TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 4TH JULY 2024)
Learning to David. [The understanding of David.] Blessed be they, whose wickedness be forgiven; and whose sins be covered. (The teaching of David. Happy be they, whose wickedness be forgiven; and whose sins be covered.)
Blessed is the man, to whom the Lord reckoned not sin; neither guile is in his spirit. (Happy is the person, to whom the Lord did not reckon any sin; and there is no deceit in his spirit.)
For I was still, my bones waxed old; while I cried all day. (For when I kept silent/For when I did not confess my sins, my bones grew old; while I cried all day long.)
For by day and night thine hand was made grievous on me (And day and night thy hand was heavy upon me); I am turned in my wretchedness, while the thorn is set in.
(Then) I made my sin known to thee; and I hid not my unrightfulness. I said, I shall acknowledge against me mine unrightfulness to the Lord; and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin. Psalm 32:1-5 WYC
WELCOME TO THE 185TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
We will not cease giving God the glory for counting us worthy to be alive and well. Personally, I do not deserve it. But his mercies made it possible.
I do not know about you. If we will be sincere with ourselves, we will all discover that none of us deserve to be alive even. If the LORD should mark iniquities, or hold us accountable for our wrong doings, we will not be alive. Indeed, “Blessed is the man, to whom the Lord reckoned not sin.”
Our God remains the only God who does not deal with people according to their sins, but according to His faithfulness and mercy, especially if they are willing to repent and renounce them. He is the Only God who speaks of the terrible consequences of sin but bore the consequences on the cross.
He is the only God who can take away the judgment of a sinner, cleanse him or her, and then clothe them with garments of righteousness.
He is the only God who will first rebuke the enemy for taking advantage of the sins of His people to hurt or harm them, before turning to His people to correct or chasten them, so that they might be cleanse and made whole.
Our sins has a way of creating legal rights for the enemy to oppress us in the spirit. But Our God is the only God who rebukes the enemy for standing on such legal rights to oppress us, before tiring to us to remove the legal rights.
One of the many places you find this noble character of our God in the Bible is seen in the book of Zechariah. The Bible says;
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.
And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”
Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.
Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” Zechariah 3:1-4 NKJV
If you look at what the LORD said to the enemy in this scripture, you will see that it was empty of any blame on Joshua, despite him being the reason for the spiritual resistance he was facing from the enemy. The Bible made it clear that the filthy garments on him legalized the resistance he was facing from the enemy.
IT MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR THE EVIL ONE TO OPPOSE HIM.
But the LORD never recognized that when confronting Satan, because He was already carrying the consequences of Joshua’s filthy garments, as the redeemer. He rather said to Satan, “is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”
The LORD saw Joshua the high priest through His redeeming eyes, not through the filthy garment on him or the accusations of Satan. That is the Kind of love we enjoy in God, which usually propels the wise to holy living.
If you are under the blood of Jesus Christ, Satan’s accusations will not be strong enough to destroy you, no matter the filthy garment on you. The LORD will make redemptive moves that will protect you from the enemy and take away the filthy garment from you.
From this scripture, it is clear that if God were not the God who takes the consequences of the sins of His people upon Himself, the man of God Joshua, would have been destroyed by the enemy for putting on a filthy garment instead of the holy garments a high priest was to put on.
In His mercies, the LORD stood against the devil and rebuked Him strongly, because He remains our sacrificial lamb and judgment seat.
This scripture shows that the enemy cannot permanently put on us an affliction, oppression, a curse or whatever, as judgment or consequence of our sin if we are under the blood, because the LORD has already carried upon Himself the consequences of our sins. The Bible says;
“Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has made to light upon Him the guilt and iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6 AMPC
I BELIEVE THIS WORD IS NOT A PROMPT FOR FILTHY LIVING, BUT A PROMPT FOR RIGHTEOUS LIVING.
The Bible clearly said, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement needful for us to obtain peace and well-being in a wicked world like ours, was upon Him”. Meaning, under His blood, it cannot be upon us.
