TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 27TH OCTOBER 2024)
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 301ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Today is the beginning of a fresh week. God in His mercies is having us start the week in His presence. I hope you find a good Church that you can experience Him in spirit and in truth to start your week from.
There are unclean spirits that parades themselves in the kingdom of darkness as gods, lords, saviours, christs, and all that. Most of them have found Churches where they operate from. They are responsible for the false salvations you see in the lives of many Christians and all forms of counterfeits we see as servants of God.
Let us assume for a moment that they indeed are gods or lords as they claim.
They will be lords and gods who do not have capacity to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. That is why the preachers who operate under them have no compassion; they ask even the poorest of the poor to sow a seed. In dark places, they kill even those who worship them.
But our God can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, hence He handles us differently.
There is something you must understand about Satan and his fallen angels; none of them can be touched by the feelings of your infirmities. None has the capacity to be touched by what you may be going through!
That is why people who seek witch doctors for help, end up with more serious problems; inclusive of the witch doctors in the false Church many call prophets and prophetesses.
Let me reiterate again, that Satan do not secure and cannot secure the eternal destiny of his worshipers. He only secures their eternal damnation. But our God can secure the eternal destiny of His worshipers. Our God can fight for His worshipers and expel His glory upon them, but the enemy cannot.
I am yet to see a worshiper of Satan getting blessed with peace from above.
IN FACT, THEY ARE USUALLY CURSED WITH THE CURSE OF GOD.
They do not usually have peace on earth. They are involved in what the earth was not designed to handle, hence leaving their lives in absolute defeat.
The earth was not designed to handle certain things we do with our bodies, with the devil and with fellow men. For instance, the earth was not designed to handle same sex marriages, and related activities. It was not designed to handle what characterized the LGBT.
The earth was not designed to handle hate for God, His ways and will. It was not designed to handle bloodshed and etc. It was not designed to handle human sacrifices and worship of demons. That is why you read statements like “the land devouring its inhabitants” where those things were practiced in the scriptures.
God once said to Cain, “cursed are you before the ground which opens up its mouth to drink your brother’s blood.” That tells us that what we do to blood relatives and people we are in covenant relationship with can stir the earth to start screaming against us in some ways.
There are things the earth was not designed to handle; one of it is the activities of those who worship Satan, the flesh and the evil and corrupt system of this world. It cannot handle them and what they do. That is why they may seem prosperous but it is always a façade.
If you carry out a truthful look at those who worship and walk in the ways of Satan, you will realize that he wears some men and women who worship him the garments of financial prosperity, basically to get more people into the net of eternal damnation that exist in his kingdom.
The people are not really prosperous in the sense of what GOD created prosperity to be.
Talking about true worshipers of God and their prosperity, the greatest form of prosperity is that which helps you to conquer the raging battles within our souls and spirits.
I have stated in different platforms that there are three basic needs of our bodies, and those needs are sex, food and comfort.
EVEN IF WE ARE BORN AGAIN, OUR BODIES ARE NOT BORN AGAIN, NEITHER CAN THEY BE.
They can only be redeemed on the final day; in the resurrection of the righteous. In genuine salvation encounter, it is our spirits that gets saved not out bodies. That is why no salvation encounter can stop the constant craving of our bodies for food, sex and comfort.
When you read the Bible saying, “Jesus was tempted in all points,” understand that the all points that Jesus was tempted includes the three basic needs of the body. Yet He was without sin. That tells us that He is able to help those who are tempted now, in all points.
That is one of the major things that makes him our helper. He is a unique helper who feels what we feel while in need of help. He feels what we feel and have the strength and ability to help us out.
In the human plane, no one who feels what you feel can help you, but Christ can help us. He helps us from within – from our inner lives.
Yes, you can only feel what I feel if you are going through what I am going through at an immediate present, but you cannot help me. You cannot help me because there is no way you go through what I am going through, and still have the strength to help me.
We both will need strength from someone else. There is a whole message there for a deep thinker. All these goes to tell us that, anyone who feels what you feel would not have the ability or capacity to help you out of your problems.
But Jesus, our unique helper, has the capacity to help us because He is the only one who feels what we feel without diminishing in strength. Feeling what we feel does not put Him at the same level of strength with us. He can help us adequately in overcoming the battles with the flesh without diminishing in strength.
I have come to realize that, when we are tempted, He knows exactly what we are going through and can always come to help if we cry unto him for help. Temptation is the body craving for its three basic needs against your convictions and spiritual commitment to God as His child.
Sexual temptation, for example; is the body asking you to give it sexual satisfaction after you have made up your mind to stay pure in God’s side.
