TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 21ST MARCH 2023)
“I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad and my glory [my inner self] rejoices; my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety,
For You will not abandon me to Sheol (the place of the dead), neither will You suffer Your holy one [Holy One] to see corruption.
You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:8-11 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 80TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
The faithfulness of the LORD to us is like the faithfulness of the sun to the earth. That is what has kept us, and is still keeping us alive.
We are grateful to the One and only true God, who does not look at us before showing us mercies, compassion, and giving us His blessings.
I have come to discover that most of what we go through in life are self-inflicted. None is God inflicted! His faithfulness and compassion would not let Him afflict us with anything, especially in this dispensation.
His faithfulness is like the sun’s faithfulness to the earth. For thousands of years, the sun has been shining on earth, and giving it energy to grow its plants and all that, without the earth doing anything in return to say to the sun, “thank you,” yet the sun has not bothered.
The people living on the earth have done so many wicked things to God, yet His sun remain up there giving the earth and its inhabitants solar energy. That is how the faithfulness of God is. Jesus said;
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:44-45 NKJV
God will not be telling us to love our enemies and not love us even when we become His enemy, by either being unsaved or maintaining friendship with the world.
This scripture made it clear that God will not curse those who curse Him, He will rather bless them. That is why people who curse God do not die for doing so. It also shows us that God will not hate those who hate Him. He will rather do them good. He will show them love.
IT IS THEREFORE IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT GOD STILL LOVES YOU, NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, OR IS STILL DOING.
He loves you with a vision at heart. He does not love any evil you are doing, may have done, or will do. That is why people’s evil consume them. He loves you the way He commanded us to love our enemies. It was His love for us that brought Him down to die on the cross for us, because dying for someone who do not deserve it is the greatest expression of love. The Bible says;
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more [certain], now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved (daily delivered from sin’s dominion) through His resurrection] life.” Romans 5:10 AMPC
His death was aimed at reconciling us with God, and that reconciliation has taken place, now we should all come back home.
But sadly, many have still not heeded the call. Many have still not responded to His love by coming into relationship with Jesus Christ, and living the holy and righteous life His Holy Spirit empowers men to live.
The earthly live will consume you, if you do not accept the love of God extended to you, by coming into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
When you come into a personal relationship with Christ, He will transfer a holy seed into your spirit, you will be declared saved from eternal wrath; the coming judgment of God on sin and sinners.
You will be saved because of the deliverance from the dominion of sin that you will experience. Those who have been delivered from the dominion of sin will escape judgment in the next life.
Indeed, it pays to serve Jesus! The results may not show in this life according to people’s carnal or religious expectations of you, but it will show in the next life. It will show in your escape from the presence and penalty of sin, having shown in your escape from the practice.
The stripping of the dominion of sin over us is a major activity of the grace of God.
THAT IS WHY, PEOPLE WHO ARE UNDER GRACE, LIVE LIVES THAT ARE NOT CONTROLLED BY THE SIN NATURE WITHIN THEM.
They live lives that are controlled by the divine nature within them, created by God’s saving grace. They do not let sin rule over them as king, yielding to its cravings, or being subject to its lust and evil passions. The Bible says;
“Let not sin therefore rule as king in your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies, to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions.
Do not continue offering or yielding your bodily members [and faculties] to sin as instruments (tools) of wickedness. But offer and yield yourselves to God as though you have been raised from the dead to [perpetual] life, and your bodily members [and faculties] to God, presenting them as implements of righteousness.
For sin shall not [any longer] exert dominion over you, since now you are not under Law [as slaves], but under grace [as subjects of God’s favor and mercy].” Romans 6:12-14 AMPC
If salvation is real, it unlocks a Heavenly life within us, and bring us to the place where the desire to live a holy and righteous life rules the heart. It will bring one to the place where sin’s dominion is stripped, and one becomes alive unto righteousness.
