TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 21ST JUNE 2023)**
“In righteousness, you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.” Isaiah 54:14 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 172ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
It’s been 172 days of God’s blessings, miracles, marvelous help, mercies, kindness, compassion, and visitations. He has kept us alive freely and we give him the glory for all that.
Life has been made peaceful by His presence in our lives. Without His presence, I do not think some of us would be alive today. Some might have been alive but not healthy. The pressures of life will break you if you do not have the presence of God in your life.
It is the presence that has kept us healthy, strong, and kicking. I have learned by experience that the presence of God is where the pressures of men are taken care of. You may be depressed, oppressed, dejected, and tired of this life. But if the presence of God comes upon you, everything will just change!
It is usually an amazing experience.
The presence of God is where we are clothed with peace – perfect peace. It is in God’s presence that we pick our miracles because His presence brings things from Heaven to earth.
It brings revelation to guide one’s heart in the midst of trouble, light and understanding to show one which step to take to turn things around, joy to help cushion the effect of an adverse situation so that one would not slip into sorrow, or bitterness and unforgiveness, especially if an offender is involved, and all that.
The Bible says;
“You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy, at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” Psalms 16:11 AMP
We have been looking at the importance of the presence of God to the release of our divine destiny. This scripture says so much about that. The fullness of joy and everything we need to be what God has called us to be can only be found in the active presence of God. Sadly, Satan knows that but most of us in Church do not.
I want you to understand that, whenever the devil wants to kill a man or woman, he will make them hate the true presence of God and accept the counterfeit. He will give them shadows and make them use them in place of the substance. For instance, they will love and develop a healthy relationship with the oil instead of the Spirit of God.
PEOPLE WHO ARE CUT OFF FROM THE PRESENCE OF GOD, HAVE BEEN ACTUALLY CUT OFF FROM EVERYTHING GOD OFFERS.
Yes, if you are cut off from the active presence of God, you have been cut off from the Healing He offers, the deliverance He offers, the sustenance He give freely, the protection He sends a man’s way, the provision He releases in time of need, the preservation from evil, His vision and power for your life, and the true anointing of the Holy Ghost that you need to know Him personally, an anointing that cannot be put in a bottle.
One major thing the presence of God clothes us with is His righteousness. One of the many things that our destiny needs to be fulfilled is righteousness. And we can only get that in the active presence of the LORD.
We may call ourselves the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, but until we learn to spend quality time in the active presence of God, that confession will never translate into reality – our character will never show that we are His righteousness. That brings us to our text for the day!
Our devotional text today is very profound and relevant to our age. It promised us protection against oppression, fear and terror, but conditioned it on righteousness. Righteousness will not just help us fulfill our destiny but protect us from evil.
Doubtlessly, we are in the days of oppression, fearful things, and global terrorism. There is so much happening and so much suffering and all that.
Families and individuals are going through a lot, and incidents of crimes and criminalities are on the rise. The threat to human lives has increased in quantum proportions. There are places you live and you have to sleep with one of your eyes open, so to speak.
God knew these days will come. He knew evil will multiply itself in amazing proportion and get to the point of making the earth too horrible to live in. He knew these dark things will happen. The Bible describe the times we live in as perilous times. God knew the times would be here hence speaking to us about them in Bible prophecy.
Things do not take Him unawares because He was before the beginning began, and knows the end from the beginning. That is why people who are familiar with Bible prophecy are not lost in where our world is heading to. They know exactly where we are and where we are headed to as mankind.
OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT MADE IT CLEAR THAT THE SECRET OF PROTECTION FROM OPPRESSION, FEAR, AND TERROR IS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
The Bible says in righteousness we shall be established and we shall be far from oppression, fear, and terror. That is why we need the presence of God to cloth us with it! The world is dealing with a new threat to world peace – terrorism – every day. Nations are spending so much on terror related security systems. Many security officers have even put their lives on the line.
I believe God has a plan to help the human race, and the church is that plan.
We ought to offer the solution but we are too far from God and too corrupt to offer it. God said in His word that the cure for global terror will be righteousness – that was long before our age and time. Sadly, the world is spending a fortune to deal with the scourge its own way.
