TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 12TH MARCH 2023)
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 71ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
Indeed, like the song writer puts it, “the steadfastness of the LORD never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. There are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.”
Sometimes, I look at my life and ask, if God has not been faithful, especially to His word, how would my life have turned out?
If God were not light, and if He were not love, how would our lives have turned out. There would have been no words to describe our calamities. But our God is great and have been good to us, manifesting His love and light to us.
For 12 days today, the LORD has been speaking to us about the faith position for precious word carriers. He has shared some insightful truths on the subject that are beautiful like diamond, sweet like honey, and refreshing like water in the desert. He has been speaking to us from His mercy seat.
When God speak from the mercy seat, the goal is redemption. In the days of the Bible, God use to speak to His people from the mercy seat. He did so many redemptive things in their midst from His mercy seat.
Today, Jesus is our mercy seat. The Bible says;
“Whom God put forward [before the eyes of all] as a mercy seat and propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former sins without punishment.” Romans 3:25 AMPC
As our mercy seat, He became the satisfaction of for our sins. The import of that is, instead of the punishment for sin coming upon us, it came upon Him. In other words, He took away the judgment that was to be placed on us. Also, the consequences of our bad decisions that would have destroyed us completely, was laid upon Him.
THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THROUGH HIS SERVANT ISAIAH, PUT IT THIS WAY;
“Surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6 KJV
Everything in this scripture, contain what Jesus did for us as our mercy seat. A mercy seat is a seat that takes away judgment. It is a seat that satisfied someone’s judgment for the person to go free. It is usually a spiritual investment for him or her to go and sin no more.
So, when God speaks from the mercy seat, it is to implement His redemptive purposes in our lives. It is to help us to go and sin no more, and be lawless no more. It is to walk us through redemption paths and help us become like Christ; then begin to serve as His mercy seat contact for the lost world.
To achieve that, He has to deal with our griefs or sicknesses, sorrows, transgressions, and iniquities from the mercy seat. He has to unleash His redemptive blessings upon us, through His voice that is coming to us from Christ, Himself, the mercy seat of our present times. That brings us to the subject of our devotionals this season, “The faith position of precious word carriers.”
The mercy seat, is the source of all precious word that saved and sanctified people, carry in every generation.
This is something that we should shout hallelujah about, if we truly understand what it means. That is what make precious word carriers a different breed of people. And I will counsel that we look into that, because you even find God giving men, I mean men, for them. He said in His word;
“For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
Since you were precious in My sight, You have been honored, And I have loved you; Therefore I will give men for you, And people for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you; …” Isaiah 43:3-5 NKJV
THIS PROMISE WAS FIRST MADE TO THE FIRST PRECIOUS WORD CARRYING NATION ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, THE NATION OF ISRAEL.
The word they carried then was messianic. It would later become flesh and dwell among men. Now, the promise has been extended to us, the church – His next precious word carrying nation – the Holy Nation.
The Holy Nation is a Bible name for the body of Christ global; a body that all saved and sanctified people belong to, according to scriptures. Now, mark those words, “saved” and “sanctified,” the Bible did not say all preachers and church members; It says all saved and sanctified people, because many of us preachers and our church members are not yet part of the body of Christ.
You find the signs in how we live and in what drives us in life.
The Isaiah chapter 43, verse 3 through 5 promise, is for carriers of the precious word; first in the Israel of the Bible days (maybe in the Israel of today also), and now the Holy Nation, the Church today.
Now, there is a special line in that promise that says,
“Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, And I have loved you; Therefore I will give men for you, And people for your life.”
It is the precious word we carry that make us precious in God’s sight not our righteousness. And let me add something to that before we come back to the point of others being given in exchange of precious word carriers.
The Bible made it clear that any righteousness before salvation is a filthy rag before God. It is righteousness after salvation that is acceptable to God, and that is the one that brings blessings. The reason is because that one is made possible by the indwelling presence of God in our lives. It is produced when the Holy Spirit act on the precious word of the LORD that we carry.
