TODAY’S DEVOTION (Wednesday 8th January 2025)
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Psalms 23:1-3 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 8TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY.
We give God the glory for His kindness and marvelous deeds. It is out of His mercies that we are not consumed, for his compassion fails not.
He is the light of our world, that is why we are still alive. He knows how to light up the world of men who listen to Him and obey His commands with the light of His word, love, power, grace and peace. He has been lighting our world since we stepped into this year, and we thank Him for that.
He lights up the world of men who listen and obey His commands, the commands of His word and Spirit, so that they will not walk in the darkness of this world.
The Bible says darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people. But the LORD shall rise upon us, and His glory shall be seen in our lives. That only happens if we walk in His paths. For those who are walking in paths created by their carnality and sinful desires, there will be darkness over their lives.
Darkness is light out in the natural, but God out in the spirit. If you walk in the paths created by carnality and sin, you will live in a God-out realm; and when GOD is out, so many bad and evil things will be in.
When God is out in our cities and nations, crimes and criminalities, atrocities and abominations, adultery and prostitution, false prophecies and prophets, man-made religion and all its cruelties, will be in.
Yes, when God is out in any life, city or family, trespass, sin and iniquity, ignorance of who Jesus really is, or a Christianity mixed with carnality and sin, sickness and all forms of satanic attacks, evil thoughts, murders, deaths, vile imaginations and all kinds of evil works will be in.
GOD DOES NOT WANT US TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE ALL OR ANY OF THIS IS IN, HENCE SHINING HIS LIGHT.
God is light, in Him is no darkness at all. If He is out, everything devilish will be in. That is why, if you claim to be serving GOD but you are living in darkness, or living a God-out life, you are either not serving the true GOD, or not living according to the commands of the true God.
Now, living in darkness or a God-out realm, is very bad, but dying in it is worst.
When I look at people who have not made peace with Christ, precious lives pursuing man-made religion and ascribing deity to mortal men, carved idols and certain religious leaders, it breaks my heart. When I watch them do terrible atrocities and abominations in the name of a loving and Holy God, I wonder what humanity has turned into.
Indeed, it’s terrible to live in darkness but more terrible to die in darkness because your soul will be banished forever in hell. If you die in the darkness of false religion, you will be sorry in the next life.
If you die in the darkness of deception – especially spiritual deception – you will wake up in the sorry side of the next life.
One major thing you must make up your mind to do this year is this, make up your mind not to walk in darkness; not to live in a God-out situation. God-out situation can be created by so many things. It ranges from false religion, to personal deception or delusion, or the deception of sin.
The deception of sin for instance, is one of the most lethal weapons that puts God out of a person’s life. It is one lethal way people are brought into the God-Out life, resulting in the breaking out of very bad things.
It took Samson to the God-out realm and his enemies began to prevail against him. It all started when he loved a woman in the valley, of all places. You do not get intimate with people in the spiritual valley of a fallen life. But He did.
THOSE THE WOMAN SOLD HIM TO, TOOK OUT HIS EYES AND MADE HIM A GRINDER IN THE PRISON OF THE ENEMY.
He was a victim of the darkness or a God-Out situation that the deception of sin creates, and delusion. He thought there will be no much harm having a sinful relationship with Delilah, which was delusional. That is how the deception of sin works. It tells you there will be no problem doing wrong, using the pleasure of the wrong it wants you to do.
If we will have a peaceful 2025, we must avoid this kind of life. We must watch against the darkness of personal deception, delusion, the deception of sin, and false religion. The reason is because, apart of ruining our year, it will do us much eternal harm than we can imagine.
The darkness of personal deception or delusion, the deception of sin, and false religion, has taken more people to hell than any other form of darkness.
For instance, any religion that does not present Jesus as the Son of GOD, the way of salvation and the Light of the world, and help people live and walk in Him, will take any soul to eternal damnation. Any religion that does not get people filled with the Holy Spirit of GOD, is a darkness that you should never live or die in.
Any religion that put hate in your heart for a fellow human being, is darkness in disguise. Any religion that asks you to kill a fellow human being for a reward in Heaven, is spiritual darkness and eternally damnable. Any religion that major on putting money in your pocket, and minor on putting Christ in your heart, is a spiritual darkness you should run away from.
Sadly, billions are living and dying in this kind of darkness. Some of them are gaining the whole world and losing their souls to eternal fire!
God’s call this morning is that we walk out of any form of darkness and embrace Christ, the light of the world. His call is that we do that in spirit and in truth. Jesus remains the unchangeable way, Truth and life. No one comes to the Father except by Him.
IN OTHER WORDS, NO ONE CAN RELATE WITH THE ONE AND TRUE GOD, EXCEPT BY HIM.
Any God you claim to be serving that Christ is not part of, is a lie. The God is a false god, acting like GOD to you. You are still in darkness, religious darkness. That is why, darkness is not just an absence of light; it is also an absent of the Truth. It is an absence of Christ in a person’s life.
Where there is no truth there is darkness. Demons will be studied and false freedom administered to poor and ignorant folks.
People will be told to give all kind of money to be free from problems. Many will be bound to sinful habits and taught to explain it away. They will forget that the wages of sin is death and the free gift of GOD is eternal life through Jesus Christ our LORD! That eternal life empowers us over sin. It gives us freedom from sin not freedom to sin.
Any spiritual freedom that frees a man to sin (instead of from sin) is captivity redefined. It is a life full of darkness. Authentic freedom comes by an encounter with Christ as the way the truth and the Life; where He becomes the Shepherd of our souls, and establishes freedom from sin.
Our devotional text this morning says;
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake”
If the Jesus you have is not leading you in paths of righteousness, that is the wrong Jesus. If He is just interested in you having money or freedom from lack, demons and etc. and not freedom from a life of sin, you are with another Jesus.
It is when we are delivered from a life of sin and thrust into a life of righteousness that we begin to enjoy peace, progress, and deliverance from all works of the devil.
IT IS IMPORTANT WE UNDERSTAND ALL THAT.
One major statement Jesus made when He met most of His disciples was “Follow me.” He has not stopped saying the same words, silently in our hearts or verbally through His trye apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors and teachers.
He has not stopped speaking to us through His Holy Spirit to follow Him.
If you follow Him, your submission and followership will create a life of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost for you. Following Him is the key to getting all we might be looking for in this life and the life to come. That is why, if you have a pastor who is not teaching you to follow the LORD, you are in trouble.
You are in trouble both in time and eternity. A lot from the underworld will be following you. Yes, you will be pursued by diseases, premature death, poverty, lack, and etc.
There is a lot that will never happen in your life no matter how much God wants to give you if the Jesus you are following is the fake one parading himself in so many churches using charlatans and false apostle and prophets. You will never dwell safely in a wicked world.
You will never have green pastures to lie on, you will never be led to the still waters of peace, prosperity, and significant achievements. You will be made to raise altars, sow seeds, give sacrificially, and pray with oil, water, salt, candles, and all that, but never have a genuine relationship with the LORD.
God want us to spend 2025 following Jesus in spirit and in truth, so that we can create a life of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, through our submission to His will and obedience to His commands.
It’s a new day for someone this morning, in Jesus’ precious name! Amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION;
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.” Psalm 23:4-5 NKJV