TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 18TH JANUARY 2026)
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 18TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF STRATEGIC VICTORY
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. Day unto day we have been seeing His mercies, week unto week His greatness.
Today is the first day of the 3rd week of this year. We are hopeful!! He will keep us in perfect peace, since our heart is staying or resting on Him. That is what His word says. Our confidence is in His word.
The Bible says,
“In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city;
God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, That the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength. For He brings down those who dwell on high, The lofty city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He brings it down to the dust.”
Isaiah 26:1-5 NKJV
You cannot have this God who is willing to be the everlasting strength of those who trust in Him and not fix your mind on Him. You cannot have this God who brings down those who dwell on high for their attack against us and lays low the lofty city that rises against us, bringing it to the dust and be afraid.
They that know this God shall be strong, despite any threat from hell, and carry out great exploits. That is why serving Him in spirit and in truth is the best way to live on earth. He will never allow those who serve Him to be put to shame.
Yesterday we learned that He will not even allow them to permanently fall back to a life of sin, iniquity or trespass. If they are willing, He will use teachings or corrections, rebukes, chastening or judgment to remove the filthy garment they put on themselves away from them and clothe them with rich robes. That is His way of honoring them.
HIS GOAL IS TO MAKE SURE THEIR GARMENT IS WHITE SO THAT THEY WILL NOT LACK HIS OIL IN THEIR LIVES.
The absence of righteousness from a man’s life will result in spiritual dryness where a man’s head will no longer have the oil that is needed for worshiping God in spirit and in truth.
Apart from that He will also remove any form of suffering from their lives.
In other words, God does not just honor those who serve Him in spirit and in truth by dealing with their sin, He also honors them by dealing with their sufferings. He will take away sickness, disease, and any form of satanic oppression from them and give them rest, so that they can be more productive in their good deeds.
So, if you are serving God and are oppressed at the same time, check what or who you are really serving. It may not be God. The Bible says,
“So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”
Exodus 23:25-26 NKJV
From this scripture, we can clearly see what God will do to those who serve Him in spirit and truth. He will bless them economically, heal them of diseases, make sure they are fruitful and bless them with a life that is long enough to fullfill all of God’s purpose for it.
The Bible teaches that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek or serve Him. He is not a robber! He will definitely bless those who serve Him and honor them with His peace, prosperity, and presence. Yes, He will favor them with earthly blessing or supernatural escapes from wickedness and keep them for eternal life in the next life.
We must therefore be sure that our services to God are truly to God not to self but using God. Yes, we must make sure we are serving God not what looks like Him and always remember that there is a difference between serving God and serving what looks like God.
ONE MAY WONDER HOW CAN THAT BE, WELL IT IS VERY POSSIBLE!
You see, if you are serving a Church that is not connected to any move of God on the face of the earth; a Church ruled and driven by money, fame, fortune, and carnal ambitions of men instead of the will of God, you are not serving God.
The Church could be prospering and giving you good money, but God will never give you His rest, peace or a much-needed blessing. You will be enjoying the blessing of men but not seeing the blessings of God in your life. And trust me, the two blessings are different.
If you are serving a ‘man of God’ who is not truly called of God or cannot stand before God and men to turn many to righteousness or build them to have a fruitful relationship with Jesus Christ, you are not serving God. You could be enjoying His blessings but will never see the blessings of God. That is why many who are single and serving some ‘men of God’ or in some churches cannot get or stay married.
Getting and staying married is a blessing of God not a blessing of man. A man could bless you with a man or woman to marry but only GOD can give you a husband or wife. I have seen men of God bless those who served them with men and women to marry as reward, but down the line the marriage will be no more – it will cease to exist – giving birth to broken homes, broken hearts and broken lives.
So many have served what they thought was God and ended up in cycles of troubles. They entered churches full and are now empty because they labored in vain. You will never reap blessing if your seemingly labor of love was not recognized in heaven.
The only place you can serve God and have a happy ending in this life and the life to come is in the place of your divine destiny, which has to do with responding to God’s immediate present will for your life. Anything outside that, is foolishness.
SADLY, WE LIVE IN A CHURCH GENERATION THAT IS NOT MINDFUL OF LIFE AFTER DEATH; SO MANY ARE NOT MINDFUL OF THE NEXT LIFE.
They just look for what will satisfy them in this life and forget the next life.
Many of us are not mindful of what Jesus will say to us when we cross the river, step out of this world and stand before Him to give account of ourselves. Our hearts are so disconnected from Heaven that earthly rewards have taken the center stage of our lives.
Satan and men may reward you with earthly things for serving what looks like God but not really God. But only God can reward you with the true riches of His kingdom.
Many who are looking busy and blessed by God in this part of eternity for doing what they take for a service to God will be sorry in the next life. They will be sorry when they will appear before the God, they thought they served. Our devotional text laid it bare. It quoted Jesus, who will be the judge of all, saying:
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
One thing I like about our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, is His eternal openness. That is why anyone His Spirit cries through is always open. You will never find them, handling His word with craftiness but with openness.
He made it clear to us how things will be when we step to the other side. Nothing was hidden! He pointed out and pre-informed us that not everyone in religious service we call ‘great and wonderful’ will be called the same in eternity. It is only those who did His will in this life that will be rewarded and accepted in the next life.
Whatever you are doing in your Church today that is not God’s current will for your life will not speak well for you in the next life. It may look glorious, accepted, and celebrated by all who see and experience it, but God will see it as “lawlessness” in the day of reckoning.
Friend, this is the time to start double checking whatever you are doing in your Church or under your man of God. This is time to serve God within the boundaries of your divine destiny.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Matthew 7:24-27 NKJV
