TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 7TH AUGUST 2023)**
“Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” Mark 4:39 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 219th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
For 219 days, the LORD has been merciful to us and kind. He has been gracious, compassionate, and amazing. He has not allowed the dark power of the evil one to take us away from His love, power, and grace. He has been good to us.
God has a history of not writing anyone off because He is the beginning of everyone. That is why, people may write you off, made their conclusions about you, and declared your life finished, but God will never do such a thing. He will never close your case, because in Him there is no ending.
The enemy closed the case of Jesus as man, for instance, when He was killed and buried, but God said, “no, in me, there is no ending.” The result was amazing, Jesus resurrected on the third day. I do not know what the enemy may have closed about you, but this morning the LORD is saying to you, “in me there is no ending, just keep the faith, and do not walk away from my paths and all will be well.”
The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, was God telling the world that in Him, there is no ending. The Bible says;
“Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:7 NKJV
Death could not even bring Jesus to an end. Our enemies usually think that death is the end of life, hence trying to kill; kill our jobs, our favors, our reputation, our access to people and places, our marriages, our finances, our joy, our ministries, our families, our businesses, our prosperity, our hopes, our expectations, and so forth.
But in God, death is not even the end of life. It is the beginning of another kind of life. So, if God allows the enemy to kill anything in your life, it is to usher in another phase or another kind of life. That is why the Bible says,
“For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.” Proverbs 24:16 NKJV
The wicked are people who are not in God, or sold out to His will. They love the world and not the LORD. They do the bidding of their flesh and not the bidding of God. They follow the dictates of their hearts, not the dictates of the Spirit of God.
Some of the ones in church follow prophets who use the bible to manipulate people without them knowing, but not “the more sure word of prophecy”, the bible. They carry oil in their hands instead of the Spirit of God in their hearts. They carry and use what they call “holy water,” instead of carrying the holy God in their hearts and living a holy life.
THEY HANG THE CROSS EVERYWHERE, BUT DO NOT LIVE THE CRUCIFIED LIFE.
Many of them have an assurance of a salvation that they have not truly received. They believe in forgiveness without repentance, salvation without conversion, and lead their lives the way they want instead of the way the WORD of the LORD has defined. All these happens because most love the world, pretending to love the LORD.
When such people fall, there can be no rising because they are not connected to the true God; the One who has no ending.
Understand that, it is not God’s will that any human fall and not be able to rise again. It is not his will that our enemies prevail over us. That is why He showed us in his word how we can live a life where nothing about us can even be brought to an end by death, a life in Him. The Bible says;
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:15-17 NKJV
Look at the last lines. It says, *“He who does the will of God, abides forever.” * That is the secret of living an unending life; a life that when the enemy kills one thing about it, it springs up again in another dimension, making him regret ever touching it.
That was what God demonstrated in the life of Job. The enemy killed one phase, and another sprang up. The phase he killed was weaker than the phase that sprang up. That tells us that we should get ready for a much better phase of our lives, when we find one phase dying, instead of moving into the valley of worries.
THE PHASE THE ENEMY KILLED IN THE LIFE OF JOB WAS GLORIOUS; YES, THE ENEMY WILL NOT KILL WHAT IS NOT GLORIOUS ABOUT US.
He will always go for what is glorious. But when he kills it, a much more glorious phase will emerge. That is why when things are going bad with us, we must be patient with GOD, and be ready for the next glorious thing that is about happening.
We must be patient because, when people who do the will of God find things about them dying helplessly, it is not the end. It is a process. The LORD is bringing a phase that is better and stronger than what He allowed the enemy to kill. We should just be ready for it.
Death in God is not an end, but a birth process. It is the birth process of another kind of life.
So, if you have sold yourself to do the will of God, do not worry when things are going bad. People who do the will of God abide forever. That is the heritage they carry. When the enemy takes one part of their lives, a more glorious one will spring up. When he takes down a prosperous thing in their lives, a more prosperous one will emerge. They fall seven times, and then rises again.
When the Bible says “seven times” it is not in numerological sense, but in prophetic sense. Seven is the number for completion or perfection. Falling seven times, is falling completely or perfectly like Jesus fell, died, and was buried, and declared over by the enemy. But on the third day, he rose again.
That is why those who do the will of God cannot be successfully brought to an end by the evil one. He may think he has brought them to an end and declare a party over them. But suddenly, he will see them again standing out there in another dimension, in a fresh beginning that the LORD has given them.
God does not close the cases of His people when the enemy move against them, No, He doesn’t. He has a history of telling them, “Do not give up, it is not over.” That is God for you.
The Bible is full of people He strengthened, and moved from what they took as the end, to a fresh beginning. So, if you have a relationship with the LORD, just know that He does not have a history of writing those who walk with Him off.
THAT IS THE WORD OF THE LORD FOR US TODAY.
In our church fellowship yesterday, we spoke about the rulers of the darkness of this world. We saw how they network with the spiritual host of wickedness in heavenly places, to destroy lives on earth. But all that can only happen when people are far from the God, who manifest as the LIGHT of the world.
The Bible says, God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all. So, once we are close to Him, the rulers of the darkness of this age, will not be able to neutralize us.
However, there are times these powers seem to succeed even when you are in light. They succeed through natural systems that we have no natural control over. But when that happens, we are to be patient with God and wait upon Him in prayer, because the rule still applies, “those who do the will of God, abides forever.”
As we wait in faith and prayer, listening for the next step He wants us to take, He will make moves that will bring us to a much better, glorious, stronger, and more fruitful phase than the one we may have had. That was what Job did, when the beautiful phase of life he had was abruptly brought to an end.
As He waited in faith and prayer, God made a move that brought Him to a much glorious and beautiful phase. God first spoke calm to his soul, and then to the storm, and then brought Him into a phase of life that must have made the enemy regret ever killing the first phase. Our devotional text says;
“Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” Mark 4:39 NKJV
Jesus still calm storms but He usually begin by calming our souls in the midst of storms. The reason is, until our souls experience a calm in the midst of the storm, we will never be calm enough to come to the very glorious phase than what might have died, is bringing forth.
It is my prayer that you find faith this morning from these words, and move on into the next plan of God for your life.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19 NKJV