TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 19TH FEBRUARY 2023)
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:1-2 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 50TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. It is the LORD’s doing, and it is marvelous to our sight. He remains our Heavenly Father, who also functions as a friend that is closer than a brother.
One thing about such a Friend is understanding. He understands your frailties and limitations, so is not swift at passing judgment on whatever you may have done. He will rather sit down with you to understand why you did what, with the aim of reaching out to you with a friendly counsel or hand, to guide you out of your quack mire.
He also understands your rebellion. If you wickedly depart from moral ways and righteous paths, he will reach out with a warning finger or chastisement, to make sure the blueness of the wound of his warnings or chastisement purges away your evil. The friend will not cover your sin by avoiding it. He will cover it by confronting you of it, and making sure it is purged and you return to righteous paths.
Elimination of a life of sin, is the God’s way of covering one’s sin. Before the cross it was called atonement, now it is called remission. In atonement, God just use the blood of animals that depicted Christ to cover. That kind of covering was not eliminating the sin. It was only using their faith to allowed the people to be seen through the blood of the lamb.
Meaning, instead of them receiving punishment for sin, the blood will be a sign that punishment has been meted. But remission is not just payment for the sin, but cleansing of the same. In other words, removal of the same. Hallelujah!
We must understand this Friendship dimension of God.
It is this dimension that made our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, a friend who does not just stick closer than a brother, but who also laid down His life for his friends.
HERE ARE THE BLESSED WORDS HE SPOKE:
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” John 15:13-15 NKJV
These blessed words that were spoken over 2000 years ago, has prevailed and remained strong all through the ages, in the lives of believers who operated as friends of Christ, not just Christians. They did not just hold the revelation of how the greater love of a friend is expressed, but the revelation of the condition of friendship.
There are other ways you can lay down your life without dying; it all depends on what your friend needs. Christ had to lay down His own life by dying, because we needed a redemptive death, to be eternally free from the eternal judgement.
How does He want us to respond to this sacrifice? He wants us to respond by doing what He says.
In other words, living the way He wants, not the way we want. That was why He said, “You are my Friends, if you do whatever I command you.” Christianity is a call to live the life of Christ; a call to be doing whatever He says.
There are so many things He has already said in the Scriptures, through the prophets and through the nation of Israel to the human race. There are things He is still saying to us today, through each page, chapter, or book of the Bible. For instance, there are things He has said, and is still saying today, about righteousness, purity, and holiness. There are things He has said, and is still saying today, about making Heaven and avoiding hell.
There are things He has said, and is still saying today, about divine healing, walking with the Holy Spirit, praying always, giving for the work of God and all that.
There are a lot of things He has said, through the voice of the Prophets in the Bible, and through the lives of Bible men and women, either good men or bad men; from Adam to Noah, and to Nimrod, and to Abraham, and to David, Samuel, Saul, down to John the Beloved the writer of the book of revelation.
HE HAS SAID SO MUCH AND GIVEN US HIS HOLY SPIRIT TO HELP US DO THEM.
Friendship with Him demands that we do whatever He says, or has said. Whoever lives his or her life, following His voice, ways, and leadings, automatically, moves from a Church member or regular Christian, to a Christian who is a friend of Christ. One of the major things He said to us through His servant Paul, is what you find in our devotional text. If we do it, we will be His friends.
The text says;
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:1-2 NKJV
In our weekend Holy nation Renewal Service on Friday, we shared a bit about the prayer and fasting connection of “presenting our bodies as living sacrifices” to God. We also spoke of a renewed mind; the mind of Christ, or the spiritual mind. That brings us to the subject of our 28-day journey of faith, The Cry of the Spirit on Supernatural Living.
Yesterday, we began to look at the laws of the supernatural of God; we saw the law of restitution, and what it can do in the life of a follower of Christ. Today, we want to look at the next law; the law of the spiritual mind. Which brings us back to our devotional text.
The truth remains, it pays to do what Jesus says.
For instance, if we do what He says in Romans 12:1-2, we will end up with a mind that can operate in the supernatural of God.