In other words, just as the spirit of this world act on the sinful nature of man, to produce a sinful life or a life of sin, so the Holy Spirit act on the precious word carried by saved and sanctified people, to produce a life of righteousness or right living.
SO, IT IS THE PRECIOUS WORD WE CARRY, THAT MAKES US PRECIOUS IN GOD’S SIGHT.
And when we become precious in His sight, He can give nations and peoples in exchange for us. Except, if they have run their course and finished their race, God will rather allow wicked men and women to be taken out, than for His precious word carriers to be taken out.
The precious word they carry makes them precious in His sight. To be precious in God’s sight is to be treated as a person of value in His sight. It is to be treated with compassion and a mercy that is reserved only for covenant relationships.
It is like this; your son is by blood in covenant relationship with you. So, there are things you will do for him that will be unconditional in nature, because he is precious in your sight being your son.
If he is caught in trouble because of what he did, and is in chains like Samson was among the Philistines, and you find him, you will not mock at him, you will mourn for him. You will mourn no matter what he did, because he is precious in your sight. What will be on your mind is how to free him. You may even give yourself to be punished in his place.
If we wicked men can do that because our sons are precious in our sight, being our precious seeds, how much more God when you carry the precious seed of His precious word in your life? The Bible says in our devotional text, God can do more than we can ever ask or think, because we are precious in His sight. The text says;
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 NKJV
There is a mystery here, and its good we share it with you. God does much more than we can ever ask or think because He does not just respond to what we ask or think, but to what we carry when we pray – the precious word we carry.
In other words, when we think or pray with our mouth to Him, He will respond to it, but not within the measurement of what we thought or prayed. He will respond within the measurement of what we carry – the content of the precious word we carry for Him on the face of the earth.
THAT IS WHY THE RESULTS COMES MUCH MORE THAN WE ASKED OR THOUGHT.
And He does that according to the power that works in us. The precious word we carry is the power that works in us. I hope you understand that!
So when the Bible says that He does certain thing for us because we are precious in His sight, it is the precious word that make Him do those things, not just the prayers we pray. The precious word we carry is what actually unlock answers to the prayers we pray. We see that also in the life of the Nation of Israel, when they were not yet a nation but captives in Egypt.
The Bible says;
“Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.” Exodus 2:23-25 NKJV
If you look at this scripture carefully, you will see clearly that when the nation of Israel cried unto God, it was not the volume or content of their cry that made God to answer them, but the content of their destiny. The content of their destiny was the precious word they carried, a word that God had sworn to Abraham, their father.
That was the word God heard when they cried, not just their voices.
In the same way, when we pray today, it is not the volume or content of our cry that make God hear us. For many of us, it will not even attract Heaven’s attention because of what we have done. It is the content of our destiny that God sees and hears that propel answers to prayers; the power that works in us.
THAT IS WHY WHEN THE ANSWERS COME, THEY COME BIG. THEY COME MUCH MORE THAN WE ASKED OR THOUGHT.
What are we saying this morning? We are showing us the importance of carrying the precious word.
The revelation itself is a faith position of precious word carriers. So, carry the precious word because it comes from God’s mercy seat, and will do marvelous things in your life.
Carry the precious word because it is what forms the content of your destiny. It is what brings what I call “beyond me” answers to simple prayers. Yes, as we have seen already, when we pray most times, it is not the content of our cry that God hears before He sends the answers, it is the content of our destiny.
When the enemy move against us and we cry unto the LORD, it is not the content of our cry that will make Him hear us, especially if the problem was caused by our rebellion, walk in the flesh and all that. It is the content of our destiny; the precious word He used in sealing our lives. That was what saved Samson, David and the rest of the warriors who were in the devil’s nest in Bible days. It will save us too.
As we bring this to a close, understand that, the most precious thing to carry on earth is not money, political positions, or certificates from the best schools on earth. The most precious thing to carry on earth is not gold or silver. The most precious thing to carry on earth is not even a pregnancy.
As good as all these things may be, the most precious thing to carry on earth is a precious word from the LORD.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them.”
Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed.
Then Samson called to the LORD, saying, “O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!”
And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left.
Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.” Judges 16:25-30 NKJV