TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 8TH JULY 2023)**
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”
“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 189th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
Today is the 8th day since we stepped into the new month. New months for kingdom citizens, calls for new levels of faith. It is an opportunity for one to right the wrongs of an old month, and focus on divine pathways that one never walked in the previous.
That is how Citizens of God’s kingdom challenge themselves and move from glory to glory. The driving force or Governor-general of the Kingdom of God, the Holy Spirit, actually moves the church from one realm to another through His diverse activities in the lives of men and women.
The Bible admonishes that we move from one level of grace to another, and one level of faith to another. The Holy Spirit is the one that makes that Happen.
That is why those who know how to keep Him aflame in their lives, grow faster in the faith than others, and cannot be found at one level of faith, glory, or grace for too long. He keeps taking them from faith to faith, from glory to glory, and from grace to grace, until they are no more. You find this pattern in the life of Enoch.
The Bible says;
“Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters.
So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” Genesis 5:21-24 NKJV
If you are a student of the solar system, you will realize that it takes three hundred and sixty-five days for the earth to go around the Sun.
Enoch must have spent each year of His life moving step by step round the pre-incarnate Christ, who was living in Him then because of certain rules of exceptions in the kingdom which we cannot go into now, and at the same time manifesting then as the Sun of Righteousness. It was when he completed that journey, and there was no other place to cover other than to do a repeat, that God took Him.
GOD HAD TO TAKE HIM BECAUSE GOD HAS NO REPEAT CLASSES FOR THOSE WHO ARE DOING WELL IN THEIR WALK WITH HIM.
The distance Enoch covered around the Sun of righteousness is still there. It is the same distance every child of God is to cover now that the Sun of righteousness has become flesh, died on the cross, and released His Holy Spirit to help us. We are to cover the same distance by following the LORD wherever He leads.
But with the kinds of character fruits, scandals, and fake salvation we see in Church today, and the rise-and-fall-type of Christianity everyone seems to have embraced saying no one is perfect, I do not think many of us have even covered a one-hour distance around the Sun of righteousness. Neither will any be able to go around the Sun of righteousness like Enoch did.
Sadly, our generation is full of believers who will just die, covering at most a week’s journey, around the Sun of righteousness. No one will be able to go around, complete the general orbit of faith, and be taken like Enoch did. Except there is a revolution, the kinds of teachings we hear, and the kind of spirit we see in our local churches, will not let that happen.
The Bible made it clear that when Enoch was going around the Sun of righteousness, on an orbit called faith, the Bible says he had a testimony that He pleased God. The book of Hebrews puts it this way;
“By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:5-6 NKJV
It is part of our divine destiny to walk through the orbit of faith that Enoch walked in so that we will live a life that please God. But the Bible says, those who walk in the flesh or are carnally minded cannot please God. Meaning, this is not a journey we take in the flesh or with a carnal mindset. It also points to us why many will never be able to complete that journey in our age and time, and why some might cover just an hour’s distance in their lifetime.
In simple terms, the orbit of faith that Enoch traveled through for a lifetime, is not something anyone walking in the flesh can be found in. No one who is led by the flesh will produce a life that pleases GOD. Only those who walk in the Spirit can, and how many people are walking in the Spirit?
THE KINDS OF PREACHERS WE HAVE TODAY DO NOT HAVE WHAT WILL HELP US WALK IN THE SPIRIT.
The Bible says;
Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. Romans 8:1 AMPC
The greatest enemy to pleasing God, or walking through the orbit of faith that Enoch walked in, is a walk after the dictates of the flesh. We will never fulfill our divine destiny, or go through this orbit of faith walking after the dictates of the flesh, which is very easy to do. We can only do so if we walk after the dictates of the Spirit.
Friend, God is on a redemptive move on planet Earth. Every human was supposed to walk in the very orbit of faith that Enoch walked in till they are not, for God will take them. When you walk your Christina walk through that orbit, you will find yourself going from faith to faith, glory to glory, and grace to grace, as you travel through the Word guided by the Spirit of the LORD.
That is why the vehicle of redemption, Christianity as in the days of our Bible fathers, was designed to take us from faith to faith, grace to grace, and glory to glory until death do us part.