THE BIBLE PRESENTS TWO KINDS OF MINDS TO US; THE NATURAL MIND AND THE SPIRITUAL MIND.
No one can operate in the supernatural of God, walking in his or her natural mind. The reason is simple. The Bible says the natural mind is hostile towards GOD. You cannot operate in the supernatural of someone or something that you are hostile to, be it God or the dark kingdom.
That is why hostility to the dark kingdom is one way to avoid the dark supernatural in life. Do not forget, if we avoid the dark supernatural, we will not share in the curse of God on Satan and his demons.
God is the governor of His own supernatural. If you have a mind-set that is hostile towards Him, there is no way you can operate in His supernatural. The mindset that is hostile towards Him, is born out of conformity to the evil and corrupt system of this world. It needs to be transformed into a spiritual mind, to lose its hostility towards GOD, and come into His supernatural.
The Bible says;
“Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].
[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.” Romans 8:6-7 AMPC
From this scripture, it is clear that the mind that is hostile towards God is describe as sense and reason without the Holy Spirit. This one will doubt everything God, and question his capabilities. It will say “even if God opens the Heavens, can these things be?”
You remember the special economic adviser to the King of Israel, who doubted the prophetic word of God that came through Elijah, to supernaturally bring the economic hardship on the nation to an end. The Bible says, he died when the word was fulfilled.
YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO STEP INTO THE SUPERNATURAL OF GOD HAVING THAT KIND OF A MIND.
The natural mind will never allow anyone to step into the supernatural of God. Sadly, it cannot hinder anyone from stepping into the dark supernatural.
Why is it so? The reason is because it is the mind of the flesh, controlled by carnal or dark thoughts, intents, and purposes. If you have it, you will be in the presence of the supernatural of God, and find yourself resisting it terribly. But if you are face to face with the dark supernatural, you will easily and quickly accept it, because you are in alignment with it by mind.
That is why, many follow false prophets so easily, calling them God. And can even fight you physically if you say to them, those prophets are dark men of GOD, and are not true. They do such things because they are not saved. You can not be saved and have a mind that follow false prophets so blindly. You will have the mind of Christ.
One with the Mind of Christ do not follow falsehood for too long. He will not threaten to kill you, as some have done to some of us. He or she will not curse you, or say Satanic things to you, when you try to show them in the scriptures what the Bible says, about the kind of prophet or preacher, they may be following, calling “the great power of God.”
Friend, you can easily follow the dark supernatural with a mind that is hostile towards God. The key to following the supernatural of God remains a spiritual mind; the mind of Christ. The Bible says in Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” That is what to do if you want to operate in the supernatural of God.
It is a law in the supernatural realm of God.
The mind of Christ is given to us at Salvation, that is why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:26, “you have the mind of Christ.” The mind comes at salvation, then we spend the rest of our days cultivating it.
We cultivate it, by making sure we do not conform to this world, but to the world of God; the world of faith in Him or the revelation of who He is. That is done by meditating in His word day and night, or each time the need for the supernatural arise.
I think enough has been shared for the day. But let me add this little piece as we bring this to a close. The LORD spoke to us strongly about being His friends in the word. What is the reward of being a Friend of Christ? One of it is the mercy to participate in the supernatural of God.
Everyone who ever operated as friends of Christ, participated in the supernatural of God. You will not be doing all He says and not be living in the Supernatural of God. Obeying the commands of the LORD will make devils to obey your command. It is in submission to His word, ways and will, that we unleash His supernatural power upon our lives.
May the LORD use these beautiful truths to add to the building blocks of our faith, in Jesus precious name. Amen!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Then Elisha said, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will sell for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria!
Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, If the Lord should make windows in heaven, could this thing be? But Elisha said, You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.
Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, as the Lord had spoken [through Elisha].
The king had appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate, and the [starving] people trampled him in the gate [as they struggled to get through for food], and he died, as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to him.
When the man of God had told the king, Two measures of barley shall sell for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria,
The captain had told the man of God, If the Lord should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be? And he said, You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.
And so it was fulfilled to him, for the people trampled on him in the gate, and he died.” 2 kings 7:1-2, 6-20 NKJV