TODAY’S DEVOTION (Wednesday 14th October 2020)
“Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure; their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.” Isaiah 5:13-14 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 286th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
It is another glorious day from the LORD. Yesterday God woke us up in two matters of eternal destiny – being a help to people at the frontline of our battle against hell, and making sure our oil is intact.
If there is anything to keep watching for in our life now as Christians, it is not the date our singles will get married or jobless get jobs. As good as these things are, if there is anything to keep watching today, it is the date of the rapture or catching away of the saints.
We should not let anyone confuse us! We are in the season of the Rapture.
If our Oil is not sufficient, we should go to those who sale (the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost) to buy. It has nothing to do with money but paying the price that is required to have sufficient oil. We must be part of the wise and not the foolish virgins!
With this opening comments I welcome you to another great midweek in our season of Church in the house. I hope you will be ready to join us in our midweek service today on the Morning Cloud Television. Time to secure sufficient oil through an intimate knowledge of GOD.
People go into captivity because they do not have the intimate knowledge of God. There is the head knowledge of God and there is the intimate knowledge. Schooling in the things of God will take us from head knowledge to intimate knowledge. That is one of the things that God have been using the lockdown to do in our lives through Church in the House.
DUE TO THE IMPACT OF THE FALL OF MAN ON US, THERE ARE CERTAIN RESTORATIONS THAT WILL NEVER TAKE PLACE IN OUR LIVES BY PRAYER, AS IMPORTANT AS PRAYING IS.
They will only take place through schooling in the things of God! One of such restoration is what theologians call “the salvation of the total man.” And that is what we want to talk about this morning.
First it is the only way to be completely free from the practice and penalty of sin, the works of Satan, and the evil and corrupt system of this world. It is the only way to experience true and lasting deliverance from any evil work.
Freedom from the three begins with prayer, continues with the word and ends with prayer – the prayer of the righteous in need of help. You can see the importance of schooling in the things of God in the process. Without the intimate knowledge of God that is developed through that, even the prayer that will be involved in the process will not work, and there will be no ideal word to bring the desired change.
The salvation of the total man is the saving of the spirit, soul and body from sin, Satan and the evil and corrupt systems of this world by the power of the Holy Ghost! Jesus made that the product of His earthly ministry wherever He went. That was also what the early Church left as a trail wherever they went. But today people do not even know such words exist.
Friend, there are no words to describe what will be taking place in your life in this world, and what will take place in it in the world to come, if you have not experienced the salvation of total man.
If you do not experience the salvation of the total man in this world, you will never be free from a life of sin, demonic attacks or the satanic, neither will you be successful in anything you set your heart to do – marriage, Business, career, and etc. And in the world to come you will spend eternity in eternal fire.
Sadly, because many in church do not intimately know that real life begins after death we are not keen on important matters like these.
OUR PRESENT LIFE IS JUST A SHADOW OF THE REAL LIFE WHICH BEGINS AFTER DEATH.
That is why the greatest preparation a man should make in this life is not the preparation for marriage, ministry, or a trip to the white house in America. The greatest preparation a man should make in this life is the preparation to die. It is GOD’s will that we get ready for death as soon as we enter the years of accountability.
Here is how God prepares our lives for death; He will raise true voices to preach the true word to us, then plant us in a true Church and go forward to engage us in the execution of His true will on the face of the earth as written in Heaven for the rest of our days or years on earth.
The true voice (preacher), His true word, and the true Church He plants us in, will be used by His Holy Spirit to bring us to the realm of experiencing the salvation of the total man!
Amazingly, Jesus made it clear that it is those who prepared for death that actually lives long enough to fulfill their destiny. The reason is because of how it unleashes a grace from Heaven to their lives on earth. In their dictionary there are no such phrases as “premature death” or “fear of death.” Their preparation keeps them longer on earth than others because of the grace it bestows on them. He said in His word;
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:25-26 NKJV
I have come to discover that people who are afraid to die cannot adequately prepare for death. Most die carelessly as a result, and sometimes full of sin. There is no grace upon their lives to keep them from sin, Satan and the evil and corrupt system of this world.
If you start seeing death as a trip men take to the next life, it will redefine your relationship with Jesus and make God your Highest Priority in life. But if you are afraid to die, Jesus made it clear that you will lose your life. You will not just loose it to death, you will lose it to hell the spirit, and that will bring you to hell the place.
ONE MAJOR THINGS THAT AUTHENTIC SALVATION DOES TO US IS TO HELP US CONQUER THE FEAR DEATH. IT GETS US READY FOR THE LORD AT ALL TIMES!
But let me share some truths with you about the spirit of hell. If your life is not under the grip of the spirit of hell, you will never go to hell when you die. What we call “the salvation of the total man” will unplug your spirit, soul and body from the grip of hell. That is why when we say we are born again but operate as sons of hell, we should fear.
We should fear because we are still under the grip of hell the spirit, and if we die that way, hell the place will be our destination. But God forbids! Friend, it is the spirit of hell that takes men to the place called hell fire.
