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

TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 18TH October 2023)

“The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! Psalms 110:1-2 NKJV

WELCOME TO THE 291ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.

Today is a day God has set aside in His mercies as a gift for all of us. That is why we are alive. Indeed, daily our God has been loading us with benefits. To Him belong the glory!

He has not given us to the will of our enemies either. He has been so gracious to us. He said in His word, “sit thou at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.”That is a messianic Psalm which heritage we now share.

It is important to note that one of the primary assignments of Church ministry, is to teach the saints where to sit in the Holy Ghost for God to make His enemies in our lives our footstools.

You may not have known but I have come to discover that there are places to sit in God for Him to make our enemies (who are also His enemies) our footstool. Until we locate such places and take our seat there, our enemies will never be made our footstool. Consequently, we will never have rest from our enemies. That is the proceeding word for someone here today.

Do not forget, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceed from the mouth of God at an immediate present. Proceeding words from God, are the most powerful moulders of our divine destiny. God designed our lives to flourish or succeed by them.

Meaning, if we live by words that proceed from our own mouths, we will be in trouble; because except the heart of a man is sanctified by the word of truth and righteousness, every word that proceeds from his mouth will cause him trouble.

Many are in trouble today because of what proceeded out of their mouths. If you live by what proceed from the mouth of doctors to you, you will also be stressed; especially if the report is about your health and is not very good.

Also, if we live by what proceeds from the mouth of those who may mean well,but are not in tune with the Holy Ghost at an immediate present, we will run into trouble waters too. Only words from the LORD will do us good.

It is important to have well-meaning people around us, but not everything that proceed out of their mouth can be helpful. In this class are parents, spouses, children, teachers, sometimes preachers, fellow Christians, bosom friends, business partners, etc.

PEOPLE USUALLY GO FOR WHAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTH OF CERTAIN PEOPLE BECAUSE IT IS GOOD IDEA TO THEM.

But there comes a time when you must separate between good ideas and God ideas in your life. Except God use them as a prophetic hearing aid, if you live by what proceeds from the mouth of maybe caring people who may not be in tune with GOD, it could help you for a season, but cannot help you in the day of war.

If you live by what proceeds from the mouth of those who are angry with you, or aggrieved or hurting, you will be stagnant in life and never arrive at your destiny place. Be careful whose word you are living by.

A lot of us live by words spoken into our ears by people who do not like us, and allow such words to even shape our visions. It is not helpful to live by what comes out of the mouth of haters or those who do not understand you.

Jesus never allowed the Pharisees to speak into His ears, because they were not travelling in the same direction with Him. Do not allow people who are traveling opposite the direction of God’s plans for your life, to speak into your ears, no matter how good or anointed they may appear.

The old prophet spoke into the ears of the young prophet, and got the young prophet killed. Be careful who you allow to speak into your ears this dark hour. Many are no longer in tune with God. Your ears are for what comes out of the mouth of the LORD alone, and nothing else!

If you spend your days according to what proceeds from the mouth of people who offended you and refused to apologize, or those who hate you unjustly, you will never have peace. God wants you to spend your days according to what proceeds out of His mouth.

Talking about enemies, a man of God once said, “if you do not have enemies, you are an imbecile. Only fools and worthless people do not have enemies.” And I agree with him. In fact, if we do not have enemies, it is a sign that we are not making kingdom impact.

GOD HAS SAID 2024 WILL BE OUR YEAR OF IMPACT, THAT MEANS IT WILL ALSO BE OUR YEAR OF MAKING FRESH ENEMIES.

I hope someone is not getting scared. If you are getting scared, then you need to wake up from your spiritual slumber. This is the wrong time to fall asleep spiritually. It is the wrong time to get scared. The whole creation is waiting for your manifestation. You cannot manifest God’s will and pursue His plans without having enemies. So, wake up!

If you are pregnant with Heavenly visions and driven by eternal purposes, you will have enemies to contend with. The first thing God may grant you grace to deal with, is the battle with terrible men and women, who will want what you carry to be aborted or defeated.

