TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 15TH JULY 2023)**
“Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 196TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
It pleases the Father (or Source) of our LORD Jesus Christ and the whole council of Heaven that you and I be alive to see the 196th day of the year 2023, according to the Gregorian calendar.
I can’t forget how we were taken from the city of Calabar, to live in the village (all in Cross River State of Nigeria) for some time by my Dad, in 1982. That was when I knew this cousin of mine as an adult. She was a powerful teenager then, who created waves everywhere. You must feel her impact every morning. This morning I got the news that she has passed.
I can’t believe she is gone. It was fun growing up with her in the village compound in the 1980s. Sometimes I wish those moments return because they were blessed moments. Crime was less, evil was near nonexistence. People loved themselves and we just lived fine.
But over the years we all grew and went to our different direction. Sadly, she is gone! This fallen life is indeed short. It does not allow one’s relatives to live forever. That is why the redeemed of the LORD are looking forward to the next life, in an Earth where righteousness dwells. Then, there will be no more death.
The death of such a close and power relative, has a way of reminding someone of the reality of death. Though we do not like to talk or think about it, we should remember that we are all not forever. One day we will be gone also.
Our prayer should be that we go when we are fully ready for the LORD, when we do not have any spot or wrinkle in our lives that will deprive us of Heaven.
This morning, her death reminded me again that one day I will also come to the end of my days, and go to give account for my life. That day should not meet me unready for the LORD.
IT SHOULD MEET ME READY FOR HIM, WITH NO SPOT OR WRINKLE THAT MIGHT DEPRIVE ME OF HEAVEN.
I mourn her death in a foreign land, because of ministry. I wish I were in other kind of work. I would have taken some days off and travel home by Sunday. But this work does not permit such moves. Besides, though many will not think so, ours is still a growing ministry. But I will plan a trip to my village some day because it has become very necessary.
I pray the LORD take care of our hearts this moment and preserve those she left behind (all members of her nuclear family).
As believers, we are taught to give God thanks in everything; for it is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us! We who are still alive will keep thanking God for His mercies in our lives. We will keep being grateful for all His wonders and marvelous deeds. Despite this development, we will still say;
“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,” Let Israel now say— “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us,
Then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;
Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; Then the swollen waters Would have gone over our soul.”
Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Psalm 124:1-6 NKJV
In this beautiful time of Zion, we identify with every detail of this scripture. Hallelujah!!
Today we want to share something briefly on emotions, because if you will fulfill your destiny, you must learn how not to be guided by your emotions. Emotions has misled people into self-destruction. It has made people do things that they now spend each day regretting over.
It has ruined God ordained relationships, battered the lives of Children, led to the economic slavery of many, thrown believers into a life of sin, broke down homes, sent husbands away from their wives, and wives away from their husbands.
People do not realize that our emotions have done more harm to us than what the devil himself would have been able to do, because he is already defeated. It has even made people sick, sent some to their early graves, prevented others from giving their lives to Christ, and brought untold perils and hardship to some others.
IT IS ONE THING WE BELIEVERS SEEMS NOT TO CARE ABOUT, BUT IT RUINS US EVERY DAY.
It has sent men and women away from people and Jobs God provided for them, wives God gave them, husbands God designed for them, churches and ministries God appointed for them, bosses God gave them, the list is endless. Businesses, careers, callings, pathways, and families with a great future have been ruined by uncontrolled emotions.
The damage of uncontrolled emotions to human lives is beyond what human words can fully capture. Even in the kingdom of GOD, believers do not even realize how this virus is ruining them and most importantly, their relationship with God.
For instance, most prayers we pray against our enemies are governed by emotions, not the Holy Spirit. Most of our Christian lives are ruled by emotions not the Holy Spirit. That is how bad the situation is. That is why everyone with a divine destiny to fulfill, must be guided by something bigger than their emotions.
I believe there are some insightful things from the scriptures that will be of help to us on this subject. I hope we are ready!
To start with, I want to say there are negative emotions, and there are positive emotions. Both can raise or ruin any of us, depending on our level of intelligence, maturity, or absence of both. God never built man to be governed by his emotions. That was why there was no emotional display in all Adam did well in the Garden of Eden. There was just vision.
