TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 12TH MARCH 2024)
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 72ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
The Bible says bless the LORD or my soul and forget not His benefits. Who forgives all your sins, who healed you of all your diseases, who satisfied your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the Eagle!!
Indeed, it is not just His word that has become flesh in our lives, but His mercies also. He has kept us in His love, grace, and compassion. To him belongs all the glory!
God did not originally create man to be independent of Him, His power, or His glory. God created man to heavily depend on Him in all things, His power, and glory.
When I say in all things, I mean in all things; spirit, soul, and body. If you are not heavily depending on God, you are malfunctioning. You are not living a life of faith.
To malfunction is to fail to function normally, or perfectly. It also means not functioning as it should. So, if you are not heavily depending on God, you are not functioning as you should. Very soon, it will begin to affect your life and you will become in need of deliverance.
Originally, God created, made, and planted man under the portals of His glory to heavily depend on Him. A portal of Glory is an entry point between Heaven and Earth. That is where God originally created man to live His earthly life from.
There are also portals of hell. Such portals are entry points between hell and the earth.
In the spirit realm, we have portals of hell and portals of Heaven. You are living under one. It all depends on who or what lives in you. If Christ is in you, and His will, word, ways, and presence are governing your life, you are living under the portal of Heaven.
Man was created in an atmosphere of glory and planted within a portal of Heaven, to survive the rigors of living on earth. A life of curses, struggle, sweating, striving to survive, planting to eat, toiling and all kinds of evil people suffer today, was alien to man.
All he knew was a Heavenly prosperity and peace that resulted naturally in divine serenity.
HE LIVED IN A REALM WHERE HEAVEN KISSED THE EARTH.
Amazingly we were all inside Adam when he was in this environment. So, the foundation of our lives was not founded in sorrow, curses, death, or destruction, but in Heavenly serenity, prosperity, and rest.
But when sin entered the human race, everything changed, Adam could no longer stay within those portals.
This beautiful foundation of our lives was altered. God had to send him (us) out, with the aim of redeeming us back. The consequences of Adam’s sin led to a life of curses and all kinds of evil works and altered human history terribly.
Man started sweating and striving to survive instead of just receiving from the glory to survive. The result was devastating. It resulted to a new kind of life that can be best described as “a life of bondage.”
The scriptures described this new kind of life in these words;
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:17-19 NKJV
There is so much truth to chew in this scriptural passage but we can’t do that now. However, it is important to note that the person whose voice you listen to will ultimately determine your end. Adam listened to the voice of his wife, who took instructions from the devil, and here we are today.
An accursed life, full of toiling, sorrow, sweating, and striving, broke forth in the human race; death emerged. But in the beginning of the human race, it was not so.
In case you are looking for the root cause of your problems, please do not go very far. Spare your father’s house also. The Bible is clear; life outside the portals of glory is the reason for curses, poverty, sicknesses, diseases, and all evil works. It is the root cause of problems.
THE SOLUTION THEREFORE, LIES IN GOING BACK TO THE GLORY, OUR IDEAL INSTRUMENT OF DELIVERANCE.
It does not lie in asking people who are struggling or suffering to sow seeds and be free. Neither is it in raising altars of sacrifices, etc. God’s true solution to a life of curses, struggles, pain, and sorrow, lies in a return to the glorious environment of God.
Whatever we do outside the glory, will never give us the freedom we need, or the prosperity we desire. The Bible says thorns and thistles is what we will reap. That is why many have been reaping trouble in spite of what they have been doing to be free.
The message here is, God did not create us to live independent of His glory. When we begin to live independent of His glory, we are malfunctioning, and it will not be long before things will go bad with us.
We were not originally created to live independent of God’s glory. Sin made us independent. It exposed us to a life that was not part of divine plan. Now God wants us back to the glory.
That was why He became flesh and dwelt among us so we can behold His glory. And those who first did said it is full of “grace and truth.” Our devotional text this morning says,
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The glory of God is full of grace and truth. That is why men who love grace but hate truth, enjoy only the anointing; they cannot step into the glory. Sadly, that anointing they enjoy can be polluted because of their hate for truth.
When that happens, they begin to live a life that is limited by devils, and lacking freedom in so many respects, because it is the truth they hate and resist that sets free, not just the grace.
TRUTH GIVES GRACE THE FUNCTIONING POWER TO CHANGE A LIFE.
In other words, grace will remain impotent in our lives, without truth in our hearts. That is why it takes total love for grace and truth, to return to the glory environment (not grace alone), and because God wants us back there, we have no choice.
The question to us now is, will we listen to God, and begin our journey into the glory? Will we not cease from listening to the flesh of sin and doing what it wants? Yes, will we not cease from following the world, or people who have taken instructions from the devil?
Remember, the person we listen to will ultimately determine our end.
The message today is simple; the glory of God remains the only realm to return to in other to be free from all works of the devil; and the Bible makes it clear that grace and truth are the pathway that leads there.
Therefore, if you want to eliminate curses in your life, or any other thing the fall-off man brought upon the human race, you would not need a bottle of anointing oil, some holy water, a trip to Nigeria to see some prophets, or some candles to light in a night vigil.
You will not need a mustard seed or pinch of salt to pray with. You will need a journey back to the glory. And that will never happen until you begin to pursue grace and truth.
I commend you to God and the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and give you an inheritance among they that are sanctified!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY:
“And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.” Revelation 22:3-6 NKJV