TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 21ST JANUARY 2024)
“WHEN ABRAM was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am the Almighty God; walk and live habitually before Me and be perfect (blameless, wholehearted, complete).”
“And I will make My covenant (solemn pledge) between Me and you and will multiply you exceedingly.” Genesis 17:1-2 AMP
WELCOME TO THE 21ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
It is the first day of the week, and we give God the praise.
We decided to retain the devotional text of yesterday because we could not eat the meat of the word trapped in it. God willing, today we will, as we pick up from where we stopped yesterday.
In the devotional of yesterday, God began by showing us in His word, what to protect our prophetic pregnancies or the things He may have impregnated our spirits from.
Extensively, we saw the danger of following the loving but dangerous counsels or influence of people who either care for us, have no relationship with God, or do not understand us.
We also saw the danger of a life of sin.
Many who might be prospering today without being mindful of the filthy life they are living, might not treat any word on sin and purity with the seriousness it deserves. In fact, I discover that sin and purity matter these days attract little or no attention from so called Christians.
We forget that we are going to a Heaven that has holiness and purity as the qualification for getting there, and that sin matters ought to be at the front burner of our faith.
Some, in a bid to silence the voice of God that seek to promote purity and the fear of God, have made themselves word accusers; they accuse righteous preachers who warn us of our sinful and hell bound lives of spreading sin consciousness and fear.
They just want sinful Christians to keep believing they are Heaven bound, until they fulfill their days, then die, and then end up in hell. But God forbids that any of us end up in hell.
Sadly, these word accusers, present intelligent arguments why we should no longer talk about sin, and always win among the ignorant or unserious ones, because many do not want to bear the responsibility of being Christians.
It is important to understand that, the worst seasons of the Church, are usually seasons when preachers no longer warn about the danger of sin, wickedness and hell, or the reward of purity, and the necessity of making heaven.
THAT IS USUALLY A SEASON OF SCANDALS AND ALL KINDS OF IMMORALITY.
It is usually the season when many unsaved people are certified saved, salvations lost, and divine pregnancies either aborted or polluted. Those seasons are usually seasons, when people of God give birth to mixed breed visions, and plans, without knowing they do not belong to God.
The danger of sin to a divine pregnancy, was first revealed in the Old Testament, when God stipulated laws to guide the life styles of a special breed of people He wanted to use to cause changes in Israel.
He called anyone with such a divine pregnancy either a “Levite” or a “Nazirite.” And all through the scriptures, you find them living consecrated lives.
Men like Samson where told not to cut off their hairs. That was His consecration code. Before conception, his Mother was told not to take any strong drink because of the seed God was about putting in her womb.
The rule of engagement was to guide him all through his life.
He was a man of exploits as long as he kept the rule; teaching us that, where there are no rules of engagement, there will be rues because of the disengagement of the rules of engagement; leading to the manifestation of what the devil wants.
That is why if you read the story, you will discover that Samson’s downfall occurred when he broke his rule of engagement. Leading to a terrible rue. In other words, he lost his divine pregnancy when he dabbled into sin (Judges 16).
A rue is a bitter regret, and burning desire to undo what is already done which cannot be undone. I hope you understand me!!!
Please go through the definition again. You will find out that we have so many rues in our lives because we resist God’s rules of engagement for our lives, or we are ignorant of them.
Men like Moses, Jeremiah, Abraham, and all God used in the days of the Bible to birth His redemptive moves for mankind on the face of the earth, had their lifestyles carved out by the Spirit and voice of the LORD.
THEY HAD ONE KIND OF RULE OF ENGAGEMENT FROM THE LORD, OR THE OTHER. HE DID THAT TO PROTECT WHAT THEY CARRIED.
Those who submitted totally to His will led their lives in such a way that what they carried did not come under any successful attack of Sin, or any other threat. That still happens in our dispensation.
Even today, God has not stopped using the stories of such men to help us to protect our divine, spiritual, or prophetic pregnancies. At this point, let’s draw out some truths from the life of Abraham that can be of help to us.
When Abraham went into Hagar as Abram and had Ishmael, it troubled Heaven because it was a major attack on his divine pregnancy. You will agree with me that the Children of Abraham and the world at large are yet to recover from that one mistake.
The night he slept with Hagar, the man thought he was satisfying his wife who had initiated the idea, but he never knew they were helping hell to launch a major attack on his divine pregnancy.
How many people have we slept with as Christians thinking we are satisfying our carnal cravings, but not knowing that we are helping hell to launch an attack on our divine pregnancies?
How many things have we done in anger, thinking that we are hurting other people, without knowing we are merely hurting our divine pregnancies?
Sins like bitterness, unforgiveness, wrath, lust, pride, revenge, stinginess, hate, drunkenness, and all the like, hurt us more than they hurt anyone we may commit them with.
That is why it is very safe to commit God, instead of committing sin as a Child of God.
People have carnally gone into relationships they called marriages, only to alter the course of their lives so badly that it became very difficult to unleash their divine destiny.
Abram would later go on to cut of communication with God for 13 years and put everything under threat. But because God does not abandon people easily, Heaven had to return to him demanding a higher level of consecration from him.
OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT PUTS IT THIS WAY;
“WHEN ABRAM was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am the Almighty God; walk and live habitually before Me and be perfect (blameless, wholehearted, complete).”
One beautiful truth to glean from this text, lies in a major line in the text. The line says, “walk habitually before Me and be perfect (blameless, wholehearted, complete).”
That to me is the true meaning of consecration. Don’t forget, it is through personal consecration that we protect our divine pregnancies from sin and all other threats.
Every divine destiny that will be unleashed must be protected through consecration. We must learn to walk before God and be perfect, else we ruin His plans for our lives.
If you would protect what you carry in this wicked world, you must understand that, no one can move from the declaration to the manifestation of his divine destiny, without walking habitually before God and leading a blameless life.
If God impregnates you with His divine will and you begin to live your Christian life anyhow; not minding who you marry, what Church you attend, which preaching you listen to, which advice you follow or who you call friend, you will never fulfil your destiny.
People who are pregnant with divine will do not go everywhere. They do not call everyone friend. They do not just join any Church or Christian group of their fancy.
They walk, pray, worship, and feed with, or from fellow pregnant people.
When Mary got pregnant with divine will, she did not run to any other person other than Elizabeth – a woman that was also pregnant with divine will.
Prophetically speaking, you will need an Elizabeth Church Assembly or Christian fellowship to call home to protect what you carry. Yes, you will need an Elizabeth spiritual source to call “father.”
YOU WILL NEED AN ELIZABETH CHRISTIAN TO CALL FRIEND.
Anyone who is pregnant with divine will but has no such people to relate with, will never be able to walk habitually before God and be perfect. He will end up having a miscarriage, or stalling the growth of his or her divine seed.
What is the message of the LORD today?
Protect your pregnancy! Whatever you may be going through is not actually targeting you but what you carry.
Walk habitually before God no matter the cost, and be blameless. It could be painful, but at the end you will be fulfilled and happy.
Even if you fall into sin, get up and stand in righteousness, and continue the race. It pays to remain in the race, no matter what. It also pays to be faithful no matter what.
You will smile at last if you are faithful. That is the message.
YOU CAN MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR TODAY;
“Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” Luke 1:39-42 NKJV