TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 10TH OCTOBER 2022)
“For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.
But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.” Jeremiah 20:8-11 kjv
WELCOME TO THE 283RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
Blessed be the name of the LORD who have given us another day to be alive and well. He has been our Heavenly Father and Friend.
A Song writer once said “All our lives He has been faithful…His goodness is running after me” that is the truth.
Our lives are what they are today not because we are better than others, neither are we holier; because even our righteousness is a filthy rag before him.
Our lives are what they are because His goodness has been running after us and serving as our sustaining force. To God be the glory!
We have been on a 31-Day of Cry of the Spirit on the Blessed Holy Spirit Himself, whose Cry on different issues of our faith, have been our focus on this platform.
One of the major things we have discovered is, God is eager to put His blessings in our lives so we can serve Him fruitfully and transform the moral landscapes of our nations, but our lives have to be in order first.
The most important vision of the Holy Spirit for us is that our lives be in divine order.
His most important activity in our lives will center around putting them in order not making us empty tongue talkers or practitioners of spiritism.
The goal of the Spirit will remain to put our lives in order. That we have seen in the past few days.
This morning we will be looking at a part of our lives that must be touched for our lives to be put in order. That part is our mind.
You will discover that the reason the Spirit sat on the head of the 120 in the Upper when He came (in the day of Pentecost) and not on any other part of their body, was to show us where the He centers His activities on when He comes into our lives.
The Bible says;
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:1-4 KJV
The tongue they spoke in this scripture was not a prayer language like the ones most of us speak, but earthly languages that even those who gathered around then heard and understood. Which presented to us one of the most important vision of the Holy Spirit; reaching l the lost with the revelation of Jesus Christ.
THE PEOPLE WHO WERE AROUND THE UPPER ROOM HEARD THEM GLORIFY GOD IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGES.
But while what came out of their mouths tells us what will happen when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, where the flames sat on tells us where His initial activity will rest on.
It will rest on the head or our minds. The goal remains to set our lives in order so that we can ne used of Him to reap the world into the kingdom, by living the life of Christ not just by preaching. Until our minds are in order, our lives cannot be in order for us to be so used.
And our minds must be transformed for our lives to be in order. Paul writing to the Church in Rome said,
“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].” Roman 12:1-2 AMPC
The transformation of the mind is a necessity. Until our minds, ideals, and attitude are changed, our lives cannot be set in order. We will remain conformed to this sin age or fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs, until the Holy Spirit use living truths, that must burn in our hearts like fire, to transform our minds.
Sadly, those living truths are not in the mouths of our so many ‘miracle working’ and demon of deliverance driven, altar raising ,prophets, apostles, and pastors.
IT IS IN THE MOUTHS OF THE FEW JEREMIAHS THAT GOD HAS RAISED IN OUR DAY, AND OTHER RELATED BIBLE MINISTRIES DESIGNED FOR OUR PROPHETIC TIMES.
Our devotional text today is one of the many verses that expressed the agony of kingdom warriors in the Bible that GOD usually use to bring such truths and messages to their generation. It was the expressions of what Jeremiah (one of such ministries) was going through in his day due to the burden of this kind of unique ministry.
Jeremiah was one of those uncommon vessels of Living or burning truths. His, was delivered in form of prophecies. His ministry was primarily, partly to expose and neutralize deception in the prophetic ministry of His day. His mandate also was to bring timely warnings from the almighty GOD to the nation of Israel and the heathen nations of his day.
It was not an easy ministry because severally, he was told point blank by Baal worshipers and worshipers of the cosmic force called the queen of heaven, that they knew GOD was speaking through him, but they will not listen or follow his word because those other deities they worshipped made them fruitful and gave them economic fortune.
It was not an easy prophetic ministry.
He was once slapped by a prophet whose lying ministry was exposed by God using his lips. But God killed the prophet few months later.
He was mocked at, thrown into an underground prison, and maltreated so badly. Before a Paul, who went through so much for preaching the authentic gospel and holding on to the present truth, there was a Jeremiah who went through a lot for bearing a prophetic message that was full of burning truths and no massaging of egos.
One of the main thrusts of Jeremiah’s ministry was to expose the dark sources of the prophetic ministries of his days. If he was in our days, especially in Kenya, they would have accused him of dividing the body of Christ in Kenya, and threatened him with deportation for being used of the LORD to expose the dark sources of most ministries in Kenya.
