TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Tuesday 9th March 2021)
And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” Luke 22:31-32 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 68th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
We bless the LORD of Heaven and Earth who have once again, given us the opportunity to see another day. It’s of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed.
God has a word for us this morning. Our world may be full of woes but if His word is what fills our hearts, the woes of our world will not be able to consume us. Sometimes life can be terrible. It can throw things at you that you never bargained for.
When life throws sad things at you, when your expectations fail and disappointment creeps in, when people you thought should help you suddenly withdraw, when those you are laboring to keep happy refuse to reciprocate. What do you do?
As a Child of God that is the time to lift up your faith and say “my redeemer lives”. That is a declaration of faith that can quicken your recovery. Yes, though very difficult sometimes but when even sad news demoralizes you, and you cannot find the reason to live the next minute; when the enemy comes against you like a flood, the most important thing to keep alive is your faith.
In our devotional today we will be highlighting some truths on keeping the faith.
God says in His word that “the just shall live by faith.” He did not say the just shall live by struggles, fear, pain, or anything negative. Neither did He say the just shall live by prayer, fasting, giving, singing, or going to church. As important as all these things are, if none of them is not activating the faith to live in your heart, they are unfruitful.
You see, prayer, fasting, giving, singing, or going to Church are only meaningful if they birth faith in us. If is when they help us in keeping our faith that they are counted fruitful.
Actually, the Holy Spirit enables prayers, Biblical fasting, giving, and singing and encourages going to Church basically to help us live by faith. If doing any of these things therefore, is not imparting faith in you, or strengthening the faith that is already there, you are involved in forms of godliness that has no power.
THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST AND FIRE COMES IN!
It is the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire that makes our prayers, fasting, giving, singing and even going to Church impactful. They become faith building tools because of the power and influence of the Holy Ghost. The Bible says.
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Jude 20-21 NKJV
The importance of faith to a Child of God is perhaps better known by the devil than the Children of God today. The fierceness of Satan’s attacks against our faith and the weak response we usually give to “faith building” proves it all.
Many in Church today will prefer building their houses than building their faith.
Others will prefer building their careers, businesses, fame, families, and all they desire without giving a thought to their faith. We forget that when God says the “Just shall live by faith,” He made faith building the most important thing in the life of a Child of GOD.
It is the faith of the just that will sustain his house, career, business, fame, family and all he desires in life. In simple terms, God designed that our lives be sustained by our faith. That is why Satan attacks it ferociously. Our devotional text today says it all.
The spirit realm sometimes seems to be a complicated realm.
When Satan asked for Peter, to shift him like wheat, his rising profile, business, or family was not the subject of his attack. Peter’s faith was. And when Jesus moved to provide a prayer cover for him, He did not pray for his business, fame or family not to fail. He prayed that his faith should not fail because that was the focus of the attack.
A major highlight in the text says,
“But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
The subject of every satanic attack directly or indirectly is your faith. The quicker you come to term with that the better. Until your faith fail, your business will not fail. Until your faith fails your marriage or family will not fail. Until your faith fails your ministry or calling will not fail.
THE LIFE OF THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD IS DESIGNED BY BE LIVED BY FAITH.
Now what is faith? It is not a mental confidence. No! Peter had a mental confidence when he boasted that he will not deny Christ. But Jesus said to him before the cock crows once he will do it thrice.
The Bible defines faith as the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen. It means true faith has both substance and evidence. It is usually anchored on revelation that is why it comes by hearing from God at an immediate present.
In other words, if God has not spoken to you about a thing at an immediate present, there cannot be true faith in Him concerning that thing. True faith is a child of things (in the throne room) that have been revealed to our spiritual senses; it is a proof of things we have seen in the spirit but have not seen in the natural – a conviction of the reality of them.
Apostle John spoke about things that can be seen, felt and touched in the spirit. Faith is usually a product of seeing from God, touching and feeling things in God that have been created to be born on earth, and taking steps that will pull them from that realm to our realm.
In other words, faith is a creative force that enables the believer to create something out of nothing physical. That is why Satan attacks it. Don’t forget, Satan cannot create he can only make use of what have been created.
But with the instrumentality of faith, we can create. We can create a marriage, a business, a spiritual life, a family, and whatever is in God’s will for our lives. Faith helps us to create by seeing, touching, and feeling things in the Spirit’s realm through prayer.
In simple terms it helps us to establish contact with finished things in the Spirit realm, then shows us what action to take to bring them into the natural realm.
THAT IS WHY GOD MADE PRAYER A CATALYST OF FAITH.
Because things cannot be reveal to the spiritual senses until we have prayed Holy Spirit led prayers effectively. The Bible says;
‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV
Any prayer that is not activating your faith by bringing you into God’s prophetic realm is a form of godliness that has no power. True prayer mounts pressure on God to reveal Himself. It is Holy Spirit led not ‘holy’ flesh led – bringing us into a realm where God or the things of God can be revealed to us.
And God reveals Himself sometimes by speaking or showing something to us. When that happens faith will be born in is.
In conclusion, the Bible spoke about a faith that was once delivered to the saints. This refers to an apostolic Christian belief that was established on the revelation of Jesus Christ to the early Church.
That belief can be summarized in one proclamation that Paul made. And that proclamation is, “Christ in you the hope of glory.”
If you look at the Church today, there is a great falling from the faith that faith. People are being told to sleep with prophets and prophetesses for spiritual cleansing. Others are taught to drink the oil and treat it as the Holy Spirit.
Many others are trained to give money for prayers, and other forms of sacrifices; using salt, water, brooms, and etc. to invoke deliverance or one form of supernatural intervention or the other. That is not the faith that was once delivered to the saints.
God is calling on the remnant; those He has preserved from these pollutions to rise! He is calling on us to rise and begin to contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. The Bible says,
“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” Jude 3 NKJV
The time to obey this call in our generation is now!
What is the message of our devotional this morning? If things are not okay with you, it is your faith that the enemy is trying to attack not really your things. And God saying, “come into the prayer room in such moments through songs of praise and thanks giving, then pray unto me and I will reveal myself to you.”
When God reveals Himself to you during such moments, what the devil came to destroy will be rather fortified and you will come out victorious! That is one way to contend for your personal faith – the very faith you need to live by.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.”
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.”
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” Psalms 34:15-19 NKJV