Our security agencies are trying their human best with many of them paying the ultimate sacrifice in the process. That is what usually happens each time man turns back at God’s ultimate solution to things, and try to create his own ultimate solution.
Talking about terror, apart from global terrorism that is threatening mankind, there are also internal terrors called fear of the unknown, hunting the souls of many. But when a man is established in righteousness, he will be far from this kind of terror also, according to scriptures. He will come out of any oppression and fear.
The Bible indeed said, the righteous are as bold as a lion. That scripture tells us that, righteousness has a way of eliminating fear, and equipping us to unleash our divine destiny. Sadly, righteousness has indeed become very scarce today hence there is increased oppression, fear, and terror.
People are finding it difficult to unleash their destiny as a result. Many cannot be established in anything because it is in righteousness that we are established.
Actually, the devil wants righteousness eliminated so that everyone will be eliminated. He wants sin and wickedness enthrone because that is the only way he can thrive and make his own kingdom come, and his own will to be done on earth as determine in hell. But mercy has been saying no!
GOD’S GOAL HAS BEEN TO ELIMINATE EVIL, SIN, AND ALL FORMS OF WICKEDNESS BY ESTABLISHING RIGHTEOUSNESS.
That is why, after this age, there will be a new age where righteousness dwells. Filling the earth with righteousness has been God’s vision. That is how He gets His kingdom things done on earth as written in Heaven.
The devil has been the greatest threat to righteousness. He does not want to see it anywhere on earth. He knows that if he eliminates righteousness, we all will become vulnerable to his attacks and schemes. That is why he even goes as far making everyone who departs from evil a prey, to frustrate the inert desire to be righteous in their heart. And he seems to be succeeding in the lives of some.
There is a great falling away from the standards of righteousness that our fathers of faith were established in. The very standards that made them carry a glory that turned the world upside down wherever they went with the word. The standards that made people like Peter discuss with death, and men like Stephen, pull Jesus to His feet to receive them with honor in glory!
What is righteousness? Righteousness is right standing with God! However, righteousness is not just an act, righteousness is a person. The Bible says Jesus is our righteousness. But as earlier stated our generation seems to misunderstand this Biblical revelation.
Some Christians live in sin and when you admonish them to desist, they will tell you Christ is their righteousness, that whatever they now do, no longer matters.
That is a dangerous position to take. It’s a sign that they have been overwhelmed by the enemy because when the Bible says, “Christ is our righteousness” it means He is the giver of our righteousness. Meaning we cannot be declared righteous by God until the righteous One lives inside us.
This is how it works! No one on his own is righteous or can be. But when Christ lives in you, He will permeate your life with His righteousness, resulting in a life of moral excellence, purity, and right standing with God.
In simple terms, if the righteous one lives in you, and you cultivate unbroken fellowship with Him and His word, He will fill your life with His righteousness, putting all carnal desires in you to death and eliminating sinful living.
UNTIL THAT TAKE PLACE, CHRIST HAS NOT BECOME YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Like earlier stated, righteousness is a person. Until we are established in Him, we cannot be far from oppression, fear, or terror. When He lives in us by faith and people feel His presence around us wherever we go, we can be far from terror, oppression, and fear. We can fulfill our divine destiny. We can see the glorious things GOD organize that they happen in our lives, happening.
You see, Christ in you remains the hope of glory, not money in your pocket, wife or husband by your side. Christ in us remains the hope of glory! If He is not in us, it does not matter what is for us, or who is by our side. Everything will fail.
Sadly, most preachers take money in your pocket as the hope of glory, instead of Christ in you. Some even describe money in your pocket as a sign that Christ is in you, by presenting financial prosperity as evidence that you are a Christian. But the Bible presents right living, purity, holiness, right standing with God in all matters of life, and moral excellence as signs of Christianity.
The LORD will not let what the false, premature, and heretic preachers are presenting, to keep destroying the faith. He will no longer allow their heretic teachings to take root in the hearts of the elects. He is raising and will keep raising His voices on the face of the earth to deal with the scourge and more men and women will rise to do just that as we get to the consummation of all things.
LET THIS PRAYER OF DAVID BE YOUR ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“With my whole heart I have sought you; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:10-11 NKJV