TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 29TH DECEMBER 2022)
“And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” Exodus 33:14-16 KJV
WELCOME TO THE 363RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
We give God the glory for giving us another day and for waking us up this morning. It is still out of His mercies that we are not consumed.
Someone may wonder why the repeat of the statement in our devotionals? If you look at your life and see reasons why you should not have been alive this year, and yet you see yourself alive from day to day until you are not in the threshold of the end of the year, you will have no choice but repeat that statement over and over.
One of the major things an idol worshiper usually find shocking about this God is His loving nature. He does not deal with us according to our sins, but according to His mercies and faithfulness.
That does not mean sin does not destroy. It only means God does not move to destroy us while our sins are destroying us. He moves to convict us of the sins (that are destroying us) so that we can submit to the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus with our repentance, receive forgiveness, purity and power to sin no more.
It has been a great year for some and a very terrible one for others. But God is still good, powerful and great enough to deal with each one of us according to our circumstances.
For those of us who may have had a terrible year, God can use all we went through this year, to make the coming year the best year we have ever had. And for those of us who may have had a good year, God can take all that if we will be faithful, to make the coming year better. It all depends on our submission to His will, ways, and Spirit in the coming year.
WHAT WE ARE SAYING IS GOD HAS A PLAN FOR EACH AND EVERYONE OF US FOR THE COMING YEAR, NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCES WE FIND OURSELVES.
The Bible maintains that His plans for us are good not evil, to give us a future and a hope. That is why I tell people “you do not need to run after prophets to tell you what the coming year holds for you. Just run after the one who holds the future, whose plans for your life are good and not evil, and you will have a better incoming year than those who run after prophets.”
You see, we live in an age and time where people seek for prophetic awareness of the future but neglect to walk with God who holds the future. That is why they are manipulated, exploited, deceived and derailed.
People do not realize that a prophet of darkness who they take as prophet of God, can stand on miracles they worked for them, and some facts about their lives, and prophesy a future for them that GOD never decided for them, and it will come to pass. The ultimate is to make them walk with the prophet instead of walk with God, and cut them off from a genuine relationship with God.
Yes, you can be walking with a prophet thinking you are walking with God while you are not. Everyone I have seen walking with prophets live sinful and inglorious lives.
They could have money, powers, global attention and all that but you will never see them having the heavenly peace in life or the liberty of a Child of GOD. They survive by the prophecy or mouth of the prophet, who in turn put them under fear and terrible threats, if they do not obey his so-called word from GOD.
I have compared the lives of people who walk with God and those who walk with prophets taking it for a walk with GOD, and discovered that they are miles apart. Those who walk with prophets carry the photographs of the prophets, their holy water, oil, salt, prayer points, stickers here and there, prayer clothes, money sometimes, and etc.
They carry their spiritual materials and words wherever they go. But those who walk with God do not carry such things because God does not give people things that witch doctors give. Those who walk with God carries what God gives them.
GOD GIVES THOSE WHO WALK WITH HIM HIS MANIFEST PRESENCES AND FOR TODAY HIS INDWELLING PRESENCE.
Our devotional text explains that. It say;
And he said, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” And he said unto him, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” Exodus 33:14-16 KJV
If you look at this devotional text you will discover what we just shared earlier. God will never give you oil, water, stickers, salt, candles, incense and any of those deliverance inventions people get from prophets. God gives people His manifest and indwelling presence, to follow them wherever they go, and make good things happen in their lives.
He gives them His presence to grant them rest round about. That is far different from what you will get if you walk with a prophet. That is why the assignment of genuine ministers of God is to teach you to walk with God not to carry oil, water, photos of a prophet, salt and all that.
If you look at our devotional text in its contemporary rendering, it says;
And the Lord said, “My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”
And Moses said to the Lord, “If Your Presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here! For by what shall it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your sight? Is it not in Your going with us so that we are distinguished, I and Your people, from all the other people upon the face of the earth?” Exodus 33:14-16 AMPC
This rendering tells us who was in conversation with God when the LORD said those words. Moses was the one in conversation with God.
The conversation again tells us what God gives to those who walk with Him – His presence, not candles, oil, incense, prayer clothes, holy water, photographs of prophets, or any spiritual materials. God gives them His presence.
