TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (THURSDAY 16TH July 2026)
“THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.”
“For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” Romans 8:1-2 AMP
WELCOME TO THE 197TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF STRATEGIC VICTORIES!
We thank the LORD for giving us another day. We thank Him for watching over us and being our refuge. To Him alone belong our worship!! May He see us through as we face our day. May the rod of the wicked not rest upon us, and may He remain our shepherd. Amen!!
Today we will be looking at matters of our salvation; the most important matters of a spiritual life.
To start with, it is important to refresh our minds on this beautiful truth. You see, the blood of Jesus has set us free from all forms of captivity. It is just that many have not been able to actualize what it has done for us. One major reason why is a lack of repentance.
Yes, many of us in church have not really repented of our sins and turned fully to Christ. It is repentance, and a genuine one, that unlocks the dividends of the blood of Jesus upon our lives.
It is repentance that activates the power of the blood of Jesus and make it work for us in ways that keeps a man in perfect peace, free from curses of our father’s house, evil patterns, and all people go for deliverance for. In simple terms, we will never enjoy the fullness of what Jesus did on the Cross if we are still living sinful lives, calling Him “LORD, LORD,” but not doing what He says.
Most of us that claimed born again are merely psychologically saved. If you look at our moral lives, you will see that there is no fruit of genuine encounter with Jesus Christ, I mean the Jesus of the Bible, not the one most preacher present in their messages.
In spiritual reality, many of us in church are still under the domain of darkness in the spirit realm where sinning is possible and deliverance impossible.
Yes, wherever a life of sin is still possible, total deliverance from the devil and all he does will be impossible. The reason grace abound where sin abides is to help destroy the power and practice of sin, using the dedication of those who desire to live right. Yes, using the dedication of those who desire to live right.
THAT IS WHY WHERE GRACE ABOUNDS AND MAN’S DEDICATION IS ABSENT, PEOPLE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO OVERCOME THE PRACTICE OF SIN
It is our dedication that puts God’s grace to work in our lives. When God’s grace is at work in our lives, the power to overcome the practice of sin will be unleash upon us. That is why you find only those who work out their salvation with fear and trembling living a life of righteousness.
God’s grace uses their dedication to give them the power to go and sin no more.
Where sin abides, there grace much more abound so that those who dedicate their lives to the LORD by striving to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, will have sufficient power to live right. Our lack of intense dedication to the LORD, therefore, is the reason why we do not have the power to overcome secret sins and live right.
It is the reason why we are rendering grace ineffective and turning it into a mere excuse for sinning. Salvation without been dedicated to the LORD, is a journey to hell fire without knowing. Teaching on the intensity of the dedication that is expected from those who believe in Him, Jesus Himself said;
“If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” Matthew 5:29-30 NKJV
This scripture teaches the quality of dedication Jesus expects from us once we give our lives to Him. It does not refer to our physical eyes and hands. Those are metaphors. It is rather teaching the depth of discipline and dedication that is required of us by Him, once we give our lives to Him.
IT COMMANDS US TO CUT OFF FROM CONTACTS THAT CONTAMINATES, NO MATTER WHAT WE ARE GAINING FROM THEM.
Sadly, we do not hear fathers of faith, or the fathers of the land, as they call them, teach these things. They just teaches about altars and all kinds of money-making doctrines. Genuine fathers of faith will teach us these things. They will raise the banner of eternal life and show the Church the standard of the kind of dedication God requires of us after salvation.
That explains why a lot of salvation today lack dedication.
A lot of us who claim born again do not have the dedication of the truly born-again Christians found in the lives of those who were here before us, that is why we live ungodly lives yet call ourselves born again. Again, I tell you, salvation without dedication is a journey to hell without knowing.
If our born-again lack the dedication of genuine born-again Christians, we are deluded and doomed. Our devotional text says;
“THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.”
“For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” Romans 8:1-2 AMP
Genuine salvation will have a dedication coming from the new being created in our day of salvation through the power of regeneration and renewal of the Spirit. If your salvation lacks dedication, it’s a sign that that new being does not exist.
CONSEQUENTLY, YOU WILL BE LIVING YOUR CHRISTIAN LIFE AFTER THE DICTATE OF THE FLESH.
The scripture teaches that there is no condemnation; no eternal condemnation for those who live their Christian lives after the dictates of the Spirit. But those who do not, there is an eternal condemnation tag hanging on them. This should scare you. It should stir an awakening in your faith.
Come to think of it, if your Christian life is lived after the dictates of the flesh and not the Spirit, it is no longer a genuine Christian life, but a fake one that will end one in hell, because a genuine Christian life is not lived that way.
A Christian life that is lived after the dictates of the flesh will be full of the works of the flesh not the fruit of the Spirit, and that is very dangerous; I mean eternally dangerous. Apart from giving demons something to keep feeding in your life, and unleashing their activities upon you wherever you go, thereby making life difficult, it will put your eternal life in danger.
Another word for the works of the flesh is the practices of the sinful nature. A Christian life that does not care about the practices of the sinful nature it is engaging in, is not a genuine one. It is a Christless and cross-less Christian life and will end one in hell.
God’s word this morning is calling on us to return to the ways of our Bible fathers, to return to a Christianity that is created by a salvation with intense dedication to the LORD. It is a salvation with a daily dedication to the LORD that will give us a Christian life with no practices of the sinful nature. Amen!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!!
“Now the practices of the sinful nature are clearly evident: they are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control), idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions [that promote heresies],
envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21 AMP
