TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Sunday 18th July 2021)
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken.
Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned. Psalms 34:19-22 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 199TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
Glory to the LORD God Almighty the All Sufficient One, creator of Heaven and Earth for giving us life this morning. It is of His sufficiency that we are kept. Indeed, His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness!
As we prepare this morning to attend Church service I want us to look at this beautiful Psalm from one of the greatest servant of God that ever lived on the face of the earth – David.
David was one righteous man who spent over 53 years of His life fighting the battles of the LORD. His core mandate was to locate where the Temple was to be built and clear off all the Heathen nations living around the area, and then make provisions for building it; and that He did very well.
Because the enemy will fight anyone on divine assignment ferociously, he was fought externally and internally with even bitter betrayals. In one of those Psalms he lamented saying;
“For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him.
But it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, And walked to the house of God in the throng.” Psalm 55:12-14 NKJV
This person who was used by the enemy to attack David was one they all went to the House of God together; meaning the place of God’s manifest presence. Today we will say, we went to Church together taking sweet counsel together. It is more painful to be attacked by one that close.
Indeed, many are the afflictions of the righteous.
The first time I heard that scripture mentioned was from the mouth of my Spiritual Father. It was one of His ever present scripture. Previously I had thought the righteous cannot be afflicted. But when he came all that changed.
He spent time telling our little church then, what he had gone through in life and ministry, especially by the hands of those he took sweet counsel together; people they went to the place of God’s manifest presence together. It was terrible! The stories are heart breaking. Paul indeed said to his son Timothy;
“Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” 2 Timothy 3:12-13 NKJV
SOMETIMES THE MANY AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS ARE NOT GENERATED DIRECTLY BY THE DEVIL BUT THOSE WE TOOK SWEET COUNSEL TOGETHER!
The greatest attack you may face as a genuine child of God will come from a so called Christian not even a demon. The greatest attacks we will face today as the End Time Church will indeed come from people we enjoyed the presence of God together. People Satan sent our way and gave the anointing to counterfeit everything God, basically to deceive and the strike us from very close quarters.
This types are found both in the clergy and the laity. Jesus described them by the nature. He called them snakes, scorpions and vipers.
Indeed, a snake will never attack its prey immediately. It will first lie down around its prey for a long time, making the prey to even think it was the best thing that ever happened to it. That is how people who are snakes, scorpions and vipers by spirit nature behave. Then suddenly, they will wake up to strike when you least expect. Their attack on the righteous sometimes can lead to great destruction.
If you are going to live righteously in this age, you must be prepared for these kind of attacks. The Bible makes it clear that they are many, not few! But the most important thing is the victories promised us by the LORD! Hallelujah!
In the midst of any attack on your life fix your heart strongly on the victories promised by the LORD, and I will be highlighting some in this devotional.
The first victory promised us by the LORD that I want to share with us is in our devotional text. It says; … but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
I have seen many battles in life, some life threatening; but I have also seen the LORD deliver me out of them all. I started fighting battles with very bad people from the moment I had my first public meeting at 16. It was the first time I felt the strength of the mantle of the LORD upon my life. Then I did not know what it is. The agent of the devil, who came to strike me with arrows of death got frozen on his seat.
INDEED, THE LORD DELIVERED ME FROM IT ALL.
Fixing your heart strongly on the victories promised us by the LORD during an attack of the enemy will boost our internal strength, and give us the faith to connect the anointing or the glory product you need at that very hour to come out victorious.
Friend, God is a deliverer! He is our ever present help in time of trouble. But sometimes you will never know that until you face an attack.
He delivered Peter, Paul, and many of the great people of God in their days. He will also deliver you in your days. The very portals He opened to deliver them in their days have not been shut down. They are still opened. They are portals of divine rescue. You will also experience same rescue.
You will state like David did, saying; “but the LORD delivers him from them all”
The next victory promised us by the LORD says …He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken. This is very important.
Our bones need to be guarded under an attack so that they will not be broken. This was first a messianic prophecy. On the way to the Cross, Jesus went through a lot but none of His bones was broken because of this prophecy. Prophetic insurance is a necessity in the life of everyone who is not at ease in Zion. If we will do the will of God and come out well, we will need prophetic insurance.
The bone prophetically means our spirits or condition of our hearts. The prophecy or promise said,
“He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken.”
The greatest target of the enemy when launching an attack on the righteous is the human spirit of the righteous. Satan fears a man who is strong in spirit and will use every false Christians he can find around him to break his spirit. He knows that when the spirit of the righteous is broken, everything God may be using the person to do will cease, and his activities will begin to prevail.
That is why God promised to guard all our bones (spirits) so that not one is broken!
IT IS A VICTORY CODE TO FIX YOUR HEART ON DURING AN ATTACK.
However, for God to guard your spirit, you must spend quality time with him in prayer. You must position yourself in your prayer post to have your spirit guarded. You must be feeding on the word and singing praises to your God or attending fellowship with other brethren. That will position you to have your spirit guarded by the LORD.
The next victory promised us by the LORD says;
“Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.”
It’s risky to make a wicked move against the righteous. Because the LORD will eventually slay those who do and make sure the righteous are vindicated. God is so mindful of His righteous seed that their persecutors and attackers do not really go free. His response could be slow in coming but it finally comes. So if you are under any kind of attack, remain strong in the LORD.
The Bible says;
“Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.”
Sadly, the devil usually blind folds those he uses in attacking the righteous to this Bible truth. He uses their hate to blindfold them from seeing who the men or women they are attacking really are in God’s sight. Remember Jezebel made Israel believe Elijah was an evil omen to the nation and troubler of Israel.
In fact, they took Elijah for a false prophet and took the prophets of Baal for true prophets. This has happened to some of us in the battle against error so many times. You will always face the same thing when dealing with deception and falsehood, or exposing Baal and stripping Jezebel. But in the days of Elijah, God deployed His heavenly strategy and brought them to a temporary end.
IN OUR DAYS, THE FINAL JUDGMENT WILL BRING THEM TO A PERMANENT END.
Those who are being used against you today will be condemned on that day; but before then their evil will slay them. That is where to set your mind on. The Bible says those who set their mind on the victories promises during an attack will be kept in perfect peace.
Here are the promises again. They say;
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned”
Look at the last line closely, it says,
“the LORD redeems the soul of his servants and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.”
The key word there is trust. It’s important to maintain your trust in the LORD during an attack.
Trusting in the LORD to do all He said He will do during an attack is the key to seeing His promised deliverance. That was why Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith remain strong in an attack God revealed was coming. Our trust in God must remain firm until it connects us to the faith to turn the battle to the gate and obtain victory.
It’s my prayer that God will use these words to give you an inheritance among they that are sanctified.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret — it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more.” Psalms 37:5-10 NKJV See Less