TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Tuesday 26th January 2021)
“So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.
‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”‘” Zechariah 4:6-7 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 26TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS
God has given us another day again to be alive. Most of us are not even worthy to wake up this morning, but the LORD’s mercies made it possible. We take this day as an act of mercy to amend our ways, seek His face, and live according to His purpose for our lives.
Faithfully the LORD has been feeding us through these devotionals. We have been receiving His proceeding word day after day.
Indeed,
“Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
Words that proceed from the mouth of God are “containers” of divine treasure. They carry everything we need and will ever need from God to live and thrive on the face of the earth.
That is why, if you are in need of anything from God look for a word from Him that will deliver it to you.
For instance, if you are looking for edification, comfort or exhortation, look for a word of Prophecy as you absorb this devotional, mediate on the scriptures or fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Also when the opportunity comes, do not forsake the assembling of the brethren because as we assemble in corporate fellowship, God sends words of prophecy in form of teaching, preaching or prophesying.
If you are looking for deliverance from any kind of destruction, look for a word of rebuke, correction, redemption, power, healing, restoration, wisdom, direction or instruction from the LORD. When it comes, it will inflate your faith and move you in the direction that will bring that destruction to an end. The Bible says,
“Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” Psalm 107:17-20 KJV
If you are always in one affliction or the other, look for a word that will stir you towards spiritual growth. Find a Church that God is using to terminate spiritual immaturity.
SADLY, THERE ARE VERY FEW OF SUCH CHURCHES AROUND TODAY.
Over 90 percent of local churches on earth do not center on perfecting or maturing the saints. They center on other things; very eternal irrelevant things. That is why we have so many infants in the faith who believe so many things that are biblically baseless.
We even have those who allow the enemy to use them thinking it is GOD that is using them. We have so many Baby pastors, prophets and etc. and baby members eating polluted spiritual foods and happy in it. Some of them are old in natural age but still infants in spiritual matters. That is why they defend charlatans and finance the ministries of those who have no business in the kingdom.
While some take shadows to be substance, drinking oil, using sand, salt, water, clothes, candles, and etc. to pray, others serve themselves un-holy communion they call holy communion. Many others live in sin and all kinds of unclean things calling it their weaknesses. When the Spirit of God uses you to correct or rebuke them, they tell you “don’t judge me, we are all sinners.”
They put on spiritually appalling resistance to the true God and stick to falsehood without knowing it is falsehood. They take those who try to correct them as critics and haters and keep themselves in the Broadway that lead to destruction.
Friend, spiritual infancy is the reason for the persistent troubles of many in different local churches.
I want you to get this straight; there are devils that will not leave you when you pray or fast. They will not leave you even when you are prayed for. They will only leave you when you grow up! Do not forget that and do not mix it up!
That is why the enemy prefer keeping you in a church that is not maturing you. A church that does not have what it takes to mature people other than ordain them into this or that, using the length of time they have fellowshipped there as a yardstick or their financial contributions.
INSTEAD OF THE MATURING OF THE SAINTS YOU FIND THE MERCHANDISING OF THE SAINTS IN SO MANY ASSEMBLIES.
They teach things that were practiced in Judaism because they are the greatest money making doctrines today. They tell you why you must give first fruits every, why you must be redeemed as first born, why you must pray with mud, or any other thing.
They deep you in water or bath you with it and get you anointed with gallons or bottles of oil. They do all that will bring money out of your pocket and do not care about your spiritual maturity.
They know, when you grow up, you will no longer be fooled to do such things. Spiritual maturity is what makes a sheep bold enough to leave a place where error is cooked and served to the people as the gospel.
It is what makes a sheep humble enough to submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit to go to where he or she will be matured and perfected, not just for the work of the ministry, but for eternal life with Christ; a ministry that contains the five-fold ministry grace of God all in one in the mantle. The Bible says,
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the [e]edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,” Ephesians 4:11-14 NKJV
Satan loves keeping the saints in an infantal faith level where they can be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. He loves keeping you satisfied with a spiritual place where you can be move about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of their deceitful plotting.
He loves keeping you in a Church where you cannot be matured but just ordained a deacon, deaconess, pastor or Church worker. That is why we find so any baby church workers and preachers today. Even among those we call Bishops, there are so many Babies.
THAT IS WHY THEY SEE THE ORDINATION OF THESE SPIRITUAL INFANTS AS THE GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT IN MINISTRY.
If you want to be a perfected or matured believer, do not go to a Church overseen by a man or women with GREAT TITLES. Go to a church overseen by a man with GREAT GRACE to bring you to realms of experiential knowledge of Christ.
You will not need an evangelistic, pastoral or just a teaching ministry to be matured, you will need all the five-fold to be matured. I know what I am talking about. That was how I was matured.
I learned by experience that you will need a spiritual leader with the dimensions of the five-fold to be matured. People with God’s given grace to demystify the scriptures and turn them to living bread for babes in Christ, life giving meat for sons and blueprint for kingdom builders.