When God called Abraham, the first blessing that He spoke into his life was protection against his enemies.

He said to him, “I will bless those that bless you, and curse those who curse you.” That was not just to encourage him, but to also shift the responsibility of fighting enemies (from Abraham) to Himself. But it also reveals something deeper and that thing is simple; we cannot do without enemies.

There are people who want you dead this very moment. There are those who want your marriage, ministry, or business to fail. You will always have such people. Do not be scared!

People of destiny cannot do without enemies. That is why we must know how to handle them without breaking God’s Royal Laws of walking in Love, praying for them, and not wishing them what they wish us. Do not forget, Jesus said we should love our enemies, and God Himself said that vengeance is His, not ours.

God’s will for us is that our enemies do not prevail against us. The Bible says;

“[It is a fair decision] since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with distress and affliction those who distress and afflict you,” 2 Thessalonians 1:6 AMPC

Hallelujah! That is exciting to read!! Our God do care about what our enemies do to us. He does care about what they say about us and what they do about us.

THIS SCRIPTURE IS TALKING ABOUT HUMAN ENEMIES NOT EVIL SPIRITS.

It makes it clear that it’s a righteous thing with God to repay with distress and affliction everyone who distress and afflict us – and He does it in His own way not our own ways. That is why we do not need to pray about it. We do not need to pray against them either; we will be breaking the Royal Law of Love if we do.

As we remain intimate with God, He will send decrees by the Hands of His Holy Spirit and release His holy angels to execute them in the lives of those who hate and attack us.

Do not forget His promises. God has said in His word that, He will move marvellously against our enemies. It is important that we believe Him and keep walking with Him by that faith, without being afraid of who might be against us. Unveiling one of those declarations and marvellous moves of God, the Psalmist said,

“The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.” Psalms 37:32-33 NKJV

If you are in the hands of the wicked, God is saying to you this morning that He will not leave you in his hands or allow you to be condemned when you are judged. Our devotional text today, further contains some truths and prophetic instructions to lean on, in order to see God move marvellously, in our battle against all human enemies (though extended to evil spirits as well).

The first says, “Sit at My right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.” That was a messianic declaration revealed to David. First, it refers to Christ, and then by extension to us – His redeemed ones.

The truth here is, if you can locate the right hand of God’s will for your life in every decision you want to take, and sit there, you will not have human or demonic enemies to deal with wherever you go. God will just be making them your footstool.

The key therefore lies in locating it in the Holy Spirit, and governing your earthly life accordingly. That is where the second scriptural verse in our devotional text comes in to help us. It says; “The Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of your enemies!”

ZION IS THE PROPHETIC NAME OF THE CHURCH.

That makes a Church service a unique place to be – a place to always receive strength to rule in the midst of your enemies. Sadly, most Church services cannot help us in this respect. That is why people go and return with no victory over their enemies.

There are certain graces God has positioned in the Church to bring the saints into this realm – the realm of sitting at God’s right hand until our earthly enemies are made our footstool. In the days of the early Church the two graces were the apostolic and prophetic graces.

The Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers God raised in their days, usually position themselves under the same graces, in order to see the same blessing speak in their lives and ministries.

I have come to discover that the basic assignment of prophetic and apostolic ministries is to help us sense the place of God’s right hand in whatever we may want to do, and impart us with grace and truth to take our seat there,for our enemies to become our footstool.

If you see your enemies prevailing against you therefore, especially in whatever you may be doing, it’s a sign that you are yet to locate that place in your walk with God! You need to sit under apostolic and prophetic ministries by content, not by titles to receive the grace to locate the place.

Friend, God does not want your enemies prevailing against you. He wants to make them your footstool. You must understand that and take the proper spiritual position in the spirit to see that come to pass.

You won’t fail in Jesus’ precious name.

LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY;

“Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.”

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

“Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.”

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

“Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret — it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.” Psalms 37:1-9 NKJV