliness, having a sanctified body has nothing to do with personal hygiene or taking your bath five times a day. It has nothing to do with cleaning your fist with water and saying some prayers every now and then.
There are even occult groups that take men to rivers and oceans to bath them in the name of cleansing. Others sleep with those in need of deliverance in the name of cleansing. That is a ritual sex. But no body is cleansed by being taken to rivers or oceans for ritual bath, or by having ritual sex. Those things defile the body. They do not cleanse the body.
That is why you see the people, at the long run, sickly and dying. You see them having demons that live in them. Because when the body is filthy and defiled with sin, idolatry, deliverance or initiation rituals, the possibility of a demon living in the person increases.
Many people are possessed because of that. They are possessed because unclean spirits like defiled people. They like defiled people and defiled places because they want to live in them. People will never be free from demonic oppression or possession until they begin to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.
You will never find anyone whose body has been offered to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God having a demonic case. That brings us to the subject of the sanctification of the body and deliverance from satanic oppression. If we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable to Him, we cannot be offered as sacrifice on any Satanic altars, devils or witchcraft system.
There are people who are offered as sacrificial lambs in the spirit realm by their parents, children, friends, wives, husbands and etc. They are offered by others for money and other demonic reasons. But this cannot happen to you if you have already offered your body to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him.
WHAT BELONGS TO GOD CANNOT BE EATEN BY SATAN.
If your body belong to God, it cannot be eaten by Satan. Spiritual attacks are only possible when our bodies are not sanctified.
If we are having persistent demonic attacks, instead of going for prayers every now and then, we should go through the sanctification of our body, which begins with the sanctification of the spirit and soul. Once that happens, we will not need prayer from anyone. We will be free!
But how many of us are willing? Satan is wicked and smart at the same time. He planted great pleasure around all that defiles our bodies, so that the pleasure will keep bringing us to it.
There is nothing that defiles the body that is not pleasurable to a spiritually dead soul, I mean nothing. You see it in their expressions; from sex with multiple partners or someone one is not married to, to sex to who you are married to but is defiling, and to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, wild parties, and to all you can think of. Nothing that defiles the body lack pleasure in it.
That is why lovers of pleasure are the greatest casualties in this war. You must cease loving pleasure and become a lover of God to be delivered from the enemy this end time. Loving pleasure will keep you under demonic attacks all your life, despite prayers, fasting or attending a good church.
If you want to live a peaceful life, you must walk away from sinful pleasures. I remember a young lady who came to me for prayers in 2017. She was having severe attacks from demons, and went for prayers to the ministry of a prophetess.
The prophetess collected deliverance seed from her, and then prayed and then gave her some salt to pray with, and water to sprinkle in her house from time to time. She did as the woman said she should, and it worked for a while and things went bad again; no demon can be permanently casted out the dark way.
THEN SHE CAME TO ME FOR HELP; SHE WAS LOOKING FOR A PERMANENT HELP.
Sadly, the prophetess ministered to her like a witch doctor will do because she was not of GOD. Someone who is not of God, cannot deal with what is not of God! The attacks on her were not of God. She will need Jesus Christ who died for her, to deal with it. So, I decided to connect her to Him. But she was not willing to be cleansed and purified, by the LORD.
Then I asked her about her life and found out that she was living with a man she was not married to. She was in sexual sins, and not willing to quit because of the pleasure. Her spiritual attack was rooted in her way of life. Defiling her body with sexual sins, was the reason for her attacks.
Friend, Satan will plant pleasure around what will kill us to keep us coming back to it. Do not forget that! Our devotional text calls it “the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life.” Like many of us today, she was not willing to forsake it and follow the LORD.
We will never become what the LORD has called us to be, if we are not willing to walk away from any fleeting enjoyment from a sinful life. Even Moses, who later became one of the Kingdom’s greats, had to deal with the same thing to begin the journey with God that made him who he was.
Our devotional text further said;
“[Aroused] by faith Moses, when he had grown to maturity and become great, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
Because he preferred to share the oppression [suffer the hardships] and bear the shame of the people of God rather than to have the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life.
He considered the contempt and abuse and shame [borne for] the Christ (the Messiah Who was to come) to be greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt, for he looked forward and away to the reward (recompense).
[Motivated] by faith he left Egypt behind him, being unawed and undismayed by the wrath of the king; for he never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly as one who gazed on Him Who is invisible. Hebrews 11:24-27 AMPC
There is so much here that you can glean from. I admonish that you go over it again and again. That lady told me point blank that she will go back to salt usage and she was not ready to abandon her man. It was that bad!
Her story is a picture of how we always hold on tenaciously, to things that are bound to kill us, because of the enjoyment we get from them. It tells us of our own unwillingness; the unwillingness to share in the suffering and hardship of saying yes to Christ, and then to a life of consecration. She was looking for rest but not ready to stop defiling her flesh because of the pleasure in it.
The truth is, whatever gives our flesh sinful pleasure, will end up giving our lives sorrowful and terrible pains; sometimes with un-redeemable consequences. The message here is, if you want to live a peaceful life, a spiritual attack free life; embrace the sanctification of the body, it remains the secret to lasting deliverance in God’s kingdom.
If we do not give the enemy what to eat, we will not be eaten by the enemy. Dust have been legally given to the enemy to eat. Among other things, dust represents the defilement of our bodies from the fleeting enjoyment of a sinful life. If our bodies are defiled, our lives will be food for the devil.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR TODAY!
Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean Shall no longer come to you.
Shake yourself from the dust, arise; Sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!
For thus says the LORD: “You have sold yourselves for nothing, And you shall be redeemed without money. Isaiah 52:1-3 NKJV