TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 27TH DECEMBER 2022)
“Such things are only a shadow of what is to come and they have only symbolic value; but the substance [the reality of what is foreshadowed] belongs to Christ.
Let no one defraud you of your prize [your freedom in Christ and your salvation] by insisting on mock humility and the worship of angels, going into detail about visions [he claims] he has seen [to justify his authority], puffed up [in conceit] by his unspiritual mind,
and not holding fast to the head [of the body, Jesus Christ], from whom the entire body, supplied and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth [that can come only] from God.” Colossians 2:17-19 AMP
WELCOME TO THE 361ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. What a day to be alive and well. Just four days to the end of the year according tom the Gregorian calendar. I hope we are already!
Personally, God have been merciful to me this year. It would have been a year of ruin and destruction because of what the enemy planned. I have evidence to show. But God’s mercies were far stronger than all that was done to bring ruin and destruction. My being here in one piece today and seeing what GOD is doing by our hands, is evidence of His mercies towards me. I know you also have your own victory story to tell.
Yes, this is the season of sharing our survival stories. Things the LORD did in our lives by His amazing grace, despite our terrible sins, spiritual recklessness and laziness, and in most cases ignorance, to bring us to the end of the year in one piece.
Aren’t you glad that God deals with us according to His faithfulness not according to our sins, ignorance or spiritual recklessness? He can not be tired urging us to repent. He cannot be tired forgiving our sins because He is both our judgment seat, redemption sacrifice and our mercy seat all at the same time. He cannot be tired of using our repentance to work our His plans and purposes for our lives.
I DO NOT KNOW IF YOU HAVE OTHER GODS. BUT JESUS CHRIST IS THE BEST GOD TO SERVE.
People who lack revelation do not recognize Him as GOD, but put him in the class of a prophet or founder of Christian religion. He is God who came down in the flesh so that He could die and redeem us from sin, its penalty, practice and presence; because the wages of sin is death, so He had to die.
He is our judgment seat, our redemption sacrifice and our mercy seat. If you understand all that, you will not be scammed by any altar raising, seed sowing and redemption of first offerings or first fruits taking preacher or minister.
So, we do not need to raise altars of sacrifice and all that. He is our sacrifice. We do not need to sow a seed for our deliverance, He is the seed. The bible made it clear that it is through knowledge captives are delivered not through seed sowing, lengthy fasting, what many call deliverance prayers and all that. Not through smearing of heads of things with oil, not through feet washing, or any other practices carved out of the doctrine of men and demons.
This may not make sense to someone out there because not every heart has been circumcised, but that is the truth and we have proofs in our Church in Kenya. I believe there are other apostolic churches with same proofs.
The manifestation of Christ as our judgment seat prevents the consequences of what we may have done form falling upon us. His manifestation as our mercy seat makes sure we survive despite any decisions we may have taken, that may have put us in a very bad position in life.
His manifestation as our redemption sacrifice delivers us from paying any other sacrifices for our freedom from sin, Satan and the evil and corrupt system of this world.
It bought us from the kingdom of darkness that we were sold into through the sin of Adam and made us slaves of righteousness, paying only the sacrifice of laying down our bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable to Him. Any other sacrifice any preacher made you pay is a scam.
IT IS GEARED TOWARDS MAKING HIS SELFISH DESIRES.
That is why the Bible says;
“Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship.” Romans 12:1 AMP
This is the only sacrifice we pay under the new covenant.
The saints of Old paid what some preachers ask people to pay today because that was the order then. Jesus, the one that was to be the redemption sacrifice had not come then, so they needed to do all that as a shadow. The offered animal sacrifices and did all they did to unlock divine help just as a shadow of what was to come.
In fact, animal and material sacrifices were the other of the day.