Other forms of temptation steams from the body asking you for excessive comfort, or even food, without minding what that comfort or desire for food beyond proportions will do to your relationship with God.
LIKE I SAID EARLIER, THE BODY IS NOT BORN AGAIN AND CAN NEVER BE.
It can only be brought into subjection and tamed whenever it tries to destroy our Holiness. The body or flesh will always try to destroy your holiness by asking you for things that will break your salvation vows.
Christianity is spending all your days protecting your salvation vows!
Our salvation vows cannot be protected if we do not fight the internal battles of the body raging against our souls. The battles are real and must be recognized and dealt with as our number one internal enemy, using the grace of GOD upon our lives!
Paul was one of the Christians in the early Church who fought and conquered these internal battles of the body. He did that successfully using the grace of God upon His life. He fought to put the body under subjection so that after he has preached to others, he himself will not be a cast away! He said this is 1 Corinthians 9:27.
You get more meaning from what he said if you read it in the amplified version of the Bible. He wrote to the Church at Corinth saying;
“Therefore I do not run uncertainly (without definite aim). I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary.
But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].” 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 AMPC
This is deep! If you can spend more time on it, you will be immensely blessed and enriched.
As Children of God who are looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of Jesus Christ, this is worthy of meditation. We must fight to conquer the internal battles of our lives.
For instance, when the body asks us for sex with anyone it sees, we are to apply what this great preacher of grace did to his carnal nature; he buffeted it, handled it roughly, disciplined it by hardship and subdued it with a strong will.
IF WE DO NOT DO THAT WE WILL COME UNDER THE POWER OF THE FLESH, GIVING IT WHATEVER IT WANTS!
People who give their bodies whatever it wants will always get what they never bargained for. Samson for instance gave his body what it wanted and got what he never thought was possible. The Bible says;
“Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.” Judges 16:21 NKJV
He never thought it was possible for this to happen to him. But the things he satisfied his flesh with made it possible. Sometimes the flesh moves us to give it one moment of sexual satisfaction making us blind to the terrible consequences waiting on the other side!
I am yet to see a Child of God giving his or her body whatever it wants who is not living in the prison yard of the enemy. I am yet to see a Child of God who gives his or her flesh whatever it wants doing exploits for God. They only do exploits for themselves and the devil.
You will always end in a spiritual prison where Satan will afflict you at will, if you key into the foolishness of giving the body whoever it wants for sex or whatever it wants for food and comfort. We must learn how to conquer the internal battles of the flesh and stay aflame in faith, purity and power!
Some of the key lies in our devotional text! It says
““Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
The first key is the key of recognizing that it is not a sin to be tempted. It is only a sin to give in to temptation. This will free you from unnecessary pressure and give you the focus, boldness and clarity to deal with the carnal passions. Jesus Himself was tempted in all points yet without sin. So, if you are being tempted in all points, it is not a sin. You won’t go to hell because of that.
IT IS ONLY A SIGN THAT SIN LIVES IN YOU AND THAT IT IS AT YOUR DOOR BUT YOU SHOULD RULE OVER IT!
In other words, it is not a sin for the body to demand for sex with anyone it sees. That is just a sign that sin lives in you, and that you need help from God. It only becomes a sin when you give in to it.
Now, in order not to give in to it, you must do what Paul admonished that we do to our flesh in 2 Corinthians 9:27 – we are to buffet it, handle it roughly, discipline it by hardship, and subdue it.
The second key lies in taking our minds off the direction the body is attempting to take us to. This is where the soul is brought under subjection – our emotions, imaginations, memories, intelligence and will, are at this point made to synchronize with the word and will of the LORD!
David said,
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” Psalms 19:14 NKJV
“How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word. With my whole heart I have sought you; Oh, let me not wander from your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Psalms 119:9-11 NKJV
When the word enters our hearts and finds a resting place in it, it infuses us with the internal energy we need to tame the flesh and subdue it as admonished by Apostle Paul.
The third key is the key of not taking sin lightly.
Most people have lost the revelation of how God sees sin. They have fallen into the trap of treating damnable things kindly and taking them as nothing. That was how Sodom and Gomorrah took homosexual acts as nothing and paid dearly for it. The same God has not died. He is still very much with us!
Do not allow your heart to be hardened, do not allow yourself to begin to see that sin you commit as nothing. It is the easiest way to shut yourself away from God’s mercy, because you will lack the repentance you need to collect it.
We can go on and on but I trust that the Spirit of the living God has spoken to us. We should begin this week by making holiness and purity resolutions that will fill our lives with the blessings and miracles we need from the LORD. Amen!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).
For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other [continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do.
But if you are guided (led) by the [Holy] Spirit, you are not subject to the Law.” Galatians 5:16-18 AMPC