THE CRY OF THE SPIRIT DEVOTIONALS – BY RICHARD E. S. TAKIM

TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 24TH AUGUST 2023)

“The joy of our heart has ceased; our dance has turned into mourning. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our heart is faint; because of these things our eyes grow dim; Because of Mount Zion which is desolate, with foxes walking about on it.” Lamentation 5:15-18 NKJV

WELCOME TO THE 236TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS

We bless the LORD God of Heaven and Earth who have been using this platform to school us in His things. People who are schooled in the things of God, are the most important people on the face of the earth, that is in the sight of God. They become God’s channel of divine rescue in His redemptive plans for mankind!

Schooling in the things of God, is for the manifestation of our dominion over darkness, and also for the release of our divine destiny. It increases our divine capacity to be who God created us to be and do what He created us to do.

When divine capacity increases, our dominion increases in the Spirit’s realm. When our dominion increases in the Spirit’s realm, we will no longer make our enemies the subject of our prayer, fasting or giving. They will no longer be a thing of concern in our walk with God, because of how absent their works will become in our lives. Due to the consequences of the fall of man, we would only have to contend with distractions, persecutions, discouragements and temptations.

The truth is, it’s not God’s will for our enemies to be a thing of concern to us. It is not His will that we fight them every now and then. You see that in the life of Adam – a life that contains the original intent of God for mankind.

ADAM LIVED IN REST FROM ADVERSITY AND WAR. HE WALKED IN DOMINION OVER ALL THAT WAS IN EXISTENCE.

As a result, the satanic and demonic had no bearing in his life. There was no record where Adam sat down in fellowship with God, and started binding demons and asking that God deliver him from this oppression, that curses, this backwardness, this altar, that demon, or that marital problem. Though there was Satan and his fallen angels, but none of them was a threat to him.

The “crown of dominion” was on his head and the devils were no match to him. It was when the crown fell that Satan began to terrorize him and his seed! That was when curses, evil spirits, oppression, diseases, pain, poverty, and all that people suffer today, became possible in his life.

What can we glean from all that?

Instead of being enemy, curses, evil altar, demon or spiritual oppression conscious, we should be “crown of dominion” conscious. It’s not really the enemy that is responsible for our problems. It is the absence of the crown of dominion on our heads as children of GOD that is responsible for our problems.

One day I was privilege to visit a senior military Officer in the Nigeria’s Défense Headquarters in our capital City, Abuja. They could not let me in. Only generals and their security details were allowed into the very place I was visiting.

But when he passed a call to the security officers at the gate, they opened the gate quickly and started calling me Sir. That was military dominion in action. They knew I was there to see their boss after he had called and gave me the same respect, they give him. I took a salute from them, and trust me it was a beautiful experience.

In the same way, if you carry the crown of dominion on your head in the Spirit, devils will be opening gates of blessings and letting you in. They will not be able to keep you outside your gate or portal of blessing. Satan himself will not let them stop or come near you the way he never came near Adam in the Garden, until the fall took place.

The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 8,that he is going about looking for who to devour. The reason is simple; he looks for who to devour because he cannot devour everyone.

YES, SATAN CANNOT DEVOUR EVERYONE

Anyone with the Crown of dominion on his head cannot be devoured by the devil. So, if you live a Christian life with the crown of Dominion on your head, you will not be part of those he will be devouring. But if you live a Christian life without that crown, you will be crowned with crisis because you will be part of those he can devour.

Your Christianity will be a Christian life full of spiritual attacks and all that.

With the crown on Adam’s head, Satan could not dare Adam. Adam was too great in the manifestation of God’s glory in His life to be reached by the devil. There are all kinds of greatness, but the greatness that will keep devils away from your life is not material or economic greatness.

This Greatness is the one the glory of God brings. When you have it, you become respected in Heaven and feared in hell. It is a greatness created by the crown of dominion on your head. It leads to a life that the satanic and demonic fear.

That was the life Jesus lived when He was physically on earth. That was why He said, “the prince of this world cometh, but he has nothing in me.”

A life that Satan fears will have no persistent sickness, pain, or unquenchable adversity. It will not be a playing ground for witches and wizards. I believe that is where the Church today must return to, so that there will be no going for deliverance in the life of the saints.

Ordinarily, the early church did not go for deliverance because there were no devils in their lives. It was the lost who came to church that needed deliverance in their days. They lived a life of greatness. They had the crown of dominion on their heads in the Spirit’s realm. We must return there.

WHEN WE DO, BELIEVERS WILL NOT BE GOING FOR DELIVERANCE, IT IS THE LOST THAT WILL BE COMING TO US FOR DELIVERANCE.

The greatness that produce this kind of results in our lives is the God in man Greatness. That is the greatness that expels the works and glory of Satan from anyone’s life. It is a crown of dominion type of greatness.

