TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 7TH JUNE 2023)**
And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me.
Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.
Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. Numbers 14:28-31 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 158TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
For 158 days the LORD has been keeping us, watching over us, providing for us, fighting for us, working for us, sheltering us from storms, and making sure we are not giving over to our enemies.
Yes, for 158 days, He has been purging us, walking in mercy towards us, preparing us for the age to come, warning us of the danger of our sins and bad choices, showing us the way to go, and making sure we are not cast away from His presence, and His Holy Spirit do not depart from us.
He has also been speaking to us, all through the 158 days that we have seen, and today He has another word for us on matters of our divine destinies. We have seen things that our destinies will need to be fulfilled, about four or five of them, including the wisdom of making God’s footsteps in the lives of those who pursued similar destinies long before we came, our pathways.
Today the LORD will be talking to us about our mouths. When we say mouths, we are referring to the one part of the mouth that can determine how a man’s destiny turns out, the tongue. The Bible says,
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 21:18 NKJV
This is one common scripture among us, but many of us still do not live our lives in the consciousness of it.
Understand that, how you turn out in life, largely depends on what your mouth says or refuse to say. Great destinies have been fulfilled through the proper use of the tongue, and great destinies have been destroyed through the wrong use of the tongue. There is so much talking these days, without many realizing what it is doing to them.
Today, we do not just talk with our tongues but with our fingers, due to the advent of social media. I reiterate again, that what you say, as a child of God, will largely determine how your life turns out, not really what some spirits may be doing or not doing in your life.
There are people who have been suffering in life because of their sayings. But they have blamed it on demons. So many people who claim they suffer from the spirit of rejection have a lot of attitude problems. Who will not reject you if you have bad attitudes?
WHO WILL NOT REJECT YOU IF YOUR SAYINGS ARE BAD?
We all have suffered in life, in one way or the other, but some people think that when they are suffering, the whole world should stand still for their rescue, and if we do not, we are in for it. They will say very bad things to us or against us. That is nonsense.
I can’t forget a suffering person, who wanted to see me. What she sent to me on text when I became too weary to see her, made me to place an embargo on seeing her. If things are not okay with you, do not put it on innocent people around you. Do not transfer the hurts of your life to others, you will never be able to find help that way.
Understand that no one can fulfill his or her destiny, or have a glorious life on earth without the proper use of the tongue.
Believe it or not, what you said with your mouth, maybe many years back, or what you may be saying today, is the reason your life is the way it is right now. It is the reason someone or some people are treating you the way they are treating you. If it was a wrong word you said, they may have forgiven you, but what those words transformed them into, and the attitudes it created in them, is what they are still living with.
Sadly, that is one thing many wrong tongue users do not understand about the power of their words. You will be forgiven of what you said, but what your words have already reshaped the other person into cannot be redeemed, hence forever he or she will be treating you that way. That is why apologies have not always solved certain issues in life. To prevent these developments, is one of the reasons the Bible says;
“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” James 1:19-20 NKJV
The human life is by default designed to be shaped by sayings. That is why utterances from God’s throne are the commonest resources of Heaven you find in God’s kingdom on earth. God want to shape people to become what He wants them to be, hence giving us the assignment of speaking His words into people’s hearts.
YOUR LIFE IS SHAPED TO BE INFLUENCED BY WHAT PEOPLE SAY, AND OTHER PEOPLE’S LIFE ARE ALSO SHAPED TO BE INFLUENCED BY WHAT YOU SAY.
It is the sayings you hear that control your life on earth, in the same way, it is what you have been saying to those around you, or is still saying to them now, that has been controlling how they treat you. People are products of what they have been hearing. So, do not say something that will shape another person into what you will not want, something even a sincere apology cannot redeem.
Every one of us and the way people treat us is always a fruit of our lips; fruits of what they have heard from our mouths. For many of us today, God would have to train us on how to talk, in order to help us lead a prosperous life on earth, and fulfill our destinies gloriously.
There is power in what we say and there is power in what we also refuse to say. Yes, what you also refuse to say because of fear or foolishness, will also determine how your life turns out.
A tongue God directs could be saying what people do not like, but it will ultimately help the owner of it fulfill his or her destiny and make his or her life glorious either in time or eternity, despite the backlash. That is why we read about how Paul in the Bible said and wrote things that the religious echelon of his days distasted with passion and persecuted him for, but today he is a shining start of God, both in Heaven and on earth.
If you ask me, I will say the only ‘wrong’ thing that should come out of our mouths, is what a Godless society and religious establishment consider wrong to say, but God considers it right to say, hence stirring us to say it. Such words are usually sent from the throne of God, to pierce through the darkness of moral decay, and rescue people from eternal damnation.
So many men and women of God have been killed and persecuted because of that but today they are rejoicing in Heaven and thanking God for being used of Him to say what they said. Friend, God created our tongues to be guided by Him; by His holy Spirit. That is why we will should never be too afraid to say what the Spirit wants us to say.
LET ME CLOSE THIS BY SHOWING US ONE THING THAT SHOULD NOT GUIDE OR CONTROL WHAT WE SAY, OUR FEELINGS.
Except they align with sound wisdom, prophetic foresight, spiritual maturity, and reason, our feelings should not control or guide what we say. Tongues that are guided by human feelings are very dangerous tongues.
If your feelings are what controls your tongue, your destruction is just a matter of moments. Feelings are the worst part of our lives that should control what we say. The Bible says;
“A fool vent all his feelings, But a wise man holds them back.” Proverbs 29:11 NKJV
If human feelings control the tongue, it will bring the tongue under the power of death. We do not realize that the power of death is no longer in the hands of the devil, Jesus took it from him. But how we use our tongues, can bring the death Jesus took upon our lives, instead of the life He brought.
You will never be able to fulfill your divine destiny, no matter how glorious it is, if you do not control what you say. Your destiny will therefore need a proper use of the tongue to be fulfilled, let no one confuse you about that. The difference between war and peace, has always been determined by what comes out of the mouth.
Our devotional text is about how a people who were condemned by God to succeed in life and led very glorious lives in a promised land, sadly ended up perishing in the wilderness because of what they said. The text said;
And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me.
Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.
Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. Numbers 14:28-31 NKJV
GOD RESPONDS TO WORDS OF THE MOUTH, AS MUCH AS HE RESPONDS TO PRAYERS.
That is why, whenever you are marching towards a glorious destiny, be careful of what you allow out of your mouth, especially when you are facing any threat. This text made it clear that God does not just have answers for our prayers, God also has answers for our utterances. He even has answers for our thoughts. We must understand all that and be careful of what we say or think in our hearts.
Our thoughts are what we say in our hearts, while our words are what we say with our lips. All are very important to the release of our destinies.
Satan was not casted out of Heaven because of what he said with his lips, but what he said in his heart. What you are saying in your heart, could even be your greatest problem on earth. It is important to realize that. What we say in our hearts will eventually come out of our mouth or our acts one day, and either ruin or raise our destinies. We should learn to guard our hearts with sound wisdom so that what is being said there will not ruin our lives.
The message today is simple. Our divine destinies will need the proper use of our tongues to be fulfilled. We should no longer despise what comes out of our mouths. No one fulfills a glorious destiny doing so.
It is my prayer that God will use these words to keep building us up and giving us an inheritance among they that are sanctified. Amen
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Who can discern his lapses and errors? Clear me from hidden [and unconscious] faults.
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then shall I be blameless, and I shall be innocent and clear of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my [firm, impenetrable] Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:12-14 AMPC