TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 10TH FEBRUARY 2023)
“Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of Israelites. And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among the scouts who had searched the land, rent their clothes,
And they said to all the company of Israelites, The land through which we passed as scouts is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Only do not rebel against the Lord, neither fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their defense and the shadow [of protection] is removed from over them, but the Lord is with us. Fear them not.
But all the congregation said to stone [Joshua and Caleb] with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting before all the Israelites.” Numbers 14:5-10 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 41ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
We give God the glory for His mercies and marvelous love. We thank Him for the breath in our nostrils and the functionality of the critical organs of our bodies. We thank him for keeping us alive.
Our midweek and weekend services these days have been very enriching and deep. We hear things that make the deep faith building and life-giving messages that come on Sunday look cheap. The message of Wednesday, the 8th of February, like others, left an eternal mark on our faith.
One of the responses I got after the meetings has a lot to say about life. Though the person was expressing how helpful the message was to her, sharing with me how own story of the spinning and loosing balance side of the teaching, I learnt again that life is full of seasons.
There is a message God buried in the relationship between the moon and the sun for the human race.
In God’s design, mankind represents the moon, while Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness, represents the sun. There are things about the moon. The first is, the moon does not have its own light; it takes its light from the Sun. secondly, the moon does not have light all the time. There are times when it is in darkness.
What are the messages to glean from these truths?
The first is, the light of our life sustenance was not designed to come from us. It was designed to come from Christ, the light of the world. The second is, we will not always have His light beaming on us all the time, so long as we are on this side of eternity. There are seasons we will have darkness, that is the season of sadness, sorrow, pain, regrets, hopelessness and all that.
Managing such change in seasons properly, is key, because that is what will usher us into another cycle or a fresh season of abundant light, preparing us for another cycle or a season of darkness, and then a season of light, and so the cycle continues (season of light, season of darkness, season of light, season of darkness, until our days are fulfilled).
IF WE MISMANAGE THESE CHANGE IN SEASONS, WE WILL BE LOST AND RUINED.
Sadly, many even take away their lives when a season of darkness come upon them. They do so because, they allow their feelings to over take them, instead of managing the season properly. When the feeling of a season of darkness over take us, we do not even remember that we are in a season of darkness in a cycle, and that, it will soon give way to a season of light in the cycle.
When we say the cycle, we are referring to the cycle of God’s will. Yes, the fact that you are in God’s will does not mean you will not face a season of darkness in the cycle of God’s will that you are in. It could be a job, a marriage, a walk with God, a business, or whatever.
Even Jesus, in the days of His flesh, faced His own seasons of darkness, and the early church too. They were all in a cycle of God’s perfect will for their lives, and they managed the change in seasons well.
Managing a season of darkness properly for the moon, can be very challenging. During a season of darkness, the moon is to shine the light it absorbed from the sun, in its season of light. In the same way, when we are facing darkness, we are to shine the light we absorbed from Christ, when He was beaming Himself upon us either in a church service or during a time of personal devotion.
It is because of these dynamics, that sometimes we wake up feeling so sad, and not wanting to live the next minute. At that time, we are expected to shine the light that we absorbed from the LORD, either during a life changing teaching session, or a time of personal devotion.
But then, man was not created to live by feelings, but by faith. So, you reach out to GOD’s saving word in a season of darkness, and keep moving forward. Faith is what keeps us going, when feelings speak sadness, sorrows, hopelessness, pain, doubts or regrets into our hearts. That is part of supernatural living.
Faith is a catalyst of the supernatural that helps us to live, not according to our feelings but according to God’s word and will for our lives. Sometimes, our feelings run contrary to His word and will for our lives.
WHEN WE LIVE ACCORDING TO THEM, WE DEPART FROM GOD’S WORD OR WILL FOR US.
Part of supernatural living, is living according to our faith not our feeling. And since both faith and feelings come the same way; by sensing, seeing, knowing, hearing, and touching, what I will call “the Philippians 4:8 rule” will be required all the time.
We must be careful what we allow into our ears, eyes, hearts, and senses, especially in a season of darkness, while we are in the cycle of GOD’s will. The rule says;
“For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them]”. Philippians 4:8 AMPC
To walk away from feelings, and move into faith, you will need to change what you are hearing, seeing, sensing, or touching. You will need to start fixing your mind on whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, or whatever is kind and winsome and gracious.
You will need to take your mind off what is creating the sad feelings and fix it on any virtue and excellence, and anything worthy of praise, according to the Philippians 4:8 rule.
