TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER 2024)
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
“But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:3-5 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 263RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. It is out of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed.
God has a word for us today. To start with, let me remind you that “What you eat will eventually eat you.” I say again, “what you eat will eventually eat you.” We determine what eats us by checking out what we eat, and that is very true.
When a man eats poisonous food, within some minutes, the poison in the food will start eating up the man, resulting in illness, and maybe even death. If you eat what comes out of the mouth of the LORD, what lives in what comes out of the mouth of the LORD, will eventually eat you.
What you eat, will eat you. That is one Bible philosophy that should guide our hearts in whatever we do.
What is it that we find in what comes out of the mouth of the LORD? Life is what you find in what come out of the mouth of the LORD. Life from God!! That is why life from God eat those who feed on what comes out of the mouth of the LORD, making whatever the do to prosper or succeed, with the prosperity or success of the righteous.
The Bible says,
“Blessed is the person who does not follow the advice of wicked people, take the path of sinners, or join the company of mockers.”
“Rather, he delights in the teachings of Yahweh and reflects on his teachings day and night.
He is like a tree planted beside streams— a tree that produces fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither. He succeeds in everything he does.” Psalm 1:1-3 NOGB
Yes, there is something that when you feed on, its eats you up and begin to help you succeed in whatever you do in God’s will. That thing is the teachings of God. This scripture gave us a fresh perspective of what it means to feed on what come out of the mouth of the LORD.
In it we can see that to feed on what comes out of the mouth of the LORD, is to delight yourself in and reflect on His teachings. It is one thing to hear the teachings of the Bible, and another to sit and reflect on them. Feeding begins with hearing the teachings, then continues with delighting yourself in the teachings and sitting down to reflect on them.
UNTIL YOU HAVE DELIGHTED IN THEM, AND SAT DOWN TO REFLECT ON THEM, YOU ARE NOT FEEDING ON THEM; YOU ARE NOT EATING THEM.
You are just tasting them. You can taste without eating, and that is what many are doing, hence not being eaten by the blessings that are trapped in the teachings of the Bible. Most do cherry picking, and some do not even cherry pick at all.
That is why you cannot find many Christians, from us preachers to church members, succeeding in everything with the success or prosperity of the righteous. You find many either struggling in life, or succeeding with the success or prosperity of the wicked.
What you do not delight yourself in, to the point of reflecting on, will never find itself into your life. But what you delight yourself in, to the point of reflecting on over time, will find itself into your life, either good or bad.
That is the principle that governs change.
People move from good to bad, or from bad to good, through what they feed or reflect on. If you want to see good things in your life, reflect on what will eat you up and begin to make all that you do succeed with the success or prosperity of the righteous.
Sadly, the things the world is delighting itself in and reflecting on, are either influenced by the kingdom of Satan or are manufactured by Satan himself. The world does all that today through the social media. Yes, there are other mediums but the social media has become the greatest of all the mediums used.
Hence, what is satanic, sinful and ungodly has eaten so many people.
God gave the Church what is known as the doctrine of Christ to feed the world; to teach the world and influence people to reflect on, so that the world can be eaten by Christ, and become Christlike.
When we become Christlike, we will not just be succeeding in everything we do in His will, but we will begin to be and do what Christ wants us to be and do. We will never see ourselves struggling with curses, poverty, illnesses, and all that.
WE WILL NOT BE SUFFERING WHAT THE WORLD SUFFERS. WE WILL HAVE REST.
But the enemy does not want the world to be Christlike, or live in the freedom, blessing and rest that exist in being Christlike. Hence raising preachers to represent his interest, and influencing others to preach what is not the doctrine of Christ.
Today, we see all kinds of man-made doctrines and practices in the Church, being spewed out to a world that does not know the difference, all in the name of Christ. You find people being told to raise this altar, or raise the other altar, give this sacrifice, or give the other sacrifice.
You find preachers stealing in the name of the LORD, and turning the church into a money-making machine, a metaphysical cult or a social club. Thereby making it impossible to find many men and women who are living in the blessing and rest that is found in Christ.
You find many souls gathering in large assemblies for deliverances, you find them being given this oil, that water, this salt, that handkerchief, this rod, that stone and all forms of religious things, governed by the demon of deliverance to use in their quest to find freedom, blessings and rest that cannot be found that way.
You find so many seekers of freedom, blessings and rest, developing itching ears, thereby cherry picking what to listen to, by cherry picking who their teachers or preachers should be, instead of allowing the LORD to feed them with sound doctrine.
Our Devotional text says,
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
“But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:3-5 NKJV
This was an apostolic order the LORD passed to first, Timothy, and by extension, to us, through His vessel, Paul the apostle. If you will enjoy the freedom, blessing and rest that Christ offers, you must be feed on sound doctrine until it eats you up completely.
YOU MUST FEED ON THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST THAT DOES NOT PUT OIL IN YOUR HANDS BUT THE SPIRIT ON YOUR LIFE.
Yes, you must feed on the doctrine of Christ that does not give you holy water to pray with or pour on your head, but bring living water out of your belly. You must feed on the doctrine of Christ that does not ask you to pray with salt, but makes you the salt of the earth.
You must feed on the doctrine of Christ that does not ask you to raise, silence or break an altar, but points you to God’s altar on earth, which is your heart, urging you to make it pure as gold before God, by fixing your faith on God’s ultimate altar in Heaven, so that coals of fire will proceed from it to purify your heart on earth, and keep it aflame for the LORD.
The Bible says we should keep our hearts with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. The reason is because our hearts are God’s altars on earth. That is what sound doctrine will teach you. It will teach you to allow the LORD to be at the center of your life, not the crave for the prosperity of this world.
You must therefore, not join the trend of heaping up teachers according to your carnal lust and earthly desires that you find in the Church today. You must become watchful and give yourself to the LORD in matters of doctrine.
That is the word of the LORD today!!!!
As we bring this to a close, I want us to understand that we cannot live a sound Christian life, without receiving; delighting ourselves in, and reflecting on sound doctrine from sound preachers of God’s word.
Part of the wisdom of God to apply your heart to, is to ask the LORD to give you a pastor after his heart who will feed you with sound doctrine until you are eaten up by it (if you do not have one already).
Do not allow the flesh or your physical needs to determine who you listen to as a child of God. Do not heap inspirational teachers for yourself. Allow the Holy Spirit to give you pastors who can teach you Holy Ghost inspired transformational truths. Amen and amen.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!!
“And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”
“Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days,” says the Lord, “that they will say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore.” Jeremiah 3:15-16NKJV