TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 11TH MAY 2024)
“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.” Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 131ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
It has been day in and day out with the word of the LORD; Knowing God, the Only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. The Bible made it clear that we will spend eternity knowing GOD. It will really be beyond human description.
This morning we shall be paying a visit to another well of truth that was dug seven years ago. It is my prayer that, like Isaac found in the wells of water that Abraham dug, you will find something refreshing like we found when it was first dug, in Jesus’ precious name.
This well was dug in our year of Waves of glory, that is why I consider it important that we visit it.
It is a well of truth that is still flowing with refreshing truths on moving with God and not camping at a particular point in life. God is on the move. Those who are connected to Him are always on the move.
You can’t find what many call the spirit of stagnancy in the LIVES of those who are connected to the one and only true God. There is no way you will be stagnant in any area of life if you are walking with Him.
If you say you are walking with God, and you find yourself stagnant in any area of life, check what or who you are walking with. It can’t be God.
People who walk with God move from glory to glory. They move from faith to faith, grace to grace, and exploit to exploit. You will always find them busy with the LORD and moving from one season of success to another.
I pray that God speak to us this morning and perfect His plans for our lives in Jesus precious name. Amen
MOVING WITH THE LORD WHO IS ALWAYS ON THE MOVE.
The Spirit or governor of the Kingdom of God is the Holy Spirit. His vision is to keep the Church moving from one blessing of God to another, one season of grace, faith, glory and power to another.
The Bible admonishes that we move from one level of grace to another and one level of faith to another. That is how to keep our place in the Kingdom. We are to develop a moving mentality when walking with the LORD, asking Him, “LORD, what next do you have in store for us.”
The Christian journey is actually designed to go from faith to faith, grace to grace, glory to glory, until death do us part.
In other words, we are saved to be moving from a lower level of faith to a higher level of faith, a lower dimension of grace to a higher dimension of grace, a lower realm of glory to a higher realm of glory, until our time on earth is over.
We are alive to fulfill our prophetic and eternal destiny. But if we are not moving with this God, who is always on the move, we will never fulfill any of that. We will find ourselves fulfilling what is not God’s plan for our lives.
Paul wrote to the Church at Philippi some strong words that has shaped the destiny of many from generation to generation. They are the very words of our devotional text today. He said;
“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.” Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV
I have come to discover that, most revivalists that God used to rekindle the flames of His Holy Spirit on people in our dispensation, fed from this scripture to either stay on fire for the LORD, or move with the LORD from faith to faith, glory to glory or grace to grace, till they died.
There is therefore, something about this scripture that needs urgent attention in our generation. That is why I believe, the LORD had us to have it as our devotional text today.
THE LAST PART OF IT SAYS,
“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.”
First of all, understand that, if you are walking with the LORD, you would have to always learn to forget the things that happen yesterday, and press into fresh things that have been pre-determined to happen today and tomorrow.
We are not a breed that hold on to past things.
Yes, we are not a breed that hold on to past successes or failures, past pains or gains, past adversities or prosperity, past sorrows of heart, bitterness, or offences, past relationships or loving moments.
We move on with the LORD once time has buried a thing.
Yes, we walk according to God’s timing for things, pressing into the things that are lying ahead of us. That is how we live, that is how we succeed. We do not hold on to dead things, because you can’t hold on to the dead while walking with the living God.
A generation that holds on to past glorious or inglorious things that happened to it, will never be able to finish its course in God’s eternal plan for mankind!
The church ought to be like a moving army, instead of a sleeping army, and a moving water, instead of a stagnant water. That is what your individual life should be. You are not to be like a stagnant water or sleeping army.
If we get to a particular peak of success in life, or if life brings us to a particular pit of sorrow, and we remain there, instead of lifting up our eyes to look for higher grounds to press into, we will begin to either stink in the place of success or sink into more dangerous levels of darkness and sorrows in the place of failure.
