TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 01ST MARCH 2024)
“His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.”
“Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God!” Psalm 87:1-3 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 61ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Glory be to the LORD God Almighty who kept us all through the year and has brought us to a new month. This is the 3rd month of the year, and we are glad.
We believe our LORD and King will bless us with fresh 3rd day blessings this month.
Friend, the gracious GOD has given us another opportunity to see a set of days called March. It is a set of days that have a set of blessing for each day, because the Bible says, “Daily God loads us with blessings,” not problems. So, if you are doing the will of God, do not expect problems from the LORD this month. Expect benefits.
I do not know the number of the months of March you have seen.
Personally, I have seen 48 months of march in my small life on earth. Maybe you have seen more or less. But one thing I know is this, none of us has ever seen the month of March 2024. So, let’s not take it for granted. Let us be grateful, expecting the best of God for our lives!
I trust the LORD to make this March, the March of 2024, the best, or one of the best we have ever seen in our individual lives on earth.
I don’t care what gory things you may have experienced in previous months of March, tell yourself “this one will be different.” The LORD will do a new thing in your life and help you greatly, especially if you are in His will.
The glorious things He has spoken concerning you in His Word, will fill your life with good. The only thing you need to do, is to live each day of the month in His will. Ask the LORD to help you live according to His will each day, and also to fill your heart with the knowledge of His will for your life.
My prayer is that He will help us, each and every day of the Month; so that we can move or match into fresh dimensions of the glorious things He has spoken concerning us in His word. Amen!
Talking about what the LORD has spoken in His word, I want you to understand that, there are two classes of utterances in the spirit realm; the gory things spoken concerning mankind, where all evil proceeds to men on earth; and the glorious things spoken concerning mankind, where good proceeds from.
ALL OUR LIVES ON EARTH ARE SHAPED OR INFLUENCED BY EITHER THE GLORIOUS THINGS SPOKEN OR THE GORY THINGS SPOKEN.
The gory things, are founded in the impact of the fall of man on the human race, the works of the devil, and the works of the flesh. They contain curses, death, destruction, diseases, all of the plans and purposes of the devil against you and I, and etc.
But the glorious things are much more powerful and are redemptive in strength and impact. They are founded in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They consist of all the benefits of redemption, the power and blessings of the Holy Spirit, the utterance of the blood of Jesus Christ, the plans and purposes of God for our lives, etc.
Life has a way of activating the gory things in the lives of men. It has a way of forcing into our lives the manifestation of the gory things that sprang up in the human race after the fall of man.
It has a way of forcing the plans of the devil into our lives. That is why we must live our days fighting; yes, we must live our days fighting the fight of faith to make sure, life does not force all the gory things it can muster into our lives.
For instance, to get but not stay married is a gory thing founded on either the works of the flesh or the works of the devil. To be pregnant and go to abort the Child, is a gory thing founded in the works of the flesh.
To be sick without receiving healing, is a gory thing founded in the works of the flesh or the devil. To be struggling under the curse of poverty, or any other curses of life, is a gory thing founded in the works of the flesh or the works of the devil.
To sin against God and man, is a gory thing founded on the works of the flesh or the works of the devil. All these things are harvests of the fall of man, and Life has a way of forcing them into our lives as mankind.
That is why everyone on the face of the earth, is either manifesting the glorious things spoken concerning him or her, as planned in the Heaven of God, or the gory things spoken concerning him or her as planned in hell. There is no middle ground!
IF YOU LOOK AT THE LIFE OF SAMSON IN JUDGES 15-16, FOR EXAMPLE, YOU WILL DISCOVER THAT INDEED THERE IS NO MIDDLE GROUND!
He was taking down the gates of the City of Philistines, and defending Israel from the clutches of their human enemies when the glorious things spoken concerning Him were manifesting in His life. God spoke before His birth that He will begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines, and was given all glory dimensions to do that.
