TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Saturday 20th February 2021)
“For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.” 2 Corinthians 5:4 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 51ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS
We bless the God of Heaven and earth for another day.
I believe we all woke up this morning sound and well. Now, let’s begin the journey into the word for the day! I will start with the phrase sound health.
From the eternal point of view, sound health is not just living in a no-sickness realm. It is living in the very realm where Adam lived before the fall – the realm of immortality. Sound health in God’s eyes is immortality, of the spirit, soul and body.
While God will continue to give us a foretaste of immortality be healing us of our diseases, we will never completely return to the realm, until after the rapture of the saints. I think at this point; it is important that we look at certain Biblical truths about our common salvation.
Salvation involves the redemption of the spirit, soul and body from eternal damnation. In simple terms, it involves the redemption of the total man. While the redemption of the spirit and soul takes place while we are alive here, the redemption of the body will take place in the day of the resurrection of the righteous; also called the rapture of the saints.
That is the day that all things that affects our body will be finally dealt with. That is the day that our body will completely return to the very state Adam was before the fall – the state Jesus stepped into after His resurrection.
If you remember, that kind of body could eat natural food that was why Jesus eat with the disciples after His resurrection. The body could pass through walls, float on water, and cover long earthly distances in few seconds. It is a body that can transport between heaven and earth in seconds.
PAUL CALLED IT AS “A BODY THAT IS SOWN IN CORRUPTION AND RAISE IN INCORRUPTION.” HALLELUJAH!
When we return to this kind of body, we will no longer know what it means to be sick, attacked by diseases, or killed by death. The body we have now can deteriorate because of age, be sick, attacked by disease or killed by death but the one that is coming cannot.
What are we saying this morning? The redemption of the body is God’s final move to restore our bodies to the sound health of eternal point of view. If you do not understand why we serve GOD and should be faithful to Him and His Holy Spirit, you have just found out. The redemption of the total man is the main reason.
Our souls and spirits have been redeemed, it is the redemption of the body that we are now waiting for.
No matter how much you serve God, stay very close to Him like Moses did, there will come a time in your life that age will begin to tell on your body. Yes, there could also be times when a health condition described in 2 Kings 13:14 as an illness of which a Kingdom Citizen would die will set in.
In this case the kingdom Citizen was Elisha.
We all know that this prophet was very powerful, and was not reported sick all his life. But when the curtains closed on his body, he fell sick.
In fact, his dead body raised the dead but the same power could not keep him from falling sick at his time of departure from the earth. Though the illness was obviously not the crazy ones we go through, or any other dreaded disease sin brings upon man, it was just the body giving way to time because it has not been redeemed and restored to its immortal state.
Our worship of God may save us from so many things but not this one because when the appointed time comes, we will just have to depart from this body and wait in paradise for its final redemption. It is then that we can return back to it to reign eternally with the LORD spirit, soul, and glorified body.
Yes, some of us may enjoy supernatural health to the time of death, but the redemption of our body will never take place. It will only take place in the day of resurrection as appointed by God. Our devotional text today says,
“For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life”.
Our first cloth is this tent – our present bodies. But our future clothing is the body that cannot be corrupted by sin, Satan or sickness. A body that cannot be corrupted at all or deteriorate with time. This is the body that we are earnestly waiting for.
It is the very body that will finally shut down all possibilities to be sick or die. It will be created from our current body. It will simply be a supernatural body upgrade. Meanwhile, as we wait for that to happen, we are to follow the Biblical steps to be healthy.
The first step to staying Healthy is being Healthy in Spirit and serving the LORD in truth.
THE NEXT KEY IS PROPER FEEDING AND HEALTH CARE; THAT IS WHAT I WANT TO TALK ABOUT.
God is not against proper feeding and health care. I saw this in the life of Adam. His food was basically herbs and fruits that were capable of keeping his body healthy. The herbs he ate represent proper health care and the fruits proper feeding.
Come to think of it, even in an environment of God’s glory man had to eat good food and herbs to be sound in health. That is a message.
If you say you are a man of faith and do not feed properly, one day you will be diseased and die, maybe in God’s presence and nothing can be done about it. If we sow to please the flesh we shall of the flesh reap corruption. We must understand that. Proper feeding is one of the keys to sound health.
In my study of God’s generals many years ago, I discovered that most Evangelists in the early days of the faith movement died for lack of proper feeding. They fasted and over fasted until their bodies began to eat itself, leading to diseases that lead to their early demise.
Fasting is very good if you do it according to the rules that should govern it; the supernatural and natural rules. You don’t fast in such a way that your health begins to break down. If you deny yourself what God created for the health of your natural body because of foolishness, you will suffer the consequence of it.
ONE OF THE MAJOR THINGS ISRAEL DID UNDER THE GLORY WAS EATING.
Being under the glory does not mean one should not eat. Neither does it also mean you should be a glutton. Eat good food and grow healthy so that your spirit can find a strong and healthy house to live in on this side of eternity. It is important that you fulfill your days on earth.
There is time to fast strongly and time to eat properly. You must understand the times and know what ought to be done. Proper feeding should not be compromised.
Like previous stated, Adam ate fresh vegetables or herbs to be sound in health. And that was in an atmosphere of God’s glory not the very atmosphere we find ourselves. There are herbs in my village that keeps the body sound and improves its immune systems.
There are some that if the blood is going low, you take them and get everything restored again. God is not against all these things that is why He created them. But Satan has a way of bring demonic influence to this by using witch doctors to provide such services. I am not saying you go get herbs from a witch doctor.
Satan is crafty, he will always use what God has created to inject himself into people basically to kill, to steal and to destroy. I am only showing you what God originally put in place in the Garden of Eden for our health.
As you take these truths to heart, may you walk in the fullness of God for your life, in Jesus precious name! AMEN!!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” 2 Corinthians 5:5 NKJV