But today, all that has been fulfilled in Christ, the next person that they need to be fulfilled in is you. Yes, you. And until that happens you will keep having your life paraded by the activities of darkness. We are the generation that is to fulfill all they did as fulfilled in Christ. A major portion of our devotional text says;
“Such things are only a shadow of what is to come and they have only symbolic value; but the substance [the reality of what is foreshadowed] belongs to Christ.” Colossians 2:17AMP
Sadly, it is the symbolic value of the practices as experienced or enjoyed by the old testament saints that the preachers of today are using to seduce, influence, and woo present day believers to practice the things. For instance, they offered their first fruit offerings as sacrifices to God. The symbolic value was their barns abundantly full of wheat and vats abundantly overflowing with harvest. The order then was;
“Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your crops (income); Then your barns will be abundantly filled and your vats will overflow with new wine.” Proverbs 3:9-10 AMP
THEIR CROPS WERE THEIR INCOME THEN BECAUSE IT WAS AN AGRARIAN CULTURE.
That was God instructed that they use in practicing the beautiful redemption ordinance. He instructed that they use it because it fits into what was on its way to fulfill the it – Christ and the Church.
But today we are not to offer what they offered. We are to offer our bodies by dedicating all of ourselves to God, as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to Him. Which will result in the development of the character of Christ (who is now the first fruit) in our lives.
When they character of Christ develops, the result will be the barns of our faith abundantly filled with revelation, and the vats of our spirits abundantly overflowing with the new wine of God’s indwelling presence in its full strength. That is what Satan prevents by making you and others practice the giving of first fruits the way the Old Testament saints did.
The fulfilment of the first fruit offering in Christ was His resurrection from the dead. He is the first fruit because He is the first to come out of the grave, along with our fathers; the Old Testament Saints. You see that in the book of Matthew were the Bible says;
“The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints (God’s people) who had fallen asleep [in death] were raised [to life]; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city (Jerusalem) and appeared to many people.” Matthew 27:52-53 AMP
This beautiful event took the place as a fulfilment of first fruits in Christ. That was why our fathers, Paul, Peter, and the rest of the disciples did not give first fruits. The only practices that were left with them due to limited revelation was bodily circumcision and the use of Oil. You see that in the Book of Acts and the book of James.
Sadly, because of the symbolic value of those practices, though bodily circumcision was laid to rest during the first apostolic council meeting in the Bible, people still use oil today. They use it to smear on others, on themselves and etc.
IT IS SOLD BY CHARLATANS IN THE GARMENT OF MEN OF GOD AND PEOPLE BUY THEM.
They buy them because of their symbolic value. Consequently, denying its fulfilment in their lives, which would have given them rest from the days of adversity. So, the first was fulfilled in Christ through His resurrection and the resurrection of the Old Testament saints.
The Bible calls Christ the first fruit of God from the earth. We will be the next fruit. Through the rapture of the Church that will take place.
In simple terms, He is the first fruit, and we are the next fruits. The next fruit is not to give first fruits offerings. The next fruit is to allow the giving of first fruits offerings to be fulfilled in his life.
Trust me, the devil will prefer you giving first fruits as money or material things instead of having it fulfilled in your life as a New Testament saint. Because as a new Testament saint, it is not your first salary of the year or any other thing that is your first fruit.
In fact, you are not to give first fruits. You are to allow it to be fulfilled in your life. And Satan knows what you will become in God’s hands if you do that. He prefers imagining it than seeing it in reality, hence keeping you in the religion of giving first fruits using the symbolic value of it written in Provers 3:9-10.
The rest of our devotional text says;
Let no one defraud you of your prize [your freedom in Christ and your salvation] by insisting on mock humility and the worship of angels, going into detail about visions [he claims] he has seen [to justify his authority], puffed up [in conceit] by his unspiritual mind,
and not holding fast to the head [of the body, Jesus Christ], from whom the entire body, supplied and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth [that can come only] from God.” Colossians 2:17-19 AMP
How many people can you see in Church today that are being defrauded of their prized freedom in Christ and their deliverance or salvation by well-meaning and sometimes genuinely called preachers? So many!
In fact, there are entire Churches made of millions in Nigeria that are being defrauded by their Daddy G.Os, Papas, Bishops, Prophets, Apostles and all that.
