TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Tuesday 16th February 2021)
After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.
Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. Luke 10:1-5 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 47th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS
We give God the glory for giving us another day, and pray that His mercies be upon us today. I am not worthy to be alive but He gave me this day. I give Him praised for not dealing with me according to my sins but according to His faithfulness.
Maybe someone there is thinking they are worthy to be alive, well some of us are not. We have sinned so much and are just products of His mercies. His mercies have been the fuel of our lives and reason for our living. Some of those who are dead now are far better than us by all righteous standards, but He kept us.
May we fulfill the purpose of His mercies that is still standing strong in our lives in Jesus precious name. Amen! The Bible says,
“Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.” Psalm 130:1-4 KJV
The ultimate purpose for showing us mercies lies in this scripture. Yes, the reason God forgives our sins lies in this scripture. The scripture makes it clear that God do not mark our iniquities so that He may be feared.
God forgives our sins iniquities and trespasses so that we begin a walk of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. It is not for us to keep sinning. If we keep sinning, we will end up frustrating His grace and unleashing hell upon ourselves. It is important that we understand and fulfil the purpose of His mercies in our lives.
This morning I will be taking us back to a devotional written four years ago. It was written to show us the purpose of our gathering unto the LORD. At the point of His departure from the earth, Jacob placed blessings upon the tribes that came out of his lions.
Some got judgments for what their father did years back, while others received blessings because of the prophetic destinies they are to fulfill on earth. One of the tribes that got the blessing was the tribe of Judah, whose lion is our LORD and savior Jesus Christ. He blessed that tribe saying;
“Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” Genesis 49:8-9 KJV
These prophetic words gave us insight on why the body of Christ gather every now and then in corporate fellowship in our different churches. It tells us who we gather to. It made it clear that our gathering is unto the LORD not unto any god, lord or thing.
But sadly, we have turned these gatherings into gatherings that gather unto everything but the LORD. That is why we will be visiting that well of truth. I pray you find something for your soul this morning in Jesus precious name. Amen!
MONEY SPINNING PHILOSOPHIES AND OUR GATHERING UNTO THE LORD
There are three or four kinds of gatherings unto the LORD predetermined for every Child of GOD. The first is our regular gathering here on earth where we all assembly every Sunday or week days for corporate fellowship. It covers all our conferences, seminars, summits, and all kinds of fellowship meetings we run on this side of eternity as Children of God.
The kind of gathering, like others, has its purpose. Its purpose is to prepare us for the remaining two or three kinds of gathering unto the LORD. the ultimate is to help us receive and secure our salvation from sin, Satan and the evil and corrupt system of this world.
This is the gathering that is most critical to every human being on earth, which is why it has come under intense attack in recent times. The image of jealousy has been built and placed in so many Churches so that the gathering will no longer yield its purpose in the lives of the people. It has simply been monetized in over 90 percent local churches.
Yesterday someone asked me on the social media platform to enlighten her on what really make a service complete.
You know there is this money spinning Philosophy in Church today that says “a service is not complete without taking an offering.” This lie is one of the money spinning philosophies that has defeated the purpose of gathering in corporate fellowship as Children of GOD in the lives of so many.
Even men of God one think should know better sale this lie to their audience. When good men are made to say bad things, the bad things they say will sound good in the ears of listeners who know them as good men. That is how lies are accepted as truth by victims.
She sincerely asked me if a service was not complete without asking people for offerings since I end our services on Radio and TV and sometimes in Church without asking people for money. Maybe she felt, “Are people not being disconnected from blessings by what I was doing?”
WELL, THAT WAS AN HONEST HEART LOOKING FOR HONEST ANSWERS SO I DID NOT BEAT ABOUT THE BUSH AT ALL.
I told her the Bible truth. My answer was simple; what makes a service complete is the presence of the glory of God in that service not giving of offerings after the service.
Like I have always maintained even on radio, any Church that emphasis too much on giving instead of redemptive truths is a shop and not a Church.
Most pastors, prophets, apostles, prophetesses and men and women in God’s garment are simply shop keepers not preachers. They sale the word to you and you pay in form of offerings and sacrificial giving. The truth remains, either we give or not, a service is incomplete if we gather and God did not gather with us.
Jesus indeed said,
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20 NKJV)
But this scripture is not so in many gatherings. What gathers with people who are said to have gathered at the name of the LORD, most times, are devils and all kinds of unclean spirits. That is why their pastors, prophets, apostles and prophetesses talk more of the devils than the God they claim to have gathered to!
A motive for gathering is usually what determines the presence that gathers along with a people, not really what they profess with their mouths. That is why at the Cry of the Spirit ministries we do not take it for granted when God gather with us each time we gather. To Him belongs the glory in Jesus name!
Sadly, out of every 10 preachers today 8 of them or even more are driven by the love, crave, or need for money each time they stand before the church to preach. As we can see in our devotional text today, Jesus made sure His disciples never carried “money bags” into ministry when He sent them out; that was to prevent the “money virus” from infecting their hearts thereby soiling the execution of the great commission.
