TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 7TH JULY 2023)**
“Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.”
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.”
“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:27-31 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 188th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
God has been faithful to us. He has given us another day to be alive and well. It is another weekend in our year of signs and wonders. Today is the 7th day of the 7th month of the year. What a day to be alive.
But I have a word of caution here for the elects.
The Bible spoke about the possible deception of the elects by the spirit of the last days, using preachers. Days that fall into numbers like this, can be used by greedy men and women of ‘God’ and charlatans, to hoodwink people into some deceptive practices, teachings, prophecies, or giving.
I admonish that you should not allow any charlatan to use the number of the 7th day of the 7th month to deceive you about some special miracles or whatever. I have already seen one, advertising a meeting that people should come to today to dedicate their dreams.
Come to think of it; dedication of dreams? This is not just heretic but also stupid. It seems these men have run out of deceptive practices and are now in a position that can only be called stupid!
I think some of these charlatans did not go to school. If they went, then obviously, the school they went to did not go through them, because a dream is not something to dedicate. In the kingdom of darkness, they could do that, just to confuse people, but in God’s kingdom, it is hearts that are dedicated to the LORD, not dreams.
Child of God, one of the many things the enemy will do this end time to defeat our journey into the fulfillment of our divine destiny is deception. He will try to deceive us to sabotage us.
You see, an angel of the LORD may protect you from any other attack of the devil, but if you want to be protected from deception, you must be conversant with your Bible. You must know practices, prophecies, and other things in Church that have no Bible sense or foundation and avoid them.
Things like the dedication of dreams, recovering of stars, and all others that these charlatans teach and make people do, have no Bible sense or foundation and will transmit unclean or evil spirits into your life. A people who will not be established in Bible truths these end times will be ruined by charlatans and greedy men and women of ‘God.’
THESE ARE THE WRONG TIMES TO LEAD A CHRISTIAN LIFE THAT HAS NO INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
God lamented in His word saying;
“Therefore my people have gone into captivity, Because they have no knowledge; Their honorable men are famished, And their multitude dried up with thirst.
Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself And opened its mouth beyond measure; Their glory and their multitude and their pomp, And he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.” Isaiah 5:13-14 NKJV
One of the dangers of leading a Christian life that has no knowledge of God is seen in this scripture; going into captivity, or descending into the mouth or gates of hell, which are enlarging themselves daily.
Jesus said, “I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” What Jesus referred to as Church, is not our church buildings, but a people, who have responded to His call, to come out of darkness and enter into life in His marvelous light. These people must be built by Him daily for the gates of hell not to prevail against them.
Those who are built by Him daily will have an intimate knowledge of God. With the intimate knowledge of God in their lives, they will not be vulnerable to captivity of any kind, and neither will they experience any descent into hell.
Sadly, when Christians with no intimate knowledge of God, are experiencing a descent into the hell that is enlarging itself today, they do not realize it because it is usually a spiritual descent, not a natural one. I reiterate again that these are the wrong times to lead a Christian life without being conversant with your Bible.
If you do not have the intimate Knowledge of God revealed in the Bible, you will become a victim of deception, like the deception of dedicating your dreams.
Actually, things like dedicating your dream, recovery of your lost star, use of oil, water, salt, and all that, are preached by unsaved or misled preachers, and believed by those who have no intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
Sadly, some of those who preach such things, and those who believe them, have an amazing public relationship with Jesus Christ, but have no genuine intimate relationship with Him. You know it by their fruits. When you are intimate with Christ, you will not preach such things or believe those who preach them. That is why you will never find those teachings in the early Church.
SADLY, THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE IN CHURCH TODAY WHO HAVE A PUBLIC RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS, BUT NO INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP.
God lamented in His word saying;
“These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:8-9 NKJV
It is clear in this scripture that when a preacher’s heart is far from the LORD, he or she will teach the commandments of men as the doctrine of God. They could have a “God said this” to tell you, but their deeds prove they are very far from Him.
The commandments of men today, are things that have no Bible sense or bases; things the early Church never did or taught, teachings that are induced by Biblical illiteracy, greed for gain, money-making spirit, and all that.
If you have a public relationship with Christ, but no private one, it will show in your character and in what you believe. You will be calling yourself the sheep of Christ but following the voice of strange doctrines, prophecies, and practices in the Church.
Your divine destiny will need victory over deception to be fulfilled. And for you to have that victory, you will not need an angel, a fire from Heaven, or a chariot. You will need to be armed with Bible truths so that you can recognize things in Church with no Bible sense or foundation, and avoid them.
The next thing your divine destiny will need to be fulfilled is divine protection.
All through the Holy Bible you see the necessity of divine protection to a divine destiny expressed, from book to book. If divine protection is not added to your divine destiny, you may have all other things right, but you will not live long enough to fulfill them.
IT IS DIVINE PROTECTION THAT KEEPS A MAN OR WOMAN OF DESTINY LONG ENOUGH TO FINISH GOD’S WILL FOR HIS OR HER LIFE.
The life of David comes to mind here! God had to protect him from Saul and all his enemies, basically to enable him to unleash his divine destiny. You find God making sure that even when he was battle wearied, his enemies did not prevail against him.
The same can be seen in the life of Paul the apostle; He went through so much that ordinarily, he should have died in a few months after accepting Christ. The first year he opened his mouth to preach, the Jews stoned him to premature death, but God. The Bible says;
“Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.”
“However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.” Acts 14:19-20 NKJV
It takes divine protection to be stoned and left for dead and then rise to go back into the same City to continue what you were doing before the stones came. It takes divine protection to be so treated and still have the life in you to travel to another city without being admitted to the Hospital for recovery.
If GOD had not divinely protected Paul and the rest of the disciples, I do not think the gospel would have gotten to us. The dragon really tried to devour them but God protected them. Your divine destiny will need divine protection to be fulfilled.
When God gives you a destiny to pursue, God will assign angels to protect you. When God gives you an assignment to do, the Holy Ghost will be assigned to both empower and protect you to do it.
If you see yourself causing ripples in the camp of the enemy because you are doing a Holy Ghost-empowered service in the kingdom, do not fear what may happen to you.
GOD SAID THROUGH ISAIAH;
“Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’ concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.”
“He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem” Isaiah 8:12-14 NKJV
The same Spirit that is empowering you to do those things is also protecting you at the same time from any harm that will come from doing those things. That is why you read Jesus telling us;
“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Luke 10:19 NKJV
If the Holy Ghost uses you to trample on serpents and scorpions or step on toes that are destroying His work, He will make sure that nothing by any means hurts you thereafter.
The Holy Ghost does not empower a man to do a thing and then abandon Him when the repercussions come from hell. He is not a man that abandons his partner when the heat becomes hot! He sticks to His human partners to protect them from the backlash of the enemy after using them to do work for God.
That is why a major highlight in our devotional text this morning says;
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.”
“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
What a word from our God!
What is the message of our devotional this morning? Your divine destiny will need victory over the last day’s deception to be fulfilled. It will also need divine protection from the evil one. That is the message. Yes, divine protection, not human protection, except the human protection built around you by the LORD!
Therefore, fix your heart on God’s word of protection over your life, and go on doing only the things He has called or assigned you to do. Even if you are in the midst of charging bears and roaring lions, God’s protection will keep you beyond their reach! AMEN!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR TODAY;
“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” Genesis 28:15 NKJV