In their days, once you become a Christian (not by religion but by a relationship with Jesus Christ), and get your life filled with the Holy Spirit, you will begin to lead a life that is constantly moving from lower levels of faith to higher levels, lower dimensions of grace to higher dimensions, lower realms glory and truth, to higher realms, until your time on earth is over.
This is the beautiful move that our divine destiny will need to be fulfilled.
In our devotional text today, we find eternal words that were written to the Church at Philippi, which have shaped the destiny of many from generation to generation. For instance, every revivalist God ever used to rekindle the flames of His Holy Spirit that I have read about, fed from that scripture to stay on fire for the LORD and travel through the orbit of their faith in Christ.
There is, therefore, something about that scripture that needs urgent attention in our generation. That is why I believe, the LORD had us to have it as our devotional text today.
A MAJOR HIGHLIGHT IN THE TEXT SAYS;
“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
This scripture contains one major principle to embrace if one will ever walk in the Spirit, and please God by traveling through their orbit of faith in Christ. It calls for pressing into things you are yet to experience in Christ, instead of slipping back into a life that is dictated by the flesh.
If we do not forget the things that happened yesterday – the good, the bad, and the ugly – and press into what God has predetermined that it happens today, we will never unleash our divine destiny. A generation that holds on to past glorious or gory things, might never be able to finish its course in God’s eternal plan for mankind!
If you are not pressing into things that you are yet to experience in Christ, faith, glory, grace, and truth dimensions, you will find yourself following the dictates of the flesh and living in sin.
No moving army can be captured by the enemy. If you are moving and pressing into the next thing you are yet to experience in Christ, the enemies of sin, self, Satan, and the corrupt world system will not be able to capture your thoughts, and bring you into the valley of Achor like it brought Achan.
That is why in God’s kingdom, we don’t get ourselves stuck to a season. The order is “keep moving.” The earth has not stopped moving around the Sun. We must not stop moving around the Sun of righteousness, and allowing Him to rise upon us with healing in His wings. The Bible says;
“But unto you who revere and worshipfully fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves [released] from the stall and leap for joy.
And you shall tread down the lawless and wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 4:2-3 AMPC
Our destiny is fulfilled when we keep moving around the Sun of Righteousness, as He lives in us, and drives us through the orbit of faith around His glory. Then we will have the capacity to tread down the spirit of lawlessness in the nations of the earth, because in that orbit of faith, the wicked one is made ashes under our feet. Hallelujah!
THE WICKED ONE ONLY PREVAILS OVER US WHEN WE ARE NOT TRAVELING IN THAT ORBIT OF FAITH.
He only stops us and makes life difficult for us when we are not in that orbit of faith. His darkness only prevails against us when we are not traveling through the orbit. Your life will never know peace, bliss, joy, fulfillment, or whatever it needs to blossom if you lead it outside the orbit of faith that Enoch traveled through.
I have looked at all the need for deliverance you see in the church today, the desire for healing, holiness, purity, power, prosperity, peace in our marriages, and all that, and discovered that most believers today live their lives outside this orbit, hence the sorrows, sufferings, and spiritual attacks they suffer.
Once we are on that orbit; whatever is from the kingdom of darkness will not be able to do us any harm, except if God wants us to pass through the Job process to greatness. God wants you in the orbit as fast as possible. He wants His Sun of Righteousness to be rising on you.
Friend, there is so much lawlessness in our age to trample down and souls trapped in it to rescue. But until we find our footing in that orbit, we will never be able to make the Malachi chapter four verse three impact. Today’s devotional is a call to get back to the very orbit of faith that Enoch traveled through.
The world is dying and the church as we see it today, is terribly sick in so many areas. People on that orbit are needed now more than ever. The entire church must get back to the orbit so that God will heal it and use it to save the dying world.
What is the message of today? The message is simple! There is an orbit of faith around the Sun of Righteousness. God wants you and me permanently on that orbit. Enough of a life of flesh and carnal-mindedness. God wants us to die to the flesh and anything that will not let us get back to that orbit of faith.
It is my prayer that we all heed His call this morning! Amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.”
“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ”
“and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;”
“that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”
“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
“Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.” Philippians 3:7-15 NKJV