TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 29TH JUNE 2022)
“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 180TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
Grace, Grace, Grace!
God’s Grace is all a man or woman needs this very hour. I see that daily. God’s grace has kept us all this year. To Him belong all the glory!
From where I sit, as a privileged one in ministry, I see a lot of things and hear a lot of things. This privileged position that the LORD has given me (a position that am not worthy of) has opened my ears to so many things that gives me fresh revelations of the potentials of God’s grace.
When it comes to occupying kingdom positions in the Spirit or the body of Christ, none of us qualify. God’s grace is what qualified us by removing all the spots and wrinkles in our lives that disqualifies.
God qualified by removing what disqualifies and we will come to that. So, if I look at our lives, I see what His grace is doing.
Indeed, if not for God’s grace, we would not have been where we are right now. It has literally run our lives. It has shielded us. It has watched over us. It has built a tower of truth for us and given us a dwelling on it. That is why we all see things in scriptures that some others do not see hence attacking us for it.
We are called names for His name sake. Satan attacks us in the home front, the ministry front, and everywhere because of the truth the LORD has given us for our generation. Only God’s amazing grace can keep a man in such moments.
Like our father Paul will put it, we have been struck down but not destroyed because of His grace, persecuted but not forsaken by His grace, always bearing in our souls the dying of carrying what we carry for our generation.
The purpose remains one; that the life of Christ may be made manifest in the life of those who have been appointed for Salvation. Our joy lies in the accomplishment of God’s will in and through us, no matter the cost. The Bible says,
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—
always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So, then death is working in us, but life in you. 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 NKJV
FRIENDS, WE HAVE THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSEL.
When you carry treasured truths, be ready for trouble from those who live in error and prosper by them.
Yes, any earthen vessel that carries what the devil hates, will be hated by people who live in error and those who prosper by heresies, both in the Church and outside the church system. Any earthen vessel that carries what neutralizes the spirit of lawlessness should be ready for all the arsenals that hell has because they will be unleashed on him or her.
That is why I tell fellow warriors of righteousness, if you do not like the heat, get out of the kitchen. The Bible says we will be hard-pressed on every side. Every side is every side. Even sides you do not expect will come under the pressure of hell.
Satan will not spare any side that is required to make your life meaningful.
The ‘beauty’ of it is, the LORD will not extinguish or eliminate the pressing. He will allow it to take place but grant us the grace to go through it without being crushed. The pressing is not usually soft. It is usually hard. It is like pressing juice out of an orange.
Any side that comes under the pressing generates pains in our lives but brings out kingdom juice for a perishing generation. It is that juice God wants hence allowing us to be hard pressed on every side. A lot of kingdom juice came out of the the pressing of Paul on this side of eternity and we are all the beneficiaries of it. He was pressed on every side, yet not crushed.
The word every side means every aspect of life. If you are married, you will have a lot to deal with in the home front because of what you carry. You will feel the pressure of hell on your finances if you are in business or on a paid job, your social life, health and every side will not be spared also.
But God will always make sure we are not crushed.
His grace will make sure that while the enemy is rejoicing over us, while he is celebrating over our pain and calling it his gain, the kingdom juice will be coming out of us to those appointed unto salvation and we will not be crushed.
GOD’S GRACE IS USUALLY THE REASON WHY GOD’S TROUBLED PEOPLE ARE NOT GROUNDED BY THE ENEMY.
As we come to the last day of our 30-day journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit on fear, I want to say God’s grace has been our help. And today we will be looking at how God’s grace helps a man to deal with the scourge of fear.
There are certain fears that are supernatural and can ground any man on the face of the earth. They have a way of beating all forms of boldness and transmitting waves that makes one hopeless and clueless in the midst of an adversity. It is such fears that grace comes in to help us handle.
The fear that grace comes in to help us handle is like a living thing, though just a feeling. It speaks, it walks, to inflicts, it torments, it is depressing and sometime behaves like the voice of God. It has capacity to warn of things that will not even happen, most times through dreams.
It can even show you visions of fearful things to completely weary us and make one faithless. It is fear at its highest level.
I have seen people of God inflicted by this type of fear by religious people who want them to submit. I have seen spiritualist who call themselves intercessors inflict people with this fear type. I have seen false prophets and intimidating preachers who over estimate themselves spreading this fear on those who will not bow to their intimidation.
When you are inflicted with this fear, you will begin to see what the person who inflicted you with it may have said to you in your dreams. You will be getting more afraid of him or her.
A true preacher spreads the fear of God not the fear of man. But these breed use visions and dreams to spread this fear type, basically to take advantage of people.
The Bible word or phrase for this fear type is dread, terror, horror or to fall like a dead man. This was the fear type that struck the soldiers who were guarding the grave of Christ when He arose from dead. The Bible says they laid as dead men. It is a terrible fear that only God’s grace can handle.
When you are inflicted with this fear type, everything about your life will be paralyzed. You will be completely demobilized.
GOD SOMETIMES USE THIS FEAR TYPE ON HIS ENEMIES, AND SATAN KNOWS HENCE DUPLICATING AND USING IT AGAINST US.
You see, this fear type is a weapon of war. Satan will use it against you the way God uses it against our enemies.
Do not forget, God gave a promise of protecting Israel by paralyzing their enemies with this kind of fear. He used it as a weapon in so many portions of the Bible. In one occasion, He said to them:
“I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.” Exodus 23:27-28 NKJV
Like I said, this fear type is a weapon of war in the spirit realm. You must take it that way anytime the enemy use anyone, preacher or fellow Church member or an unbeliever out there, to attack you with it. You must learn how to turn to God for His grace like Paul did.
When the enemy use it against us sometimes, it is to make sure we are not exalted above measure or we do not succeed beyond certain boundaries by the treasure the LORD may have given us. Only His sufficient grace can help us out of us h situations
Our devotional text says;
“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NKJV
Do not forget that God’s grace is the only antidote to this fear type. It will empower you to mock at it and just walk over whatever it says to you or make you believe. As earlier stated, perverted prophets and heretic teachers use this fear type to keep their member under submission and threaten those who want to escape form their Churches.
They are the greatest catalyst of this fear type in Church today.
Apart from pouring His grace upon us, it is important to note that one other way God uses to deliver us from this fear type is by bringing us to our spiritual families.
The word spiritual family is described in Jeremiah as “your fold.” When you get to your fold you will begin to fear no more. In other words, Satan will not be able to paralyze you with this fear type again.
I believe God has spoken to us this morning.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the LORD.
Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the LORD.
“But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the LORD. Jeremiah 23:1-4 NKJV