TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 15TH JUNE 2023)**
“And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”
“Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God, nothing will be impossible.”
“Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. Luke 1:35-38 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 166th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
Blessed be the name of the LORD for another day. Again and again, we have slept and woken up because the LORD kept us!
Being kept alive for 166 days is not cheap. It looks cheap, but if you visit those who are lying down in ICU, you will know what I am talking about; you will know how much it would have cost either of us to stay alive for even six days.
God has been so mindful of us, keeping us alive. He pre-appointed our days, long before we were born. He scheduled them for us and stored His purpose in our lives so that we can use them to fulfill them.
It will be another prophetic month for the sons of the Kingdom, who the LORD has placed under our apostolic oversight, as we hold our Destiny Matters Power Conference, from Sunday, the 18th of June 2023, to Sunday the 25th. I hope you are getting ready.
For the child of God, destiny matters come first before other matters. If a child of God put other matters ahead of destiny matters, his or her life will be injured terribly by the perils of life. He or she will get married to those they should have not gotten married to, have kids when they should not have them, and all that.
If we are not concerned with destiny matters, any decision we take might look good in our sight but will end up being wrong at the end of the day. Time has a way of prospering choices that we make in line with our destinies, and punishing the ones we make contrary to our destinies. Let everyone understand that.
If you choose a relationship that is contrary to your destiny, time will punish you and you will regret ever setting your eyes on that person. If you choose a career that is contrary to your destiny, time will punish you and you will regret ever making that choice.
If you choose a Church that is contrary to your destiny, time will punish you and you will regret every moment you spent there. If you choose a wife or husband that is contrary to your destiny, time will punish you and you will regret ever getting married.
TIME IS AN ENEMY OF ANYTHING THAT RUNS CONTRARY TO GOD’S PLAN FOR OUR LIVES.
If you pursue a career, business, goal, life plan, or vision that is contrary to your destiny, time will punish you and you will regret ever taking that path.
If you follow a path or live a lifestyle that is contrary to your destiny, time will punish you severely. That is why you find people suffering without remedy. For instance, there would never be a remedy if you are sick, toiling, groaning in life, or poor because of a lifestyle that runs contrary to your destiny.
Time is designed to bless us for choices that align with our destiny and punish us for choices that do not. That is why we must be careful. Any life situation that is as a result of a lifestyle, will remain until we change that lifestyle.
So, if a lifestyle that runs contrary to your destiny is responsible for your problems, there will be no solution despite prayers. Except a revelation and power that returns you to the content of your destiny, comes from your prayer knee, every prayer you pray to change the situation will offer no help.
God designed that our lifestyles spring from the content of our divine destiny and created time with natural forces that bless lifestyles that are products of the content of a man’s destiny. If we therefore run our lives contrary to the content of our destinies, we would live accursed lives on earth; and in some cases, make greedy men and women of ‘GOD’ feed on us, by asking us to raise altars to secure help from the LORD.
Most of what people suffer that makes them go for prayers and all that, needs just an alignment with the content of their divine destiny. It does not need oil on their heads, water, salt, the serving of communion, feet washing, or any other form of washing.
An alignment with the content of their destiny is all they need.
Understand that, prayer for deliverance cannot solve what time brought upon you. Only structural adjustment can.
WE MUST ADJUST TO WHAT TIME WAS CREATED TO FAVOR AND BLESS, TO LIVE LIVES THAT ARE BLESSED OR HIGHLY FAVORED.
If we become more concerned with our divine destinies, we will not be found camping around religion, walling ourselves in some denominations, and making choices that run contrary to the contents of our destinies. We will find ourselves taking our place in destiny, as God’s Holy nation on the face of the earth, making choices that align, and converting the kingdoms of this world into that of God and His Christ.
Let me submit to you that divine destiny is like a seed. It needs choices that align with its content to be fulfilled. If you are not making such choices, it will never be fulfilled. For instance, the choice of where you plant yourself will determine if you will fulfill your destiny or not.
Do not forget that your divine destiny contains glorious things that have been pre-determined by God, to happen in your life or by your hands on the face of the earth. However, the choice of where you plant yourself, can either unleash them or defeat them.
Our devotional text today is about Mary, a woman of destiny.
The text is also about where the young woman decided to plant herself as soon as the revelation of the content of her destiny came to her by the angel Gabriel. Years before she was born, it was pre-determined that a virgin will conceive without meeting a man and give birth to the Messiah.
It was a popular prophecy among the Jews. However, through divine destiny, Mary became that virgin. A portion of our text of the conversation between her and the angel Gabriel, reveals to us the most powerful force on earth, and how our divine destinies are fulfilled by the power of that force. The text says;
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”
Hidden in this statement is how divine destiny is fulfilled. It is fulfilled when the Holy Ghost comes upon us and the power of the Highest Overshadow us from time to time. That is why you must not plant yourself where it cannot happen. Yes, there are places where this will never happen in our lives, and there are places where it will.
THE CHOICE TO PLANT OURSELVES WHERE IT WILL, IS IN OUR HANDS, NOT IN GOD’S HANDS.
Sadly, many people with great destinies have not planted themselves where this happens. They are not living lives that will make it happen. Many of us are living very sinful and spiritually careless lives that are hindering this from happening. We have planted our lives in sin, spiritual recklessness, and indiscipline.
We have planted our lives in relationships, marriages, money pursuits, visions, careers, passions, desires, churches, religious systems, etc. that will never allow the Holy Spirit to rest upon us, or the Power of the Highest to be overshadowing us from time to time.
Sadly, for some, Babylon has snatched their divine pregnancies and given them monies, fame, and other things humans crave for in exchange.
They seem happy, and joyful, but are not travelling in God’s direction for their lives, preparing themselves for the punishments that time will bring upon them in future.
Friend, if you will fulfill your destiny, you must walk away from people, purposes, pursuits, places, and systems that will not allow the Holy Spirit to rest upon you and the power of the highest to be overshadowing you, from time to time.
Don’t forget what the Bible says in the book of Zechariah.
God was giving the same lesson to the prophet Zechariah to tell Zerubbabel, whose divine destiny, was to serve as the governor of a Jewish nation that had just returned from Babylonian captivity. It says, matters of divine destiny are not matters we pursue and fulfill in our own strength. They are not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the LORD.
He also said that if Zechariah will plant himself in things that will allow the Holy Spirit do His job in him, he will come to the finish of his destiny with shouts of “Grace! Grace!” to it.
I like the word “Grace” in that scripture, because if you make the right choice, and plant yourself in the right place, God’s grace will be flowing constantly to you, enabling you to fulfill every detail of your destiny. God’s grace is actually a beautiful part of the Holy Spirit. It is a product of the presence of God that manifest as “God’s power and God’s pardon.”
When it flows through you, you are made.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.
‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”‘” Zechariah 4:6-7NKJV