The cost of our sins cannot be upon us so long as we seek Him for mercy and repent of them. That is why a part of our devotional text says;
“Blessed is the man, to whom the Lord reckoned not sin; neither guile is in his spirit. (Happy is the person, to whom the Lord did not reckon any sin; and there is no deceit in his spirit.)
For I was still, my bones waxed old; while I cried all day. (For when I kept silent/For when I did not confess my sins, my bones grew old; while I cried all day long.)” Psalm 32:3-4 WYC
The LORD has blessed the end time Church with many translations of the Bible that helps us understand the original king James version. The Wyclif Translation is one of them. In a very beautiful rendering, this text clearly states how we are to deal with personal sins; it runs contrary to what many preachers preach today. That is why I tell people, “read your Bible!”
The text made it clear that if we keep quiet by covering our sins and continuing in them, we are courting disaster. We are making it impossible for the blessings we see in Isaiah 53 to speak in our lives. The bones, fabric, or structure of our lives, will become affected, filling us with the pains and sorrows of life.
But if we open our mouth and lives to the right ears, confess and renounce them, we will obtain the mercy we see in Isaiah 53. We will come under the blessing of God on those who sins are forgiven as depicted in Isaiah 53.
WE WILL EXPERIENCE THE INTERVENTION THAT JOSHUA THE HIGH PRIEST EXPERIENCED IN ZECHARIAH CHAPTER 3.
Friend, begin to come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy for any sin that is troubling your life. Come and let God cause His word in Isaiah 53 speak for you. You cannot continue to carry on your life what the LORD has already carried on the cross.
It does not make sense that we have this kind of promises in our Bible, and yet find ourselves suffering what sinners suffer. The promise of God to bear on Himself what would have come upon us is what makes Him our Heavenly Father.
A loving and caring Father will carry on him what should have come on his children. Our God is a loving and caring Father; He has already carried on the Cross of Jesus Christ what should have come upon us. That is what makes Him different from other gods.
Yes, that is what makes the Christian faith superior and different from every other faith.
Child of God, I do not know if the enemy is taking advantage of your repented sins to oppressed you, this scripture forbids it. You need to stand on it and resist Him in fasting and prayers.
The word has vividly showed us how the LORD is the bearer of the cost of our rebellion, sins, iniquities and trespasses. We cannot have this kind of scripture in the Bible and not see what Joshua the high priest saw in his days, if faced with similar circumstances.
You must therefore learn how to cry unto the LORD when the enemy tries to stand on what you did to destroy you. The redeeming blood of Jesus Christ remains the strongest evidence in the Spirit realm that you should not come under the enemy’s yoke for what you did.
IT IS THE SUPERNATURAL INVOICE OF FREEDOM.
That is why it does not matter how much we may have sold ourselves on the trading floor of sin and Satan. Once we call upon the LORD in repentance like the prodigal son, and return back to Him, we will be redeemed without money. The Bible says;
“Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean Shall no longer come to you.
Shake yourself from the dust, arise; Sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!
For thus says the LORD: “You have sold yourselves for nothing, And you shall be redeemed without money.” Isaiah 52:1-3 NKJV
Yes, you shall be redeemed without sowing seed, raising an altar of sacrifice or etc.
We shall be redeemed because the blood is the down payment for our redemption, and the Holy Spirit the executioner. The Bible calls Him our comforter. He will stand upon what the blood has done to break every yoke from our lives and grant us peace.
We only need to pray and not give up, living our days in His will, ways and word. If we do all that, pursuing the knowledge of the LORD, He will keep coming upon us like rain, and filling our lives with the River of the LORD.
The Holy Spirit is the river of God today. When our lives are filled with the Holy Spirit, the River of the LORD, our days will be filled with the blessings of the LORD that makes rich and adds no sorrow. Amen!!
Intimacy with the Holy Spirit is all you need. Find a church that will train you in matters of intimacy with the Holy Spirit, and plant yourself there. You will find yourself flourishing like a Palm tree, in your walk and talk with the LORD.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“For the land of my people growing over with thorns and briers—yes, for all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
For the palace shall be forsaken, the populous city shall be deserted; the hill and the watchtower shall become dens [for wild animals] endlessly, a joy for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is valued as a forest.” Isaiah 32:13-15 NKJV