TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER 2023)
“So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation.
Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.” Daniel 2:16-19 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 265TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS
God is gracious and kind. To Him belong all the glory. This is the day He has made; we shall rejoice and be glad in it. Our God has been faithful to us. He has been our all in all.
He has been our refuge, our mercy seat, our stronghold, our purifier, our beautifier, our peace, our judgment seat, our advocate, our father, our lawgiver, our judge, or King, and savior. He is our rock and man of war. With Him by our side, the enemy has no final say in our lives.
We have been in the middle of His mercies, sandwiched by His grace, and guided by His truth all the year. We give Him the glory for keeping us this far. There is so much He has shared with us that we need to be going back to over and over, because of the need to get established in them. So, in today’s devotional, we shall be revisiting a truth I shared on this platform some time back, the mystery of prophetic tombs.
As you can see, the introductory text of yesterday was left because of the truth in it. The phrase prophetic tomb is not referring to a natural tomb, but a metaphoric expression full of prophetic truths.
There are people who visit natural tombs, but it is not a good idea because it keeps a man’s heart more attached to the dead than the living and opens the person up to the spirit of death or other dark spirits. Though a Jewish culture back then, but when the women who visited the tomb of Christ did, it was in the light of the prophecy of His resurrection.
They were not there because of grieve, as it were. They were there because of prophecy. The physical body of Christ had to be kept ready for His resurrection. The women’s role was to keep it ready by anointing it with spices.
Visiting natural tombs to lay flowers on the grave of the dead was a practice in those days and is still. They did it because of grieve. But when they became saved and sanctified under the blood of Jesus Christ, they jettisoned the tradition.
YOU WILL NO LONGER FOLLOW TRADITIONS IF YOU TRULY MEET THE LORD.
One revelation that was used, to stop the tradition of visiting tombs, was the revelation of the rapture of the saints. It took away the grief and the practice of living attached to dead loved ones. That was why believers in the early Church never visited tombs to pray for the dead or place flowers. They never did anything to touch the dead saints. They knew it was a gateway to necromancy, even if the people were saved because their spirits were gone.
Sadly, there are preachers today we visit tombs of passed preachers; they claim they go there to connect something or pick anointing. Anything you pick from a natural tomb, is not from the LORD. The Jesus of the Bible will never place any of His grace dimensions on the graves of those who served Him and died, then move those who are alive and serving Him, to go there pick it.
Even when Elisha was to receive Elijah’s mantle, graveyard was not involved. Timothy, Titus, and the rest never went to Paul’s grave to pray. All preachers passed their mantles before they died.
So, except you are stupid or looking for something dark, you do not visit the grave of any preacher or saint to pray.
It is so sad how ignorant Christians are today; it is more saddening how we allow some preachers to control our minds and do not let us check what they do, preach, or practice with the word of the LORD. If we do, we will realize how many of this famed and crowd pulling preachers are leading us astray.
Until you become a friend of your Bible, you will not be saved listening to any preacher these days. You will take all experiences they claim to be having, even though it is with the devil, to be from God. The Bible says we should not despise prophecies, but we should prove all things.
Today, if you try to prove all things, they will say you are attacking the preacher. If you check them up with the word of the LORD, the Bible, they will say, you are judging them.
A preacher who claims to have gotten something divine from some graves or some sands from the graves, should be avoided by all means, no matter what they may be preaching. But you will never do that until you are established in the doctrine of Christ. Sadly, how many are established in the doctrine of Christ today? Very few! That is why many follow wrong preaching, and others call right preaching (Bible based truths) wrong.
So, when we say, “prophetic tombs” we are not talking about a visit to natural tombs. We are talking about a visit to prophetic tombs. Prophetic tombs are not natural. You do not find them anywhere in this world.
A VERY SIMPLE DEFINITION OF A TOMB, DESCRIBED IT AS “THE LAST RESTING PLACE” OF THE DEPARTED.
From that we can understand what a prophetic tomb is. It is the last spiritual resting place of a man with an active walk and talk with GOD. The resting places are usually born when one is face to face to life threatening circumstances. Everyone with an active walk and talk with God, will have a prophetic tomb. He or she will have a prophetic place he or she would have to take as a resting place (in God), where all he or she can do in the flesh had to be buried, especially when under severe attacks of the enemy. That is what a prophetic tomb is.