That is why when one falls into sin, he will no longer be happy about it. Previously such life was not even a sin to the person, but now it is, because he is now awake to righteousness, and no longer desire to present his body as an instrument of unrighteousness.
I hope you understand me.
All these truths tell us that the greatest impact of God’s love in a man’s life is the stripping of sin’s dominion over his life. That is why, there is a dimension of God’s love people enjoy, that they will begin to count it as very unfair to God for them to continue in wicked ways. It is a dimension that leads to repentance. The Bible described it this way;
“Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience?
Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)?” Romans 2:4 AMPC
This scripture tells us what the ultimate vision of God’s unconditional love is – Repentance, which is to make us change our minds, inner man, and to accept God’s will for our lives. And what is His will for our lives within context?
His will is that, sin’s dominion over us be stripped, and that we begin to live sanctified lives, offering our bodily members and faculties, as instrument of righteousness.
THAT BRINGS US TO A NEW SUBJECT ON HOLY SEED MATTERS THAT WE WANT TO LOOK AT FROM TODAY.
We will be looking at what God does to help carriers of the holy seed carry it successfully, from the day it is planted into their hearts to their final day on earth.
The first thing He does is what we have been sharing so far – the demonstration of His love towards us. He demonstrates a dimension of what we call “transformational love” on carriers of His holy seed, especially those who are doing unholy things.
The vision, as seen so far, is to make sure that sin’s dominion over us is stripped, and that we live sanctified lives, offering our bodily members and faculties, as instrument of righteousness.
God will not want His holy seed carriers to be doing unholy things, else they will burry the holy seed and loose it to someone who will carry it in holiness and righteousness. He will rather demonstrate His unconditional transformational love in their lives.
There is a portion of our devotional text that says the vision of GOD for helping His holy seed that way is to make sure they do not see corruption. The entire text reads;
“I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad and my glory [my inner self] rejoices; my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety,
For You will not abandon me to Sheol (the place of the dead), neither will You suffer Your holy one [Holy One] to see corruption.
You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:8-11 NKJV
Holy seed carrier knows how to set the LORD continually before them, even when they find themselves trapped in unholy things. They know how to keep following the LORD and asking Him for help. That is why the LORD invest the demonstration of love we are talking about into their lives. The vision is to make sure they do not see corruption. I hope you understand me.
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF TODAY? THE MESSAGE IS SIMPLE!
It is not easy to be a carrier of the holy seed in a wicked and perverse generation like ours. Ask the man the Bible calls “righteous Lot,” and he will tell you what he went through in the hands of the Sodomites, as a holy seed carrier in that age and time!
There is therefore, so much that God does to us to make sure we succeed in carrying His holy seed in this world as we know it. The demonstration of His transforming love is one. The vision remains to make sure that we are not abandoned in the place of the spiritually dead, which is a life of sin. Yes, it is to make sure that His holy ones do not see corruption. That is the message of today.
I want us to understand that God’s unconditional love is not love in the definition of men. It is love in the definition of GOD’s nature. It is deeper, stronger and more powerful.
When it is deployed as transformational love, it will come with an enabling power and pardon, that makes it possible for His holy seed carriers to live a life that sin will not have dominion over; a life that yields its body faculties to Him as instruments of righteousness.
Always remember that God will not fail in investing His transformational love, into the lives of His holy seed carriers, to enable them carry it successfully in an evil infested world. He knows that His holy seed carriers, would not wickedly depart from His ways, hence doing that; especially when they begin to do unholy things with their lives.
As we bring this to a close, understand that, there is a way God will pardon your sins, that you will eternally lose the desire to go back to a life of sin again. It is a pardon that comes from the chambers of His transforming love, and common among carriers of His holy seed. Jesus described it in a parable He told in the house of a self-righteous man.
THAT WILL BE OUR MEDITATION SCRIPTURE TODAY. MAY GOD BLESS HIS WORD IN OUR HEARTS, AND KEEP US FOR HIS NAME SAKE. AMEN!!
“And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.
And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.” Luke 7:36-43 NKJV