TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 22ND FEBRUARY 2024)
They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.
Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways; they have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace. Isaiah 59:5-8 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 53RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
For 53 days we have slept and woke up freely; without charge from He who gives His beloved sleep. To God be the glory!!
Most times, we take things like sleeping and waking up for granted. We forget that people die in their sleep. I have come to discover that even if there is no food on your table, or money in your pocket, God is still worthy of our praises.
Giving Him thanks should be unconditional. You see that in the scripture that says, in everything give God thanks. In bad times and good times.
We are in the days set aside for the perfecting of the saints. One of the Bible’s principles for perfecting the saints is hidden in the Holy Spirit’s work of highlighting the imperfections to be perfected in the saints.
One of the imperfections that God is removing, is hypocrisy. Another one is a life of sin that calls itself born again.
There are so many people who are doing despicable things that do not appear to be a sin to them. To this breed, sin, iniquity, and trespass is just a normal lifestyle to them. They have been so sold out to evil that everything that comes out from them is evil.
Their thoughts are evil, their actions are evil. Even the support they give to others is evil. Their tender mercies are cruel. These are the imperfections that the Holy Spirit is highlighting and wants to remove.
Some of them are very poor and wretched, begging for even the smallest amount of money for this and that. Yet, in their poverty, they do not change their ways! The Holy Spirit wants all that removed.
There are those who act Christianity and make people hate the Christian faith because of their dark behaviors. Some call themselves ministers of the gospel but you cannot see the blessing of the gospel in their lives. The Holy Spirit wants that removed also.
There are those that nothing they set their hands to do work. They will try this business and it closes, try this one and it shuts down. The Holy Spirit wants that eliminated.
There are those who make what is sinful a lifestyle. Our Christian generation seems to have forgotten that when what is sin, iniquity, or trespass before God, becomes a way of life to us, there will be no peace in our lives!
There is another thing the Holy Spirit wants to remove.
THE IMPERFECTION OF FALSE CALLINGS, VISIONS, AND MANDATES.
There are those who say God called them; you find them opening this Church or the other one, and turning everything into a shop. Some will watch it shut down, and yet they will not repent of lying on God about a call upon their lives that is not there.
The Holy Spirit wants all that to be stopped. He wants only genuine people to be in ministry. That is part of His “perfecting the saints” movement today.
If you take a look at the spiritual terrain, you will discover that the church today is full of failed ministers and acclaimed spiritual people, who are making themselves liabilities to well-meaning people.
They attach themselves to people’s lives, becoming annoying liabilities to them and their families. God wants that to stop too.
Our devotional text gives us the reason for that. It says “Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.” God wants those thoughts changed using anointed truths.
Iniquity is when your will goes against God’s will, ways, and order. The Holy Spirit wants each and every one of us to have our will aligned with God’s will. That is part of His way of perfecting the saints this end time.
There are so many pastors who do not have genuine care and concern for those they call members of their church. Their concern is only limited to their pockets. The Bible calls such preachers hireling. The Holy Spirit wants that to stop.
He wants that to stop because such spiritual leaders cannot be of any eternal help to the sheep. Only shepherds will make eternal impacts on the souls of men.
CONCERNING SPIRITUAL LEADERS WHO ARE HIRELINGS, THE BIBLE SAYS;
“But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.” John 10:12-13 NKJV
We can see clearly that whoever has no true care for the souls of men, but goes about calling himself or herself a pastor, is a hireling.
By doing that, they make themselves crooked paths and lead people to do the same. The Holy Spirit wants that to stop because if you make yourself crooked paths, you will never know prosperity while walking on those paths.
There are also those who think Christianity is a game. They have a form of godliness but no power. God wants that to stop. His Spirit wants us perfect in our ways.
There are also those who go about looking for people to prophesy to them and give them a word from the LORD. Jesus is not coming for a church like that. That is a crooked path that when you follow, you will never know peace. He is coming for a church full of sons of Issachar.
Come to think of it, how can you have the Bible in your hands, the more sure word of prophecy, and go about looking for some prophets or prophetesses to be giving you prophecies, from time to time?
In fact, you are a foolish Galatian. The Bible says;
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, …?” Galatians 3:1 NKJV
How can you have the truth in your hands and then be going about looking for prophecies? It is the truth that you must know to be set free, not some prophecies from polluted minds.
God wants the replacement of the Bible with prophecies from the mouths of prophets to stop. You will never succeed as a Christian if you make going about, looking for people to prophesy to you, your way of life.
Sadly, it is people whose hearts are not right towards God that easily fall victim of wolves in the Church.
THE PURE IN HEART DO NOT KNOW GOD HAS A WAY OF GUIDING THEM USING THE PURITY OF THEIR HEARTS.
The Bible says; “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8 NKJV)! Our devotional word says;
“They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.”
This is a perfect description of both the wolves that invade a Church and those they feed on. If you trust in the promises of their mouths, you will be ruined.
The egg represents promise. They are eggs, yes, but the Bible says when you feed on their promise you die. If you subject them to the crushing of spiritual discipline, a viper will come out of their lives to destroy you or yours.
It’s my prayer that God will use this word to keep sanctifying our hearts and giving us an inheritance among they that are sanctified. Amen
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
‘Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: “Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them — My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd.
And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken. Ezekiel 34:20-24 NKJV