TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER 2024)
“And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” Matthew 24:10-11 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 257TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
The Christian Life is designed in such a way that, if we are not told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in God’s word, we will be torn into shreds by the enemy of our souls.
That is why by God’s mercy, we don’t massage anyone’s ego when we teach, preach or prophesy the word of the LORD. We preach the truth of God’s word, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, even when it is hurting us.
However, telling people the truth can be expensive also. Sons of God will celebrate you, but sons of hell will detest you.
Sadly, there are so many sons of hell today who call themselves sons of GOD. They seem to be more in number than the number of true sons of God. That is also a truth that can cause you pains for saying it.
So, if you are teaching, preaching or prophesying the truth today, there is the possibility of having more enemies than friends because those that will be against you will likely be more than those who will be for you.
Many years ago, a man with the title of a pastor, read a comment I made over a post someone wrote blaspheming God in Moses, and called me, “false prophet.” The post was from another person with the title of a pastor, and it was full of scriptural errors and lies. He attacked the scriptural truth of what the Bible says about Moses being the meekest Prophet.
You can see from his comments that he was just being emotional. He had NOT studied that scripture. That is what happens if you stand by the truth of God’s word today. People will become emotional, especially when it hurts.
Why did he call me false prophet? The reason is simple – he was offended at truth. So, he felt calling me false is the best way to hurt me.
A son of hell gets offended at truth and at sons of God who present it as it is. Jesus was killed by the Jews who called themselves Children of God. In John chapter 8, he asked them saying, “If you are children of God, why then do you hate me since I am from God?”
FRIEND, NO TRUE CHILD OF GOD WILL HATE WHO OR WHAT IS FROM GOD, NO MATTER HOW PAINFUL, CONVICTING, OR JUDGMENTAL IT IS.
The Bible teaches that God does not condone error or sin. He neutralizes them by calling them what they are and granting repentance and refreshing to those who turn to Him.
The price that God’s remnants will pay for teaching, preaching and prophesying scriptural truths these end times, will not be small. People in Church (especially preachers), will be their greatest persecutors because the errors they will neutralize will also lead to the shutting down of the shops they call Churches.
When error, half-truths or outright lies form our belief system as Christians, we will not last in the faith that was once delivered to our Fathers. We will slip into another kind of Christianity, following another lord, and submitting to another spirit that masquerades as the Holy Spirit.
That is why the whole counsel of God is so important.
I have met quite a number of Christians who are good at coming out with a word from God. They will tell you God said this, God said that. God told them this and God told them that. Yet you cannot sense divine presence around them.
Most of what they say is either Biblically baseless, half-truths or outright lies from the pit of hell.
In fact, when you meet them the first thing you sense is a demonic presence, and since them or those they speak to do not know how demonic presence feels like in the spirit, they take their so-called prophetic words as divine.
Unclean and lying spirits have been unleashed on so many Christians, giving them a false prophetic hearing that is sometimes accurate but not true. The worst part is the pride that oozes out of them; this demonic pride that will not let them humble themselves for too long and be free, is really killing!
The LORD began to show us something about this sad spiritual development. He made us to understand that what has increased the plague of false prophetic hearing today is the spirit of offense and bitterness in so many hearts. The LORD began to show us things about this spirit and its interference with our faith – things we cannot exhaust in a devotional.
Our devotional text said,
“And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many”.
DO YOU SEE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN OFFENCE, BETRAYAL, HATE, AND THE RISE OF FALSE PROPHETS, IN THIS SCRIPTURE?
God began to show us that offence, feelings of betrayal, and hate, has a way of attracting lying spirits to the souls of believers. When these lying spirits come, they will begin to speak as God (with the audacity of God) to them, giving birth to a false prophetic hearing.
That is why God instructed us strongly through Isaiah to shake off the dust of offence, feelings of betrayal, and hate from our spirits and souls.
Sometimes these feelings leave the souls of men, and go to dwell deeply in their spirits, attracting all kinds of lying prophetic spirits to them, and making it impossible for them to even discern the presence of the feelings that are still there.
Most of those I have seen operating in the accurate but false and untrue prophetic hearing system, are people who have been severely hurt in life. Intercessors whose wives or husbands treated so badly that they have to divorce them.
I have also seen people severely hurt in life operating in this false realm.
The pain of betrayal and the bitterness of the offence committed against them still lies deeply in their hearts, making it impossible for them to be free from the false spirit they call God, and come into the clean prophetic realm God has for them.
These things sadden my heart each time I come across these precious people. I am not writing this to hurt you but to partner with God to wash you so that you can come into the true prophetic realm reserved for the sanctified.
Hate, feelings of betrayal, and offence will always attract the polluted prophetic anointing upon a Christian.
There is no space for me to show you other Biblical examples. But from what the Bible teaches, we can see that every lying prophet or false prophetic hearing in any Church today, germinated from the gates of hell through the soil of offence, feelings of betrayal, or hate.
That is why God will pass us through seasons of purging before opening the true prophetic realm to us. We must all be ready to walk away from offences these end times so that we will not become vulnerable.
I pray for us today, that the LORD will sit over our lives, as a purifier of the Sons of Levi, and purify all our thoughts and ways. That He will purge us of any root of bitterness or offences. Amen!!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
“Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me by your generous Spirit.”
“Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.” Psalm 51:10-13 NKJV