IN ONE OF THOSE PROPHETIC DELIVERIES, GOD SPOKE THROUGH HIM SAYING;
“Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
Therefore, thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 23:1-2 KJV
There are lot of preachers today who are scattering the sheep of the LORD instead of forming Christ in them. There are so many today who are using deception and charismatic witchcraft to scatter the sheep of the LORD.
To scatter means to throw in various random directions.
The ministries of so many preachers today are throwing God’s people into so many various random directions instead of making them Christ centered and God’s kingdom oriented. People go to Church and leave thinking about the mundane, the immoral or the carnal, instead of the eternal and the Kingdom of God.
The ministries of so many pastors are indeed scattering the Sheep of the LORD, making them to go after doctrines of devils in a bid to solve their problems.
They use oil as symbol of the Holy Spirit while the Holy Spirit no longer need symbols in our days.
The scattering of the sheep is the reason many Christians call sorcery prophecy, and divination revelation. It is the reason witch doctors in God’s garment are called prophets and all that. It is the reason church have been turned into a money-making machine instead of a Heaven making center.
IT IS THE REASON EVERYTHING ABOUT CHURCH TODAY IS GEARED TOWARDS EARTHLY RELEVANCE INSTEAD OF ETERNAL RELEVANCE.
Most of the preachers who are scattering the sheep of the LORD, seems to be doing a good work for the LORD on the surface, because of the terminologies they use in preaching and all that. Some of them use the word “kingdom” and “Christ” but the fruit of their ministries on those who drink from them is, hearts going after things instead of GOD, consequently going in different directions.
The stirring of the hearts of those who have turned to the LORD to go in different direction is the reason God will not stop raising Jeremiahs in our days to bring unpalatable prophetic truths to our generation.
Come to think of it, which preacher who is scattering the sheep of the LORD will be allowed of the LORD to be doing so without the LORD raising some Jeremiah’s warn them? None!
No church generation will be without some Jeremiahs, Ezekiels, Pauls and all that. Though they will be fought, the LORD will not stop raising them.
Yes, church people will attack them viciously. They will do to them exactly what the people of old did to Jeremiah in his day and others in their days!
With this background we can then understand why Jeremiah sounded the way he did in our devotional text.
The Bible says
“For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.
But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.” Jeremiah 20:8-11 KJV
THE LINE I WANT TO HIGHLIGHT IN THIS VERSE IS THE LINE THAT SAYS “BUT HIS WORD WAS IN MINE HEART AS A BURNING FIRE, SHUT UP IN MY BONES.”
At the beginning of this discourse, we had said the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit is to set our lives in order. We have also said it will take truths to set our lives in order. Today we are saying, those truths must be burning enough to be able to transform our minds instead of massage our egos or feed our emotions.
Until you sit under ministries with scriptural revelations that burns in the heart like fire in our bones, you will not be able to have a mind that have been transformed or renewed enough to lead a life that is in divine order.
Do not forget, if your life is not in order, you cannot lead a blessed life. You will be made to sow seeds and go for curse breaking services until you are no more.
As we bring this to a close, I submit to you that there are sweets blessings that come when we set our lives in divine order (not when we feed the greed of preachers with our offerings). And the key to all that is listening to truths that will greatly move our heart and burn in us like fire in your bone.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR TODAY!
“And [Jesus] said to them, O foolish ones [sluggish in mind, dull of perception] and slow of heart to believe (adhere to and trust in and rely on) everything that the prophets have spoken!
Was it not necessary and essentially fitting that the Christ (the Messiah) should suffer all these things before entering into His glory (His majesty and splendor)?
Then beginning with Moses and [throughout] all the Prophets, He went on explaining and interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning and referring to Himself.
Then they drew near the village to which they were going, and He acted as if He would go further.
But they urged and insisted, saying to Him, remain with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent. So, He went in to stay with them.
And it occurred that as He reclined at table with them, He took [a loaf of] bread and praised [God] and gave thanks and asked a blessing, and then broke it and was giving it to them
When their eyes were [instantly] opened and they [clearly] recognized Him, and He vanished (departed invisibly).
And they said to one another, Were not our hearts greatly moved and burning within us while He was talking with us on the road and as He opened and explained to us [the sense of] the Scriptures?” Luke 24: 25-32 AMPC