But when the works of the flesh crept in and he began to go after harlots, sleeping on the laps of Delilah, having his consecration shaved, and becoming a prisoner in the camp of the enemy, the gory things manifested.
He manifested the glorious when his consecration was kept and the gory when his consecration was not kept. The same thing can happen to any of us.
If we live our days keeping our consecrations, if we live them according to God’s will, with a strong commitment to keep offering our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, glorious things will be manifesting in our lives. But if we do the opposite, gory things will manifest. There is no middle ground!
He that sow to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption or decay; he that sows to the spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. That is the rule of engagement in God’s kingdom.
You and I therefore, can determine to have the best life on earth. It all depends on what we do in Christ Jesus.
However, in the case of Samson, God did not allow the enemy to have the last laugh. That was also a glorious thing spoken concerning him. The word says, “He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and compassion on whom He will have compassion.” That is glorious!
I pray that the enemy will not have the last laugh in your life this month! In Jesus’ precious name!!
Now, there is something additional I want to share with us. I hope we are ready!
WHAT YOU MANIFEST IN LIFE AS A CHILD OF GOD, IS A PRODUCT OF EITHER YOUR PERSONAL CONSECRATION OR INTERNAL DESECRATION.
If you manifest the peace and prosperity of God (not that of the devil and his kingdom that is usually seen in the lives of those who are not living right), it is a harvest of your personal consecration.
Even if things go bad with you like it Happened to Job, you will come out with double blessings for all your troubles.
But if you allow yourself to be desecrated by unclean things, either from what you see with your eyes, touch with your hands, or any part of your body, hear with your ears, or feel in your emotions, you will manifest the gory things spoken concerning you. That is how to have an entire month, either full of the troubles that crisis brings, or full of the peace that Christ brings.
Understand that, what we allow into our spirits, souls, and bodies is what determines what comes out of our spirits, souls, and bodies. If we allow glorious things into us, we will see glorious things manifesting in our lives. But if we allow the gory things, we will see same manifesting in our lives.
Sadly, the number of those manifesting the gory things spoken concerning them is very huge, and the number of those manifesting the glorious things is slim.
Hell fire itself, is full of people who manifested the gory things spoken concerning them in their life time, and are now doing the same after their life time. It is not a glorious thing to spend eternity in hell.
Our Devotional text says, “Glorious things are spoken of you oh City of GOD.” We should not lead lives that will change that.
Historically, this was referring to the nation of Israel – specifically Jerusalem.
One of the glorious things spoken concerning that City is this, “There will be a New Jerusalem in a New Heaven and a New Earth, where righteousness dwells.” Hallelujah!!
That Jerusalem is going to descend on the very spot where the Current Jerusalem lies, and it will have a throne of David, with Jesus sitting on it as KING of kings and LORD of lords, ruling all nations for a thousand years.
I hope to see you there!
However, prophetically speaking, Jesus further demystified the City when He looked at us that He has redeemed from sin, Satan, and self prophetically, and said, “You are a City set on a hill that cannot be hidden.” (Matthew 5:14)
IN THE LIGHT OF THAT, CHILDREN OF GOD ARE THE CITY. GLORIOUS THINGS ARE SPOKEN OF US, NOT GORY THINGS.
We must therefore, learn to accept the glorious, and contend with the gory until it loses the hold it has on our lives.
Yes, we must contend with sin, Satan, and self and make sure they do not have rule or influence over our decisions and actions, else we will unleash the gory and not the glorious!
As you step into the month of March, I want you to understand that the will of God is that you uncover those glorious things spoken of you in the Word and fix your attention on them, with a strong desire to have them made manifest in your life.
The Bible says, “God will reveal them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes the deep things of God!” God’s will, is that we meditate on those deep things, day in and day out, “Until the Day dawns, the morning Star Himself shine our hearts.”
That is when the yoke of sin, Satan, and self will be permanently broken.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY.
“How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word.”
“With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!”
“Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”
“Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes.”
“With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth.”
“I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.”
“I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.”
“I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.” Psalms 119:9-16 NKJV