TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 29TH FEBRUARY 2024)
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.
“Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it.
For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Matthew 24:23-28 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 60TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Glory be to the LORD God Almighty who kept us all through this month, and brought us safely to the end. It is out of His mercies that we are not consumed.
Yes, today is the last day of the month and we are grateful to God for His kindness in our lives. He kept us each day of this month. Fed us with spiritual food each day, and brought us to the end.
Daily, He loaded us with benefits. The benefits are responsible for our getting to this end in peace. By what He did in our lives, He also enabled us to bear fruits this month. It is my prayer that we bear more fruits next month. Amen
On a lighter note, people who were born on the 29th of February, have not celebrated their birthdays for four years now. Glory to God they can celebrate today!
In our devotional today, the end day of the month of a special February, we will be looking at something that Jesus said about the end of days; a major portion of Bible prophecy.
To start with, let me say this; two places we hold gospel meetings today as the body of Christ, is either in the desert (meaning under tents and in camp meetings) or in the inner rooms (meaning conference rooms and Church buildings).
Jesus said to us that, (paraphrased) in the last days, acclaimed men and women will come in God’s garment, presenting themselves to us as our messiahs, and that our destinies are in their hands, mouths, or prayers for us.
Some will not say so, but will act so.
OTHERS WILL SAY OR ACT LIKE OUR LIVES ARE IN THEIR MOUTHS.
They will behave as God’s deputies sent to us, and that without them, we cannot meet God. So, if we want to get married, succeed in life or ministry, or in any other thing, we must obey them, support their ministries, or become their spiritual sons or daughters, with some even saying we must have sex with them.
A lot of abominable things are happening these days in the name of God, that is why the judgment will be terrible.
He also warned that if people point some ‘men of God’ to us saying, “look, that is your messiah in that tent, or church building,” we should not believe them. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
They may not call him or her your messiah, but will tell you things that will make you trust them, and form them and their ministries in your heart. But our hearts are for Christ to be formed in, not some miracle workers called powerful men or women of God.
The reason for Satan raising preachers with such influence over people, where some even worship the preachers; is to make sure Christ is not formed in them. He rather wants those preachers formed in the people’s hearts instead of Christ, thereby defeating God’s redemption plan for their lives.
Friend, the apostolic need of the hour is the cultivation of hyper sensitivity in the Spirit and impartation of deep discernment, through sound prophetic and practical teachings. We are living in the last days.
Jesus spoke of the horrors of the last days. And warned us that deception – I mean hyper deception – will be the first horror of the last days. It will be the very horror that will usher in other horrors and it’s happening already.
From supposed men and women of God, deceiving people to have illicit sex with them, as a deliverance ritual among other things, to financial exploitation through the mutilation of the doctrine of giving called “sowing seeds,” to the use of sand, mustard seeds, water, incense, candles, etc. to invoke miracles, the list is endless.
God wants us to keep pointing these things out, and warning or reminding ourselves and others daily, about the horrors of the hour. Before the rapture trumpet will sound, the prophetic trumpet under a kingly anointing has to sound from time to time to warn us of the horrors of the last days.
Warning is part of preparation.
IF WE ARE NOT WARNED OVER AND OVER, WE WILL BE DECEIVED OVER AND OVER, AND RUINED EVEN ETERNALLY.
It is through prophetic warnings that come over and over, that our discernment is sharpened. Satan hates a discernment that is sharp, hence making sure such warnings do not get to people.
He wants all people to be in prophetic darkness, since it is in darkness that he functions optimally.
Actually, from the day Adam lost the likeness of God in the garden till date, mankind has been battling with the consequences of spiritual blindness and lack of discernment; making us cheap preys to terrible predators in the spirit and human realms.
Part of the likeness of God, is spiritual sensitivity and deep discernment – which can be simply defined as the ability to see through the eyes of God. Anyone with the ability to see through the eyes of GOD, will be feared by hell.
They will be so wise that no blind leader can lead them astray. They will never fall in a ditch! Oh yes, you will never see them in any kind of spiritual ditch. Or held down by any kind of deception.
I want to submit to you that, not seeing things through the eyes of God, is the reason many do not see the spiritual side of who they are about marrying, before marrying them.
Honestly, if all married people had seen the spiritual sides of those they married, there would have either not married them, or marry them with no marital problems.
Not seeing things through the eyes of God, especially the scriptural eyes of God, is the reason many call the unclean, clean, and the unholy, holy. It’s the reason we call abominations weaknesses and accept devils and mediums as prophets of God.
If there is anything, we need this very hour, it is hyper spiritual sensitivity and deep discernment. That is the only way we can deal with the scourge of hyper deception among us today.
Hyper spiritual sensitivity and deep discernment is a child of the Spirit of truth in the heart of a man or woman; it is what comes out after countless times with the Bible.
YOU WILL BE ABLE TO COME TO THAT REALM IF GOD BEGINS TO GUIDE YOU DAILY, THROUGH HIS WORD THAT REVEALS CHRIST TO US.
David says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalms 119:105 NKJV). Jesus also said …“I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the Light which is Life” (John 8:12 AMP).
If a Christian life is not guided day by day by the Word of truth and righteousness, from the Spirit of the Light of the world, Jesus Christ, that life will be full of darkness. The spiritual eyes of that person will go blind, making him or her vulnerable to deception.
The world is full of deception, moral and spiritual darkness.
Sadly, the Church is now almost full of the same. Isaiah calls it gross darkness. Only a daily scriptural light from God will see us through this hour. That is why God has made His Rhema Word our daily spiritual meal.
If you stuck your stomach with the bread of natural food daily, but do not stuck your spirit with the bread of God’s word daily, you will not live the life God designed you to live.
Consequently, not becoming what He created you to be.
In conclusion, I want to reiterate again that one of the ways to be saved from the horrors of our days; especially the horror of hyper deception, is to be knowledgeable in the present truth. Get that sealed in your spirit.
There is still one other way, and I will highlight it as we bring this to a close. That way is, not being gullible. Being gullible in the Bible, is the propensity of trusting easily or believing anything without carrying out a scriptural check. Jesus actually warned of the danger of being gullible. A major highlight in our devotional text says;
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.
THE KEY WORDS IN THIS SCRIPTURAL HIGHLIGHT, ARE THE WORDS “TO DECEIVE IF POSSIBLE, EVEN THE ELECT.”
Why will the elect be brought into the valley of possible deception?
The reason is because, the enemy will speak this end time, in the voice and the miracle types of the Lamb of GOD that takes away the sins of the world, and most of the elects will listen because of that.
You will never be able to differentiate between the voice of the Lamb in the voice of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the Lamb mimicked by the devil through dark preachers, if you have not been exposed to strong apostolic and prophetic teachings.
Genuine apostolic and prophetic teachings will help you recognize the enemy in any way he comes. Sadly, so many elects of Christ are not exposed to them, hence living in the valley of possible deception.
Child of GOD, in these days of hyper deception like the ones we live in, if you do not locate one assembly of God’s people that is equipped with the grace and revelation of the times, and the apostolic knowledge of what Israel ought to do, and plant yourself there, you will be lost.
May God use these words to keep building you up, and giving you more inheritance, among they that are sanctified! AMEN!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
“And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 NKJV