TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 11 JULY 2024)
“AFTER THESE things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am your Shield, your abundant compensation, and your reward shall be exceedingly great. Genesis 15:1 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 192ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Glory be to the LORD GOD almighty for His unspeakable love and glorious works in our lives. We thank the LORD for His wonders in our lives. It is out of His mercies that we are not consumed.
He has been kind and compassionate towards us. As the Shepherd of our souls, He has been giving us what a sheep needs spiritual food, and we give Him the glory for all that.
Talking about spiritual food, I want to submit to you that no matter what you eat from the kitchen of men, demons can still feed on you if you are not feeding from God’s kitchen. You see that all through the scriptures.
For instance, after the flood, the first generation of people to feed from GOD’s word was the nation of ancient Israel. The Bible says they were fed with manna from God’s kitchen in Heaven. Manna was a template of God’s word. They ate it for 40 years.
During those days, their garment did not wear out, neither did their feet swell. There was no feeble or poor one among them. Yet, they were walking on foot in a terrible wilderness that was full of snakes and scorpions. It is clear in scriptures that the word they ate made sure nothing ate them.
Friend, we are what we eat. If we eat the word of God, we partake of the divine nature, and function as sons of the most high GOD whose word we have eaten. But if we do not eat the word, we live like mere men. We will never partake of the divine nature.
Jesus made that clear when He said in John 10:35, “If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), (NKJV).
When the word comes into our spirits over time, especially as spirit and life, and we assimilate or eat it, our humanity will be swallowed by God’s divinity, bringing us to the realm of partaking of His divine nature. It will change our vision and help us see things clearly.
THAT BRINGS US TO OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT FOR THE DAY. IT SAYS;
““AFTER THESE things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am your Shield, your abundant compensation, and your reward shall be exceedingly great (Genesis 15:1 AMPC).”
The constant and consistent coming of the word of the LORD to our hearts is the greatest thing that can ever happen to us.
It came to Abram in a vision, and the encounter took him from where the word met him to where the enemy could no longer catch up with him. If the word of the LORD keeps coming to us daily, we will come to a realm of manifestation that will fit what creation is waiting for.
That is one of the reasons for these devotionals – to always provide a now word for the nourishment of our hearts.
God will never stop sending His word. He will never stop giving His word to be fed on. So long as the sin age is still here, the word of the LORD will not cease coming to us; yes, it will not cease coming until we enter into the age to come.
God will keep giving His word and great will be the company of the men and women who will be publishing it. The Bible says;
“The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those who proclaimed it:” Psalm 68:11 NKJV
We have been looking at faith and prayer matters.
We have seen that God does not want us to walk in fear but in faith. He also does not want us to be praying prayers that cannot be answered. The grace of divine attention is what He wants us to be operating in.
Today, we want to refresh our minds on some other truths. We want to look at the gift of men to men.
ONE MAJOR BLESSING OF EFFECTIVE PRAYER IS THE RELEASE OF GREAT RELATIONSHIPS INTO A MAN’S LIFE.
It was God that says “it is not good that a man should be alone.” No matter how aligned we are with God, how Heavenly backed we are, or how much we live in the Glory, we will need men prepared for us by the LORD to become all He may have created us to become.
I grew up to discover that God created men to “depend” On Him for success, but to walk with Fellow men to succeed. If you are truly depending on God, you will be prayerful. If you are prayerful, He will give you supportive men to walk with on the road of destiny.
It is important to note that no one can be self-made on the road to success. At one point or the other, another man will be involved in our quest for success.
That is what effective prayers make happen. It brings needed people our ways. They just appear from the blue sometimes. Other times God build a special network of such people around our lives over time, as we walk with Him on the prayer knee.
That is why it is not good to be proud, hateful, vengeful, unforgiving or arrogant in life. It is not good to behave in any way that people cannot have you in their space. Yes, it is not good to be living a life that sends needed men and women away from you.
We all need God given people to fulfill a God given purpose, that is what prayer makes to happen. Abraham as Abram was given three special people in his days. They were ancient prominent men who supported him greatly.
Job had his three friends who came and stood with Him all through his trial period. Though they could not understand why what happened happened, they were present.
YOU WILL NEED PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE PRESENT WITH YOU WHEN THINGS ARE NOT FINE WITH YOU.
It is God that brings such people to us. Yes, you will need those who should be there even when things are great with you. You will need them to keep you great and beautiful. Also, only God can bring such people to you.
Yes, only God can give us people who will not be jealous of our success or greatness, but will just be present to make sure we keep succeeding and becoming great. Only the prayer knee can make such people available in our lives.
There was a time in my life that the LORD led me to spend months praying that He gives men and women, that I will need to fulfill His call upon my life. He may lead you to do the same. He may lead you to use the prayer knee to assemble people your destiny will need to be fulfilled.
I admonish you to be open to His leading on this, and start spending quality time with the LORD, asking Him for people; people your life needs to blossom, men and women your destiny needs to be fulfilled.
As you ask Him for all that, do not forget to ask Him for the character to retain them when they come.
It is very important to remember the necessity of good behavior. Yes, you need the character to receive and retain those God send your way to help you. Effective prayers can make that happen.
If you do not have the behavior to keep supportive people, you will remain alone in life, and the Bible says, “it is not good for a man to be alone..” So, develop the Godly behavior that is required to keep supportive people in your life.
Understand that to have supportive people in life, two things will be required. The first is God’s favor, and the next the fragrance of good behavior. If God’s favor brings the people, and you do not have the good behavior to keep them, you will loose them no matter how prayerful you are.
Do not think that praying without behaving well will help you. No, it will not. It will only frustrate you.
The Bible says in Proverbs 17:17 that “a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (NKJV). You will need the fragrance of Good behavior to have friends that loves at all times and brothers who are born for adversity.
In other words, people who will love us at all times, and those whose God given role is to help handle our days of adversity or just be in our lives to prevent them, will never show up and stay if we do not have the favor of the LORD and the fragrance of good behavior to receive and retain them. That is the word of the LORD!!
May the Holy Spirit take these truths further and cause a brighter light to shine upon you in Jesus’ precious name!
MAKE THESE SCRIPTURES ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment.”
“A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart.”
“When the wicked comes, contempt comes also; and with dishonor comes reproach.” Proverbs 18:1-3 NKJV
“A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle.” Proverbs 18:19 NKJV
“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:” Hebrews 12:14 NKJV