The only time he went emotional was when he ate from the tree of sound judgment, because of what he felt for his wife, Eve. The result of that is what we all have today. If he had stuck to vision, he would not have sinned.
Your emotion might guide you on an intelligent decision or choice to make, but it should not be the governor of your life, as a child of GOD.
Emotions have been defined as strong feelings, derived from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships and others. It is a complex experience of consciousness, bodily sensation, and behavior that reflects the personal significance of a thing, an event, or the state of affairs.
THESE DEFINITIONS SIMPLY PUT OUR EMOTIONS ON THE SAME LEVEL WITH THERMOMETERS.
They are simply indicators that something is about to happen, or has already happened. That is why an entire life should not be entrusted to someone’s emotions. Thermometers only tell what is happening at a moment. Once what is happening no longer happens, they will tell you it is no longer happening.
Your emotions therefore, reflect how you feel about a given situation or circumstance. So, it should not govern your life because feelings are not always trust worthy.
God did not design man to be governed by emotions, God designed man to be governed by vision.
When you are governed by a divine vision, you will not be engaged in stupid things; you will definitely succeed in life. You will even make sure your emotions do not ruin the future your vision has shown you. That is why visions are the greatest tools that put emotions under check. We can see that even in the life of Christ.
His vision of a great future put His emotions under check.
The vision of redeeming you and I and sitting at the right hand of the Father, made him to endure the most excruciating pain a man can ever have; the pain of the cross. He did that and laid a foundation for us. We are to do the same. We are to endure pain, put our sinful desires to death, and make sure our emotions do not rule us when walking with the LORD.
Our devotional text says,
“Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV
ENDURANCE CAN BE SAID TO BE THE ACT OF NOT ALLOWING WHAT YOU FEEL TO BIRTH AN UNNECESSARY ACTION OF DECISION.
Putting our emotions under check calls for endurance. A God given vision will help us do that effectively. Once our hearts are set on achieving the goal His Holy Spirit planted in our hearts, what we feel will no longer matter. Achieving that goal will be what matters.
Friend, emotions should never be the governor of our lives. God given goals and visions should be. When you are governed by emotions, you are like a ship whose engine is dead, and is now tossed by the storms of the high sea or the current of the ocean. It will never get to its destination. At best, it will sink or become Ghost ship on the high sea.
Sadly, that is how many lives have become on the sea of humanity. They do whatever their emotions tell them to do, and come to sudden destruction.
There are those who no longer feel they are women. They now feel they are men. I mean, women God created to be great mothers. They now see themselves as men, with some uttering their body parts to fit. That is not the will of God. The Bible says it will bring terrible eternal judgment.
Do not be govern by what you feel. Be govern by what you see through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. That is how to be a human in God’s design.
Emotions will turn you into a human in Satan’s design. It will take over your decision-making power, and begin to drive you through life like a ship tossed here and there. The most beautiful lives in God’s design, are not governed by emotions. They are governed by vision; a heavenly vision. They are visionary in everything they do, not emotional.
For instance, a visionary life will not break God’s instruction or live a sinful life because it knows the consequences. But emotions have no intelligence, they do not know the consequences of actions. They just want to be satisfied, no matter the cost, bringing so much perils upon us after they are satisfied.
It could be an emotion of lust, pain, losses, revenge, hate, unforgiveness, greed, covetousness, sexual desire, or etc., they have no intelligence, they only seek to be satisfied. They do not know the consequences. That is why visions from the revelation of the LORD, should guide us through life, not emotions.
The Bible says when Adam ate from his wife’s hand, from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he was not deceived. He knew exactly what the consequence will be. But went ahead. That is how stupid we become under emotions.
We must all understand that our feelings will never care about what GOD says, because our feelings are creations of our carnal nature, or flesh. They will only care about what they want. The feeling of sexual pleasure, for example, do not care about wedding vows. It just cares about the very person it has decided to sleep with.
So, child of God, this is a call from the LORD to us; a call for us to start living our lives in God’s design not in the design of our emotions, if we have not done so. It is my prayer that we will all heed to the call in Jesus precious name. Amen!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. The Lord’s Answer
Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.
For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it[c] will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:1-3 NIV