TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 12TH JANUARY 2023)
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:1-6 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 12TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
We bless the LORD our God for this day. Like David, we would say, “this is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it.” Its our day of signs and wonders, because the year is a year of signs and wonders.
Yes, it is important for us to understand that if a year has been declared by the LORD to be a year of signs and wonders or amazing grace, it means each month, week, day, hour, minute or second of the year is a month, week, day, hour, minute or second of signs and wonders. We should not see it otherwise.
The word of the LORD is standing guard over the different time lines that constitute that year. He is watching over His word for those time lines to perform them. It’s important that we stand in faith.
The performance of God’s word in our lives is the key to our making in life. That is why we should treat things He declares as most important, by standing in faith and believing in them.
We become men and women of kingdom value in a corrupt world when the LORD performs His word in our lives.
Today is the 12th day of our 31-day journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit on visionary living. The Bible says where there is no vision, people perish. Lately we have been looking at laws of visionary living.
The LORD enlightened us on the laws of freedom yesterday.When we say freedom, we are referring to freedom in Christ. The only freedom that is meaningful is freedom in Christ.
In Christ, we are free from the penalty and practice of sin, and will be free from the presence of sin at our death. In Christ, we are free from the curse of the law, the curse of sin, the curse of being born in an accursed family and every other curses of life. We are free from these curses because we free from our father’s house (of the flesh).
We have been looking at visionary living and its laws. Maybe let us look at matters of curses from our father’s houses and all that.
IT COULD ADD TO OUR REVELATION AS END TIME CHRISTIANS.
To start with, understand that it is the father’s house (the Adamic Nature) called the flesh and carnal mindedness, that makes us captive of tormenting spirits and curses in our father’s houses.
But in Christ, we can be free from all that. We can be free by living a life that is not controlled by our carnal minds or our flesh when His Holy Spirit takes over and begin to live the born-again life through us. A major part of our devotional text says;
“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:6 NKJV
Yes, to be carnally minded is still death. It brings so much death and all its constituents into our lives. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace; the life and peace that Christ brings. When you have it, there will be no curse that can rest upon your life.
You see, because the many teachings on curse breaking and all that, a lot have been said to seal the ignorance of some. Many do not know that the flesh is the only storehouse of curses in life, and that the Spirit is the only storehouse of blessings in life.
That if you are not walking in the flesh but the Spirit, no curse can sit on your life. If you are not walking in the flesh, the curse of sin, the curse of the law, any curses in your father’s houses, or from shrines, aggrieved people or whoever will never speak in your lives.
Wherever you find the evil people say about others come to pass, you will find people who are walking in the flesh instead of the Spirit living in that place.
A curse is an evil sentence passed or issued in the spirit against someone. It is usually supervised or implemented by the spirit to which the evil sentence is committed to. Wherever you find it successfully placed on people, you will find the victims walking in the flesh.
LIVES HAVE BEEN RUINED BECAUSE OF SUCH PHENOMENON.
Some from generation to generation, leading to what they call generational curses. It is therefore not the curse that is the problem but a life in the flesh. Curses work in the lives of people from generation to generation because the people walk in the flesh, carnality, and carnal mindedness, from generation to generation.
If there is a generational curse sitting on a family, any generation of that family that becomes saved, and not just saved but becomes Spirit controlled persons, will be free from the curse.
So, to deliver people from generational curses, get them saved and then train them to lead Spirit controlled lives; train them to live Christian lives that are not controlled by unholy desires, or a mind set on things that gratify the flesh. Bring them to the place of living lives that are controlled by the desires of the Spirit and things that seek to gratify Him.
Make them part of those who are shaped according to the Spirit and its desires not the flesh and its desires. The Amplified rendering (classic Edition) of a portion of our devotional text says;
“For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.” Romans 8:5 AMPC
No one will ever be successfully free from curses if we do not cease from walking according to the flesh and its desires, and begin to walk according to the Spirit and His desires, especially after salvation. It is a major component of the law of freedom, a beautiful law that governs visionary living.
THE LAW MADE IT CLEAR THAT BREAKING OF CURSES IS ONLY POSSIBLE IN THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO WALK IN THE SPIRIT.
In other words, when you cease walking in the flesh and begin to walk in the Spirit, every curse in your life will be broken. So, we do not break curses effectively through prayers and giving preachers money. Yes, there is a blessing in praying or blessing a man of God with our money, but curses cannot be effectively broken that way.
That is the law of freedom.
Curses are effectively broken when we cease from walking in the flesh and begin to walk in the Spirit. They are broken by Spirit controlled living not carnality or flesh controlled living. Spirit controlled living is the only way we make Christ our LORD. Curses are permanently broken when we make Christ our LORD, after making Him our personal savior.
Therefore, if you are struggling with a curse on your life, you only need a Church or spiritual authority that will teach and train you to lead a Spirit controlled life; you need one who will impart you to walk away from the flesh and carnal mindedness and come into life in the Spirit.
It is when we walk away from the flesh and carnal mindedness and come into life in the Spirit, that we make Jesus our LORD. That is the only time we can come under the LORDSHIP of Christ, and once we are under the LORDSHIP of Christ, curses in our lives will no longer speak. And if there is any attempt to place them on us, it will not work.
We can see the shadow of that in what happened in the lives of members of the Church in the wilderness. The Bible says a sorcerer who was known then as a prophet, came with curses to place on the entire nation, but nothing worked.
THE DIVINE RESPONSE TO THE SORCERER AND HIS PARTNER WAS;
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
“He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them. God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox.
“For there is no sorcery against Jacob, Nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘Oh, what God has done!’ Numbers 23:19-23 NKJV
We share in this scriptural heritage once we cease from walking in the flesh. Yes, we share in the “no divination against Israel” declaration when we come into life in the Spirit and walk away from life in the flesh. Life in the flesh is a life that is based on sense and reason without the Holy Spirit. That is the bedrock of a life of sin and iniquity. It makes us vulnerable to curses and all that the enemy hurls at the human race.
One may wonder why some Christians struggle with curses, despite the blood of Jesus. The answer lies in our not departing from our father’s house; not departing from a carnality led life. Freedom from carnal mindedness and flesh ruled life is freedom from all kinds of curses, and that freedom can be found in Christ.
When we were sharing about freedom with restrictions yesterday, we were referring to the restrictions of the Holy Spirit. It is a freedom from living a carnal Christian life.
TALKING ABOUT THIS FREEDOM, OUR FULL DEVOTIONAL TEXT SAYS;
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:1-6 NKJV
The righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us when we do not walk in the flesh. They are fulfilled when we come into life in the Spirit. There is a blessing that comes upon us when we fulfill the righteous requirements of the LORD by coming into life in the Spirit. It manifests in our marriages, finances, children and etc. That is the blessing that will come upon us, replacing any curses that may be in our lives. The sorcery could not curse Israel because a shadow of that blessing was resting on them.
The Bible says;
And he took up his oracle and said: “Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, From the mountains of the east. ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, denounce Israel!’
“How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?” Numbers 23:7-8 NKJV
If shadows could do such wonders, how much more the substance itself? If shadows could stop the enemy from cursing and denouncing Israel, how much more the substance that will come upon us when we come into life in the Spirit?
I believe enough has been shared for the day. Let us come into life in the Spirit and stop playing religion and having curse breaking services that makes preachers smile to the bank with all the curse breaking seeds.
Life in the Spirit will not just place the blessing that makes us a blessed people on earth, but will also help us live visionary lives. No aspect of visionary living is possible until we come into life in the Spirit.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off].
But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God). Galatians 5:1,16 AMPC