TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 2ND October 2023)
“And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him:” Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.
Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly, therefore from now on you shall have wars.” 2 Chronicles 16:7-10 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 275TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS
Glory be to God almighty for another glorious month. With the eyes of faith, we can see the LORD ahead of us, making crooked places straight, breaking in pieces the gates of brass and cutting the bars of Iron asunder. We can see the presence of the LORD, going ahead of us.
One of the greatest secrets of peaceful or victorious living, especially in an evil infested world, is the manifest presence of God going ahead of you. That is why men who know this secret, spend quality time with the LORD, to commit their ways to Him, so that His presence can go ahead of them before embarking on any journey in life. David was one of such men.
One day, the Philistines came against Him, and that was at the place of success. He had fought a raging battle with Saul for 13 years, and now He had been made king. Then the Devil moved them to come against him. But he did not just respond to them. He went first to God in prayer to seek His counsel and will.
Seeking the counsel of the LORD and His will on a thing, before embarking on it, is one way you secure His backing for that thing; it is one way you put the LORD ahead of you. David did that and the result was amazing.
The Bible says;
“Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim.
So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” And the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.
So David went to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there; and he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water.” Therefore, he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.
And they left their images there, and David and his men carried them away. 2 Samuel 5:17-21 NKJV
THERE IS SO MUCH HERE THAT WE CANNOT UNPACK IN A DEVOTIONAL
But understand that, you will need time in the stronghold of truth and prayer in the Holy Ghost, to secure divine backing before facing anything in life. There are times that you will need to cultivate the habit of praying in tongues for hours, maybe in the morning before rising up to go to work. You will need to commit your ways to the LORD like David did in this scripture to see the glory of the LORD in your life. The Bible says.
“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.” Psalms 37:5-6 ESV
David did not just seek the LORD one time. He sought Him always. You see that in his first battle with the Philistines as king over Israel. The bible says, after the first victory he had over the Philistines, they came the second time to attack him. But he did not just respond. He did not ignore the LORD, took Him for granted or assumed He will act regardless. He rather went to the stronghold again, to seek divine backing and directives. Which again, put God ahead of Him, but in a more powerful way.
The Bible says;
“Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. Therefore David inquired of the Lord, and He said, “You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees.
“And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the Lord will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”
And David did so, as the Lord commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer. 2 Samuel 5:22-25 NKJV
I HAVE COME TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE MORE WE DEPEND ON GOD, THE MORE OF HIS POWER AND PRESENCE WE WILL HAVE IN OUR LIVES.
But many of us, do not truly depend on God. We say it with our mouths, but it cannot be found in our worship. We do not apply this great secret of David in the battle of life. We do not commit our ways to the LORD like he did; hence, we do not see the marvelous works of God that we need in life.
We just struggle. We only run to the LORD when we have gone ahead of Him, met obstacles and have become fed up with life. Let me show you a practical truth at this point; if you do not put God ahead of you in a given day, or before embarking on anything, you have silently put hell ahead of you, because there is no middle ground in the spirit realm.
For instance, if you do not seek the counsel and directives of the LORD before going into marriage, you have silently sought and put hell ahead of you before going into the marriage. Your family life will be hell on earth for you. That is why many marriages are pieces of hell on earth.
Secondly, if you do not put God ahead of you, before embarking in any relationship, trip, business, job, or etc., you have silently put hell ahead of you, and everything will just be hellish. We break our lives into pieces not putting God ahead of us, because it tantamount to putting hell ahead.
Do not forget, if you put hell ahead of you, it will prevail against you and make life hell for you. Another word for hell is Sheol – the abode of the dead. That means if you do not put the LORD ahead of you, before doing anything, or set Him always before you like David did in his days, things will be coming from that realm to influence your life. Your life will constantly be in the shadows of death.
A life constantly in the shadows of death is not a pleasant one. Every effort you make in life will be paralyzed. It is important therefore, that we pick the lessons from the life of David. He said.
“I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad and my glory [my inner self] rejoices; my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety, for You will not abandon me to Sheol (the place of the dead), neither will You suffer Your holy one [Holy One] to see corruption.” Psalms 16:8-10 AMP
People who set God before them will never be moved. They will enjoy stability in life. They will always rejoice, and God will never abandon them, especially if the gates of hell move against them in anyway. The presence of God will keep manifesting in their lives and paralyzing dark activities around them.
THERE IS ANOTHER DIMENSION OF TRUTH TO THE MYSTERY BEHIND “SETTING THE LORD ALWAYS BEFORE YOU.”
To set the LORD always before you mean to set His word before you. It means to take time and look at it, study it, meditate on it, and make it your attention and focus before embarking on anything significant in life. It means to check what you want to embark on with the word of the LORD.
If you set His word before you that way, especially before embarking on things like starting a Business, going into marriage, accepting a proposal or making one, pursuing a career, making an application for a job, deciding on an important journey of life and etc., the LORD will always be ahead of you to make the crooked places straight.
He will be ahead of you breaking the gates of brass in pieces and cutting the bars of iron asunder. One other way we put God ahead of us, is to learn how to trust the LORD and how not to direct our paths. It is to learn to let Him direct our paths. The Bible says;
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV
Our devotional text has additional truths to glean on. It tells us of the pathetic story of a Child of God in the Old Testament who lost divine backing because he did not rely on the LORD like David did. One of the verses in the text says, “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.”
It is very costly for a child of God not to rely totally on the LORD. It is very costly not to commit your ways to Him in prayer and leave Him with your enemies to handle. It is very costly to engage the arm of flesh as a child of God, especially when we have the power or provision to do so.
OUR ENEMIES WILL ESCAPE FROM OUR HANDS AND THE VICTORIES THE LORD WANTED TO GIVE US WILL BE WITHHELD.
I believe David knew this, that was why even when he had the means, he still engaged God through prayer, seeking His directives and backing, before facing the enemy.
Our devotional text further made it clear that, “…the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” We must not allow our hearts to shift to our means. We must remain loyal enough to put Him always before us like David did. Only then we will not be moved!
I believe the Spirit of the LORD has helped you to find wisdom this morning!
The Bible says in Proverbs 3:13, “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding;” May the wisdom you have found, and the understanding you have gained this morning, make your life brighter and better in Christ Jesus! Amen
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY
In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you silver and gold; come, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”
So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali. Now it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah and ceased his work.
Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones and timber of Ramah, which Baasha had used for building; and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.
And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.
Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”
Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.” 2 Chronicles 16:1-10 NKJV