It will always cause the enemy to disappear whenever he meets a man or women with it. It will make the enemy small, and the people of God superior in battle. That is what you need to live peacefully in a wicked world.

David had that greatness, that was why he overcame Goliath. The giant became small and was killed with a small stone, like a little dog. The greatness of the crown of dominion over David made that happen. If you have that greatness, your enemy will go the same way the giant went.

Before the fall of man, Satan was too small and insignificant before Adam. He looked diminish before Adam all the time. Sadly, Adam was ignorant of it. I believe, that was why he rebelled against God and made the enemy big. Adam never knew that a man’s rebellion against God is what makes the enemy superior to him in battle. The Bible says;

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:7-8 NKJV

This scripture made it clear that our submission to God’s will, and the purification of our lives, is what the enemy fears; that is what gives us a greatness that he cannot stand. It will grant the greatness to resist the enemy and watch him flee from us.

THEREFORE, IT IS OUR SINS AND REBELLION THAT MAKE THE DEVIL BIG IN OUR LIVES. OUR IGNORANCE MAKES HIM SUPERIOR IN BATTLE.

But purity, submission to God’s will, and divine knowledge, has a way of placing the crown of dominion over us, and helping us to unleash our greatness in battle.

Our devotional text this morning, is a prophetic capture of the Lamentation of humanity and all we have gone through, for losing the crown of Dominion and the greatness that the LORD gave man in the Garden of Eden. It says;

“The joy of our heart has ceased; our dance has turned into mourning. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our heart is faint; because of these things our eyes grow dim; Because of Mount Zion which is desolate, with foxes walking about on it.” Lamentation 5:15-18 NKJV

The foxes of satanic and demonic activities, would not have invaded our lives, as humans, if the crown of dominion had not fallen from our heads, and God’s greatness made to disappeared from our lives. The greatness of Satan would have forever been eliminated each time he stands before us!

Friend, there is so much we can glean from this Lamentation? But we cannot do that on this platform. However, understand that lamentations are most times a by-product of losses. The prophet was lamenting over the loss of our crown of dominion and greatness, and at the same time showing us the true reason for the problems we face in life.

Everything we blame on evil altars, and voices from our villages, evil foundations, curses on father’s houses, and etc., where blamed on the fall of the crown of dominion from our heads, and the loss of God’s greatness in our lives.

MEANING, THE PREACHERS WHO HAVE BLAMED SUCH THINGS AS THE CAUSE OF OUR PROBLEMS ARE IGNORANT MEN OF GOD.

Sadly, there are so many ignorant but anointed men and women of God today. Some have the prophetic gift but are very ignorant of God. If demonic spirits are prevailing against you, and witches and wizards feeding fat on you, the problem is not with them but with you.

I recommend that you get our book, “OVERCOMING WITCHCRAFT BY THE GREATNESSOF GOD’S POWER,” & “RIDING ON COVENANT WINGS,” and get back all you need to become great again before your enemies.

If you lack dominion in the Spirit, you will be dominated by dark spirits. Yes, if you lack God’s greatness in your life, you will be grinded and grounded by your enemies.

A church generation that keeps perfecting its skill in pointing accusing fingers at their enemies, for every bad thing that happen to them, will not come into the restoration of God’s crown of dominion for mankind, and the release of the glory of the LORD back to its life. It will remain food for its enemies.

WE NEED TO GET THE CROWN AND THE GLORY BACK.

But how do we get them back? The devotional is longer, but necessary. Let me show us how!

First of all, understand that salvation has made us heirs to the Throne of Christ, giving us access to the crown. But heirs are not crowned just because they are heirs to the throne. They are crowned because they have been schooled in the things of their kingdom.

In the same way, you cannot get back your crown of dominion and lost glory or greatness, until you have been schooled in the things of the kingdom and greatness of God. Sadly, so many have been schooled in the things of their Churches and their prophets, but are yet to be schooled in the things of the kingdom and greatness of GOD.

In the kingdom of GOD, no schooling no crowning! The Bible says,

“Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.” Galatians 4:1-2 NKJV

If you want to get your crown of dominion and God’s greatness back, you must be under God appointed guardians and stewards – teachers with God’s manifold grace and truths. You must sit under them and be schooled in matters of God’s kingdom and greatness, until the time you mature to be crowned.

But how many people will humble themselves to be schooled? How many will be patient to sit long enough to be crowned? Very few! Falsehood and deception are preventing some from sitting to learn. But Jesus will not leave His church the way it has been turned into by dark men and women of God. There is a demolition exercise going on in the kingdom.

The agenda is to uproot whatever GOD has not planted in His church. The vision remains to rescue those who have followed blind guides into spiritual ditches; bring them out, school them in the things of GOD, and restore the crown of dominion and God’s greatness to them.

MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR TODAY;

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”‘ Revelation 2:7 NKJV