TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 25TH April 2023)
“Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:6-12 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 115TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS & WONDERS!
Blessed be the name of the LORD who have daily loaded us with benefits. Blessed be His holy name for all He has released to us from the Throne Room; for all His mercies, compassion and lovingkindness.
Yes, blessed be the name of the LORD for the grace and truth He have been ministering to us daily; things that are more than Gold. For those who belong to the generation of those who seek the LORD, this dimensions of God’s grace and truth that have been coming to us, are like treasures that have been a satisfaction to the soul.
The central activity that is going on in God’s kingdom is information and communication; not lower level information from a secular realm. But revelation from higher realms where God inhabits. God inhabits eternity and that is where life changing information comes from.
Now, the reason for information and communication being the central activity in God’s kingdom, is explained in the great commission Jesus handed over to His Church to execute – discipling the nations. The Bible says;
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:18-2 NKJV
God does not want any more soul in hell, but sadly He can only stop that by the preaching of the gospel to disciple the nations. I said sadly because, I wish there was another way.
The reason for my wish is, those of us who should be preaching the gospel to disciple the nations, are not doing it. We are rather preaching the gospel to fill our pockets with money, build a followership for us, become great and famous, or fulfill one carnal ambition or the other.
Others are doing it for very dark reasons; to kill, to steal, and to destroy.
Now, because of all these bad motives for preaching the gospel, the great commission is presently being executed with great omissions; with false doctrines, lying wonders, deceiving spirits and all that, at the front burner of most gospel ministries. Very few are really preaching the doctrine that make people disciples of Christ; the doctrine of Christ.
WE PREACH ALL KINDS OF MONEY MAKING, FAME AND ATTENTION SEEKING GOSPELS, DOCTRINES OF DEVILS AND SECOND HEAVEN MESSAGES.
Consequently, instead of stopping souls from dropping into the bottomless pits of hell, many of us in ministry are actually facilitating their descent into hell. We keep people in ignorance of eternal things because of our desires to gain the whole world through gospel ministry. It’s a shame!
Except for very few, many preachers do not preach a gospel that gets people ready for the next life. We do not realize that the worst thing that will ever happen to a human on earth is to forget, get deceived, or be ignorant of things that will happen when he or she closes their eyes in death.
When I say things that will happen when people die, am not referring to the wailing that follows. Neither am I referring to any of those things that do happen during funerals, or the drama or serenity, that usually occur during the sharing of what the dead may have left behind. I am referring to what will happen when the soul steps out of its body and slip into eternity.
Part of the Doctrine of Christ on Eternal life says;
“….it is appointed for [all] men once to die, and after that the [certain] judgment,” Hebrews 9:27 AMPC
This scripture made it clear that as soon as a soul step out of its body, the next thing that follows is judgment; am not saying punishment, but judgment – the judgment of GOD on what that soul did while living in its body, which is usually eternal punishment or eternal rest with Christ.
It is the judgment of what we did while living in our bodies that will determine our punishment or acquittal in the next life. It will determine where we will spend eternity.
The doctrine of Christ made it clear that people should NOT be ignorant of these things; they should not be ignorant of the fact that, we all have been appointed to die, and after that judgment. While Satan wants us ignorant, hence putting false doctrines on the lips of many preachers, God wants us well informed, hence establishing churches and preachers who tell us these things (though very few).
Understand that, both the kingdom of Satan and that of God, know the power of being either ignorant, or fully informed about eternal things.
Honestly, if we are ignorant of the things we will see when we step out of our bodies, we will be living hell bound lives without even knowing it. We will not have the fear of God in our lives and will see no reason why we should make Jesus our LORD and personal savior, or live our lives according to His blessed will and ways.
WHEN YOU BECOME AWARE OF THE APPOINTMENT THAT AWAITS ALL AT THE END OF THEIR DAYS, YOU WILL BE DIFFERENT.
You will seek to be godly, pure, and righteous before God all the time. You will spend your days fearing God and keeping His commandments as the Bible commands. You will respect every aspect of the doctrine of Christ on eternal life. Which brings us to our devotional text for the day.
The text says;
“Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:6-12 NKJV
We cannot fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life if we do not respect the doctrine of Christ on eternal life, especially as contain in this scripture. The scripture is about how to spend our earthly days in eternal relevance. It talks about the aspect of the doctrine that teaches us how to handle economic matters.
You see, there are so many matters in a man’s life that are very sensitive and slippery that if we do not handle them properly, they will land us in hell. Two of them are money and marriage matters. Our devotional text is about money matters.
IF YOU READ IT FROM THE CLASSIC EDITION OF THE AMPLIFIED VERSION, THE FIRST PART SAYS;
“[And it is, indeed, a source of immense profit, for] godliness accompanied with contentment (that contentment which is a sense of inward sufficiency) is great and abundant gain.
For we brought nothing into the world, and obviously we cannot take anything out of the world; But if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content (satisfied).
But those who crave to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish (useless, godless) and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction and miserable perishing.
For the love of money is a root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have been led astray and have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many acute [mental] pangs. 1 Timothy 6:6-10 AMPC
The last verse of this scripture tells us why we have so many mentally deranged Christians in so many Pentecostal churches. For instance, what is presently trending in the Kenyan News media is the story of a group of people, led by a preacher, who fasted until some died.
From media reports, over 58 graves of men and women who died fasting have been found.
The question is, why would people take such actions in the name of serving God or desiring to see Jesus? It is simply because, they followed false doctrines, strayed away from the faith, and consequently pierced themselves with acute mental pangs, leading to the massacre.
The wrong doctrines where originally created by some of the giants of the land that many call fathers of the land. This terrible incident clearly tells us, what Church will keep looking like, if preachers keep preaching other doctrines instead of the doctrine of Christ.
The Amplified rendering of that scripture contains one of the doctrines of Christ on eternal life, that many in church are either ignorant of, or have ignored completely. I want to admonish you to read that scripture again and again, taking down what the LORD may lay in your heart.
There are times we should just read the Bible and allow God to speak to us.
But let me say this, the way many of us believers conduct ourselves, when it comes to money matters, is very shameful and destructive. That is when you see the god of greed and covetousness in us rising with all its powers. That is when you truly know who people worship.
Every destructive thing we do, when it comes to money matters, is mostly from the polluted doctrine of prosperity that we have imbibed over time, from the lips and books of financial prosperity preachers. Some are not just from their lips and books, but from their life styles also.
What we found on their life styles, lips and books, stirred so many of us to enthrone the desire for earthly things above the desire for Heavenly things. They drove us to set our minds on earthly things instead of on things above where Christ is seated. Consequently, transmitting the spiritual virus called the love of money into our walk and talk with God.
THERE ARE PEOPLE TODAY WHO GO TO CHURCH JUST FOR GOD TO PROSPER THEM FINANCIALLY; THEY ACTUALLY SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.
They do not realize that it was not money Adam lost in the garden but his soul. That is why the financial prosperity of the righteous hinges on the prosperity of his soul. The Bible says;
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” 3 John 2-4
This letter was written by a spiritual father to his spiritual children. It holds a lot of what the doctrine of Christ teaches on eternal life. The scripture is clear on how the righteous makes His money and keeps himself in health – by walking in truth!
It made it clear that the prosperity of the soul has a walk-in truth as its evidence. Meaning, if we are not walking in truth, we are not prospering in our soul, and our economic and health life may not prosper as well.
God will not allow money to enter our pockets while our souls are yet to be recovered from the spirit of hell in the immediate present. He will first put the true riches in our hearts before putting unrighteous mammon in our pockets. He will not allow us to engage ourselves in an aimless pursuit for money.
Our devotional text admonished us to fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life, by being content and godly at the same time. It says having food and clothing we should be satisfied. Every other thing we are to get should be for the advance of God’s will on the face of the earth.
In other words, we should not engage ourselves in the aimless pursuit of wealth. Jesus never did that and the apostle never either.
I have come to discover that if our salvation is intact, there is a contentment that will be present in our spirits; a contentment created by an inward sufficiency, birth in us, by the Spirit of Christ that lives in us.
Meaning, if you cannot find that contentment in your life, it’s clear that Christ is not in you. I believe enough have been shared for the day for us to use in adding to the building block of our faith on the doctrine of Christ, especially on eternal life.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“If then you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.
For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in [the splendor of His] glory.
So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God).” Colossians 3:1-5 AMPC