TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 23RD JANUARY 2026)
“When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion. The sea saw it and fled; Jordan turned back.”
Psalms 114:1-3 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 23RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF STRATEGIC VICTORY
In our devotional yesterday God highlighted the life of Achan to us and warned that if His glory will remain with us, we must learn to discern people with the Achan spirit in our lives and separate from them. Achan represents that person whose presence in your life is putting the presence of God away from you.
He is also that person who is part of your spiritual life, who goes behind you to do things that creates problems for all of you. That child, church member, prayer partner, or covenant person that expose you to spiritual attacks by doing the abominable behind your back, and not letting you know what has happened, leading to serious spiritual problems.
Sometimes, the process of removing Achan is painful and emotionally excruciating. If he or she is so attached to you, sentiments will come in to make things difficult. If you have benefited or are benefiting in some way from him or her, it will be more difficult.
The closer the person is, the more the price you may need to pay.
But I have come to discover that when it comes to having the presence of the LORD in our lives every price is worth it. What you will suffer for losing the presence of God cannot be compared with what you need to go through to keep it. It’s therefore important that you pass through the process and make sure that Achan churches, pastors, friends, business partners, fathers, sons, and daughters in the LORD are allowed to go their way.
YOU JUST MUST REDEFINE BOUNDARIES OF RELATIONSHIP AND SEPARATE FROM THEM.
The most painful part of the Achan story is that of his wife and entire Children. Perhaps many of them did not even know what their father did. Maybe they got to know it the day God exposed him. Yet they were not spared. It’s dangerous to have an Achan biological or spiritual father. The Bible says:
“Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor.
And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” So, all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.
Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So, the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore, the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.”
Joshua 7:24-26 NKJV
Do you see something in this scripture? Achan’s innocent kids died for what they did not know. How many innocent pastors are suffering spiritually, financially and most time even in health for standing for church members with dark secret lives the pastors are not aware of? On the flip side, how many innocent Church members are suffering for what their pastors are doing secretly, which they are not even aware of?
How many men and women are suffering for what their wives or husbands are doing secretly which they are not aware of? When life unites you with someone, that person can bring problems to you if he or she is dealing with the dark realm behind your back. That is the Achan phenomenon that has destroyed and is still destroying many.
The worst person you can have in your life is an Achan for anything. He brings corporate destruction. And from him I came to learn that Secret sins are ‘personal’ but not ‘private.’ One man will secretly disobey God but everyone who is under his influence will openly pay for it.
THAT IS WHY THE ACHAN PHENOMENON IS DANGEROUS.
If a pastor is an Achan, every one of his members will pay for it. If a member is an Achan, the pastor who stands for him or her will pay for it. That is what makes once clean preachers to become defiled and once clean members to become defiled.
For instance, many who are under sexually perverse ministers of the gospel and money-making pastors are under Achan. Those who give their tithes or any other kind of financial support to a church whose pastor is an Achan in the spirit, are putting their money in the valley of Achor.
Consequently, they will be going from one crisis to another despite their giving. At best guest ministers will be invited to breathe some fresh air into the place but there will be no rest from adversity in the lives of the people.
Achan pastors have what it takes to preach and promise men liberty, but they are servants of corruption, spilling the effects on the congregation. That is why you see spiritually dead services replacing spiritual life-giving services in those Churches. Everything will just be dead and stinky spiritually.
The spiritual identity of any Church, family, nation, or place led by an Achan person is called “the valley of Achor.” The valley of Achor simply put means the valley of trouble. That explains why many Christians cannot be free from their troubles.
Most are spiritually sharing their lives either with those living in valleys of Achor (trouble) or with the valley of Achor itself. Sadly, some of these valleys have the natural outlook of a great place to be.
If you take the valley of Achor for a Church, you will never know the peace of the LORD. If you take the valley of Achor for a home or marriage, even prayers from the most anointed and holy man of God will not help you. If you live spiritually in a valley of Achor or share your life with someone who lives there, troubles will remain a constant occurrence in your life.
NO ONE CAN FULFILL A DIVINE DESTINY IN THE VALLEY OF ACHOR
If you want to fulfill your divine destiny, you must come out of Achan churches, break free from Achan spiritual fathers and mothers and make sure you are not connected to the valley of Achor in any way. You must also break free from Achan Church members. The Children of Achan; his wife, Sons and daughters could not fulfill their destinies under such a father.
They died premature! Don’t be the next!!
I reiterate again that no one can fulfill a divine destiny in the valley of Achor. No one can execute God’s plans for his or her life living with Achan. You must come out of every strange person and place where else you will disappoint divine destiny. That was what Israel did.
Our devotional text says,
“When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion. The sea saw it and fled; Jordan turned back.”
If you want to become God’s sanctuary and dominion, you must separate yourself from strange people and places. The Bible made it clear that Israel dispensed so much glory when they did that. The sea (the red sea) saw it and fled. In fact, it parted into two and created a way for them. Jordan could not stop them either.
Your enemies are only as powerful as the absence of God’s glory in your life. In other words, the absence of God’s glory in your life is the reason your enemies are more powerful than you. If you will get away from what or who is keeping the glory of God from you, you will become God’s sanctuary and dominion.
Then it shall come to pass that you will begin to look for your enemies and not see them again because they will see it and flee from you. It’s a new day for you in Jesus precious name. AMEN
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR TODAY;
“Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters”
Psalms 114:7-8 NKJV