THAT IS WHY I SAID A GENUINE PREACHER WHO DOES SOMETHING THAT IS BIBLICALLY INCORRECT IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN A FALSE PREACHER.
People will walk away from the false but embrace the genuine who is doing what is false. That is why Jesus said;
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad and easy to travel is the path that leads the way to destruction and eternal loss, and there are many who enter through it.
But small is the gate and narrow and difficult to travel is the path that leads the way to [everlasting] life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 AMP
Many enter into the wide gate of faith that leads to destruction not just because it has a path that is easy to travel in, but because those leading them into it are genuine men and women of God who have very noble intentions, and have been instrumental to their rise in life.
That is the greatest undoing of this group of people. They do not know how to separate sentiment maters from destiny maters. They lack what it takes to break from such ties.
Sadly, there are whole churches on earth today, especially in Nigeria, with multitudes of their members on this terrible gate of faith with easy path to hell because of this tie.
They forget that destiny matters are bigger than any beautiful thing a man or woman of God who may have done great in our lives.
While we should remain grateful to God and to them for what they did in our lives, we are to detach from them, their ministries and churches completely, saving ourselves from the wrong practices they are teachings us to practice, and delivering ourselves from the broad gate of faith with an easy path to hell they are carving out for those under them.
Friend, the fulfillment of the first fruit in your life as the indwelling presence of God in its fullness is what you should go for not the giving of first fruits to get its symbolic value.
ITS SYMBOLIC VALUE TODAY DISPLAYED BY THE PREACHERS WHO MAKE PEOPLE GIVE IT IS A FAÇADE FROM HELL.
The idea is to stop you from pressing into its fulfilment in your life. Because from the mystery of the seven classes of eternal life in scriptures, it is very clear that until the practice of first fruit is fulfilled in a man, he may not make Heaven or unleash needed dimensions of Heaven on earth.
That is why we must not allow ourselves to be carried away by the symbolic values of these practices, especially as displayed before us by the ministries of these broad gate preachers.
Every child of God must understand that spiritual leaders who are influencing or leading others into the narrow gate of faith, with a path that is difficult to travel in but with everlasting life as the destination, are not spectacular and attractive in ministry.
They are not everywhere like the other ones. They do not have governmental acceptance sometimes. Their likes and views on social media are very small most of the times. That is why they are sometimes difficult to find.
Besides their near invisibility, Jezebel Church members and their pastors have the devilish habit of placing wrong descriptions on their reputation, just to hinder people from experiencing the liberation truths on their lips.
I received a testimony few days back that almost brought tears out of my eyes.
A young man here in a place called Machakos in Kenya, sent me a message that was like, “I was told that you do not respect fathers in the land, hence refused to listen to you. But one day I was caught by the devotionals you published and today I am blessed. Keep preaching the message, keep on shouting the truth….”
This is an example of how Jezebel gives us a bad name to prevent people from coming to hear the word. The people did not explain to them my controversy with their so-called fathers of faith. They just labelled me “not respecting fathers.”
I respect fathers but not Old Prophets because the one who respected an old prophet in the Bible died. Go read 1 Kings 13 yourself!
It may interest you to know who an Old Prophet is today.
When a preacher peddles Old Testament practices, or do a mix of both Old and New to establish scriptures that carves out money making practices, like raising of altars or doctrines of men and demons like use holy water, salt, oil and etc., he or she is an old Prophet.
The lions of curses from your father’s house and all manner of evil will keep feeding on you until you detach from them. We can go on and on, but enough have been shared for the day.
God sent this word as part of our 31-day journey of faith with the Cry of His Holy Spirit on having His Presence in our lives.
Today is the 27th day of the journey, and I believe what He brought today has added to the building blocks of our faith on the subject. It is my prayer that our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ will use every detail of it to keep building us up and giving us an inheritance among they that are sanctified in Christ. Amen!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“for when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.)
Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go into the land to all the sources of water and to all the streams; perhaps we may find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, and not have to kill some of the cattle.”
So they divided the land between them to survey it. Ahab went one way by himself and Obadiah went another way by himself. 1 Kings 18:4-6 AMP