TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 25TH AUGUST 2024)
“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 238TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Today we want to look at our heritage in Christ Jesus. In other words, the heritage of the truly saved and sanctified. If there is anything that will limit you in your walk and talk with God, that thing is ignorance; Lack of revelation knowledge of things like our heritage in Christ.
Maybe let me talk to anyone who is going through any battle in life. You must know who you believe in. If you do not, Satan and the lost world, will use what you are going through, to give you a false picture of who He is.
All who went through tough times in Bible days knew who they believed, that was why they came out victorious. Yes, our Bible fathers survived their tough times, because they all knew who they believed. One of them said,
“For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. 2 Timothy 1:12 NKJV
So, in your walk and talk with GOD, you must know Him; you must know who you believed; and one of the major things you must know about Him is this; “He has never lost a battle, neither has His enemies ever had the last laugh over His children.” That is the heritage we share in Christ Jesus.
If you are truly saved and sanctified, that is your heritage. It is not a heritage like the one some spiritual fathers promise when they are drunk or intoxicated with the spirit of Babylon. This is a pure heritage we all have in Christ.
It is not a seed-sowing transmission heritage, it is a heritage you come into as soon as you accept the LORD into your life.
So, you may be going through a tough time with some people who hate you or others who may not want to see you alive right now. Do not worry, you will never come out defeated, neither will they have the last laugh. The heritage we share in Christ does not allow that to happen to us.
THAT IS ONE THING YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT WHO YOU HAVE BELIEVED.
I have seen that all my life, and I believe, by His mercies, will continue to see it until I fulfill my days.
The second thing you must know about who you believe is this; “great things in His kingdom do not start great, they start small, then grow great.” So, no matter how great your calling or gifting is, you must start small, then go through the battles and challenges of small beginnings to become great.
That also is the heritage we share in Christ Jesus.
So, your business, income, family or even entire life, may be small today, as a child of God with the seed of God, do not worry. Just keep following and serving the LORD! Nothing about you will remain small. That is one thing you must know about who you have believed.
The only thing to do, is to learn to spend time in His presence, to discern the small things you must keep doing strongly and consistently, to move from smallness to greatness. Do not be tempted to compete or compare yourself with anyone. Just keep your eyes on God’s plans for your life.
If you do that, your greatness will no longer be a matter of if, but a matter of when. Time will just help in turning the small you into one of the greats in God’s kingdom, using your consistency and determination to build and establish you. Amen!
The next thing you must know about who you believe is this, like we shared yesterday, your financial status is not a reflection of how important you are to Him. What you have, or do not have, does not determine how important you are to Him.
It could determine how important you are to your pastor, but will never determine how important you are to Him. You are not just His beautiful and wonderful creation, you are His Child. You are family, because He is your Father.
A father will want his sons to know all about him. That is why “Knowing GOD” is the only subject in the curriculum of the School of His Spirit. There is no other subject. He wants you to know Him. He wants you to stay with Him, because He is your Father.
Bible men like David who understood that spend their days in His manifest presence, beholding His beauty and enquiring in His temple.
THAT ALSO MAKES “KNOWING GOD” THE ONLY REASON FOR CHURCH MINISTRY.
Understand that, Church ministry was not established for money collection, even if stewardship is a standard. It was not established for using prophecies or religion to fool people, like we see in so many local churches. It was established to make God known to mankind. That is why it is a center for knowing the one and only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
Sadly so many preachers today do not know this. They do not know that “Knowing God” is the only subject in His curriculum. Hence no other things should be taught in our Churches.
You see, when people gather in the name of the LORD, but end up teaching things that are not of the LORD, they are no longer having Church, but an assembly or synagogue of Satan. That is why we must run away from such Churches.
Yes, run away from any place where “Knowing GOD, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent” is not the vision, mission, or drive. Leave any place of worship where Christ is not revealed without looking back. Do not stay in a Church, that increases the knowledge of the devil, and all he has done, will do, or can do in your life.
If you stay in a church where what the devil is doing, or what his demons are, is the central truth, It will put you in fear and unleash the satanic in your life, fulfilling the dark agenda to keep you in a panic mode, and turn you into a fearful fool in the hands of the preacher, so that you will not operate as a son of God, but a son of the preacher.
Do not remain in a Church that teaches you to fight all kinds of spirits in the name of spiritual warfare. In true spiritual warfare, you rest in Christ while He fights your battles and then lead you to pick the spoils through the execution of proper judicial decrees.
Do not stay in a Church that uses the Bible to teach and practice metaphysical practices like feet washing, oil drinking, praying with sand, salt, water, praying with brooms, coconuts, special keys, padlocks, or etc. That is a place where Satan will be known and planted in your spirit nature.
Do not remain in a church where people are told to sow seeds and then coins are given to them to break their poverty and lack.
TO KNOW WHO YOU BELIEVED, YOU MUST WALK AWAY FROM SUCH DARK PRACTICES AND CHURCHES THAT HOLD ON TO THEM.
You must not remain in a Church that teaches the doctrine of men – doctrines of money making instead of Heaven making. It will place you, and eventually confine you to the broadway that leads to damnation. Knowing God remains the only subject or lesson in God’s Kingdom; that is the only way to be established in the knowledge of who you believed.
A major line in our devotional text this morning says;
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:11 NKJV
This scripture captured the totality of the passion that drove our Bible fathers.
It shows us how our Fathers made the knowledge of God their greatest pursuit. It shows us why they stood firm in the face of terrible trials and destructive persecutions; they knew God in ways our generation have not known Him.
If we do not make the knowledge of God our greatest pursuit like they did, if knowing who we believed, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, is not our passion today, then we are having another kind of Christianity. We are not having the very type they had.
If we do not know Him, we will never know the fellowship of His sufferings.
If we do not know the fellowship of His sufferings, we will never know who we believe or conform to His death. If we do not conform to His death, we will not attain to the resurrection from the dead (the rapture). If we do not attain to the resurrection of the dead, we will be damned forever. That is the truth.
IT IS THEREFORE VERY DANGEROUS, NOT TO KNOW WHO WE BELIEVED TO THE EXTENT THAT OUR FATHERS KNEW HIM.
You can now understand why they paid so much price, and lost everything they had, counting them as dung or rubbish, to gain Christ and have experiential knowledge of Him. The Bible says;
“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” Philippians 3:7-8
Friend, if it is the very Heaven that Paul went to, that we want to go to, then we must take the same faith position he took in our walk and talk with God.
If marriage, money, fame, recognition, attention, carnal ambitions or godless-career, or any other earthly thing is our greatest pursuit, we will pierce ourselves with many sorrows. But if the Knowledge of God (the knowledge of Christ) is our greatest pursuit in life, we will get our lives filled with peace, prosperity, and great progress in the direction of God’s will for our lives.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY
“that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
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.
Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.” Philippians 3:10-16 NKJV