TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 13TH DECEMBER 2022)
“So, I asked the angel who talked with me, what’s are these, my lord? Then the angel who talked with me answered me, do you not know what these are? And I said, no, my lord.
Then he said to me, this [ addition of the bowl to the candlestick, causing it to yield a ceaseless supply of oil from the olive tress] is the word of the LORD to Zerubabel, saying, not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit [of when the oil is a symbol], says the LORD of host.
For who are you, O great mountain [of human obstacles] Before Zerubabel [Who with Joshua had led the return of the exiles from Babylon and was undertaking the rebuilding of the temple, before him] you shall become a plain [ a mere molehill]! And he shall bring forth the finishing gable stone [of the new temple] with loud shoutings of the people crying, Grace, grace to it” Zechariah 4:4-7 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 348TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
We give God the glory for keeping us alive and for being our merciful Father to us and showing it by doing things we do not deserve. Day unto day we see His compassion towards us and feel the impact of the utterance of His mercies.
Indeed, if the LORD should mark iniquity none shall stand. But there is forgiveness with Him so that He may be feared.
He has never dealt with us according to our sins but according to His faithfulness. He has reserved one day in His redemptive plans to deal with man according to His sins. The Bible calls that day “The Great and Terrible Day of the LORD” But until then, He will keep dealing with us according to His mercies and faithfulness because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Wisdom demands we make use of His mercies and ask Him for grace to rise from the grave of our sins and wickedness, and step into the very life we were originally predestined to live on earth. Which is usually not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of the LORD.
God made it clear that overcoming a life of sin and living a righteous and pure life will never be possible through human’s will to live right but by the dynamic working of His Holy Spirit. He made that clear all through the days before the cross by the use of the holy anointing Oil.
The Oil was a symbol of the Spirit. The use of it was a message to that generation that a generation is coming that will carry the real oil of the Spirit, which cannot be put in horns or bottles. The reason they put the oil in horns then was symbolic also. Horn symbolize the voice of the LORD.
The oil in the horns was symbolic of what will serve as instrument for the release of the Spirit. That is why I feel pity for those who use oil in the horns today and anoint others, calling it ordination and all that.
THEY ARE IN ERROR THEREBY MISLEADING THE CHURCH.
The oil in the horn was a message to that generation; that the Voice of the LORD will be an instrument for the release of the Holy Spirit on a generation that will be born. That generation was born after the Cross. It is a special generation called the Church of Jesus Christ.
The Bible described that generation this way;
“….a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9-10 NKJV
It is a generation of men and women who were not a people of God, but are now a people of God. They had not obtained mercy, but have now obtained mercy. The Bible calls it a chosen generation because of the things they are chosen to fulfill in Christ.
If you are truly saved, you are part of this unique generation.
Yes, you are the fulfillment of amazing prophecies that spoke about the end of symbolic use of things and the beginning of the manifestation of what they really meant. We are not a generation of symbolic use of things. We are the generation that is to manifest their actual meanings.
But in things like these, you will still find those who will hold on to the symbols because of the monetary gains and other things they get from it, ushering in unclean spirits to work among those they minister to.
So, when the oil was being put in the horn in the Old Testament, it was a symbolic thing that held a great prophetic message for our generation. That generation followed the leading of the LORD carefully, and used horns to convey the oil, anointing people with it, thereby preparing the ground for our generation to manifest the meaning or message of what they did.
THE FIRST PEOPLE TO MANIFEST THE MEANING OR THE MESSAGE WERE OUR APOSTOLIC FATHERS IN THE EARLY CHURCH.
As earlier stated, the message of the Oil in the horn is this; the Voice of the LORD will be an instrument for the release of the Holy Spirit on a generation that will be born in the end times. That was it.
Our fathers knew it; hence you cannot find where the oil was put in a horn and used to anoint anyone for anything among them. People were ordained by the laying on of hands not the pouring of oil on their heads using ram horns. The voice of the LORD they carried unleashed the oil of the Holy Spirit on the lives of those they spoke to.
The House of Cornelius in the book of acts was one place this was demonstrated. The Bible says;
“Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.
The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom [m]they killed by hanging on a tree.
Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.
And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. Acts 10:34-44 NKJV
IF YOU LOOK AT THE LAST VERSE, YOU WILL NOTICE WHAT I MEAN.
The Bible says while Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon them. In other words, while Peter was conveying the voice of the LORD to them (which is the horn of today), the oil that was in the voice (in the horn for today), came out it and fell upon the people. We taste this in our church over and over.