Samson made a major mistake at a particular success peak of his life. His mistake was that of desecrating his consecration, which turned him into a captive in the hands of people who once feared and dreaded him.
IF HE HAD BEEN MOVING FROM CONSECRATION TO CONSECRATION LIKE ELIJAH WAS, THAT WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED.
When we do not move from consecration to consecration, we become desecrated and turn ourselves into captives in the hands of demons that once dreaded us, or dark people that once feared us.
If you are genuinely saved, understand that your salvation has enlisted you into the army of God.
The army of God is a moving army. No moving army can be captured by its enemies. Only soldiers in the army who are not moving along with it can be captured by the enemy.
So, do not live a spiritual life that is not moving from consecration to consecration, purity to purity, faith to faith, grace to grace, or glory to glory.
In God’s kingdom, we don’t get ourselves stuck to a season of success or failure, darkness or light, sorrow of heart, bitterness, or offence. We do not remain stuck in a season of adversity or prosperity.
If we are in a season of adversity, and are walking with the LORD, His grace will enable us to press out of it. It will not keep us there forever.
If we are in prosperity, His grace will enable us to press into higher dimensions that we are yet to see, even as our hands remain on the plough, serving our generation according to the will of God.
Yes, we will find ourselves being influenced and propelled by the Holy Spirit to move from that season of fruit, to a season we are yet to see, called “more fruit.” And If we are in a season of more fruit, we will find ourselves being propelled to move from that season to a season of much fruit.
The true Holy Spirit will never leave God’s people in one season of life, either good or bad. He will propel them to move, and keep moving or pressing into things that are yet to happen in their lives on earth; great things pre-determined in God’s plans for their lives.
That is why the greatest spiritual asset of a divine destiny, remains the blessed Holy Spirit of God.
He will keep prompting your spirit to sense and press into things that are part of your prophetic and eternal destiny, but are yet to happen in your life.
He will keep you reaching out to them, through prayers, studying of God’s word, walking with the right people, obeying the LORD, separating from sin, iniquity or trespass, moving from consecration to consecration, and all forms of eternal life birth faith actions, until they are fulfilled in your life.
YOU MUST THEREFORE CHERISH MOMENTS WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT MORE THAN ANY OTHER MOMENTS IN YOUR WALK WITH THE LORD.
Yes, if you want to live your days moving like the army of the LORD moves, you must seek to spend time, and time with Him. You must seek to make Him your best friend on earth, and your most cherish person. You must always spend time with Him and never trade it for anything.
Our Bible fathers gave themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word to spend time with Him. No one who spend time with the True Holy Spirit remains stagnant in life. No one who spends time with Him remain in one season of life either good or bad.
The Bible speaks of the man Job. He was doing so well until seasons changed.
When seasons changed, he found himself in a terrible season of life. But He kept communicating with God. He kept taps with the Spirit of the LORD. The Bible says it was not long, God moved Him out of that season to a new season. The new season gave him double blessings for all his troubles.
It is the same God that you are serving.
I don’t know where this word is meeting you. It could be meeting you in your season of light, prosperity, success or fruit. God still want you to move. He wants you to move from that season, to a season of more light, more prosperity, more success and more fruits.
It is not because of you that He desires that for you. It is because of Him. So, do not think you are the reason and become like Lucifer.
There are things He wants to do with your life. They require greater light than what you have now, more prosperity than what you have seen, and more success and fruit than what you have now. You must therefore desire that and begin to consecrate for it.
On the flip side, this word might be meeting you in a season of darkness or pain. God wants you to press out of it.
There are glorious things spoken concerning you that are yet to be fulfilled in your life. So, do not give up and resign to fate. This is the wrong time to do so.
Press out of where you are now, by spending time with the Holy Spirit or being alone with God, consecrating in prayer, fasting, worshiping in the right Church, sitting under an ideal leader, and pressing into things in God’s plans that are yet to be fulfilled in your life. That is the word of the LORD FOR today.
May the best of the LORD remain your portion. Amen
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19 AMPC