TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 2ND DECEMBER 2022)
“The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:8-9 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 335TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
Day unto day God has been showing us mercies. Today is the second day of the 12th month of the year. Is it not amazing that Our God has kept us alive and well and we are getting to the end of the year with lives that are full of the evidence?
There is so much we do not deserve that this great GOD has been doing for us. His loads of benefits each day have been spectacular. His kindness and mercies have been unmatched. Seasons come and season go but they remain the same because He does not change.
Time has no power over Him because time is a piece of eternity that He created to bring evil to an end. He is the Only God who inhabits eternity, every other spirit who claim to be gods lives in time that’s why they come to an end, along with those who make them. The Bible says;
“But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see;
They have ears, but they do not hear; Noses they have, but they do not smell; They have hands, but they do not handle; Feet they have, but they do not walk; Nor do they mutter through their throat.
Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them.” Psalm 115:3-8 NKJV
This morning the LORD has given us favor to continue another journey of faith that we started yesterday with the Cry of the Holy Spirit on “The presence of the LORD.” It does not matter whose presence you crave in life if you are not one of those who crave, pains, and hunger for the presence of life, misery will one day become your companion.
OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT TODAY IS FULL OF INSIGHTS. IT REVEALS TO US WHERE GOD PLANTED MANKIND AFTER HE WAS CREATED.
Originally, God created birds to fly in the air and have trees as their habitats. He created animals to move on the lands and have holes, caves and sometimes trees of the earth as their habitats, He created fishes to swim in the waters and have the rivers, the seas and the oceans as their habitat. Finally, He created man to move by His word and have His active presence as his habitat. That is exactly what we see in our devotional text.
The garden of Eden was not just a physical place, but a place of the concentrated presence of God. It was a place that was full of millions of Heavenly portals. It was a glory place where the fullness of God was on display. It was the place of God’s active presence; a habitat for mankind.
Now, if you do not understand that the active presence of the LORD was originally man’s habitat, you will not understand why you go through a lot in life and why most of mankind suffer all kinds of things. You will be blaming other things for your problems. Therefore, to uncover more on the mystery, let’s look at what a habitat is.
A habitat is the natural home of environment of an animal, a plant, or an organism. It is an ecological term.
The word summarizes the array of resources, physical and biotic factors, that are present in an area such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. So, when we say the presence of GOD was created to be man’s habitat, we are saying that is where the array of the blessings, spiritual resources and life factors that supports your life and guarantees your existence can be found.
The active presence of GOD is the home of all you need on earth. It is the home of all the miracles, blessings and covenant things you need from the LORD. That is where the peace any marriage needs can be found. Couples only need to find it. That is where the salvation and deliverance that the oppressed needs can be found.
They only need to get there.
THAT IS WHERE YOU CAN BE PROTECTED FROM WITCHES, AND WIZARDS, AND WHAT SOME CALL EVIL ALTARS.
That is where you need to live for the cures of life not to get to you. That is where we need to live for our enemies not to get to us. Or yes, which is why you should always run into the active presence of the LORD whenever some evil pursues you.
The Bible says;
“He who is loose and slack in his work is brother to him who is a destroyer and he who does not use his endeavours to heal himself is brother to him who commits suicide.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the [consistently] righteous man [upright and in right standing with God] runs into it and is safe, high [above evil] and strong.” Proverbs 18:9-10 AMPC
There are truths to uncover in this beautiful and insightful scriptural verses.
The first verse is about diligence. Yesterday in our in-house apostolic summit, we spoke about diligence. Please get the message if you want to become very prosperous in life. We were looking at the practical steps for making progress in life. The verse made it clear that if you are not diligent you will be loose and slack on your job or in your work. The result of such actions over time will be this; you will be a brother to a destroyer.
Your work is that which you do to earn a living. If you are not diligent in it, you are a brother to a destroyer. Meaning, your actions will result in economic hardship and destruction, or it means there is a destroyer close to you in the realm of the spirit.
