TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 20TH FEBRUARY 2023)
“But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says,
God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).
So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you.
Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].” James 4:6-8 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 51ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
It is over fifty days already? God is faithful!! Gradually and graciously He is leading us day by day; as a pillar of fire by night, and a pillar of cloud by day, He leads. Closely, our hearts follow.
There is no one like the God of Jeshurun who rides the Heavens to help us. He has always thrust down the enemy before us saying “destroy.” And those with an effective prayer life have been responding adequately in the place of prayer and destroying.
We join our ancient fathers to Psalm this morning, saying, “for this GOD, is our GOD. Forever, and ever!! He will be Our guide, from now, even unto the end.” Hallelujah!
His Spirit has made us, and His breath will continue to give us life.
Child of God, people like us have no other God to run to. We have no other Spirit to submit to. This same Spirit, that raised Jesus from the dead, that God used to seal our redemption, will remain our beginning and our end. Some trust in chariots, others in their horses, but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
Its been a 28-day journey of faith, with the Cry of the Spirit, on supernatural living. We have been looking at the laws of the supernatural of God. We have seen the law of restitution, we have seen the law of the mind of Christ.
TODAY WE WILL BE LOOKING AT ANOTHER LAW THAT GOVERNS THE SUPERNATURAL OF GOD, THE LAW OF SUBMISSION.
No one who walked in the supernatural of God, did that without being submissive to God. They all obeyed God’s commands and became commanders in the matters of the supernatural.
Moses commanded ten plagues on Egypt when they will not let Israel go, Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, when he needed day light to vanquish his enemies. Jesus commanded the spirits of dead people to be restored back to them, and they came back to life. He commanded diseases and evil spirits out of people’s lives.
In fact, the Bible says:
“When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,” Matthew 8:16 NKJV
It takes a life of submission to God, for our words to be able to cast out dark spirits, from people, cultures, traditions, customs, and places, and heal those who are sick. Jesus was so submissive to God that the Bible says He learned obedient through what He suffered.
Another translation put it this way,
“Although He was a Son, He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8 AMPC).
That tells us that He was a submissive person. And that those great miracles did not just happen by His hands because of His deity. The miracles happened because of His submission. We cannot break into the supernatural of God without submission to God.
The reason why many pray and do not see the supernatural of God break out, is because they do not obey the law of submission in their lives, but want to unleash the supernatural of God with their prayer. It will never be possible. At most they will touch the dark supernatural.
Prayer for problems to be solved is an attempt to unleash the supernatural. But that should never be done if your own life is not submissive to God. You will see no result or unlock the dark supernatural on people ignorantly. To unleash the supernatural of God or to walk in it, you must be submissive to God.
What does it mean to submit to God? To submit means to accept or yield to a superior force, or the will, or authority of another person. To submit to God therefore means, to accept or to yield to Him, His will, authority or person.
THERE IS SO MUCH CAPTURED IN THIS ONE DEFINITION ALONE.
For instance, what is God’s will for our bodies? It is that we live holy lives, by embracing moral purity, sexual purity, and all other forms of purity.
If our lives therefore, lack moral purity, sexual purity or other forms of purity, we are not submissive to God. When we therefore go to pray for people, our prayers will lack the power from God to cast out any dark spirit, or heal any sick body.
That is why, if the prayers of a scandalous preacher, or sexual perverse person, seems to be casting out demons or healing the sick, the person is walking in the dark supernatural. If you attempt the supernatural with a life that is not submissive to God or his ways, you will touch the dark supernatural. Submission to God’s will, ways and person must be at the center of our lives, for us to operate in the supernatural of God.
Jesus, our pattern, casted our dark spirits and healed the sick with His words, when He was physically here, because He was submissive to God with His life.
The Bible says He was tempted in all points yet without sin. He led such a pure life as man, that the supernatural of God, was His dwelling place for the years He lives on earth. That was why He was able to be raised from the dead after three. The supernatural followed him even to the grave the way that of Elisha did.
At this point let me share the necessity of submission to God in the Christian faith in general. If one is not submissive, one’s obedience will either be carnal, impossible or non and void in God’s sight.
Everything about our relationship with God centered around our submission. Take submission to God from all you may be doing in God, and you will have a form of godliness without power. Take submission to God from your prayer life, and you will see every bit of your prayers returned back to you unanswered.
TAKE SUBMISSION TO GOD FROM YOUR FASTING, AND YOU WILL HAVE WHAT TANTAMOUNT TO A HUNGER STRIKE, AS A FAST.
Take submission from all your labor for God, or all you may be doing in the name of the LORD, you will find yourself laboring in vain and bringing forth for trouble. The Bible says, we shall not labor in vain and bring forth for trouble. That is a call to submission, in all we do with God, or for God.
Submission to God is what makes our worship what it should be. Do not forget, worship is not singing. Worshiping is living. We may sing to worship God, but worship is not singing. That is why there are no worship leaders. We only have song leaders and Psalmist being called worship leaders.
Worship without submission to God, makes one a false worshiper. That should tell you why God is still looking for true worshipers. Christianity without submission to God, or to Christ, will be an empty deceit. It will never lead anyone to Heaven. Jesus said;
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:
He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.” Luke 6:46-48 NKJV
I believe, Jesus did not say these words to the Pharisees, or any other people. He said them to people who left Judaism and joined Him. He said it to what we will call believers, because they were people who believed in Him.
Meaning, believing is much more than following Christ and calling Him, “LORD, LORD.” That will not be a belief from saving faith in God’s design. If we are not submissive to Him, He is not our LORD in deed.
Do not forget, we are saved by faith. But the faith must have submission to God’s will and ways as fruits. It must not be a faith of calling Him, “LORD, LORD,” withholding doing what He says.
ALL THESE TELLS US HOW ESSENTIAL SUBMISSION TO GOD IS TO THE CHRISTIAN FAITH, AND WHY IT IS A MAJOR LAW OF THE SUPERNATURAL IN GOD.
Submission is being subject to God. It is the catalyst of humility before GOD, which in turn guarantees the continues flow of the Power of the Holy Spirit, to meet any evil tendency.
Our devotional text says;
“But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).
So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you.
Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].” James 4:6-8 AMPC
When we are submissive, we will not be proud and haughty. When we are submissive, we will come close to GOD, and He will in turn come close to us, and make His supernatural, abundantly available to us. We will not be disloyal and wavering individuals when we are submissive to GOD. We will purify our hearts of any spiritual adultery, and remain loyal to GOD alone when we are submissive.
If you want to walk in the supernatural of GOD, do not ignore this law.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!
“Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways!
I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries.
The haters of the LORD would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever.
He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.” Psalm 81:13-16 NKJV