TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 7TH May 2023)
“And now I am coming to You; I say these things while I am still in the world, so that My joy may be made full and complete and perfect in them [that they may experience My delight fulfilled in them, that My enjoyment may be perfected in their own souls, that they may have My gladness within them, filling their hearts].
I have given and delivered to them Your word (message) and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world [do not belong to the world], just as I am not of the world.
I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth. Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” John 17:13-18 AMCP
WELCOME TO THE 127TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS & WONDERS!
We have been looking at matters of the faith, purity and patience of the saints. Today, we will beam our eyes, one more time on purity. I believe God is moving us in this direction to also help us over come secret sins, and restore back to us our white garments in the Spirit realm.
One of the major resources God placed on earth, to make sure that those who turn to Him through His Son Jesus Christ, are kept from the evil one, is the prayer Jesus prayed shortly before He went to the Cross. That prayer is still as valid as the day He prayed it.
Maybe I need to share with us something you may not have known about prayer. There are righteous prayers that God answers from generation to generation. Some are prayed for years, others for months, some others for weeks, others for days, and many others just for hours, minutes and even seconds.
Like the one Abraham prayed for Ishmael in Genesis 17, it lasted just for few seconds or minutes. But God is still answering that prayer even today; that is thousands of years later. The prayer of our devotional text was prayed by Christ, maybe for minutes also, but God is still answering them today. It is the answers to that prayer that is keeping many of us in the faith.
Many of us have fallen into sin, even loosing hope of coming back to righteousness, purity and Holiness. But the prayer of the LORD many years ago, went into effects and brought us back.
SOMETIMES I LOOK AT MY LIFE AND WHAT THE LORD HAS DELIVERED ME FROM AND SAY “THANK GOD JESUS PRAYED THAT PRAYER”
Friend, we preachers may pray for you and put what we call prayer cover on you, but the real prayer cover is that very prayer Jesus prayed over us all. A portion of it is what we used today for our devotional text. One of the lines says;
I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth. Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” John 17:15-18 AMCP
That brings us back to the sanctification of the soul. Jesus prayed a very powerful prayer that His Holy Spirit have been answering for thousands of years. He said we should not be taken out of this corrupt world, but be kept in it protected from the evil one.
Now, what does the evil one does? Our minds may go to killing us. But that is far from it most times. He does not kill us all the time because killing a righteous soul will not send him to hell. It may prevent him from affecting more lives for God but will never send him to hell.
The evil one does to us what will send us to hell; what will desecrate us. The next prayer line revealed this truth. It says;
Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth. John 17:17 AMPC
Sanctification can not prevent one from dying because no matter how sanctified you are (you may even have a fore taste of immortality), when you fulfil your days, you must die. From this prayer it is clear that sanctification is an activity of the Holy Spirit, that prevents moral decay and desecration, using God’s holy truths.
Meaning, when Jesus asked the Father to protect us from the evil one, He was referring to the desecrations and injecting of moral decay into our lives by the evil one, especially after being washed by His blood.
SO MANY OF US TODAY, HAVE SILENTLY RETUNED TO OUR OLD WAYS BECAUSE OUR SOULS HAVE NOT BEING SANCTIFIED.
Our spirits were sanctified (as taught two days back), and we continued following the LORD for a while, but for lack of the sanctification of our souls, we became desecrated and returned back to our old ways.
The Bible calls the sanctification of the soul “the saving of the soul.” It says;
“the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Hebrew 10:38-39 NKJV
This scripture is loaded. First, it makes it clear that if we believe in the LORD, turn from our wicked ways, and then draw back to our old ways, Christ will have no pleasure in us. It says if anyone draws back Christ will have no pleasure in the person.
It also admonished us not to be part of the generation that draws back, because it will be damned in hell. He admonished us that, if we draw back to our old ways and spent the rest of our days in that state, without returning to the ways of the LORD. It then presented the antidote of not drawing back; believing, pressing and pushing daily for the sanctification of the soul.
Sadly, our Christian generation do not believe in the sanctification of the soul.
They allow the error of once saved forever saved to fool them into leading sinful lives but approaching God for mercy. It is a mockery of God’s mercies for us to be leading sinful lives and approaching Him for mercy daily, without repenting.
