TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 4TH AUGUST 2022)
“Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; or complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” 1 Corinthians 10:6-10 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 217TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. Day unto day He has been showing us mercy, night unto night He has been with us. It is such a joy to serve a good God, especially with a pure heart.
His goodness has been more steadfast than the Sun that has shone faithfully for over 6000 years now.
For two hundred and seventeen days, the LORD has been so good to us. Through this platform He has been sharpening our faith, teaching and impacting our lives on daily bases.
We remain grateful to Him.
The highest level of GOD’s goodness is the release of His grace and truth into our lives. Mankind was lost until God’s grace appeared to the human race with redemptive Truths. The Bible says;
“For the grace of God (His unmerited favor and blessing) has come forward (appeared) for the deliverance from sin and the eternal salvation for all mankind.
It has trained us to reject and renounce all ungodliness (irreligion) and worldly (passionate) desires, to live discreet (temperate, self-controlled), upright, devout (spiritually whole) lives in this present world,
Awaiting and looking for the [fulfilment, the realization of our] blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One),” Titus 2:11-13 AMPC
This scripture buttresses the fact that the highest form of GOD’s goodness is the release of His grace and truth into our lives.
The deliverance from sin, its penalty, practice and presence that the grace and truth bring, and the eternal salvation it made available for all mankind are things whose magnitude only eternity can help us fathom.
That is why I consider God’s grace and truth as the highest investment Heaven ever made on the human race so long as our salvation is concern. It is the highest level of His goodness to man.
Sadly, many have ignored it to their detriment.
THAT IS WHY WE HAVE SOULS IN HELL, AND MANY MORE ARE ON THEIR WAY THERE.
Friend, if we ignore the grace of GOD and the truth is brings, and begin to go to GOD for lesser levels of His goodness, asking Him for things of no eternal value; He will give us those lesser levels but it will send leanness to our souls.
That was what the Nation of Israel never knew when they were journeying through the wilderness, which the Holy Spirit has helped us to know in our days. The Bible says,
“Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them]; they sang His praise.
But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert.
And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls and [thinned their numbers by] disease and death. Psalm 106:12-15 AMPC
Lets look at this scripture a bit.
It is important to note that Israel was God’s missionary nation. He used the nation to bring His plan of Salvation to us and showed us so much that we are yet to unravel.
For instance, their journey from Egypt to the Promises land, typifies the journey of believers from sin and Satan, through the wilderness of this world to the glories of the promise land of our Heavenly home.
Therefore, what they did with God in all those 40 years in the wilderness is very important to the believer because it holds so much eternal truths for us.
As we can see in our devotional text, the Bible says;
“Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; or complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” 1 Corinthians 10:6-10 NKJV
FROM THE BIBLE VERSES IN THIS TEXT, WE CAN SEE THAT ALL THAT HAPPENED TO ISRAEL WAS FOR OUR EXAMPLE AND ADMONITION.
An admonition is a firm warning or reprimand. It is also a gentle or friendly reproof. It all depends on the circumstances the one being admonished is. It is therefore a piece of advice that is also a warning to someone about their behavior.
What admonition can we find in Psalm 106:12-15? What piece of advice can we find in the scriptural verse that can also be a warning about our behavior as Christians? Do not forget, there is a lot of bad behavior today among us believers.
Let us look at the scripture again. It says;
“Then [Israel] believed His words [trusting in, relying on them]; they sang His praise. But they hastily forgot His works; they did not [earnestly] wait for His plans [to develop] regarding them,
But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted and tried to restrain God [with their insistent desires] in the desert. And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls and [thinned their numbers by] disease and death. Psalm 106:12-15 AMPC
The first admonition we can find in this scripture is in the first and second verses. It says the nation of Israel believed God’s words, trusted and relied on them. They sang His praise as a result but that did not last. They soon hastily forgot His works.
Now, that left me wondering, because God did so much wonders in Israel in their journey to the promise land that we still remember today. The Bible says the reputation of what God did spread the whole ancient world, why than will they, who were the beneficiaries, forget those hell shaking works God did?
THEY DID NOT FORGET WHAT GOD DID IN TERMS RECORDS.
Their minds still carried the stories of the events because the sons of Korah made that clear. They only lived as if God had never done anything for them. They did that by not waiting for His plan of developing or growing them through the wilderness experience.
In other words, they fixed their hearts on having their hearts desires granted them, and forget the heart desire of God for their lives; which was to use the wilderness experience to develop them.
The next two verses tell us what happened to them as a result. God sent leanness to their souls. In other words, He reduced their numbers through diseases.
The present-day Church seems to be in the same situation. We do not know that the ultimate plan of God for our lives is to make us fit for eternal life; it is to develop our faith and lives to meet God’s standard of Heaven worthy people.
But often, we have defeated this plan of God by making the granting of your heart desires the ultimate for serving Him, consequently having them met and leaving us with leanness in our souls.
If you are sincere with Jesus, you will agree with the obvious; spiritual diseases have reduced the number of genuine Christians today. Especially the spiritual diseases of using the shadows of the Old Testament to minister to the saints, and the diseases of sin, iniquity and trespass.
More believers are falling away from the faith that was delivered to us today than ever before.
Many are moving from being genuine Children of God to becoming fake Children of God. They are moving from being sons of God to becoming sons of hell.
The number of genuine Christians is being reduced rapidly through spiritual decay. And the reason is because we have rejected God’s plan of growing or developing us into Heaven worthy saints and enthroned the need to have our desires met above all things.
We have been told, once we recite the sinner’s prayer, we are Heaven worthy.
So, many recited the prayer but did not renounce the sinner’s life, hence living very eternally damned lives without knowing. Then the next thing they did was to join church and begin to present their carnal needs to God for miracles; year after year, after year.
THE GREATEST UNDOING OF THE CHURCH TODAY IS WHAT YOU HAVE JUST READ.
The trend of leading people to Christ without Christ in their hearts, and bringing them to church for the collection of their monies in form of tithes, offerings and other forms of giving for the breakthroughs they need from GOD, has made it impossible to have spiritual leaders who can build or develop souls to become Heaven worthy.
Any generation that lack ministers of the gospel who can build or develop people to become Heaven worthy (to be spiritually fit for Holy living and Heaven making), will be filled with hypocrites and hell bound Christians.
It is important to note that the primary assignment of spiritual fathers is to grow or develop people to become Heaven worthy. That brings us to the subject of our 31-day journey of faith; the Cry of the Holy Spirit on spiritual fathering.
At the start of this journey, we saw that genuine spiritual fathering revolves around the Tree of life. A Spiritual fathering system that is built around the Tree of life will be developmental in nature. It will be able to build or develop us to become Heaven worthy.
That is why you can never sit under it and be lost in the wild of sin, iniquity and trespass. You will not be trapped in the shadows of the New Testament and be reduced to charismatic witch or wizard.
Having God meet your carnal desires will not be at the front burner of your faith if you sit under such spiritual fathering.
You will not be like the Israelites who were pressing God to grant them their heart desire without minding the leanness that it was sending to their souls. You will not replace the need to develop and grow into Heaven fitness with the granting of your heart desire by GOD.
If you are under a spiritual father who is only interested in Heaven granting you your heart desire, instead engaging God’s grace and truth to grow and develop you into Heaven worthiness, you are under a vile tree. You could be successfully on earth because of that, but it will ruin you eternally.
It is my prayer that God will use these words to add to the building block of our faith and keep granting us an inheritance among they that are sanctified. Amen!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Mark 8:34-36 NKJV