Like I said, both bad or impure feelings and faith comes by hearing, seeing, sensing, or touching. You will never walk away from a very bad or impure feeling if you do not walk away from what might me generating it. That is why the Bible says;
“It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop [on the flat oriental roof, exposed to all kinds of weather] than in a house shared with a nagging, quarrelsome, and faultfinding woman.” Proverbs 21:9 APMC
We have heard of how husbands kill their wives, and wondered how, and why. We have also heard of how wives kill their husbands. Some do so because they are wicked and terrible, while others do so because they are stupid. The ones who do so because they are stupid, may have had nagging, quarrelsome, and fault-finding men or women.
The Bible says, if you have such a woman in your life, instead of sharing the same house with her, and allowing what she may be doing, or saying, to create the feelings that will lead you to commit terrible acts, walk away.
GO LIVE ON THE FLAT ORIENTED ROOF, EXPOSED TO ALL KINDS OF WEATHER.
If you permit me, I will say go there with your Bible in your hands, so you can spend time to meditate in the word of GOD. If you do, you will move from the realm of unpleasant feelings, to the realm of miracle producing, life changing faith. That is how to manage conflict in any relationship that you know has destiny in it.
You will never feel happy, living with a nagging, quarrelsome, fault finding spouse, church member, parent, children, friend, relative, roommate, neighbor, landlord, and etc… Except you apply the principle of seasonal withdrawal to meditate on the word, especially when things are heated up, you will destroy both yourself and the nagging, quarrelsome, fault finding, person.
Moving from the realm of feelings, to the realm of faith, is only a possibility where the rule of changing what you hear, see, touch or sense is applied. That brings us to our devotional text. The test says;
“Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of Israelites. And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among the scouts who had searched the land, rent their clothes,
And they said to all the company of Israelites, The land through which we passed as scouts is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Only do not rebel against the Lord, neither fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their defense and the shadow [of protection] is removed from over them, but the Lord is with us. Fear them not.
But all the congregation said to stone [Joshua and Caleb] with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting before all the Israelites.” Numbers 14:5-10 AMPC
We have been looking at consecration patterns in the lives of men and women, who are presently in the cloud of many witnesses that surrounds us, looking at the pages of the scriptures.
TODAY, WE SEE JOSHUA AND CALEB AND A CONSECRATION PATTERN IN HOW THEY LIVED.
Their consecration, like most consecration patterns, attracted a heavy persecution; it stirred Israel to take up stones to stone them. Stoning was a capital punishment in Israel. But it also ushered in the supernatural, because the Bible says, “But the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting before all the Israelites.”
Most consecration patterns will do exactly the same to the consecrated. But what really happened here?
Moses had sent 12 spies or scouts to check the very land they were to go in and possess. Ten of them brought in a factual report of what their feelings said to them when they were scouting or spying the land.
Their feelings said to them, “you will not be able to take over this land. You are like grass hopper to those who live in the lands. Don’t you see that they are giants? Yes, the land is good, but beyond your reach. Those guys will kill all of you.”
Sadly, like many of us do, they took what their feelings said to them to Moses and all Israel, and there was trouble in the camp. But Joshua and Caleb had another spirit. They had the same feelings when they scouted the land, but consecrated by walking away from it. They decided to press into faith, instead of dwell in their feelings, developed while spying the land.
The Bible says they said;
“If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Things may be happening around you that are generating a feeling of despair, rejection, regrets, pain, sorrow of heart, and all that. The consecration pattern of Joshua and Caleb is what to embrace at this time of your life. Walk away from what you feel and move into what you know in Christ.
Joshua and Caleb knew and believed that if the LORD delight in them, He will give them the land. Though it attracted persecution, the glory of the LORD showed up. You are the next on God’s list for supernatural moves.
Child of God, enough has been shared this morning.
God sent this word to tell us that if we want to attract the supernatural into our life circumstances, we must learn how not to follow our feelings. We must learn to use some of the principles shared here to move from the feelings our circumstances may have created in our hearts, to faith in GOD to see us through.
It will attract the supernatural of God into our lives, to cause changes where we need them.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!
“Because all those men who have seen My glory and My [miraculous] signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tested and proved Me these ten times and have not heeded My voice,
Surely they shall not see the land which I swore to give to their fathers; nor shall any who provoked (spurned, despised) Me see it.
But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.” Numbers 14:22-24 AMPC