You must understand that in a true salvation encounter, the sanctification of the spirit takes places at once. But the sanctification of the soul is a progressive thing and should be done daily. The day you do not sanctify your soul, you will suffer a spiritual deficit that could build up over time and take you back to your old ways, if you do not take care of it quickly.
ONCE WE GET SAVED, WE MUST KEEP BELIEVING TO THE SAVING OF OUR SOULS. THAT WAS WHY PAUL SAID “I DIE DAILY.”
In other words, he sanctified his soul daily to remain in the race and in the soundness of the faith. The truth remains the truth; our souls must be sanctified by Truth – by life giving revelation truths of God on daily bases, if we are to stay saved in this perverse and crooked generation.
It is a responsibility that will involve shutting our souls from the world using the word of truth and righteousness.
Yes, it will involve not allowing our souls to absorb the advice of the ungodly, find a resting place on the path of sinners, or align with the stand point or seat of the scornful. This will shoot up our spiritual lives, and make us trees of righteousness indeed. That is why the Bible says;
“Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.
But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.
And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].” Psalm 1:1-3 AMPC
Are you seeing what I am seeing in this scripture? Are you seeing the power of sanctifying the soul daily? It is so clear!
It gets one planted by the rivers of the Holy Spirit, making him bear the fruit of salvation, which are righteousness, purity and Holiness with power from on High.
It brings us into the prosperity of the soul and maturity of the spirit. I hope you see these things! That is why I said it is impossible to keep believing the LORD and keeping the standards of the faith (standards of righteousness, purity and holiness), if the soul is not constantly being sanctified or saved by sanctifying-life-giving truths.
YOU MUST UNDERSTAND WHAT I CONSIDER AS THE RULE OF AUTHENTIC SALVATION AND KEEP APPLYING TO YOUR LIFE.
It is a spiritual rule for complete redemption! And it states that; “we are saved (sanctification or the salvation of the spirit), we are being saved (sanctification or the saving of the soul), we shall be saved (sanctification or salvation of the body).” It teaches us that the sanctification of the soul makes it easier to stay saved after you get saved.
Permit me to bring something to your attention at this point. It is easier to get saved than to stay saved. It is like getting married and staying married. Both are not the same in responsibility. One happens at once, the other happens daily.
To get saved, it will take an encounter with the LORD. But to stay saved, it will take regular encounters with the LORD. If we are not having those encounters, we will not know when we have slipped back into perdition with our Bibles in our hands.
Child of God as we bring this to a close, I want you to understand that Christ does not want us desecrated and returned back to our old ways after having been washed by His blood. That is what the evil one wants. Christ prayed that we be kept and protected from him, as we fulfil our days in this wicked and polluted world. He prayed that we be kept sanctified, purified, consecrated and separated.
Most times the evil one achieves his vision to desecrate and return us back to our old ways using false prophets, false teachers, money making doctrines, and spicy prophecies on the lips of flamboyant preachers and etc.
He uses their human need-based preaching, prophecies, prayers, teachings and ministries to do his job. That is why Peter warned us against them. He warned us against these guys who are tailoring their ministries around our earthly needs instead of eternal lives. He warned us to be careful of them else we go back to our old ways by their influences. He said;
“But also [in those days] there arose false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, who will subtly and stealthily introduce heretical doctrines (destructive heresies), even denying and disowning the Master Who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
And many will follow their immoral ways and lascivious doings; because of them the true Way will be maligned and defamed.
And in their covetousness (lust, greed) they will exploit you with false (cunning) arguments. From of old the sentence [of condemnation] for them has not been idle; their destruction (eternal misery) has not been asleep.
They promise them liberty, when they themselves are the slaves of depravity and defilement—for by whatever anyone is made inferior or worse or is overcome, to that [person or thing] he is enslaved.
For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through [the full, personal] knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again become entangled in them and are overcome, their last condition is worse [for them] than the first. 2 Peter 2:1-3, 19-20, AMPC
Friend, the greatest attack of hell on your soul will be in the area of remaining Heaven worthy after salvation. He knows the power of truth in the sanctification of the soul is what will keep us Heaven worthy, hence establishing falsehood in church today.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“Blessed (happy, to be envied) is the man who reads aloud [in the assemblies] the word of this prophecy; and blessed (happy, to be envied) are those who hear [it read] and who keep themselves true to the things which are written in it [heeding them and laying them to heart], for the time [for them to be fulfilled] is near.” Revelation 1:3 AMPC