TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 8TH May 2023)
“Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Genesis 6:1-8 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 128TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS & WONDERS!
We give God the glory for another day. We thank Him for His amazing beauty that have been running our lives. If His beauty is not running your Christian life, you will be ruined one day. His beauty is His Grace. God’s grace is the fuel that runs an authentic Christian life, and it is usually full of truth that keeps our spirits, souls and bodies sanctified.
We want to revisit truths on the sanctification of the soul, due to the need of the purity of the saints in our patient walk with the LORD.
We want to look at the sanctification of a department or unit of the soul called imagination. One major truth we can glean on the devotional text is that God cannot stop us from doing whatever we imagine to do. That is why He cannot stop us from sinning, if our imaginations have been captured to sin. Only our will can stop us.
That is, our will not to sin.
The sanctification of our imagination is an integral part of the sanctification of the soul. Our imagination must be acceptable in God’s sight.
Our imaginations must be pure and holy. No one will lead a righteous, pure and holy life without a righteous, pure and holy imagination. The sanctification of the imagination is a spiritual exercise to carry out daily, as a Christian. You carry it out by rejecting the profane and polluted from settling on your mind. The Profane is anything that does not edify our souls and keep it clean.
IN REJECTING WHAT IS PROFANE, WE ARE TO EXERCISE OURSELVES UNTO GODLINESS.
The Bible says;
“But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.
For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.” 1 Timothy 4:7-9 NKJV
So, as we wake up each morning, we are to guard our minds against what does not edify so that the imagination will not pick something polluted and begin to get defied. Whatever goes on within us must be pure for us to remain acceptable to God.
From our devotional text, it is clear that God judged the generation of Noah and wiped it away, not just because of what they were doing but because of what they were imagining. This is really instructive and edifying at the same time. It tells us how our imagination can determine God’s response to us.
A major portion of the devotional text says;
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”
The words “thoughts and intents of the heart” captures the five faculties of the soul. The Bible says, theirs was evil, continually. But not that of Noah.
You must understand that Noah did not find grace because he was living their kind of life, and then God decided to ignore it, No! He found grace because he was not. Grace is not we sinning every now and then, and God concealing them up every now and then.
God does not solve the sin problem by concealing our sins. He solves the sin problem by purging us of our sins. Sometimes through teachings, other times through divine warnings, or chastisement, depending on our response.
That is why authentic Grace is we using the mercies of God upon our lives to lead righteous, pure and holy lives.
So, Noah did not find grace because he lived a wicked life then God decided to cover him because he was of the lineage of Seth. He worked out his salvation with fear and trembling and found grace in God’s sight, as a result.
HIS IMAGINATION WAS PURE AND HOLY HENCE RESULTING IN A PURE AND HOLY LIFE BEFORE THE LORD.
While God turned against the people with wicked imaginations, God used Noah to preserve the earth because of His righteous imagination. The Bible says;
“By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” Hebrews 11:7 NKJV
The story of Noah and that generation is a major prove that what we imagine in our hearts can determine our eternal destiny. Yes, what lies in our imagination can determine if we will go to hell or Heaven after death. For instance, if sexual immorality lies in our imagination (a seed for lustful living), it can take us to hell. Jesus, the Judge of all, made that clear when He said;
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” Matthew 5:27-30 NKJV
Do you see Christ suggesting very drastic measures to prevent us from going to hell? He alone knows the intensity of the torment there and would not want any of us there, hence the admonition. He said we should cut off from any relationship (hand), anything that takes the attention of our minds or sight (eyes), or places we go, if they are catalysts of spiritual defilement.
The drastic measures He suggested are to protect our souls from being defiled, thereby corrupting our imagination. It is important that we take these things serious and make sure no sin lies in our imagination.
As earlier stated, plucking out the eye, cutting off the hand, and etc. has nothing to do with physically taking those body parts out. At least we need our eyes and hands to read our Bibles. It has to do with applying the rod of discipline on them so that they will not be instruments of sin. It is part of exercise unto godliness.
CHRIST WOULD LATER INSPIRE PAUL TO WRITE ON THE SAME ISSUE, SAYING;
“Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:12-14 NKJV
Applying the rod of discipline is bringing a body part that has become an instrument of sin under subjection, by the power of the Holy Spirit within. It is making it an instrument of righteousness by subjecting it to doing only what the Holy Spirit prompts us to do. This is not usually easy, because it requires a daily fight!
Yes, for sin not to have dominion over us, we must fight it on daily bases using the tools that God’s grace has placed at our disposal. One of it is the tool of spiritual discipline, where we use our holy will to bring our bodies into subjection so that they will not lead us to sin.
There are some with very corrupt imaginations; imaginations that can strip anyone naked and begin to have sex with them when they are not there. It is called masturbation. We must fight that by cutting off from pornography and all sexual gratifying things in existence.
Masturbation is a product of a stronghold of sexual immorality established in a man’s soul. Until the stronghold is demolished, the practice will remain despite prayers. We demolish the stronghold through the sanctification of the soul. And one major department of the soul to sanctify to achieve this is the imagination.
THE NEXT DEPARTMENT IS THE MEMORY!
Our imaginations can turn God against us when they become continually corrupt and defiled. But most things that occur in our imagination comes from the memory.
The memory collects information from what we touch, see, hear, or feel, and then stores them up. Then the imagination picks it up from the memory and process the information into photographs or images. That is why it is called imagination; the most powerful and oldest nation on earth.
I think we have heard enough for the day; enough to meditate on and build on in our quest for consecrated living.
One more thing; it is important to understand that, it is not always what we see and hear at the immediate present that our imagination work on. It is what is stored in our memory. The memory must therefore be sanctified for our imaginations to be pure. All the units that form the soul are interconnected, as we will discover later; and must be sanctified for the saving of the soul.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated;
or you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.
Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
“For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
Now 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.” Hebrews 11:32-39 NKJV