TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 31ST JULY 2023)**
“My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh!
Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.
Put away from you false and dishonest speech, and willful and contrary talk put far from you. Let your eyes look right on [with fixed purpose], and let your gaze be straight before you. Consider well the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established and ordered aright.
Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left; remove your foot from evil.” Proverbs 4:20-27 AMP
WELCOME TO THE 212th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
Today is also the last day of the seventh month of the year. To God be the glory for all He did in our lives this month.
It has been a month of many things from His throne. Every one of us can see the hallmarks of God’s faithfulness in our lives, and the marks of His compassion. The two kept and watched over us, and we are grateful.
I pray that we all stand on what the LORD did for us this month, embrace the next month, and stay hungry for more of Him, as believers. Spiritual hunger is a sign that one is alive in the spirit. Once you are no longer hungry for more of GOD, it’s a sign that you are dying.
People who will fulfill their divine destiny, must be hungry for more of GOD, and remain hungry. The Bible says;
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” Psalm 42:1-2 NKJV
This scripture paints a vivid picture of the expression of spiritual hunger. People who are hungry for GOD, or longing for Him, cannot be found in spiritually dead or dry places because their soul thirsts for the living GOD. It makes them long for what is living and alive, and more of it as the deer pant for the waters.
To pant means to long for; they long for the manifest presence of the living GOD, the faith building words of the living GOD, the sanctifying truths of the living GOD, the saving grace of the living GOD, the miracle working power of the living GOD, and everything that has been preplanned for them by the living GOD.
You see it in the kind of churches they worship, the kind of preachers they have over their lives, the kind of faith they maintain, the kind of passion they have for the LORD, the kind of books they read, the kind of friends they keep, the kind of marriages they go into, the kind of relationship they maintain with the Bible, and all that.
AMAZINGLY, THEY GET SATISFIED.
There are no words to capture, what people whose hearts are hungry for the living God do receive from Him, especially when they appear corporately in His manifest presence. Based on what I have seen in scriptures, they receive and carry home much more than our finite minds can grasp.
There are things we receive from God that our minds do not know.
In fact, most of what we receive from God each time we come into His presence is not known to any of us. It is the little we know that we talk about. But what we do not know is usually heavier than what our minds do grasp and our mouths do talk about. It was in the light of this that I believe, David said;
“Blessed is the man you choose, and cause to approach you, that he may dwell in your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, of your holy temple.” Psalms 65:4 NKJV
Indeed, blessed is he or she that God chooses and causes to approach Him, because He will not leave empty handed. He will go home with two classes of deposits from GOD; the known and unknown. The known is usually talked about but the unknown is not. It is what is revealed to our senses we talk about. But what is concealed from our senses we cannot talk about. Yet, God will make sure it springs forth in our lives.
The Bible describes these known and unknown BLESSINGS that come from God’s presence to us, as “The goodness of God’s house.”
The house of God is not a building, but the place of His manifest presence. So, when we come into His presence, we are bound to go home with the goodness of His manifest presence – a seed that is designed to answer or manifest as awesome power, and terrible things in righteousness, in our lives. The Bible further said;
“By awesome deeds in righteousness you will answer us, O God of our salvation, you who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of the far-off seas;” Psalms 65:5 NKJV
It is what we carry from the presence of God, that will later manifest as His awesome deeds in our lives, as we face the daily challenges of life. Meaning, if there is no true presence of God to tarry for and wait under until something is conceived, received, or deposited into our spirits, there will be no awesome deeds of God in our lives.
GOD WILL ALWAYS PUT SOMETHING IN OUR LIVES, THE KNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN, WHENEVER WE APPEAR BEFORE HIM.
It is what He puts that results in miracles, blessings, and amazing things we see in our lives, as we face our days. Isaiah puts it this way;
“He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:29-31 NKJV
Many of us do not know that we serve a God who delights in giving power to the weak. The Bible says He gives power to those who have no might and increases their strength. Meaning the secret of unending strength in Christ is to make God’s presence our dwelling place. There is no one who comes into God’s presence that goes empty. He will give power to every area of weakness if we stay long enough.
When we come into the presence of God, we carry blessings from Him that manifest as power in our days or time of weakness. The blessings will become an inner strength within us, preventing hell from prevailing over us, and making it impossible for us to faint from following Christ in the day of adversity.
That is why people who cultivate spiritual hunger, always move from strength to strength. They do not fail in the day of adversity.
Now, there are some truths we need to bring to our attention at this point.
You see, there are two spirit realms of human existence; two realms every human on the face of the earth live their lives from. The two realms are revealed in the scripture below. The Bible says;
“For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalms 16:10-11 NKJV
AS WE CAN SEE IN THIS SCRIPTURE, THE FIRST SPIRITUAL REALM PEOPLE LIVE FROM, IS THE REALM OF HELL CALLED SHEOL.
Sheol is the abode of the dead. It is a realm where the presence of God cannot manifest or does not exist. The Bible says that the presence of God fills or inhabits everywhere, exception of that place. That is where people without Christ go to when they die; they go there to wait for the final judgment.