The last sentence in the verse says “he who does not use his endeavors to heal himself is brother to him who commits suicide.” There are attitudes we must cultivate to heal ourselves, especially when our life problems are self-inflicted. On the economic front, we shared some of those attitudes in our sessions this week. But this journey is about the Presence of the LORD.
The second verse of the scripture of our discourse says;
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the [consistently] righteous man [upright and in right standing with God] runs into it and is safe, high [above evil] and strong.” Proverbs 18:10 AMPC
THE NAME OF THE LORD HERE, AMONG OTHER BIBLE THINGS, MEANS THE ACTIVE PRESENCE OF THE LORD.
The Bible says those who run into it, no matter what may be pursuing them, will be saved.
One of the attitudes we are to develop that will heal us, especially from self-inflicted problems, is the attitude of running into, and then living in the name of the LORD, or the active presence of the LORD. Which brings us back to where we left of above; the necessity of running into the presence of GOD in your days of adversity.
We have said when life problems pursue you here and there, run to the name of the LORD because it is a strong tower. That is where the righteous runs to and are saved. Even those who are not righteous, can run to it and be saved if they run there in repentance and humility.
I have heard people say “this and that is pursuing me” yet they do not know where to run to. They run to men of God. But no man of God can help you when it comes to escape from what pursues you. It could help you for a while but only the active presence of God can help you permanently.
David ran to Samuel when Saul pursued him, and there was an intervention. But it was for a moment because it did not stop Saul from Pursuing him. The active presence of God he lived in (the name of the LORD that was his strong tower) was what paralyzed Saul finally. The Bible says;
“So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it;
And enquired not of the LORD: therefore, he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.” 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 KJV
What a man of God who knows his job can do for you is to teach and train you to find the presence of God and hide yourself there like David did. Those who are wicked or money minded will only use your predicament to make fortune for themselves, in form of raising altars of sacrifices and all that.
WHATEVER MAY BE PURSING YOU OR YOUR FATHER’S HOUSE, HAS ITS SOLUTION IN THE ACTIVE PRESENCE OF THE LORD.
That is where you will find the answer.
Let me reiterate again that the active presence of the LORD is where your family need to plant themselves to be free from any evil that may have be pursing them. That is where the will be saved from whatever may have befallen them.
It is the active presence of the LORD that they need to plant themselves to be free from failed marriages, late or no marriages, premature deaths, seasonal illness, debts and poverty and all that. They will never be free if you do it any other way. You will just be wasting your time, and maybe resources.
They will not be free when you keep carrying prophets to your village to destroy or uproot what they call altars. They will not be free when you keep doing what the preachers called “raising altars of sacrifice.” They will only be free if you can get all of them into the active presence of the LORD and teach them how to make it there home wherever they go.
Friend, if you have a need, the supply is in the active presence of the LORD nowhere else. Stop wasting your time with so called prophets and empty churches. Not everywhere people gather you can fine the true God these days. You can only find the true God where there is the true word.
You must live your life within the presence of the LORD and not allow anything to cut you off from it. If one is cut off from the active presence of GOD things will begin to go down in the life of the person.
Wars will spring out because only God’s active presence brings peace, health will break down because only His presence keeps us healthy. Lack, poverty, scarcity, droughts and famines will break out because only the presence of GOD guarantees abundance, rain and fruitfulness.
Yes, if we are cut off from the active presence of the LORD, what keeps us alive, happy, successful, hopeful, strong, striving, peaceful, prosperous even in the midst of adversary will disappear because only the presence of GOD guarantees all that.
Satan will prefer us carrying oil, water, prayer clothes, and all forms of deliverance inventions instead of the presence of GOD because only the active presence of GOD can paralyze his activities.
A major verse in our devotional text says;
“The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.” Genesis 2:8 NKJV
I believe enough have been shared for the day. It is my prayer that GOD will keep using all these to build us up and give us an inheritance among they that are sanctified. Amen!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” Psalm 42:1-3 NKJV