The greatest virus stopping the execution of the great commission is not a disease of the body but a disease of the spirit in the lives of many preachers called the money virus.
THE MONEY MAKING VIRUS IS MAKING MOST GATHERINGS A GATHERING UNTO MAMMON!
Many years ago I preached a message titled; “The great Omission in our execution of the Great Commission.” One of the major things we have omitted in our execution of the great commission today lies in the realm of “motives for ministry.”
Amazingly most present day preachers don’t even know what the Great Commission is in prophetic detail, that is why their Churches and what they call prophetic or deliverance ministries are co-ordinate like shops or commercial centers where the word, Oil, water, salt, sticks, or perfumes along with prayers, are sold out, and the people (victims) pay through what I call “The Sowing Seeds Money Scooping system” (TSSMSS).
No one can accurately execute the great commission carrying “money bags” into ministry. Money will become the motive for gatherings and it will be clear to all who are not fooled that money is the master there, not God! The love of money will be entrenched in the hearts of those who drink from their fountains. Then you will begin to see all kinds of evil in that Church or ministry because the love of money is the root of all evil.
Yes, you will see sorcery, divination, outright stealing and robbing. All that will be done with the Bible in one hand and a microphone on the other. Friend, wherever the root of all evil is, the fruit will not be absent. You will just be seeing all kinds of evil when it comes to money taking (or offering time).
Time for giving will be full of coercing and manipulation. That is when a false prophetic anointing will come upon the preacher. He will begin to prophesy from the heart, and if in contact with devils even tell the amount ‘the LORD’ wants you to give but will not be able to tell any other accurate thing concerning you.
You see, when preachers carry money bags into ministry, no service will be considered complete without money taken in form of one kind of offerings or the other, or one kind of sacrificial giving or the other.
WHAT IS A MONEY BAG IN MINISTRY? THERE IS NO SPACE TO EXHAUSTIVELY TELL YOU WHAT THE PHRASE MEANS.
But a major highlight in our devotional text this morning quoted Jesus’ commission to (first His disciples and now to) every preacher saying;
“Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road.”
A money bag in the days of the Bible was like a purse for keeping money. That alone tells us that Jesus never intended that ministry be driven by a money making spirit. Today a money bag is a “heart” that is full of all kinds of money making tricks and gimmicks in ministry.
Sometimes it will involve the use of sorcery in place of prophecy and divination in place of revelation to collect money from those who have gathered.
Where sorcery is involved with other tricks, you will see the preacher performing what they call prophetic similitude or power instruments; using either water, Oil, salt, sand, sticks, brooms, or any other thing to pray for the ‘victims’ after collecting their monies. That is to further seal their minds so they may think they are dealing with GOD.
As one called into prophetic and apostolic ministry, I want to make it clear to you that I am not against genuine prophetic similitude. Prophetic similitude are for dispensing truths not for stealing people’s minds.
But where divination alone is involved the preacher may accurately tell you how much you are worth, maybe call your name, telephone and even account numbers. Then give you some accurate stories of things that happened in your life or family, and bring you to the place of total zombification.
Then move on to say what ‘the lord’ wants you to give and then activate you with false prophetic hopes to make sure you respond.
Where none of these is used they will just use secular marketing strategies to collect the money. And that happens mostly in the main stream Churches!
WHAT AM I SAYING THIS MORNING?
God is not against giving to His work but He is against using falsehood and wickedness to make money in the name of ministry.
He is against the use of the systems of this world, sorcery and divination by impostors to transfer the wealth of His people to themselves. That is why you see most preachers “very rich” and those who sacrificed to make them rich “very poor.”
We all know that no one sacrifices towards the life and ministry of “a true man of God” with the “right motive” and become worst of what he was. It’s impossible! The Bible is very clear on that. That is why you must be careful who you call “man of God” these days!
When we carry money bags into ministry, even when we gather in the name of the LORD, the LORD will never be there. Other lords and gods will be present.
Like I said earlier, it is the motive that determines the presence or absence of the LORD in our meetings. If He is the agenda, His glory will be so strong that we will not want to leave. But if money is the agenda, at best an anointing will be there for the sake of the naïve and innocent, but His glory will never be present.
People will be made to give and give and give and will remain the same or even become worst.
As we bring this to a close, let me show you the presence people experience whenever they gather in a Church or ministry of a preacher with the “money-bag heart.” This may shock you; they experience the throne of Satan.
Sometimes it will manifest with all kinds of lying wonders. Other times it will just be silent in manifestation (Sadly, most of these preachers with a money bag heart do not know this). We see all that in the book of Revelation but we cannot go into it now.
Friend, if there is any time to examine the true motive of a people before responding to any invitation from them to attend their Church it is now. If there is any time to examine the motive of preachers before joining their Churches, it is now!
I pray that God use these words to improve your “walk” and “talk” with Him in Jesus precious name. AMEN!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness,