TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 21ST JULY 2022)
“Whoever hates Me also hates My Father. If I had not done (accomplished) among them the works which no one else ever did, they would not be guilty of sin. But [the fact is] now they have both seen [these works] and have hated both Me and My Father.
But [this is so] that the word written in their Law might be fulfilled, They hated Me without a cause.
But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father, He [Himself] will testify regarding Me.
But you also will testify and be My witnesses, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” John 15:23-27 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 202ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
This is amazing! For over half this year the LORD has been constant in keeping us and making our lives beautiful and we pursue His blessed will. His grace, like I have always said, has been running our lives and making our walk and talk with Him possible.
There is nothing in God that is by might or by power. All in God is by His Spirit. And His grace is a functionality of His Holy Spirit. Take the Holy Spirit away and there will be nothing like grace. You see that displayed all through the Bible. It is the Holy Spirit that makes grace possible. That was why the dispensation of grace started with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said to them;
“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49 NKJV
Then they went and tarried and on the very day the Jews around the ancient world assembled at Jerusalem to observe the feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father was released upon 120 of the 500 Disciples that Jesus raised in three and half years. The dispensation of grace began and today we have seen what the Spirit of God has accomplished on the face of the earth since then.
So, without the Holy Spirit there can be no active grace of God in a man’s life. That is why genuine Christianity begins when you receive the Holy Spirit. And the Bible made it clear that if you do not have Him, you are not part of the body of Christ. It says;
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Romans 8:9 NKJV
THE LAST SENTENCE IN THE VERSE SHOULD GET THE ATTENTION OF EVERYONE WHO CALLS THEMSELVES BODY OF CHRIST.
The classic edition of the amplified version puts the last sentence in the verse this way
“But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God].”
This scripture is clear that being a true child of God depends on possessing the Holy Spirit of Christ. Being part of the body of Christ depends on possessing the Holy Spirit.
That is why the first gift you receive in the kingdom is the gift of the Holy Spirit; I mean the release of the Holy Spirit in your life. Until you have received and retained that gift of God for mankind, do not seek other things in God’s kingdom, because you will get the counterfeit from the kingdom of darkness.
I have seen people who have not received the Holy Spirit seeking for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the gift of prophecy. That is why Baal comes upon them by the hands of erroneous, premature or perverted preachers and begin to manifest like the Holy Spirit in their lives. Paul said;
“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8-9 NKJV
This scripture makes it clear that there is another gospel. Now if there is another gospel, we should know that there is another Jesus and another holy spirit. There is a counterfeit of everything God has. Satan attacks God by duplicating what He has or does. It has been his long strategy in this war for the souls of men.
Now, what is the medium for unleashing a counterfeit of the Holy Spirit on people? The medium is another gospel. That is why we should fear false doctrines. The Bible strongly condemn false doctrines, doctrines of demons and all preaching and teaching that give the needy miracles but does not form Christ in them, because it is through them that the counterfeit of the Holy Spirit is released in Church.
THAT IS WHY GOD INSPIRED ONE OF HIS VOICES ON EARTH TO SAY;
“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.
For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jude 1:3-4 NKJV
Recently in Kenya, we have had some spat with some who preach another gospel and demonstrates false doctrines through the pouring of oil on streets and all that, saying God asked them to do so. There are also some baby charlatans who went about saying false doctrines in the Church are not an issue. The Bible says we should contend for the faith so that men like these will not keep preaching another gospel and unleashing another spirit on people.
Look at the moral landscape of Kenya, after all the years of the gospel, the nation slipped back to moral darkness. Unbelievers became even more righteous than believers. I have never been confronted by an unbeliever in Kenya to stop preaching against the sin of fornication, for example. But it is pastors that have called me names for doing so.
So called preachers and their members hate us for attacking the spirit of lawlessness and walking with the LORD to neutralize it. Who should applaud us if they were part of the body of Christ? Them of course but because they have received another holy spirit, by the teachings of raising, breaking or silencing of altars and other false teachings they have absorbed over the years, they now contend with the work of the Holy Spirit of Christ through the mortal men He has shown mercy.
The preaching of another gospel will bring the counterfeit Holy Spirit to people. It will give them a holy Spirit that the preacher pushes you down to receive, or the demon itself called Holy Spirit throw you to the ground when water or oil is poured upon you.
The main goal is to make sure people do not receive the authentic Spirit of Christ, because if they do, there will become part of the Body of Christ. When they become part of the body of Christ, they will not need to be passed through deliverance, because they will be free from all demonic attacks.
ALL THE CURSES IN THEIR LIVES WILL BE REPLACED WITH BLESSINGS.
The enemy will not be able to touch them in any way. Whatever cannot happen to Christ will not be able to happen to them.
Yes, think about it for a moment? Can curses sit on Christ? Can diseases kill Him before His time? Can poverty cloth Christ like a rag? Can witches and wizards destroy or stop the prosperity of Jesus if he was here? Can the entire hierarchy of darkness do anything bad to Him? The answer to all this is no.
That should tell you why the enemy will not want us to become part of His body on earth, hence stirring preachers through our carnal desires for relevance and revenue (money) to preach and teach things that will allow him to release the counterfeit Holy Spirit in churches. Satan knows, no one can become part of the Body of Christ until they receive and retain the true Holy Spirit of Christ hence doing all he can to keep people out of His grip.
Child of God, we are not part of the body of Christ when we join a church and call ourselves Christians. We are part of the Body of Christ when we receive and retain the true Holy Spirit in our lives. The true Holy Spirit does not propel men to anoint cities with olive oil as a symbol of Him.
His only true symbol was used by Moses over four thousand years ago. Now, He is no longer symbolic. He is now real! Since, He came down over 2000 years ago, He has been real and very real. The use of prayer gadgets to symbolize Him is from another spirit not from Him.
The teaching and preaching of things that does not form Christ in people is from another spirit that counterfeits Him not from Him.
Truth be told, it has become a major challenge today to know which of the Holy Spirit people are dealing with in Church since there are two types; one from God and the other from hell. It is important that we know what Jesus says about the true Holy Spirit.
A MAJOR PART OF OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT CONTAINS WHAT HE SAID. HE SAID;
“But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father, He [Himself] will testify regarding Me.” John 15:26 AMPC
This scripture makes certain things clear about the authentic Holy Spirit. First it says Christ will be His chief emphasis not altars, giving, seed sowing, tithing, prophecy against enemies, and etc.
That also means, He will not put teachings like raising, silencing or breaking of altars, redemption of first born, giving of first fruits, war against anointed devils, monitoring spirits, spirit husband, recovering of stolen stars or any other related doctrines of devils on the lips of present-day preachers. He will put the doctrine of Christ on their lips.
Meaning a church that is dealing with the true Holy Spirit will be Christ centered not money or men centered. It will be Christ centered not, fame or attention seeking centered. It will not be centered on the things of men. It does not take years for one to know where the focus of a preacher or a local church is. It is very easy to identify a Christ centered church. That makes it very easy to align with the true Holy Spirit.
Everyone who is in Christ knows that you will never be comfortable with sin and even dare continue lawlessly in it if you are in a Church that is Christ centered. You will walk in purity and the fear of the LORD. That is why when you see a preacher moving from sin to sin and saying we are all sinners or we are humans, you have seen a preacher who have lost the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit of the living God is the governor of God’s activities for the now.
THERE CAN BE NO GRACE FROM GOD WITHOUT HIM ON EARTH.
You will never come into the fullness of Grace, which enables a life of righteousness if you have no fruitful relationship with Him. He is the dispenser of God’s grace, and the one who makes a Church that relates with Him Christ centered instead of money or man centered.
That brings us to our consideration for the journey, His Cry of Miracles, Signs, and wonders. A Church that have been made Christ centered by the Holy Spirit, will make those who drink from its fountain Christ centered. If you become Christ centered you will enjoy another throne room miracle, He promised all who come to Him. That miracle is called rest or the shalom of God.
People who enjoy the miracle of rest from God will never go down in life no matter what may be moving against them. The Bible says God will always be their immediate present help in time of trouble to keep them in perfect peace.
Even if the City is going down in humiliation, and hell is raging everywhere, there will be a river of God’s moves that will flow from the Throne Room to water their lives and make them dwell in quiet restring places, secured dwelling and divine assurance.
Make your life Christ centered. Do not fix your heart on earthly things. Fix your heart on Heavenly things. Be Christ centered if you want to enjoy the rest He gives. The miracle of rest is for Christ centered people. That is why those who are money, enemy, or men centered do not have rest from the days of adversity. They are always going through one attack or the other.
If we find a Christ centered Church and become Christ centered, we will have our lives filled with the Throne room miracle called rest on every side.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;
That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
And they aware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about”. 2 Chronicles 15:12-15 KJV