TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 10TH DECEMBER 2022)
“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.
And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:9-11 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 343RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
Let me repeat that according to the Gregorian calendar, we are in the sun set of 2022, walking or running steadily to the twilight of 2023. It is a prophetic move that is stimulated by the power of Time. Do not forget, we opened the day with these words yesterday.
It is a 31-day journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit of the Presence of God. We have seen the three categories of God’s presence. We have seen the role of each in our lives as believers.
From personal experiences and from Biblical revelations, it is clear that if we can carry God’s indwelling presence wherever we go or wherever we live, we will not lack His manifest presence in our lives.
The Omni presence translates into His manifest presence and do wonders in and through us if we carry God’s presence on our inside. One of the major things it will do is bringing personal healing to us. The Classic Edition of the amplified version of a portion of our devotional text says;
“And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11 AMPC
This scripture makes it clear that healing is the restoration of life to our mortal body. And that it is the heritage of the believer that begins to manifest if the person carries the indwelling presence of God. That is what makes it impossible for the believer to die by sickness prematurely.
Diseases may come but the indwelling presence will touch the omni presence to be transformed into God’s manifest presence in order to restore life to our sick body.
That happens most times when we pray, act in faith, meditate in the word, clean up our lives from secret sins, or go for medical care trusting God to use it to heal us.
ALL THESE ARE IN SCRIPTURES.
The indwelling presence of God is the greatest treasure of the believer. While in the old testament they could not carry it because the price for carrying it has not been paid, in the new we can carry it.
If you were in the old testament, you will be mindful of not being cast away from the presence of God. But in the new you have to be mindful of not just been cast away from the manifest presence but not loosing the indwelling presence also, because we can lose it. So, in the Old Testament you will pray saying;
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.” Psalm 51:10-11 AMPC
From this prayer of David, it is clear that in the days of the Old Testament, the Spirit could create a clean heart but the presence of GOD could not indwell people.
It could come on them and do a work in or through them, but because Christ had not died, and the supreme price for returning mankind back into the presence had not be paid, it will be lifted from them after accomplishing the divine task.
You see that even in the life of Abraham.
The Bible says;
Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. Genesis 17:19-22 NKJV
Notice what happened in the last verse. The Bible says as soon as God finished talking with him, God went up from him. That was the pattern in the Old Testament. It is not a pattern for the New Testament generation that we are.
I repeat, the coming of the presence of God upon us to accomplish a task in or through man and going away from him is not a pattern for our dispensation. Wherever you see it today, know that you are dealing with the Nehushtan spirit.
I ONCE KNEW SOMEONE WHO EXPERIENCED WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS THE PRESENCE OF GOD LIKE THAT UNTIL WE DISCOVERED SHE WAS DEEPLY POSSESSED.
It will come on her, and she will be overpowered completely, prophesying and saying all manner of on point revelations, then becoming very weak thereafter and fall. We will have to be looking for how to restore the person’s strength. It took me time of studying the scriptures to understand that the Holy Spirit today empowers us to experience the presence, He does not over power us.
You may be slain in the Spirit, which is in order and very scriptural, but you will not be overpowered without, sometimes, not knowing what you are doing or saying when He is using you. In those days we had to be the one telling the person what she was prophesying some times.
Sadly speaking, because of the doctrines of devils in Church today, there are not many who carry the genuine presence of GOD. We are in days of hyper deception, so we must all be careful of supernatural manifestations that runs contrary to the scriptures, before we get ourselves and others possessed with religious spirits.
The presence of God will not over power you today to use you, it will empower you. You will be conscious, intelligent, and very coherent. You will not loose your senses because the Spirit is upon you. In fact, you will become supernatural smart, more aware of your environment, self-controlled and very coherent.
Now, there were few people who experienced the indwelling presence in the days of the Old Testament because of their unique roles in the God’s redemption plan then.
MOST OF THEM WERE A POINTER TO OUR GENERATION. ONE OF THEM WAS ENOCH.
Enoch was a pointer to the end time Church. The end time Church will carry the indwelling presence that was why He carried. It was the indwelling presence that made him to step into eternity without dying.
