TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 6TH May 2023)
“And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Hebrews 6:11-15 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 126TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS & WONDERS!
It has been a hundred and twenty-six days of God’s investment into our lives, this year alone. This is as a result of His plans and purposes for our lives, which are geared towards giving us a future and a hope.
People are going through a lot, and life for many in most African nations is becoming difficult by the seconds, partly because of bad political leadership that has bedeviled the nations of the black continent for a long time. But God’s mercies have also been there for us, carrying us through and through.
The pressure that companies and firms whose services we need, mounts on us daily, shows us what is happening to the economy. The messages we keep receiving from people asking us for help, testifies of what many are going through. The torrents of request for this financial help or the other is alarming.
Sometimes I wonder why people persist in sending such requests to me, knowing that I am neither a bank, a government agency for helps, a politician, or a millionaire. Many forget that am just a preacher who depends on the goodness of God to survive, like them.
The help we offer is done with great sacrifice.
From the content of the messages I have been receiving, it is clear that most of these people think that we do not have our own problems. There are those who label us wicked or selfish, if we are not able to offer the help they need. It is the saddest part of what is happening.
They just spew out words carelessly, and say things that are very hurtful and insulting, not because one did any evil to them. But just because one is not able to offer them the help they need. I think it will be profitable to walk away from the flow of yesterday and just address this.
Friend, if there is anyone to call unto when you are in need, that person is God. He is the Father of the fatherless, and the provider of all needs. No one else has that title or responsibility, and none should have it in your life, else you will live an accursed life. He said in His word;
‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV
HE DID NOT SAY CALL UNTO A PREACHER.
It is only when people do not have a genuine relationship with God that they call unto men, making themselves vulnerable to deception and ruin. Calling unto men when you are in trouble is a demonstration of trust in man. That is very dangerous because the Bible says;
….“Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD.
For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.” Jeremiah 17:5-8 NKJV
People whose hearts have either departed from the LORD, or are not on the LORD, will have the habit of sending messages to people for help in time of need. And from this scripture, that kind of life is very dangerous. The Bible says, they will not see when good comes, and that they will inherit the parch places in the wilderness and an uninhabited salty land.
Personally, I have never seen anyone, with the habit of sending messages for help in time of need, blessed significantly. They do not experience the miracle of getting lifted from the dung hill by the LORD, and seeing themselves set among princes.
Everyone I have seen God lift from the dunghill to a seat among princes in economic matters, developed the royal habit of trusting in God and God alone. Where you find people involved, they were moved, or program by the LORD to offer them help. The people themselves, never sent them messages for help.
God use men to raise men, but there is a protocol. Sending messages to people for help in time of need, especially in desperation, is not part of the protocol.
DESPERATION WILL ALWAYS PREPARE YOUR HEART FOR DECEPTION.
It will cause your heart to deceive you, telling that the person has what you may be asking him or her for, while in truth he or she does not.
Most times, when you send a message to someone for help, you are relying on perception that the person has what you need, or a past experience of supply you had with the person. But perception is the lowest form of discernment. It is weak and very unreliable. You will be making terrible mistakes following your perception.
You must learn how to trust God in time of need, because He alone has what you need, and can use anyone or anything to help you. We have been looking at the faith, purity and patience of the saints.
As I studied the scriptures, I discovered that one of the characteristics of the faith, purity and patience of the saints, especially the Old Testament saints, was their complete reliance in God and zero trust in man.
They knew the arm of flesh will always fail, or take the glory at the end of the day, hence relying on the arm of the LORD alone. The Bible says;
“And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,
quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead, raised to life again.
Other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated.
The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.” Hebrews 11:32-38 CSB Translation
WE SEE TWO RESULTS OF THE COMPLETE RELIANCE OF THESE BIBLE SAINTS ON GOD IN THIS SCRIPTURE
The two results they got was, triumph and torture. The first set of saints in the text, got triumph for relying on God to receive the change they needed in their situations. The second set received torture for refusing to accept any deliverance that will jeopardize their eternal destiny. Both never called on any man for help – they never pleaded with any authority to come for them. That is the faith and patience of the saints on full display in those blessed scriptures.
The scripture shows that they relied on the arm of the LORD, and allowed it the liberty to choose which arm of flesh that will be needed in partnership, to offer them the help they needed. That is why, if you read their individual stories in scriptures, you will find no man or woman they trusted in, or requested help from. Rather you will find men and women the LORD touched, offering them help. You will never find a man or women they sent messages to for help, the way people do today.
These men and women in scriptures are worthy of imitation. A major part of our devotional text says;
“And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Hebrews 6:11-12 NKJV
Someone has said, “imitation is limitation”. But I say, “it depends on who or what you are imitating”. God is not against imitation, it all depends on who and what you are imitating. God is against photocopying, or stealing His word from those He originally gave it to take to the harvest. You see that in the book of Jeremiah, and other scriptures.
Photocopying is counterfeiting, but imitating is making another original copy available for use. I hope you understand me.
God produces originals by duplicating or reproducing in one, what He had already accomplished in another. That is how His Kingdom multiplies.
For instance, to fill the earth with Christ, He will duplicate in us what He had already accomplished in Christ, so that there will be original Christs on the face of the earth. When you see a photocopy of Christ, it is from the spirit of the anti-Christ – a spirit that loves photocopying, and counterfeiting.
THE SPIRIT OF GOD DOES NOT PHOTOCOPY, THE SPIRIT OF GOD REPRODUCES.
He reproduces by using what He has already produced in the life of another. It is called birthing. It is different from counterfeiting. That is the Bible sense of imitation. It connotes positioning yourself to have what God has accomplished in one person, reproduced in you. That is what our devotional text is saying.
How do we apply this truth? How do we imitate, in the Bible sense of the word, those who through faith and patience obtained divine promises?
You see, whenever we are in need, we are to find someone in scriptures who was in our kind of situation, but came out victorious through faith and patience. After that, we are to take it to God in prayer, to reproduced in our lives what He did in the person’s life. We are to not only do that, but follow the truths they followed, as the Holy Spirit ignite them in our hearts.
Now, following the ways the saints of Old followed in our own days, may not be easy, but if we patiently endure and follow, we will celebrate the way they did. The last part of our devotional text says;
“For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Hebrews 6:13-15 NKJV
It is my prayer that God will use these words to make us what he has called us to be in Jesus precious name. Amen!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
Thus says the LORD: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ Jeremiah 6:16-17 NKJV