Just as we cannot go to Heaven until the Spirit of Heaven (the Spirit of God) lives in us, so can we not go to hell until the spirit of hell lives in us! The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Heaven. God pours Him upon our lives to seal our salvation and make sure we go to Heaven when we die.
In the same way, the enemy pours the spirit of hell into people to make sure they go to hell when they die. That is how things are, which is why we must support or minister back to God’s men and women in the frontline, fighting the battle against hell.
Their fight has a way of helping us stand in the faith. If they fall and stop fighting, those God has placed under their wings to overcome hell will also fall and become filled with the spirit of hell.
Yes, they will lose the shade they need to be protected from this spirit, because these men and women in the frontline are God’s big trees of righteousness providing shade from the younger trees of righteousness.
When the spirit of hell lives in a man, he may be a Bishop or just an ‘active’ Church member, Jesus sees Him as a son of hell who needs salvation. And so many we call sons of God today are by character sons of hell in need of salvation. The Bible made it clear that it is by our fruits that we are known not by our mouth confessions. Jesus said to the spiritual leaders of His days of flesh;
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” Matthew 23:15 NKJV
IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THIS BREED OF SPIRITUAL LEADERS AND THE CHURCH OF OUR DAYS? NO!
We also travel land and sea, and even air; to win one soul and when they are won we make them as twice sons of hell as we are. Check the people who are certified born again today, are they really born again?
Because of our crave for the earthly, we put so much emphasis on bringing them to Church and collecting their money in form of seeds, but no emphasis on putting Christ in them. If you bring people to Church without putting Christ in them, hell the spirit will enter and dwell in them. And since it can manifest like a religious spirit, it will just help the person to have a form of godliness but no power!
We must wake up to realize that mankind is in constant battle with hell, that is why Jesus said the gates of hell shall not prevail. The greatest way to secure a soul for Heaven therefore is not to put Church in him or her but to put Christ in them. A major Highlight in our devotional text this morning says;
“Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure; their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.”
One-way hell enlarges itself into the souls and spirits of men is through the media. That is why you must be careful what you hear or see.
Another way is through the money making spirit. That is why Jesus says we cannot serve God and mammon at the same time. But when hell enlarged itself towards a man’s soul and captures it, it may leave him in any form of religion that it found him in but make sure he does not have a fruitful relationship with Jesus Christ.
IT IS HELL THAT PUTS JESUS ON OUR LIPS AND NOT ALLOWS US TO SUBMIT OURSELVES ENOUGH TO HAVE HIM IN OUR HEARTS.
Hell will prefer us having the Cross on our necks than in our hearts. It will take our attention away from spiritual content and shift it to religious titles. It is the spirit that makes men title crazy and position seeking!
When hell enlarges itself towards a man’s soul, it will fill him with itself and make sure there is no room from the true God in his life. The ultimate vision of hell the spirit is to keep people out of true relationship with Jesus Christ and take them finally to hell the place when they die. It is the father of all lying prophets and heretic teachers.
Instead of having the Holy Ghost in you, it will prefer you having Oil in a bottle with you, and drink it all the time or have it poured on you. Hell the spirit knows that with the Holy Ghost in you it will never have you but with the anointing Oil with you, it will always have you. It will prefer men holding tight to the shadow than embracing the substance.
This spirit is a counterfeit of the Holy Spirit. It gives visions, prophecies, and tells some prophets what to do while ministering to people.
It will tell them to ask the people to pray with water because it is afraid that if living water flows out of them it is in trouble. It will move prophetess and prophets to ask that people bring this money or that money, bring salt or sand.
It will prefer them taking prophets to their villages to uproot things than taking their villages to Christ to uproot them from a life of sin. This spirit is afraid of the salvation of our entire families or entire villages.
It is responsible for all the errors and occult practices in the Church many call God. Your deliverance from this spirit is not possible without experiencing the salvation of the spirit, soul and body.
We can go on and on about this subtle and dangerous spirit but this is just a devotional. God wants you to start waging war personally against this spirit. And the only way you can do that is by submitting yourself to His Holy Spirit all the time so that Christ can be formed in you!
There are Churches that this spirit (hell) sits as king over. Wherever you see sexual perversion prevailing and accepted as the norm especially among pastors and church workers, this spirit is in charge there. Wherever gays and lesbians lead in Choir, this spirit is king there.
Wherever sin is called “weakness,” rebuke is called “judgment,” and conviction called “condemnation” the spirit of hell has established its base there.
You will always grow from a child of God to a son of hell in any local Church that hell sits as king over. That is why I call such places crowds and not Churches. Because hell can never find a place to sit in a true Church that is connected to her head – Christ. Yes, there could be sin issues to deal with and sinners to help out in such places, Jesus said He will build that Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!
It’s my prayer that God use these words to improve your walk and talk with Him this season of our lives, in Jesus precious name. AMEN!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:17-18 NKJV