TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 14TH DECEMBER 2023)
“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 348TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
May the LORD be glorified who have been so mindful of us.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, shortcomings, laziness, and all you can think of, but according to His faithfulness, that we also might extend same love to others.
I want to begin today’s devotional with some thoughts about our heritage in Christ Jesus – the heritage of the truly saved and sanctified of the LORD.
If you are going through anything in life, hear this! God has never lost a battle, neither has His enemies ever had the last laugh. That is the heritage we share in Christ Jesus.
If you are truly saved and sanctified, that is your heritage.
So, you may be going through a tough time with some people who hate you, or others who may not want to see you alive right now. Do not worry, you will never come out defeated, neither will they have the last laugh.
The heritage we share in Christ Jesus, does not allow that to happen to us. So, build your faith in that, living right before God, and you will see the heritage speaking in your life.
Secondly, greater things in God’s kingdom do not start great. They start small then grow great. That also is the heritage we share in Christ Jesus.
Your business, income, family or even entire life may be small today, but do not worry. Just keep on following and serving the LORD! It will not remain small.
As you remain consistent, you will see yourself moving from one small size to one big size, and then from one big size, to another big size, until you see the bigness of our God fully manifesting in your life.
The only thing you may need to do, is to keep spending time in God’s presence, from time to time, basically to discern the small things you must keep doing strongly and consistently, from day to day, until your smallness disappears into God’s greatness.
Life always favor those who dedicate themselves doing the small things that has the potential of making them great. So, if you find the small things you need to be doing over time, and dedicate yourself doing them, your greatness will no longer be a matter of if, but a matter of when.
TIME WILL JUST HELP IN TURNING THE SMALL YOU, INTO ONE OF THE GREATS IN GOD’S KINGDOM.
One of the small things to do in this life that has the potential of making us great is in our devotional text. A major line of the text says;
“that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:11 NKJV
There are so many things we can spend our days doing that are capable of making us great. One of it is to know the LORD, and the power of His resurrection. That will give you the faith and revelation knowledge to make your life more exciting in Christ.
It will kindle your heart with the right action to take to make your small life a great one over time. It will give you the clarity of mind to make informed decisions and succeed in whatever you might be doing in God’s will.
Making the knowledge of God one of your pursuit in life, will not just bless you in time. It will also prepare you for eternity; and in case you are asking how, this is how!
If you do not make the knowledge of God one of your pursuit in life, you will never know Him. If you do not know Him, you will never know the fellowship of His sufferings. If you do not know the fellowship of His sufferings, you will never conform to His death.
If you do not conform to His death, you will not attain to the resurrection of the righteous from the dead (the rapture). If we do not attain to the resurrection of the dead (the righteous dead), we will be damned forever.
That is the secret! It is why we must make knowing God, part of our ultimate pursuits in life. You can now understand why Paul paid every price he could, and lost everything he had, just to make the knowledge of Christ His greatest pursuit.
WE MUST DO THE SAME. HE WROTE TO THE CHURCH AT PHILIPPI SAYING;
“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” Philippians 3:7-8
Friend, if it is the very Heaven that Paul went that we want to go, then we must take the same faith position he took in our walk and talk with God.
If marriage, money, fame, recognition, attention, carnal ambitions or a godless-career, or any other earthly thing be our greatest pursuit in this life, we will be pieces of disasters, waiting to happen in time or eternity.
In time, we will be spending our days piercing ourselves with many sorrows. In eternity, we will be wallowing in regrets that will not come to an end.
God’s plans for our lives is that we spend eternity regretting over nothing, but rejoicing over everything. His plans for us are good not evil, hence sending this word our way.
As we bring this brief word to a close, it is important to understand that if the Knowledge of God (the knowledge of Christ) is our greatest pursuit in life, we will get our lives filled with peace, prosperity and great progress in the direction of God’s will.
There are small things to keep doing daily to become great in life.
Those things cannot be conceived and understood outside the presence of the LORD. They can only be conceived and understood when the presence of the LORD washes over our minds in moments of deep intimacy with the Spirit of the LORD.
We are in year end! It is important that you spend time with the LORD, especially in your Eagle Nest, to find out small things you must do either on a daily, weekly, or monthly bases next year, to move from where you are now, to where you should be in God’s plans for your life.
Do not tie any form of life success to some money you must give to some preachers. Just get into your Eagle Nest and get your spirit conceived with the small steps to take next year to further turn your life around.
I believe God has spoken to someone today. It’s my prayer that we use what we have gathered to improve our faith and move from glory to glory, in Jesus’ precious name. AMEN!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY
“that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.” Philippians 3:10-16 NKJV