According to 1 Thessalonians 4, and 1 Corinthians 15, there is a part of the end time church that will step into eternity without seeing death. It will be the Enoch generation, a generation over whom natural death will have no power. Like Enoch this generation will walk with God so closely that they will be not, for God will take them all at once. The Bible says,
“So, all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” Genesis 5:23-24 NKJV
That generation will carry a concentrated indwelling presence of the God they have been intimate with. Then at the sound of the Trumpet, it will make them immortal. The day of this amazing event is called “the Day of the Resurrection of the Righteous”
Those who came into the Kingdom after the cross can now carry the indwelling presence. I believe someone reading this may be part of the Enoch generation. Who knows?
But on that day, those who died before the Enoch generation will be raised first, then those we are part of the Enoch generation will be changed to meet them in the air, then everyone will proceed to meet the LORD in the clouds.
Child of God, it will be a day that immortality will swallow mortality. A day that death itself will begin to die and get buried forever and ever.
PAUL, ONE OF THE GREATEST APOSTLES OF CHRIST TO HAVE EVER LIVED, PUT THE REVELATION THIS WAY;
“But I tell you this, brethren, flesh and blood cannot [become partakers of eternal salvation and] inherit or share in the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable (that which is decaying) inherit or share in the imperishable (the immortal).
Take notice! I tell you a mystery (a secret truth, an event decreed by the hidden purpose or counsel of God). We shall not all fall asleep [in death], but we shall all be changed (transformed)
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the [sound of the] last trumpet call. For a trumpet will sound, and the dead [in Christ] will be raised imperishable (free and immune from decay), and we shall be changed (transformed).
For this perishable [part of us] must put on the imperishable [nature], and this mortal [part of us, this nature that is capable of dying] must put on immortality (freedom from death).
And when this perishable puts on the imperishable and this that was capable of dying puts on freedom from death, then shall be fulfilled the Scripture that says, Death is swallowed up (utterly vanquished [h]forever) in and unto victory.
O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:50-55 AMPC
I like this Bible prophecy in its contemporary rendering. It is such a beauty to read. It beautiful presents a prophecy that the Bible also called the blessed hope of the saints in a very simple and gracious manner.
Titus chapter 2:11-13 made it clear that God’s grace was given to prepare us for the blessed hope. This scriptural portion calls the hope “An event decreed by the hidden purpose or counsel of God.”
This is the event that will tell the whole world that serving Jesus Christ as LORD, Savior, and God of all god’s was not a scam.
It will make it clear to the world that Jesus is the hope of all mankind, so long as eternal salvation is concerned. That those who called Him Prophet and deny His deity were dead wrong. It is an event that further explained how God will make those who fear Him His jewels, as He promised in Malachi 3:17.
We shared all these with us to let us know that one of the most important purposes of having the indwelling presence of God is preparation for our rapture on the Day of resurrection.
IT IS TO SEAL ALL WHO WILL BE PART OF THE ENOCH GENERATION FOR THE EVENT OF THE GREAT DAY.
But we began this by sharing with us one of the earthly purposes of the indwelling presence. We said it was to quicken our bodies as restore life to it when we are sick. Our devotional text 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.
And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:9-11 NKJV
The sickness that will kill someone with the indwelling presence of God has not been born.
No matter how sick we are, if we do what the word says, we will experience God’s presence within us, transforming His Omni Presence around us, into a manifest presence that heals us of our diseases.
The case of Elisha in 2 Kings 13 tells us that the only sickness that will kill the believer is the one that comes as a messenger to help him ride on the horse of death into the blessed arms of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ in eternity. That happens after fulfilling our days.
I believe enough have been shared for the day. It is my prayer that the LORD will bless this word in our hearts and make us cherish His presence at all times in Jesus precious name. Amen!
We have said the flesh is our greatest enemy when it comes to having the presence of the LORD in our lives. It is my prayer that we wake up to the full realization that we are no longer indebted to the flesh but the Spirit.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:12-15 NKJV