We see the manifestation of the oil of the Holy Spirit in the horn of GOD’s word on those who sit to listen every time we assembly at our Church hall for meetings. It is so real! You will feel sad missing it all these years the first time you experience it.
The life and ministries of our early fathers tells us that the mystery of the oil in a ram’s horn today is no longer an oily liquid in a ram’s horn from Israel, but the Holy Spirit in the voice of the LORD. Our generation must wake up to this reality!
When Peter was sent to the house of Cornelius, he went there with a ram’s horn in his Spirit not in his hands. The horn was the voice of the LORD in his spirit, and the oil in the horn was the Spirit of God in his life. We do not carry the oil in the horn in our hands today, we carry them in our spirits.
In bible terms, we say “It is no longer like Samuel did when he was anointing David, it is now like Peter Did when he visited the house of Cornelius.”
The Bible is clear that When Samuel was still interceding for Saul, God said to him;
…. “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have [a]provided Myself a king among his sons.” 1 Samuel 16:1 NKJV
Today, from what we can see clearly in the scriptures, God will never tell anyone to fill a physical horn with oil; He will tell them to get their lives filled with the Spirit and voice of the LORD, by spending time with Him in prayer, fasting and feasting on His word, before going out to stand before people to speak His word to them.
His desire is to see His present-day Holy Anointing oil, His blessed Holy Spirit, running our lives.
IT IS HIS BLESSED HOLY SPIRIT THAT PREPARES US FOR HIS PRESENCE.
That brings us to the focus of our 31-day journey of faith – the presence of GOD. Do not forget today is the 13th day of the journey. The greatest vision of God for our lives is that we grow from His manifest presence to His indwelling presence. Yes, He wants us to move from divine visitation to divine habitation.
We saw all that yesterday.
However, that is not possible if we still carry oil in our hands or in a horn. It will only be possible if we experience a ceaseless flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we experience a ceaseless flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will be able to move from God’s Omni presence to His indwelling presence, through the gates of His manifest presence.
I hope you understand!
The necessity of a ceaseless flow of the Spirit in the life of the end time Church was what God revealed to Zachariah, an Old Testament saint who functioned as one of the messianic prophets of his times. Our devotional text captured what he said after seeing the vision that was sent to convey the message to him.
The text says;
“So, I asked the angel who talked with me, what are these, my lord? Then the angel who talked with me answered me, do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
Then he said to me, this [addition of the bowl to the candlestick, causing it to yield a ceaseless supply of oil from the olive trees] is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit [of Whom the oil is a symbol], says the Lord of hosts.
For who are you, O great mountain [of human obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who with Joshua had led the return of the exiles from Babylon and was undertaking the rebuilding of the temple, before him] you shall become a plain [a mere molehill]! And he shall bring forth the finishing gable stone [of the new temple] with loud shoutings of the people, crying, Grace, grace to it!” Zechariah 4:4-7 AMPC
Now, there is so much here that we cannot uncover on this platform. But we will see the bit we can share.
THE “CANDLE STICK” WAS A SYMBOL OF THE CHURCH THAT WOULD BE BORN AFTER THE CROSS.
Today it has been born. So, we do not go lighting candles again. That will be sorcery. The ceaseless supply of oil from the olive trees symbolizes the ceaseless flow of the Holy Spirit that the Church that would be born will experience from the LORD through His two Olive trees.
The olive trees were two because everything Christ will use His true church to do will be wrapped in two mantles designed for the end time. The mantles are the Moses mantle and the Elijah mantle. That was why the two were the ones who came to meet Jesus on the Mountain of Transfiguration. But our deep concern here is the role of the Holy Spirit in preparing us for God’s indwelling presence.
God wants us to come to the place of His indwelling presence. A lot are not there yet. If we come to that place, the Church will put on her garments of righteousness. She will become glorious, blameless, and without spots or wrinkles. Words like, “no one is perfect” will no longer come out of our mouths because she will be perfect.
Yes, she will become fair as the moon, clear as the Sun of righteousness Himself, and terrible like an army with banners.
Friend the greatest vision of God for your life is not marriage, money, houses, successful career, and all that. While there is nothing wrong with any of that, understand that the greatest vision of God for your life is that you become a temple for Him in the Spirit.
He wants to live in us and use us to transform the moral landscapes of our nations. But that will never be possible if we do not come to the place of experiencing a ceaseless flow of the Oil (the Holy Spirit) through the mantles (grace dimensions) of the two olive trees.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!
“My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.
Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?” Song of Solomon 6:9-10 KJV