TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Thursday 19TH August 2021)
“Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men!”
“You shall hide them in the secret place of your presence from the plots of man; you shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.”
“Blessed be the Lord, For He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!” Psalms 31:19-21 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 231ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
Indeed, how great is the goodness of the LORD towards us. How great are the treasures He has laid up for us in the presence of the sons of men! How great is His mercies that comes to us each day!
His mercies have hidden us in the secret place of His presence from the plots of men. It has kept us securely in the pavilion of His glory from the strife of tongues. If God had given us to the strife of tongues for example, we will not be here today.
Blessed be the LORD, For He has shown us His marvelous kindness in a strong city! To Him belong all the glory for ever and ever. Amen
This morning, the stream of life will be refreshing us on matters of prayer, righteousness and financial prosperity.
When we say prayer, we are referring to righteous prayers not carnal, religious or the prayer of the heathen. Righteous prayers have a way of changing us and changing things around us.
The world of recent seems to be recovering from the economic shocks of the covid-19 pandemic.
During the season of the destitution, you can see the power of financial hardship in full glare in the lives of many. So many are not alive today in God because of what happened to them during those times, while some others have become closer to Him.
Financial hardship has a way of making people feel there is no God. Now, the Bible says, “a fool says in his heart there is no God!” Meaning, any there-is-no-God feel that spring up from within us is a sign of foolishness.
IN OTHER WORDS, FINANCIAL HARDSHIP HAS A WAY OF MAKING SOMEONE FOOLISH.
Actually even if in your hardship, you consider the oceans, the great whales and other aquatic animals in it; if you consider every created thing on the face of the earth, only a fool will indeed say, “there is no God.” But circumstances have a way of making us not to think about all that. They have a way of making us forget the testimony of creation about God’s existence.
Even the way our spirits, souls and bodies are intricately knitted together attest to the fact that God do exist.
The Bible says His invisible attributes are clearly seen so that man can be without excuse in the Day of Judgment. But when we come under the attack of adverse situations, we have a way of forgetting all these facts that testifies to us about the reality of God’s existence.
Many do not know that there had been generations that had no Bible in their hands yet knew that God exist and related with Him in Spirit and in truth. They worshiped God; I mean the true GOD and committed themselves to Him more than we are doing.
They had encounters with Him and knew He exists. The Bible was not there to tell them. Creation told them and they responded with greater commitment to His course!
People like Seth whose seed began to call upon the name of the LORD, Enoch, who walked with God and was not for God took Him, Lamech who knew the spiritual heritage of his son Noah, and even Noah who built the ark and saved the ancient world from total annihilation.
A song writer was said; “If I suddenly wake up and find that the world is upside down. If I suddenly wake up and find that the Bible is not real. I still believe you LORD because you live inside me. You are the reason for living.”
Talking about financial hardship, I have come to realize that financial hardship could be a tool of God for shaping a man’s walk and talk with Him, but it has never been His perfect will for any man. God’s perfect will for us is that we prosper and be in good health even as our souls prosper.
BUT ALL THAT WILL SPRING FROM A HEART THAT IS GIVEN TO PRAYER AND THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD!
People need to be taken out of their tight schedules and returned to their prayer knees; not for selfish reasons but for kingdom advance reasons. If end time saints do not make prayer, righteousness and spirit filled living their highest priority now, I don’t know when we will do it.
Apart from the horrors of the last days, there is so much lack and poverty in the lives of many today and the devil is using that to short change their destinies.
Going back to righteous prayers and the ministry of the true word of the LORD is needed now more than ever.
Sadly, what is adding to the pressure of financial hardship in the lives of many are the half-truths on financial prosperity that are being peddled and forced into the spirits of the redeemed of the LORD. We have been taught that money comes when we do what is called sow seeds or give.
There is nothing wrong with serving God’s purposes with our giving, but God made me to understand that financial prosperity does not come by just throwing something into an offering basket, it comes by God’s enabling grace. Giving only maintain the flow by keeping the grace that brings financial prosperity active; especially when we give sacrificially. That is why the Psalmist say;
“Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:5-6 NKJV
When we give towards God’s righteous purposes, it activates the grace called the power to get wealth. If that grace is not there, you could give all you can but will never see anything made active for money to come to you. The grace must be at work first so that our giving can make it active.
NOW HOW DOES THAT GRACE COME? THE GRACE COME THROUGH INTIMACY WITH THE LORD AND A LIFE OF SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE
It will never come to you if you are living a life of sin and lack of intimacy with God. That is why we prosper as our souls prosper. Any financial prosperity that comes to us despite a life of sin and wickedness is called the prosperity of the wicked. The Bible calls the throne of God the throne of grace. It is through righteous prayer, deep repentance, and a life that says no to sin and wickedness that we access the grace around the throne of God.
The truth remains; until we have knelt before God in deep repentance and drawn grace from Him, we cannot obtain certain blessings and favors when we stand before men. That is why many Christians struggle, and use the arm of flesh to get things moving in their lives. They don’t spend enough time to kneel before God, repent of any act of wickedness, and draw grace from Him, hence spending fruitless time kneeling before men for financial favors.
A major highlight in our devotional text today says,
“Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men!”
What do you see in this scripture? What can you glean from it? One thing I can glean from it is this; “the goodness of God that is laid up for our financial plenty is among the sons of men not in Heaven. Heaven controls it but the substance is here on earth.”
The text says “how great is your goodness which you have laid up for those who fear you.” It is not laid up for us in Heaven but here on earth – among the sons of men. Wherever God may have planted you therefore, is where your financial plenty is stored up also. The people in that nation or City are the very ones holding your money. They are the storehouse of God’s goodness that is keeping the goodness He has laid up for you among the sons of men.
If you are poor, it’s simply a sign that you are yet to access it. And one force that helps us in accessing it is the force of grace, activated by righteous prayer and righteous living.
IN OTHER WORDS, IT IS SUFFICIENT PRAYER THAT MOVES GOD INTO THE HEARTS OF MEN TO WILL AND TO DO OF HIS GOOD PLEASURE CONCERNING US.
It is sufficient prayer backed by right living, that moves GOD to move those who are keeping the goodness laid up for us among the sons of men to bring to us. If you neglect pulling down grace from God’s throne through effective righteous prayer and living, you will not be able to access your provisions among men.
Everyone God has ever prospered, prayed, lived right and worked with their hands praying and living right, then received provisions, and gave into the kingdom. Then continued with a life of righteous prayers, righteous living, working hard and smart with their hands, and receiving grace. Then the grace received brought provisions through the work of their hands, then they administered it back into the kingdom, and the spiritual cycle continued.
There are individuals that the kingdom of devils and men are prospering but are ascribing it to God. These individuals could despite the existence of this circle because they got money without following it. But what they do not know is they got the money following anther circle that the enemy created for them. That is why you see the prosperity of some destroying them!
What is out message this morning? The message is simple.
If you remove sufficient prayer and righteous living in your quest for financial freedom as a child of God, you will have sufficient trouble or alternatively the prosperity of the wicked.
The Bible says righteousness exalts a nation but sin I a reproach to any people. Prayer and righteousness will unlock the power to get wealth into your life and place substance in your hands through the work of your hands; substance for your welfare and for the work of GOD. That is the message of today’s devotional!
Friend, I am fully persuaded that God will not cease from showing us His marvelous kindness in any City we find ourselves, if we do not cease from seeking Him strongly in prayers to prosper us, even as we live a life of righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
“Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
“I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.” Jeremiah 29:11-14 NKJV