TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 14TH JUNE 2023)**
..”Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, It will not tarry. Habakkuk 2:2-3 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 165th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
We bless the LORD our God for His mercies and kindness. He has given us another day to be alive and well, even though some of us do not deserve it.
If God was dealing with us according to our sins, iniquity, and trespass, Jesus would not have come to die on the cross for them. The enemy would have had us all for dinner. Blessed be the name of the LORD who did not leave us as prey to his teeth.
No matter the sin, no matter the wickedness, no matter the wrongdoing, no matter the legal right of the enemy over us, we still have the blood of the lamb on our side. We still have the throne of grace to approach, obtain mercy, and find grace in times of need.
Yes, we still have Christ as our judgment seat, to prevent any judgment from falling on us while on our way to becoming victorious over the practice of sin. We still have everything working for our good, to help us out.
We are going to pick up from where we stopped yesterday.
Yesterday, we said, one would gain altitude in life whenever one comes into the revelation of his or her divine destiny. We also said, one maintains altitude in life when one stays in constant touch with that revelation. It was made clear to us that the moment we lose touch with matters of our destiny and keep moving, we will one-day crash land, sometimes without remedy.
We also spoke about the covenant and its roles in all these.
We said, the role of the covenant is to help us stay in altitude, especially after discovering matters of our destiny. It is also to help us put a touch of sacrifice to our decisions to pursue our divine destiny. Wherever there is a divinely orchestrated and acceptable sacrificial living, there would be a fire from the LORD, a special manifest presence of God on that life.
MAYBE LET US SHARE A FEW HELPFUL TRUTHS ON SACRIFICIAL LIVING.
Obviously, from the days of putting stones together and calling them an altar, to our days of putting our lives in order so that they can function as the altar of the LORD, one principle has been clear and that principle is this; we will always attract a fire from God whenever we live a life of acceptable sacrifice.
In the Kingdom of God, it is the life of sacrifice that we live that always attracts fire from God to us. In other words, wherever you see God’s manifest presence (God’s fire), there has been a life of sacrifice there. There can be no fire (manifest presence) without sacrificial living.
The Bible says,
“Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy.
He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:5-6 NKJV
Sadly, over 99 percent of preachers today are standing on this amazing scripture to commercialize the gospel. They have stood on it to turn the Church into a money-making machine, instead of a ground and pillar of truth where the spirits of just men are made perfect.
To the sensibility and sensitivity of many believers today, sacrifice is giving some money to “God” to get deliverance or some blessings, miracles or other forms of interventions from Him.
Yes, to this large group of Christians, like the idol worshipers of ancient times did to their deities, sacrifice is giving the deity, God, some money or other valuables that cost you something, most times as prescribed by the preacher (who now functions as the priest of the shrine) to get some deliverance, interventions, blessings, miracles, and etc. But in God’s Kingdom, that is not sacrifice. It is stealing in the name of God, because it will be replacing the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus Christ.
I have come to discover that, if you are dealing with the demon of deliverance that masquerades as God in His house, you can give sacrifice the way idol worshipers did in their days and sometimes get what you want. But if you are dealing with God, you have to offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to him, so that He makes you His altar on earth.
EVERY VALUABLE YOU SACRIFICE UNTO GOD, WILL BE A CONSEQUENCE OF OFFERING YOUR BODY.
Offering your body will involve living a crucified life as patterned in the life of Paul and the churches he planted. The life of Paul tells us what sacrificial living in God’s kingdom is. If you study it, you will realize that it is different from the idol worship type, that has become the standard in the present Church.
The Bible made it clear that God led him through the path of sacrificial living, as a pattern for those of us who need His constant fire, or manifest presence in our lives. From a prophetic point of view, I want to submit to you that the end time Church ought to be a “Paul-line Church” in so many ways, especially in matters of the release of destiny through sacrificial living.
More of these truths will be shared in our services, starting from today!
Your destiny will require a life of sacrifice to be fulfilled. Look at the sacrifice Jesus paid to unleash His destiny as the savior of the world! It was huge. You and I cannot follow any other path, other than the very path He laid for us. He said,
*** “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24 NKJV)***
Sacrificial living is, sometimes, denying yourself the legitimate to lay hold on the ultimate, it all depends on your assignment and kingdom passion. It will involve denying yourself so many things to do the will of GOD. It spans from denying yourself the pleasures of sin to denying yourself the pleasures of self-centeredness, and to other forms of self-denial.
Where there is no such sacrificial living, there can be no fire and where there is no fire, there can be no release of destiny.
People who are in constant touch with matters of divine destiny always live lives of sacrifice to make sure their destiny is fulfilled. The weight of sacrifice you pay for your divine destiny, is determined by the weight of your destiny. In other words, what should determine the quality of sacrificial living to embrace in your Christian life, should be the weight of your destiny – the weight of the things God want to do with your life.
That brings us back to the necessity of staying in touch with matters of your divine destiny. Our devotional text says;
..”Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, It will not tarry. Habakkuk 2:2-3 NKJV
You will need to be writing everything God tells you about yourself and about what He wants to do with your life so that you can stay in constant touch with matters of your destiny. And you will need to be going to them, from time to time to refresh your memory. You will also need to be with those who can remind you of what you are here on earth for.
You will need a pastor or a church that will always keep you on your toes on destiny matters. In fact, you will need a pastor who will function as a destiny midwife for you and a church that is full of fellow pregnant people, who are focused on what God brought them here on earth for.
Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ personal assistant, succeeded, not just because He learned how to be in the presence of the LORD through Moses, but because He spent His days staying in touch with matters of his divine destiny, through meditation in a book that contains the information. God actually instructed him to do so.
We are the next in line for such feats. It is our turn!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying:
“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel.
Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.
From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory.
No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.
Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:1-8 NKJV