It is the final resting place of your flesh, where it has to be buried, so that the Spirit of GOD can take charge of your life and the circumstance that surrounds you. For Paul the apostle, his prophetic tomb was the very place God released sufficient grace to him. He rested there at a time that a messenger of Satan was given to him to buffet him so that he will not be exalted above measure. The Bible says,
“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.”
“Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NKJV
SUFFICIENT GRACE CAN BECOME YOUR PROPHETIC TOMB
If you look at this scripture on the surface, you will think that God was the one that sent the messenger of Satan to Paul. Many have said God did that to put any pride that existed in his life under check. Some others have said, God did that keep him humble. I believed that too, until my eyes were opened to the truth of God’s word and character.
You know, in Christ, there is spiritual growth. As you grow, you come into understanding, better understanding of scriptures. Sadly, the church is not growing, hence many do not understand the scripture or the power of God. Child of God, God did not send the messenger of Satan to Paul. Understand that God does not commit revelation to proud people. He knows they will blow up because of what they know! You must be humbled to be taught by the LORD.
I did not say you must appear humble, because many just appear humble but are not. Hence, not knowing God. I said we must be humble to be taught by the LORD, else we keep stealing other people’s messages. So, Paul was already humble; humble enough to bear the revelatory truths he was spreading. In fact, you see that in 2 Corinthians 12, and others of his letters to the Churches. So, when we say God sent that devil to keep him humble, we miss it.
Understand that God will not give you abundance of revelation to spread about with one hand, and then with the other, sabotage your effort by sending a messenger of Satan to buffet you. That is not the GOD of the great commission! The enemy was actually responsible for that, and God saved Paul when he sought Him in prayer with those gracious words.
God saved him by making “sufficient grace Paul’s prophetic tomb or final resting place” in the battle with that messenger of Satan. And the result was amazing – multiplied strength was released into his life and ministry to keep him on his feet. That alone holds a deep lesson for us. Friend, if we make God’s sufficient grace our prophetic tomb, the attacks of the enemy will always leave us better and not bitter. Hallelujah!
OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT HOLDS ANOTHER REVELATION – IT IS THE REVELATION OF THE PROPHETIC TOMB OF DANIEL – ONE OF OUR FATHERS.
The Bible says the king had a dream and woke up without remembering it. Then he called his wise men, sorcerers, magicians, and etc. to help him out. But they could not!
Then he became angry and furious. In his anger and fury, he issued an order demanding that, if they cannot tell him the dream and its interpretation, he will consider it an exposure of a hidden but now known conspiracy against him. To him, that will mean they have been telling him lies all along; they had been giving wrong interpretations to the dreams he had been having previously and seeking interpretation from them.
If they were truly true, they should vindicate themselves by telling him the dream he just had and its interpretation. But the Bible says still they could not, and then he issued a command in response that they should all be executed. That was how the life of Daniel, who was working then as one of the wise men of Babylon due to his prophetic powers from Heaven, came under threat.
The Bible made it clear that the execution began. I believe it began with those the king had called to the palace to remind him his dream and give the interpretation. Then, the executioners started looking for others to kill! Finally, they found Daniel and his friends also! But the Bible says Daniel answered the Chief executioner with Wisdom and requested that he see the King to see for time. The request was granted. Our devotional text says,
“So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation.
Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So, Daniel blessed the God of heaven.”
If you look at this scripture, you will discover that the final resting place of Daniel (or his prophetic tomb) at a time when his life and that of others came under the threat of the sword of man was “Mercy.” The Bible says they sought Mercy of the LORD and that saved their lives.
What the king was looking for was revealed to him in a night vision. Hallelujah! Use the last months of the year to practice how to rest in God’s mercy.
A people who will rest in His mercy, especially, in and out of season, will never be blown away by the perils of life. Daniel sought mercies of the LORD and God saved his life and that of others from the sword of the king. I don’t know what sword is pursuing you, but one thing I know is this; if you will make God’s mercy your prophetic tomb or final resting place, He will save you from it.
A prayer life that is born out of deep repentance and dependency of God will bury the flesh and make God’s mercy your final resting place in the midst of any storm. Daniel prayed seeking God’s mercy and found it. If you will pray, seeking His mercy, you will find it.
That is the message of our devotional today!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY.
“God, you are my God; early will I seek you; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.
So I have looked for you in the sanctuary, to see your power and your glory. Because your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you. Thus I will bless you while I live; I will lift up my hands in your name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips. When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches. Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
My soul follows close behind you; your right hand upholds me.” Psalms 63:1-8 NKJV