TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 3RD JANUARY 2023)
“Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” John 10:5, 27-29 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 3RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
Glory be to God for waking us up and leaving His breathe in our nostrils. Indeed, the Spirit of God has made us; the breath of the Almighty gives us life. It is the third day of a long 365 days trip through a year that we all know is a heavily pregnant year.
We are on a 31-day journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit on visionary living. Today is the 3rd day of the journey. Yesterday we saw a major law of visionary living called the law of visionary residency. Today we want to see another law of visionary living called “the law of visionary hearing.”
The Bible says “as a man thinketh in His heart so is he.” What you think in your heart is a function of what you tuned your ear to. Visionary hearing involves not tuning your ears to things that lack eternal relevance or New Testament definition of prophetic accuracy.
Prophetic accuracy these days (after the cross) is no longer measured by a word coming to pass or factual things said about you. Before the cross that was its measurement. That was why the LORD, before the Cross, spoke through Moses saying;
“But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.” Deuteronomy 18:20-22 KJV
If you look at this scripture you will realize that a word coming to pass was the only way the people of Old could know if a word was from God. This measurement became obsolete over time because over the years, Satan raised men like Balaam, to be speaking words that came to pass.
It led to the deception of many and the worship of other gods like Baal, Ashtoreth, Tamuz, and etc. as God. That is why in the New Covenant, a word coming to pass does not make any a prophet or prophetess.
IT IS CHRIST FORMED IN PEOPLE THROUGH ONE’S PROPHETIC MINISTRY THAT MAKES ONE A PROPHET OR PROPHETESS.
The Bible indeed said many false prophets will rise in our days to speak words that will come to pass to deceive if possible, even the elects. Sadly, that means some believers will be deceived, but not the elects. It is those who will still be taking accuracy for authenticity that will be deceived; Church people who are not progressive in their theology.
As a New Testament believer, understand that Prophetic accuracy these days (after the cross) is no longer measured by a word coming to pass or factual things said about you. It is measured by how much of Christ is formed in your character, and how much worship of “the One and only true God” is exhumed from you through the prophetic delivery of the person prophesying to you.
The law of visionary hearing is all about not giving heed to false prophecies but to accurate prophecies by the definition of the New Testament.
It is all about choosing what you hear because of where you are going in Christ. It covers all that has to do with choosing what you allow into your mind or heart because of the paths the LORD has carved for you in life.
The Bible says;
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8 KJV
One of the major requirements of visionary hearing is avoiding what I call chewing gum prophecies. Yes, it is important to note that visionary living will involve not following chewing gum prophecies, and there are so many of them in church and on social media today.
ONE MAY BE WONDERING WHAT ARE CHEWING GUM PROPHECIES?
Chewing gum prophecies are prophecies that gums you to a personality instead of the person of Christ and His word for your life in the Holy Scriptures. Among other things, it makes you value the word of a prophet more than the testimony of Jesus Christ in the Holy Bible. It makes you a seeker of what prophets are saying instead of a student of the Bible.
You will be busy looking for prophecies from people you consider prophetic but will have not time to sit down to search the scriptures. Jesus said,
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.” (John 5:39 NKJV)
But you will not heed to His word. You will just be busy looking for who will search your life and tell you what may happen or what is happening.
The spiritual plague of chewing gum prophecies is what many in Church are struggling with today. Going about looking for who to prophesy to you, especially in the beginning of a year, instead of paying attention to the word of Christ in the Holy Scriptures, is not visionary living. It is a path to ruin.
Indeed, every year is Heavily pregnant, and you may be eager to know what it holds for you, but be careful of chewing gum prophecies. They are an enemy of visionary living.
Talking about decoding what a year is pregnant with, I want to submit to us that we do not need a prophet to know that a year is usually pregnant, or to know what it is usually pregnant with. Once you understand Bible prophecy you will know all that.
That is why no one can tell us the accurate details of what a year is pregnant with except they are established in Bible prophecy. In fact, believers who are established in Bible Prophecy are more accurate in knowing what a year is pregnant with then prophets who try to prophecy same.
It’s funny how so many men and women in God’s garment are trying to act like Prophets and prophetesses these days, especially on social media; trying to tell us the kind of Baby the year is pregnant with, using what their stooges and media men call “2023 Prophecy.”
It is funny to watch what looks like a competition among so called preachers, as they try to show us how much of men or women of God they are by their prophecies. I see all of them as actors and actresses in movies. Because if you know what a prophecy is, and look at what they are saying, you can easily tell that they have no prophecies. They are just trying to act prophetic.
ONLY BABIES IN THE LORD AND IGNORANT MEN AND WOMEN FOLLOW PEOPLE WHO ACT PROPHETIC.
Every Bible student and mature believer knows that you do not act prophetic if you are a prophet by office; you prophesy if you are a prophet by office. And it will not be to show the people that you also can have a word from God at the beginning of a year. It will be with a passion to build the prophetic ear of the Church to hear God for herself and walk with Christ intimately all through a given year or period of time.
It’s so sad that a lot of men and women in Church today do not understand the flow of genuine prophecy. They do not understand that genuine prophecy is powered by the testimony of Jesus Christ and will not seek to elevate a prophet but God, or seek to present one as a true man or woman of God.
If you understand the flow of prophecy, you will know that it is not always at the beginning of a year that God sends a word. So, if you see men coming up with new year prophecies (every year), just know that a lot of them are just playing spiritual or prophetic mind games on the ignorant and immature in the faith.
By the way, if you look at the crop of those bringing 2023 prophecies, you will see men and women who are perpetrators of errors and all kinds of Baal worship in Church, trying to tell us what the year holds. The Bible calls that prophesying by Baal and causing God’s Children to err.
If you are a true Child of God who hears the voice of Jesus Christ, you will not be carried away by such nonsense. It will be impossible for such prophetic nonsense to snatch you away, especially from the paths of truth that the LORD may have carved out for you.
What they say will never be appealing to you because you will not be gullible!
In fact, you will flee away and never embrace what they call “2023 Prophecies.” Understand that no one who is established in the faith of the Son of God or our Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ, entertains such things.
THEY ARE TOO FAMILIAR WITH HIS VOICE TO ENTERTAIN THE VOICE OF SUCH STRANGERS.
Our devotional text says;
“Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” John 10:5, 27-29 NKJV
Once you become familiar with the voice of the LORD in the Holy Scriptures, you will no longer entertain the ministry of preachers who are strangers to the word of truth and righteousness. They will lose your followership and financial support. And they know that, hence warning their victims against ministries God has raised to mature them in the faith and make them familiar with His voice of truth in the Holy Scriptures.
You can now understand why these preachers preach messages that keeps the Church in infantile state or say nothing about their anti-Christ practices.
They prosper more and shine brighter when the Church remain an army of spiritual infants who treat aged men and women in ministry as deities or bow to young preachers calling them papas and mamas, and cannot tell right from wrong.
I believe enough have been shared for the day.
As we bring this to a close, understand that Visionary living is not running after seers or dream interpreters. It is not running after prophetic people. It is not following chewing gum prophecies. Chewing gum prophecies because will gum you to seers, dream interpreters and prophetic people instead of the Holy Scriptures and the Testimony of Jesus Christ.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” John 10:1-5 NKJV