TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 12TH JUNE 2023)**
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 163RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
We bless the LORD of Heaven and Earth, the commander in Chief of the host of Heaven, the governor among the nations of the Earth; the one whose kingdom rules over all, for giving us another glorious day.
What a mighty God we serve. Heaven and earth adore Him; angels bow before Him. What a mighty God we serve.
You are missing a lot if you are not serving this awesome God. You may be serving the Church or a man of God; that is really different from serving God. And I need to tell you how. Many who are serving their Churches and men of God are not really serving God. You see that in their lives. That is why they are sick, poor, and all bad despite their busyness for their Church or the ‘men of God.’
You cannot serve God and not be visited and blessed by Him from time to time. You cannot be serving GOD and He would not be saving you from the hands of evildoers and workers of iniquity. He said this in His word, to those who served Him in the past;
“Whoever attacks you, does it without my consent; whoever fights against you will fall. “I create the blacksmith, who builds a fire and forges weapons. I also create the soldier, who uses the weapons to kill.
But no weapon will be able to hurt you; you will have an answer for all who accuse you. I will defend my servants and give them victory.” The Lord has spoken. Isaiah 54:15-17 GNT
THIS PROMISE IS APPLICABLE TO US IN THE PRESENT.
It is a special heritage for all who serve God or work for Him in His vineyard. It is a package prepared for them. This part is for their security. All through the scriptures, we have seen it manifest in the lives of those who served God, as He watches over them, and fights their battles from time to time, and from season to season.
Child of God, it is part of your divine destiny to serve God. When you do, it will show, especially in your day of adversity.
Always remember that God has a history of blessing and beautifying His servants or workers. He has a history of not allowing the enemy to touch His workers, except when He wants to use him to promote the faithful ones to higher realms of glory. So, if you are serving God, and are constantly oppressed by the devil at the same time, check who or what you are serving. It may not be God or what belongs to Him.
The Bible made it clear that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek or serve Him. He is not a robber! Like earlier stated, there is a difference between serving Him and serving what looks like Him. That is why we do not see Bible results in the lives of some who claim to be serving Him.
For instance, if you are serving a Church that is not connected to any move of God on the face of the earth; a Church ruled and driven by money, fame, fortune, and carnal ambitions of men instead of the eternal purpose of GOD for establishing His church, you are not serving God, no matter what you might be doing there.
The Church could be prospering and giving you good money, but God will never give you His rest, peace, or a much-needed blessing. You will never enjoy protection from diseases, fatal demonic attacks when they come, and other critical interventions of GOD. You will just be experiencing the rain that falls on the righteous and the wicked.
You will be enjoying the blessing of men, but not seeing the blessings of God in your life. And trust me, the two blessings are different.
If you are serving a ‘man of God’ who is not truly called of God or cannot stand before God and men to turn many to righteousness or foster relationship with Jesus Christ, you are not serving God.
YOU COULD BE ENJOYING THE BLESSINGS OF THE MAN, IF HE IS SUCCESSFUL, BUT WILL NEVER SEE THE BLESSINGS OF GOD.
There are things only God can do, that no matter how many blessings you receive from the Church or the preacher you serve, will not match them. That is why some who are single and serving some ‘men of God’ or in some churches cannot get or stay married. Some get married as a reward for serving their papas and mamas, but they cannot stay married because staying happily married is a blessing from God, not from any church or man of GOD.
A man could bless you with a man or woman to marry, but only GOD can give you a husband or wife. There is a difference between a man and a husband and a difference between a woman and a wife. People may give men women to marry, only God gives wives, and people could give women men to marry, but only God can give a husband to a woman.
I have seen men of God ‘bless’ those who served them with men and women to marry as a reward, but down the line, the marriage will be no more – it will cease to exist, giving birth to broken homes, broken hearts, and broken lives.
God will never pay who He did not employ! That is how shrewd He is.
You must discover your divine destiny and serve Him within its boundaries. Your destiny will need that to be fully fulfilled. If you keep serving a Church and the so-called men of God without serving God, there are no words to describe what your life will become when the curtains of time will be closed on you.
The only place you can serve God and have a happy ending in life is in the place of your divine destiny; which has to do with responding to God’s immediate present will for your life. Anything outside that is foolishness.
Sadly, we live in a Church generation that is not mindful of life after death.
We are not mindful of what Jesus will say to us when we cross the River and step out of this world, to stand before Him and to give an account of how we lived the life He gave us through salvation. Our hearts are so disconnected from Heaven that earthly rewards have taken the center stage in our lives.
Satan and men may reward you with earthly things for serving what looks like God, only God can reward you with both if you are in what is truly Him or His. Many who are looking busy and blessed by God, on this side of eternity called time, maybe for doing what they take for a service to God, will be sorry in the next life.
THEY WILL BE SORRY WHEN THEY WILL APPEAR BEFORE THE GOD THEY THOUGHT THEY SERVED.
They will realize that, though they worked so much in Church, they were not in their destiny. Our devotional text laid it bare. It quoted Jesus, who will be the judge of all, saying;
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
One thing I like about Jesus is His openness. That is why anyone His Spirit cries through is always open. They don’t handle the word of God with craftiness but with openness. He made it clear to us how things will be when we step to the other side. Nothing is hidden!
He pointed out and pre-informed us that, not everyone in religious service we may call ‘great and wonderful,’ will be called the same in eternity. It is only those who did His will in this life that will be rewarded and accepted in the next life. Therefore, whatever we may be doing in our Churches that is not God’s current will for our lives, will not speak well for us in the next life.
It may look glorious, or be accepted and celebrated by all who see and experience it, but God will see it as “lawlessness.” And lawlessness is the dust that betrays a Christian to witches and wizards.
Friend, this is the time to start double-checking whatever you are doing in your Church or under your man of God. This is time to serve God within the boundaries of your divine destiny. Life is not worth spending doing the wrong things, no matter how acceptable or successful you may be in them. Not all successes are good or God enabled successes.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 7:24-27 NKJV