Sadly, these breed is very rare. In my days, for instance, I could only find two in the whole Nigeria. I sat under one of the two that I found for almost 8 years.
Either you believe it or not, none of those with very great followership in Nigerian Church today carry the five-fold ministry graces all-in-one. If you really know what this graces are, you will believe me. All those at the cutting edge are only evangelists by content. That was why my search took me so long.
I had to be traveling for 9 hours weekly to go there all those years. I was looking for Christ not His miracles. Churches around could only offer His miracles but not His person. I will looking for a Church that offers His person, hence the long journeys!
Friend not all will understand this; only sons of the Kingdom will understand. Some will call me “holier than thou” because they are still babies in spiritual matters. Others will say am critiquing other churches because they are yet to touch Christ in person. But sons of the Kingdom will understand me perfectly.
I have sat under all leading preachers in Nigeria, none of them has the five-fold ministry grace dimensions all in one. Many have age and experience in ministry that are very helpful but not the five-fold ministry grace as a package. A ministry grace is not an experience but a gift from God to use in ministering to His people.
The two I knew then do not even have the fame, fortune or followership of the leading preachers. But they have the five-fold ministry grace as a package. They filled me with the awe of God but not many people love their ministries. They called them all many of names like am being called today.
Off course people love following evangelists by content because they are trained to minister to their hurts without concern for how they are living their private lives.
The crowd will always press to ministries that serve them bread – ministries that minister to the hurts of life. They will not care about growing in spiritual stature. Jesus had some in His days and refused to commit Himself to them. Just as He is refusing to commit Himself to the ones we have today. The Bible says;
“Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.
But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” John 2:23-25 NKJV
These mega churches have people who believe in Jesus because of the miracle they are seeing but do not have people Jesus has committed Himself to. That is why they are full of people with no personal revelation of Christ. They do not really know Him in person. They know Him by the hearing of the ear not experimentally.
THAT IS WHY THEY CAN LIVE IN THIS SIN AND THAT SIN AND SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH IT.
You even find so many calling the antichrist Christ. You find them supporting antichrist agenda both in Church and outside the Church calling it the work of GOD. The Bible made it clear that when the antichrist comes, he will win the world through a conflict resolution scheme. It will present itself as a peace maker. That is why it will be difficult to identify him without spiritual maturity.
We must understand that the fact that we believe in Christ does not mean He will commit Himself to us. It is what our hearts seek that determine if He will commit Himself to us or not. If our hearts are seeking his acts, He will not commit Himself to us. But if we are seeking His ways and His person, He will commit Himself to us.
If our hearts are seeking money by His help, He will not commit Himself to us, but if our hearts are seeking the true riches of the Kingdom, the riches of His grace, the riches of His mercies, and the riches of His glory; He will commit Himself to us. It is what our hearts seek that determines if He will commit Himself to us not what our mouths seek.
If Christ has not committed Himself to you, making Heaven will be impossible. You could make earth by succeeding in every area of life, even through His miracles like the people in His days saw, but will never make Heaven. You will not make Heaven because you will lack a personal revelation of Christ.
It takes a personal revelation of Christ to our hearts (or in our hearts) for us to become Heaven worthy. It is the personal revelation of Christ in our hearts, born from seasons of personal encounters with Him that perfects or mature us in the faith.
Many years ago, the LORD led me to carry out a spiritual appraisal of the spiritual states of members of mega Churches in Nigeria; even their pastors.
What led to this was very funny. I had been carried away by the wealth and glory they have and sought to work with one of the Churches. I knew then that I will never lack in life if I become their pastor. That was when the Spirit of the LORD stepped in and led me to first of all carry out a spiritual appraisal.
It involved sitting down under them from time to time. I discovered so many things about them and their members. Everything look so beautiful and attractive. The thirst for miracle is so high but the thirst for GOD so low.
Succeeding on earth is the greatest desire. Making Heaven do not exist in their lexicons because they have already been giving an assurance of salvation. Most of them without any salvation in their lives.
They have so many spiritual plagues; the worst of all is spiritual immaturity.
As I move from one mega Church to another carrying out my studies, I found out that so many people who belong there do not have a personal revelation of Christ. At most you will find many with a personal revelation of their papa or mama. It was a sorry state to behold. That was one of the things the LORD did to turn me away and bring me to the boundaries of my calling.
Our devotional text says,
“So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
God knows that making Heaven or growing in our walk with Him is not by might nor by power but by His Spirit. That is why He positioned the five-fold ministries in the body. They are the tools the Holy Spirit uses in perfecting the saints, not just for the work of the ministry but for every other thing that has to do with our salvation.
When we are matured, we will begin to present our bodies and faculties as instruments of righteousness, serving the LORD as slaves (Slave Sons) of righteousness.
In every generation God will raise ministries that has the five-fold ministry grace as all-in-one to mature us in the faith. May you find one and submit to it until you become all that He has called you in Christ to be, in Jesus precious name.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY;
“Return, O backsliding children,” says the LORD; “for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
“Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days,” says the LORD, “that they will say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore. Jeremiah 3:14-16 NKJV