TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 23RD MAY 2022)
“Nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly esteemed The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward more heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles.
The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.” Isaiah 9:1-2 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 143RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
His amazing grace has indeed been of great help to us. It has run our lives well and helped us greatly in having the LORD’s approving countenance upon us. It has given us tranquility of heart and life continually.
Yes, God’s amazing grace has put His name upon our lives and caused Him to bless us even when we do not deserve it.
It has been our season of following the Cry of the Spirit of the living God on matters of practical Christianity. And the LORD has taught us a lot that if embraced and made part of our lives, will help us in being the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
As stated in one of those previous discourse, Jesus was calling for practical redemptive living, which after the cross became what we know today as Christianity, when He said;
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your father who is in heaven” Matthew 5:13-16 AMPC
Sometimes we think that God only wants our lives shining with wealth and affluence, health and big social status. Sadly, that is what most preachers teach and present. Making people great lovers of money, attention, fame and all that, loving to become successful by the world’s definition of it.
BUT IF YOU LOOK AT THIS SCRIPTURE YOU WILL SEE THE OPPOSITE.
The scripture made it clear that God wants our lives brightened with His glory and shining with moral excellence in a world of moral darkness instead. And if you look at the Church you will realize that we are shining with other lights; money, fame, affluence, big social status but not with the light of moral excellence.
Our excuse for not shining the light of moral excellence has always been this; “we are all sinners. No one can be perfect.” Sadly, this dangerous position and doctrine is coming from famed preachers and so-called spiritual fathers.
You mean you tell a sinner, who is speeding to hell, that we are all sinners, and that none can be perfect? One who is looking for salvation from a life of sin will never hear that and come to the LORD. They will just settle down in their hell bound life hoping or even believing that they will sort it out with God when they die, being ignorant of the fact that no pleading can save a soul once he or she has stepped out of this world.
The reason the light of moral excellence is the recommended light for a lost world and a sick church is because it brings the power and pattern for living a Heaven bound life to the lost sinner either in Church or in the lost world. It shows those trapped in darkness the way out.
It does not matter what the preachers preach, prophets prophesy or so called apostles and bishops say, the LORD wants us shining the light of moral excellence on a world of moral darkness. That is the calling that is hanging upon our lives.
The reason is to help the lost world find a loving savior, and the sick church get back on her feet in sound apostolic health. The scripture again said;
“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your father who is in heaven” Matthew 5:16 AMPC
Let me reiterate that it is important to note that the real problem of our world is a moral darkness problem not a leadership, financial, health, political, or social problem. Every problem the world is trapped in today steams from the real problem – the problem of moral darkness.
MANKIND IS A ROT IN MORALITY MATTERS.
It has become so bad that what is wrong have been modified and made to be treated as right.
For instance, so many youths do not know what is wrong again. They no longer accept that it is wrong to be engaged in sex, drugs, alcoholism and all that. They no longer accept as wrong lying.
Fornication and adultery have become a game to many; we no longer accept what is wrong and sinful as wrong. That is the spirit of lawlessness at work.
We even scream at preachers who try to tell us that these things are wrong, calling them judgmental. We scream at those God raised to tell the sick Church the practices that are keeping the church sick with the same spirit ruining the lost world.
We call them judgmental when the rebuke other preachers for engaging in a ministry is not helping the lost find the LORD or neutralizing the spirit of lawlessness with the light of moral excellence.
The problem of the harvest today is the spirit of lawlessness and how to neutralize it. But When preachers go around with bottles of oil pouring on places, smearing it on people’s heads, or using in one way or the other, are they neutralizing the spirit of lawlessness? No! They are not even touching it, hence leaving the souls of those they smear with oil or live in cities where they pour it on their streets under the grip of the subtle spirit.
Sadly, Jesus said that is the same spirit that will take believers to hell. More sadly, is the fact that most preachers who do such things are truly called of God but do them because they are not aligned with sound doctrine, making them more dangerous to the eternal lives of believers than false preachers.
Any ministry that is not neutralizing the spirit of lawlessness that has established itself in hearts, is not helping anyone but themselves because of the monies they get in return. None of us should forget what the LORD said in His word. It is a revelation of why believers will be found in hell.
HE MADE IT CLEAR THAT SOME WILL BE IN HELL BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT DELIVERED FROM THE SPIRIT OF LAWLESSNESS.
Yes, they declared themselves saved, worked miracles, received deliverance, and enjoyed or did many wonders but were never freed from the spirit of lawlessness, hence not making it to Heaven.
Jesus said;
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV
This scripture should worry all of us who call ourselves saved, because so many are still under the spirit of lawlessness. If God has not opened your eyes using apostolic truths, you will never know this. You will think we are just being stupid.
While the world is struggling with the darkness of the prince of the power of the air or the god of this world, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience, the church is struggling with the darkness of the spirit of lawlessness. The solution to these two forms of darkness remains the light of moral excellence and sound apostolic doctrine.
There is a prophetic scripture that was fulfilled in Christ which I want to bring to our attention. It is the scripture of our devotional text. The classic edition of the amplified version of that scripture says;
“But [in the midst of judgment there is the promise and the certainty of the Lord’s deliverance and] there shall be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time [the Lord] brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time He will make it glorious, by the way of the Sea [of Galilee, the land] beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great Light; those who dwelt in the land of intense darkness and the shadow of death, upon them has the Light shined.” Isaiah 9:1-2 APMC
This scripture was first fulfilled when Jesus stood in the regions mentioned in it to preach and demonstrate the Kingdom of God at His first coming. But it holds other messages for our generation. The message of where people live their earthly lives from.
SO MANY LIVE THEIR EARTHLY LIVES FROM THE REALM OF THE MORAL DARKNESS THEY WALK IN.
Its important to note that Everyone on earth who has not come to Jesus Christ or those who may have come but are not pressing into perfection in Christ, are living their earthly lives from either the moral darkness of the god of this world (whose spirit now work in the lives of the lost souls in the lost world), or the moral darkness of the spirit of lawlessness that is at work in the lives of many believers, especially preachers.
There are a lot of people who are sitting in these forms of darkness in our families, network of friends and so forth who may never find light until they die, despite their interaction with us, believers. It is saddening to even think about that. But it’s a reality; a sad reality.
We must rise to turn the tide. We must becoming beacons of the light of moral excellence and sound doctrine to them.
As we bring this to a close, we should not forget this and other truths that have been coming to us from the LORD on practical Christianity. The souls of men need the light of the LORD shining in and through us to be saved from moral darkness.
We should not forget that Heaven is counting on us to shine the light of moral excellence and sound apostolic doctrine on the precious souls trapped there. You will need light to help anyone out of the darkness, not stories. Not even prayer for deliverance, but the light of sound truths shining in and through you.
Christ in us, living and shining His moral excellent life in and through us, remains the answer to the world. If we allow Him to live in us, led us on His righteous paths, and remain intimate with Him, He will fill us with a light that can only be Himself, the very light the lost world and the sick church needs.
Do not forget, He is the True Light that if men walk in they will not walk in darkness. The Bible also calls Him the True light that was created to give light to every man coming into the world. Meaning, anyone born of a woman needs that light. And they will need us to have it.
Yes, that friend of yours, that brother or sister, that boss of yours or that Christian believer in your life held down by the spirit of lawlessness, will need the True light shining in its full strength in and through you to be delivered from the darkness he or she is held by.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AT ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:6-13 NKJV