TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 23RD MARCH 2023)
“So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”
And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.
So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!”
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:4-7 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 82ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS!
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. Day unto day God has been faithful, feeding us with what we cannot live without.
When we say feeding, it’s not just the natural food He have been putting on our tables, but the spiritual foods He have been putting in our spirits as well. He has been faithful.
Everyone who have been feeding spiritually from what God has prepared for those who carry His holy seed has successfully walked with Him and fulfilled their destiny, despite the odds. That is why one of the temptations you will ever face as a Holy seed carrier, is the temptation to change your spiritual meal.
Now, mark those words; I am not saying to change Church, or change your pastor, but to change your spiritual meal. It is the spiritual meal you desire that determines which church or preacher you sit under. The temptation to change your spiritual meal will come in your day of adversity.
As a holy seed carrier, your spiritual meal was supposed to be according to the Holy Seed you carry, not according to what you are going through or your carnal or earthly needs.
If God is feeding you according to the holy seed you carry, like He did to the nation of Israel, a time will come when you will be facing adversity because of your journey with Him. When that happens, you would want to change your spiritual meal. And if you are not careful, you will do that and sabotage your destiny.
That was what the nation of Israel did figuratively, which led to none of them who left Egypt, except Joshua and Caleb, making it to the promise land. Jesus also faced the same temptation. The enemy asked him to start feeding Himself based on His earthly need, but He decline.
HERE IS THE SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED;
Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ” Luke 4:1-4 NKJV
Notice here that the temptation came when Jesus was hungry, not when all was well.
The temptation to change your spiritual meal will come when things are not okay with you. That is when you will want to have another pastor or church to feed from, or even begin to feed from movies, consuming what you see on social media and all that, instead of feeding on your God given meal as a holy seed carrier.
Personally, there was a time that I attended a church that was not feeding me according to the holy seed of God that I carry, so I changed both pastor and church. I began to travel 9 hours monthly to attend my new Church. Whenever I get there, I will stay there for one week, buy all messages preached during the month. I did like that until I entered into my destiny.
People thought I was mad then, but today they are saying I was wise.
There is the desire to be fed according to the holy seed you carry, it can drive you to cover great distance to find what you are looking for. On the flip side, there is also the temptation to be fed according to your carnal or earthly needs. It can also drive you to cover great distances, to get what you are looking for.
It is the temptation to be fed according to earthly or carnal needs that God forbids. He would not want us to be fed according to our carnal or earthly needs. It may fulfill our desire, but will ultimately defeat His plans and purposes for our lives.
THAT IS WHY THE BIBLE SAYS;
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4 NKJV
We are right in those times; when people would not want to be fed according to the holy seed they receive from the LORD at salvation, but according to what their carnal and earthly needs says. That is why today, many have strayed away from the truth of the Bible, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. The Bible says;
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” 1 Timothy 4:1 NKJV
Satan knows that once we change what we feed on spiritually, our fall is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. If the words of our mouths, and the meditations of our hearts are no longer acceptable to God, our demise in the kingdom is just a matter of when, because eat will definitely happen.
On this platform, God has been feeding us with spiritual food that can only be appreciated by holy seed carriers. Yesterday, we saw some of the earthen vessels limitations that hinders His power from helping us to unleash the potential of the holy seed we carry.
We discovered that, the reason God would put a very holy and precious thing of His kingdom, like His holy seed in us earthen vessels, is to make sure the excellency of the power of releasing it, will be of Him and not of us. We also discover that there are seven limitations of these vessels, which usually result in spiritual fatalities as we seek to carry His holy seed.
We discover that, one of the reasons for all the Help the LORD has prepared for His holy seed carriers, is to prevent these earthen vessel limitations from sabotaging us and getting His holy seed in our lives mixed. We saw the first to the third limitation, and want to look at the rest.
THE NUMBER FOURTH LIMITATION IS THE LIMITATIONS OF THE STATE OR NATURE OF OUR HEARTS.
Get ready, because we are going to see something deep. So, I crave your indulgence to follow carefully as we unfold this.
The heart within Bible context represents the spirit of man. That is where the holy seed is usually planted by the LORD. The essence is, just as the natural heart pumps blood to every part of our bodies, so this spiritual heart is to pump spiritual resources from the holy seed in our lives, and also from Heaven, to every aspects of our lives.
There are two kinds of hearts or human spirits on earth, we have the regenerated heart and the un-regenerated heart. Concerning the un-regenerated heart or spirit, the Bible says;
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17:9-10 NKJV
The un-regenerated heart or spirit as we can see in this scripture, is wicked. So, God will never plant His holy seed in it. The Bible says it is desperately wicked, who can know it. That is why before God plants his seed in us, we must encounter salvation by regeneration of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
Now, understand that, when we say the limitations of the heart, we are not referring to an un-regenerated heart, because it cannot carry the holy seed, we are referring to a regenerated heart or spirit.
Does a regenerated heart have earthen vessel limitations? Yes, it has. What is the limitation of a regenerated heart? It is its ability to deceive or mislead us. I guess you might be surprised at that, but that is the truth, and we must all recognize the possibility of it happening to us.
YES, THE HEART OR SPIRIT OF A REGENERATED PERSON CAN MISLEAD THEM.
If you are sincere, it has misled you so many times. It also misled me so many times, especially in my beginning days as a Christian. That is why it is important that we dwell in the word of God, so that we will always screen what it tells us to do before doing them.
Understand that while false prophecies and teachings comes from a false spirit, the deceptions of the heart can come from either a wicked heart or a heart that is following the LORD. It is just that the content or what each heart tells the possessor to do is different.
For the regenerated heart, or a heart that is following the LORD, it will come from what he or she take to be right, as he or she seek to live right and to please God. We can find an example of that in Samuel when he went to the house of Jesse. His heart misled him when he looked at outward appearance, and he almost anointed the wrong person. Our devotional text says;
“So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”
And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.
So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!”
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:4-7 NKJV
If you look at this scripture carefully, you will discover how Samuel, a national prophet, with great friendship with God, almost missed it when his heart spoke to him.
He wanted to do what was right, and saw the first son of Jesse, and heard his heart telling him, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!” while the man was not God’s will for Israel. That is how a regenerated heart deceive a carrier of the holy seed.
IT IS ONE OF THE MAJOR REASONS FOR HUMILITY AND CONSULTATIONS IN GOD’S KINGDOM.
Child of God, our righteous heart can still deceive us to do what is good, but not God at an immediate present.
A carrier of the holy seed must understand that his heart will always attempt to led him to do what is good, but if he is patient and check carefully, he will realize though it is good but it is not God’s will at the moment. Many of us fall into the snare just because what our hearts tells us to do looks good. We see the very good things it leads us to do, and do them, only to regret later.
Samuel would have anointed the first son of Jesse as king instead of the last. The Bible says he was very good in his sight because he was the first born, and by good logic and tradition, he should be the chosen one.
It was therefore a good idea to Samuel, but it was not a God idea.
As carriers of the holy seed, we must realize when it is a good idea to marry someone while it is not a God idea, we must realize when it is a good idea to become a preacher while it is not a God idea, we must realize when it is a good idea to open a business while it is not a God idea. Yes, we must realize when it is a good idea to do something good to someone, while it is not a GOD idea.
We must realize when it is a good idea to do a thing, while it is not a God idea, else we will be ruined. The holy seeds of many have been sabotaged by the good ideas they followed that were not God’s ideas.
Abraham’s holy seed was almost sabotaged that way. For instance, it was a good idea for him to follow his wife’s counsel so that there will be peace in the house, but it was not a God idea. The result was Ishmael, and the world is yet to recover because of that.
ISRAEL, JESUS AND THE CHURCH, THE THREE HOLY SEEDS OF ABRAHAM, ARE STILL BEING FOUGHT BY THAT ISHMAEL MISTAKE TODAY.
It may interest you to know that whenever we follow a good idea that our heart gave us that is not a God idea, we would give birth to an Ishmael mistake. Whenever our hearts deceive us, Ishmael will be the result.
And what is the destiny of an Ishmael mistake? Its destiny is to cause problems for the holy seed from generation to generation. The Bible says;
“He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” Genesis 16:12 NKJV
We must prevent the birth of an Ishmael seed in our lives. By all means; we must not follow the good ideas that our hearts tell us all the time. We must depend on God. I have come to discover that one of the major hallmarks of mature carriers of the holy seed is this, they do not trust their hearts, they do not trust their wisdom, and they do not even trust themselves. They trust God. The Bible says;
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV
I believe the message of today has been passed. The wise have increased learning today. Yes, precious word or God’s holy seed carriers have become stronger in faith.
God’s provision for helping us overcome the limitation of the heart is called divine direction. He has promised to lead, teach, instruct, and guide us. The LORD is still our shepherd. We shall not lack guidance. The Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible are there to help us if we engage them patiently.
It is my prayer that these thoughts will remain aflame in your spirit from day to day, in Jesus precious name. Amen!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.
Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you.” Psalm 32:8-9 NKJV