Sadly, it has openings on earth and the spirit that fills there, the spirit of hell, controls the life of some people on earth from there. David said “For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow Your Holy One to see corruption.”
If we live our earthly lives influenced by the spirit that controls sheol; the spirit of hell, we will see corruption or decay. We will see spiritual corruption or decay in our finances, marriages, churches, and whatever concerns us. The second realm earthmen and women live their lives from is the realm of the manifest presence of God.
The Bible says; “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore”
There is a generation that live their lives from the manifest presence of God. It is this generation that receives blessings from the LORD each time it comes into His presence. The Bible described the blessing as, “Fullness of Joy,” or “pleasure at His right hand.”
These things are collected by our hungry hearts, into our needy lives. It takes a heart that is hungry for more of God to collect significant blessings from Him. A heart that is spiritually hungry will draw so much from the LORD. Our devotional text is full of truths in that light.
The first truth we can glean from it says;
My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart.”
If you look at this scripture carefully, you will understand the BIBLE WORD, that describes the part of us that Heaven transfers the treasures of His presence into, each time we appear before God. That part is called “The Centre of our Hearts.”
MEANING, WHEN WE COME INTO GOD’S PRESENCE, HIS ATTENTION IS USUALLY OUR HEARTS.
That is where He puts all that our lives need – the strength we need in any area of life. The Bible says;
“They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.” Psalms 84:7 NKJV
The problem we have is, many of us receive all that our lives need into the centre of our hearts (for onward delivery to every aspect of our lives), each time we appear before God, but do not see it in our lives. We do not see it because we do not know how to move them from our hearts to our lives.
Another highlight in our devotional text says;
“Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.”
The role of the heart in carrying whatever God placed in it each time we enter His presence, that is what the Bible spoke to us about in this scripture. It made it clear that if we do not keep or guard our hearts with all diligence, after appearing in God’s presence, whatever the LORD placed in it, will either become impotent, or made unproductive in our lives.
We must guard our hearts from information that will not allow what we have received to breed and produce in us. We must keep it from defilement of carnal provocations, like lust, hate, strive, etc.
When our hearts are not guarded, when they are not kept, we will find ourselves back to the realm of hell where decay takes place. That is why some people will come to God’s presence and yet you cannot find changes in their lives after being there faithfully for even a long time.
They come with open hearts; receive all their lives need, but do not KEEP THEIR HEARTS as described in scriptures. Consequently, rendering whatever the LORD placed in it unproductive.
When it is rendered unproductive, our lives will become like that of people who experience great moves of God each time they come to His presence, but with no significant changes to show for the move that so powerfully came upon them, during a church meeting.
HOW DO WE KEEP OUR HEARTS AFTER APPEARING BEFORE GOD?
Another portion of our devotional text says;
“Put away from you false and dishonest speech, and willful and contrary talk put far from you.
Let your eyes look right on [with fixed purpose], and let your gaze be straight before you. Consider well the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established and ordered aright.
Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left; remove your foot from evil.”
There so much to ponder in this scripture. If we appear before God, and receive blessings into our hearts for onward transfer into every aspect of our lives, but then go away from there, and begin to make false and dishonest speeches, begin to get ourselves involved in contrary talks, with eyes that are not fixed on the prophetic purpose of the encounters we may have received and all that, we will render everything stored in our hearts unproductive in our lives.
Yes, if after a Heavy down pour of God’s grace into our lives, we go about not considering well the paths for our feet, or letting our ways to be established and ordered by the LORD, and not removing evil from us, we will render the things God buried in our hearts unproductive.
The earthly life of Jesus, showed us more ways to keep our hearts with all diligence, after an encounter, and the ways are, personal time in God’s presence and rising to pursue the execution of ideas buried in our spirits during those blessed moments.
Yes, the Bible says God do show His people the path of life in His presence. However, most times what He shows is not visible to our senses. It is just buried in us. Then a time comes that it manifests itself, maybe as an idea we must run with. As we run with it, we see His power break forth with divine favor in our lives, to back up our actions. That is how what He buried in our hearts is made productive in our lives.
If people who experience the presence of God do not diligently go home to seek Him, and have what God buried in them activated, they will not benefit maximally from the encounters. Diligence is one of the most powerful keys to employ in our quest to see what He put in the centre of our hearts, during a time of corporate fellowship, become productive in our lives.
Laziness will render whatever the LORD buried in us unproductive. That was why Paul worked so hard. He worked so hard that many could not keep pace with him.
Friend, if you add diligence to your life, you will see what God buried in your heart during an encounter with Him come to your senses. As it comes to your senses, it will direct you on what to do to succeed in life. That is how we come into realms where the good things buried in our hearts are not rendered unproductive or withheld from us!
There is no generation, that orders its conduct alright, that will not succeed in life. It is my prayer that as we come into the new month, we will use all we have learned this month properly and apply it to it our lives wisely. Amen!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR TODAY
“O God, behold our shield, and look upon the face of Your anointed. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Psalms 84:9-11 NKJV