Spiritual materials are what are given by prophets to those who walk with them thinking they are walking with God; and you will have to still depend on them or what they say making you an ignorant worshiper of man.
AS WE PREPARE TO COME INTO 2023, WE MUST ALL DECIDE ON WHAT WE WANT.
We must decide our spiritual walk. Yes, we must decide if we are to walk with prophets or with GOD. Genuine prophets will step aside and allow you the liberty to walk with GOD. They will never make themselves a go between you and GOD, because Jesus is the only valid go between for our dispensation.
In previous dispensations, priests and prophets were the go between but after Jesus came, the curtains of the Temple were torn, we no longer need a go between. Your access to the throne of God is open. You do not need a go between or a spokesman for you. You are to approach God and be able to approach Him yourself.
Yes, you are to hear God and be able to hear Him for yourself. That is what Heaven desires. Each time you send a prophet to hear a word for you and bring to you, God will say nothing to Him. Each time you send a prophetess to go get a word from God for you, God will say nothing to them. Whatever they come to tell you is a lie. Prophetic ministry today has changed.
The role of New Testament prophets is to help us upgrade our prophetic hearing system so that we can hear and walk with God by ourselves. It is not to go hear a word from GOD for you. We will be stupid making them carriers of GOD’s word for us.
Your life will be ruined eternally if you follow prophets who operate today like Old Testament prophets. They will expose you to so much evil that will first come to you as good, then destroy your life later.
Prophets who still function like Old Testament prophets will make you walk with them in the guise of walking with God. They will give you holy water, oil, salt, and etc. for your so-called deliverance, protection, and all you desire to supernaturally happen in your life.
GOD LAMENTED THROUGH JEREMIAH SAYING;
“I did not send these [false] prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
But if they had stood in My council, then they would have caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them [My people] from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.” Jeremiah 23:21-22 AMPC
From this scripture, it is clear that a genuine prophet will not make himself a conveyor of God’s word to you, like it was in the days before the cross.
A genuine prophet or prophetess will train you to hear God yourself and cause you to turn from your wicked ways and the evil of your doing. You will never depend on them completely to know what God is saying.
You could need their teachings and trainings to secure the secret place, where you hear God yourself, but will never depend on them to know what God is saying.
One major thing I see false prophets use these days to put people under their power is dream interpretation. They use dream interpretation to make people their prophetic subject. But I did not see in the scriptures where God’s people depended on prophets for dream interpretation. It was ungodly people that depended on the Godly for dream interpretation.
God used that to show us that each born again child of GOD should be able to interpret his or her dreams by the indwelling presence of God within us. People do not realize that God is against such practices in Church. That is why He lamented against the prophetic practice through Jeremiah His servant. He said;
“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed [visions on my bed at night].
[How long shall this state of things continue?] How long yet shall it be in the minds of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even the prophets of the deceit of their own hearts,
Who think that they can cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which every man tells to his neighbor, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?” Jeremiah 23:25-27 AMPC
The key statement here is the statement “by their dreams which every man tells to his neighbor” That is dream interpretation there. God says it makes people forget His name. In other words, His nature, His seal, His presence or His identity.
If you lead a Christian life or engage yourself with prophets that makes you forget the name of the LORD, your life will bear the consequence.
We have been on a 31-day journey of faith looking at matters of the presence of God. If we do not carry His name in our lives what are we living for as believers? If His indwelling presence is not in our possession what is it that makes us children of God?
Are we going to keep living lives that walk with Prophets, carrying all they gave us and using all they gave us to use, instead of walking with God, living in His manifest and carrying His indwelling presence?
I believe the LORD sent this word to request that we make a choice; a choice to either walk with Him and live blessed and eternally relevant lives, or keep walking with our prophets and keep living eternally irrelevant lives.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Moses returned to the camp, but his minister Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the [temporary prayer] tent.
Moses said to the Lord, See, You say to me, Bring up this people, but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You said, I know you by name and you have also found favor in My sight.
Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You [progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with You, perceiving and recognizing and understanding more strongly and clearly] and that I may find favor in Your sight. And [Lord, do] consider that this nation is Your people.
And the Lord said, My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:11-14 AMPC