TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 10TH FEBRUARY 2024)
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying:
“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them — the children of Israel.
Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Joshua 1:1-4, 8 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 41st DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
The Spirit of Truth has been showing us things that our divine destiny will need to be fulfilled. For Some of us, it is a refreshing that is coming in a new dimension than what we had before.
The Bible says once has God spoken, twice have we heard. If we hear what God said yesterday, over and over again today, it will bear more fruits in our lives. Hearing what God said once, two times, helps in retaining it.
It has been a blessing looking at the things that our divine destinies need to be fulfilled. The next on the list is “a doing of the word.”
The Bible says, “be doers of the word and not hearers only.” If we hear and do not do, the Bible made it clear that we have deceived ourselves. And such self-deception will not allow our divine destiny to be unleashed.
The gospel is not preached to be heard alone but to be obeyed. As a result, it is not the hearers or readers of the word that are actually blessed, but the doers of the word. It is a doing of the word that unlocks a divine destiny.
People who hear the word but do not do, will never fulfill their divine destiny. Divine destiny is fulfilled when we hear the word and do what we have heard. Even if the worse devils are against your destiny, just become a practitioner of the word, and you will break free from their hold.
Some false prophets and heretic teachers tell people to buy special padlocks and meet them with some money in other to unlock their destiny.
You do not buy special keys and take to prophets to unlock your destiny. You do the word of the LORD to unlock your divine destiny. You see that in what God said to Joshua while commissioning him.
Our devotional text contains one major instruction the LORD gave Him.
A MAJOR HIGHLIGHT IN THE TEXT SAID;
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
If you look at this scripture carefully, you will discover that Joshua’s success in the release of his divine destiny was not anchored on sowing financial seeds into another ministry or prayer and fasting.
There is nothing wrong with supporting another man’s ministry financially if God so lead you to do so.
But Joshua’s success was not anchored on that. It was anchored on doing the word of the LORD. Sadly, we have anchored all kinds of success in God’s kingdom to giving money and sacrifice.
You hear all the preachers we can think of telling us that sacrifice is the only answer to our problems or the release of our destiny.
If sacrifice is that important, then it must be sacrifices born out of obedience and submission to divine will; the type we find in our Bible fathers, that kept them holy and righteous before God. Not money given to someone you consider bigger than you so that you might be blessed.
Now, don’t get me wrong, supporting others financially, or praying and fasting regularly, are very important acts of worship in the kingdom and in the pursuit of divine destiny. They have their own place in our walk with God. But nothing can substitute the royal principle of doing the word of the LORD, in a bid to release our divine destiny.
If you support people financially fast and pray, but live a life of rebellion; a life that is not in harmony with the word of the LORD for your life, you will never fulfill your divine destiny. Destiny is unleashed through implicit obedience to the voice of the LORD, and unconditional submission to His word.
I reiterate again that it takes a doing to unleash divine destiny and have good success, not just a hearing. In other words, if you do not add Holy Spirit led and scriptural based actions to your divine destiny, it will not be fulfilled.
It is People who do the WORD, that change the WORLD for God.
People who walk in complete obedience to the voice or word of the LORD, will be remembered for the great things that God will do through them. They will be remembered for what God used their obedience to accomplish on the face of the earth.
ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT IT TAKES TOTAL OBEDIENCE TO THE VOICE AND WORD OF THE LORD TO UNLEASH YOUR DIVINE DESTINY.
You may forget anything please do not forget that. It will make you a student of the Bible.
When King Saul, the first king of Israel became king; prophecies made it clear that his Kingdom was to continue to the next generation. That was his prophetic destiny. He was favoured by the LORD to be Israel’s first King and lead them from generation to generation.
But that divine plan for His life was not fulfilled.
He killed it using the internal power of rebellion – the power of not being a doer of the word. He was like many of us today who will hear but not do. The Bible made it clear that he was not part of the breed that could do the word of the LORD. Hence losing everything!
The first word God gave him to do was an instruction to wait for seven days at Gilgal until Samuel the prophets comes to establish his kingdom over Israel forever. I mean for ever not for some years.
He actually waited, but could not complete his obedience.
The worse thing about his waiting was him going ahead to do a sacrifice that only a prophet was ordained to do. That was how he began to cancel his divine destiny. He trespassed just like Satan and lost his place.
But that was not the end of his rebellious acts. The next word He could not do was the complete annihilation of the Amalekites. God had sent Samuel to him with this instruction;
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt.”
“Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'” 1 Samuel 15:2-3 NKJV
But this again he could not do. He obeyed the LORD but partially.
IN GOD’S KINGDOM, PARTIAL OBEDIENCE IS NO OBEDIENCE.
This is not referring to the charlatan’s obedience types, which is limited to instructions to bring your land, houses, money, etc. This is referring to a walk with the LORD, that is full of submission and unconditional obedience to His word, ways and will.
If you obey the LORD partially, or do his word partially, you will leave gaps for His enemies to stand on and hinder His kingdom at a later date. That is one of the many reasons God does not count partial obedience as obedience. Men may count it so, but God does not count it so.
Don’t forget, Isaiah says, “as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so are His ways higher than our ways.” Saul would later abort his divine destiny and fall under the sword of divine judgment. The Bible gave two reasons why God killed him.
The Bible says God killed him because He did not obey the voice of the LORD and because he consulted a witch.
I have come to discover that it is people who do not love doing the word of the LORD that fall victims of lying prophets. It is those who do not know or do the word of the LORD that visit witches and wizards called prophets and run after them for miracles.
What is the message this morning? The message is simple; your divine destiny is full of divine instructions to be obeyed and divine commands to be executed.
If you do not develop the mindset of swiftly doing the word of the LORD, you will abort God’s plan for your life and come to a tragic end like Saul. That is the message!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night.
So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.”
Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”
But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak on.”
So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?
Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” 1 Samuel 15:10-23 NKJV