TODAY’S DEVOTION (Tuesday 10TH November 2020)
“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.
But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.” Exodus 23:20-22 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 313TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING.
It please the LORD God almighty, creator of Heaven and earth to move us from a year of REJOICING to a year of HIGHER HEIGHTS. It has indeed been a journey, but we are just in the middle of it, for there is still a long glorious season ahead of us.
Yesterday’s devotion was about God’s Spiritual Feeding program. It is a refreshing word from a word in season that came some time back, and we are continuing in the same flow today.
By now, it’s clear that proper spiritual feeding program has a way of bringing us into divine seasons. One of the seasons that the spiritual feeding we had during this lockdown brought us into is a season of repentance and revelation. Genuine repentance will bring times of refreshing; times of refreshing will birth fresh walk with GOD.
THE Bible says GOD is not willing that anyone should perish. One way He enforces that is by showing mercy and giving our spirits something to feed on, until the yoke of sin is broken.
Like we shared yesterday, the greatest call on the human race is the call to come and be fed. Only those who obey that call will be saved.
It all begins with accepting Jesus Christ as LORD and savior, and continues with taking a seat in His Spiritual Feeding Home (a strong prophetic and apostolic feeding center) to be feed until you become a temple for Him in the Spirit.
YOU FIND THIS PATTERN IN THE EARLY CHURCH. THE BIBLE SAYS,
“Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Acts 2:41-42 NKJV
In other words, they took their seats in “God’s spiritual Food home” established for them shortly after surrendering to Jesus, and continued steadfastly, feeding on the apostle’s doctrines through fellowship until Christ was fully formed in them.
From this scripture, we can see that anyone who gives his life to Christ without finding a “spiritual food center” or “an apostolic and prophetic food home” to sit and be fed spiritually will take it back as soon as the impact is over. Some will take it back by openly going back to the world, living their old lifestyles and even worst.
Others will take it back by secretly going back to their old lifestyles and still coming to church calling it weakness. That is when you cannot see any difference between us and the lost sinners. I was told of a pastor who went drinking in a drinking spot boasting of how much he has made through tithes and offerings. That is a man who has taken His life back from Christ.
The Bible further described them this way;
“They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.” Titus 1:16 NKJV
We have different ways we take our lives back from Christ after giving it to Him. That is when a life of Holiness will disappear from our walk with GOD. Everything sinful will become acceptable and treated with kids’ glove. The consciousness of God’s judgment, and the need to live a holy and righteous life kindled by a salvation experience will disappear. Leaving us with a form of godliness without power.
ALL THESE BOILS DOWN TO NOT HAVING A PROPER SPIRITUAL FEEDING CENTER.
There are also those who have proper spiritual centers but are not opening their hearts to be fed, hence taking their lives back from the LORD like those who do not. Either you have or not, anyone who allows his or her spirit to grow weak for not being fed, will eventually die spiritually and begin to fall into sin. From falling, he or she may go deeper to living in sin. Friend, it can be dangerous!
That brings us to the difference between receiving Christ as LORD and receiving Him as savior.
Most of us in the Christian faith live lives that shows that we have received Christ as LORD but are yet to receive Him as savior. Sadly, many of us do not know that it is not just accepting Jesus as savior that will take us to Heaven, but accepting Him as LORD!
Friend, there is a difference between accepting Jesus as LORD and accepting Him as savior.
LORD means owner, it kills your right and embraces His. It kills your will and embraces His. It kills your way of life and embraces His. That is why the fruit of accepting Him as savior is a form of godliness without character, but the fruit of accepting Him as LORD is a life of repentance and constant departure from evil.
That is why it’s easier to accept Him as savior than to accept Him as LORD.
It’s like the difference between getting married and staying married. You can accept Jesus as savior in a Crusade ground just as you can get married anywhere, but you cannot accept Him as LORD until you find a spiritual food house to sit and be fed, committing yourself unconditionally to Him until you are no more.
Accepting Him as savior may require the repetition of what we call “the sinners prayer.” So it can be done with the mouth but with or without the heart. But accepting Him as LORD is done in deeper place of our Hearts, resulting in a radical change of life. It brings a heart transformation that results in a new life – a life of holiness and righteousness that keeps your spirit quickened towards God’s ways and will.
So those who have accepted Jesus Christ as LORD cannot go into a marriage, or business, join a church or pursue a career, live in this or that City, or do anything outside God’s will or divine approval.
THE APOSTLES KNEW THIS SECRET THAT WAS WHY THEY NEVER CERTIFIED ANYONE SAVED IN A HURRY.
They knew if one accepts Christ as savior without finding a spiritual food house to sit and be fed until Christ becomes His LORD, he is not established yet. One day he will go back to Egypt (a life of sin, crafted by Satan using the evil and corrupt systems of the world).
The purpose of strong apostolic teaching centers like the Cry of the Spirit Ministries therefore, is to greatly help those who have believed in Christ to develop a personal walk and talk with God through proper spiritual feeding, and come to a place on unconditional commitment to Christ. Only then will Jesus become their LORD!
There are no words to describe HOW GLORIOUS your life will become when Jesus becomes both your LORD and savior!
The first thing that will happen is, you will no longer see, talk, or come under any successful attacks of the enemy. Personal fight against your enemies will disappear. Jesus will take over your battle and give you rest on every side. That is why one major thing you see in the life those who have made Jesus their savior, but are yet to make Him their LORD, is a constant battle against enemies.
You will see restlessness in their lives; always in constant fight against all kinds of enemies;
1. Perceived Enemies
2. Supposed Enemies
3. Fathom enemies
4. Enemies that are just a Mirage, and
5. Very few Real enemies
THE FIRST THING GOD DOES TO YOU IF YOU MAKE JESUS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD IS TO GIVE YOU REST ON EVERY SIDE.
That brings us to our devotional text. It says,
“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.
But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.”
The word angel means messenger. It was a messianic expression of the presence of the pre-incarnate Christ among them.
In other words, Jesus Christ was the Angel God referred to. He was among the Israelites as a pillar of cloud by Day and a pillar of Fire by Night. The Bible calls Him the messenger of the New Covenant. But today He is among us through the His Word and Spirit.
Making Him LORD involves obeying His word and Spirit, and doing all that He tells us to do (as contained in His word and enabled by his Spirit). When that happens, He will become an enemy to our enemies, giving us rest from the days of adversity.
He will not just give us rest from the days of adversity but from the slavery to sin, Satan and the evil and corrupt system of this world also. A lot of other things happen when Jesus becomes your LORD. But we cannot go into them in a devotional.
What is the message today? The message is simple. The greatest need of your life therefore, is not marriage, money, freedom from generational curses or evil altars. The greatest need of your life right now is a spiritual food house where you can be properly fed and brought to the faith position, where Jesus will become your LORD and savior. When that happens, whatever you may be looking for will begin to look for you!
It’s a New Day!
THIS SCRIPTURE CAN BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not [practice] what I tell you? For everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words [in order to heed their teaching] and does them, I will show you what he is like:
He is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood arose, the torrent broke against that house and could not shake or move it, because it had been securely built or founded on a rock.
But he who merely hears and does not practice doing My words is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation, against which the torrent burst, and immediately it collapsed and fell, and the breaking and ruin of that house was great. Luke 6:46-49 AMP