TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 9THAUGUST 2023)
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
“But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:3-5 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 221ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
What you eat will eventually eat you. That is very true!
For instance, when a man eats poisonous food, within some minutes the food will start eating up the man resulting in illness. What we have been eating, either good or bad, has been eating us, be it in the area of nutrition or in other areas.
In the area of nutrition, for example, what we eat enters into our physical bowels, then gets digested into our blood stream. If it is good, it will result in sound health. But if it is not, it will result in ill health.
There is also eating, in the area of the kind of information we absorb into our spirits and souls. This is the aspect that holds eternal consequences. Our human spirits and souls are created in such a way that the kind of information we absorb shapes the kind of people we become.
In my opinion, the kingdom of darkness understands this more than any human being on earth, hence making sure the earth is filled with information that turns people into sexual perverts, liars, criminals, terrorist, gays, lesbians, workers of iniquity, evil men and woman, people with no respect for God’s laws and order, etc.
He is not sparing the Church either. You find him manifesting as an angel of light through certain preachers and their followers, forcing dark teachings and practices into the souls and spirits of sinners who desperately needs a savior, oppressed people looking for deliverance, poor people looking for rescue, troubled hearts looking for comfort, sick souls and bodies looking for healing, and all that.
Instead of giving them the promised deliverance, the dark teachings have rather shaped the people into false Christians and hypocrites, giving many an assurance of salvation they do not even have and darkening them with the activities of dark spirits that manifest in form of the Holy Spirit.
That is why the Bible warned us of false doctrines and dark teachings that will be in the Church this end time, stirring us to avoid them by all means.
BUT MANY ARE NOT AVOIDING THEM DUE TO THE POWER OF THE IGNORANCE THAT IS WITHIN THEM.
Sadly, the devil has become the greatest influence in people’s lives because of the kind of information that has been forced into them, through the churches they attend, the religion they pursue, the schools they attend, the friends they keep, the music they listen or dance to, other sight and sounds they expose themselves to, especially on social media platforms, etc.
Everyone must come to the understanding that, the greatest influence of their lives, will be the source of the information they absorb into their souls and spirits, and will determine their peace or sorrow in time and eternity.
God is good, and the Bible says He has a plan for us. That plan is to give us a hope and a glorious future. He should, therefore, be the greatest influence in our lives, no one else. It is important that everyone of us, deliberately makes Him the greatest influence in our lives. That can only be done, if we allow Him to be the only source of the information we absorb into our spirits.
For Him to be the only source of the information we absorb into our spirits, we must receive His Holy Spirit, and have a healthy personal relationship with Him and our Bibles.
Then each and every one of us must allow the LORD to help them find a church governed by a Heaven making system, not a money-making system; a place with the kind of ministers the early church had. The Bible calls such churches grounds and pillars of truth. That is the only place we can be taught on how to grow in that relationship with the Holy Spirit and the Bible.
Once that relationship is established, God will become the only source of information in your spirit and soul, and when He becomes, there are no words to describe the peace you will begin to have and the prosperity that will follow.
The ministers of the gospel in the early church made God the only source of information to the believers of the first century. We need such ministers today, not those who ask you for seeds, give you oil, water, salt, prayer clothes, etc.
The generation of the early church, had the best crops of Christians in church history because they had ministers who were not like the ones we have today. They had able ministers of the New Testament. They had preachers who never prophelied, never forced dark teachings into the souls of their members, or expose them to the demon of deliverance.
FRIEND, IF YOUR LIFE IS FULL OF TORMENT AND TROUBLES, CHECK WHO IS INFLUENCING IT.
Yes, check who is influencing it, it is as simple as that. Lives that are influenced by dark information, will never have peace. The Bible says the devil’s nature is to kill, steal, and destroy. If you allow him be the source of any information in your life, either directly or indirectly, you will never have peace in life.
If God is the greatest influence of our lives, we will always have rest. Even when the enemy attack us, He will come through for us. Do not forget, God becomes an immediate present help in time of trouble when His revelation governs your life.
No life God influence will be full of sin, sorrows, oppression, destruction, stagnation, and the like. It may be attacked by the enemy, and loose anything, but there will always be a restoration that will result in a more glorious phase of life.
The generation of the early church never experienced any of what the dark spirits of our age are doing in the lives of people through dark men and women of God. They never experienced that because God was the chief influence of their lives. They lived in more demonic zones than ours, but saw the greatness of God without raising altars or any of that, to counter.
They understood that the altar was their hearts lifted to the LORD. Their lives had God as the greatest influence.
If you read the Old Testament scriptures, you will realize that God strongly rebuked and punished prophets and priests in Israel, whose ministries became dark. One major thing their ministry did when it became dark, was to influence the people to keep following the dictates of their hearts instead of that of God.
One of the many ways we ruin our lives is by following the dictates of our hearts. This age will tell you, “follow your heart,” but that is not the design of God. The dictates of the heart are not to be followed, but the dictates of the Holy Spirit and God’s Holy Word in our hearts. That was why David hid the word of the LORD in His heart. That was why the ministers of the early church, urged them to let the word of God fill their hearts in all wisdom.
THEY EVEN PREACHED IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE FAITH OF THE PEOPLE WAS BUILT IN THE POWER OF GOD AND NOT THE WISDOM OF MEN.
They urged the people to reject every other doctrine and root their spirits and souls in the doctrine of Christ. One of such ministers was Paul the apostle. He was a dispenser of the doctrine of Christ. He said;
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:1-4 NKJV
You can now understand why they strongly warned against false preachers in their age and time. They warned against dark teachings. Dark teachings will get your faith built in either sorcery or witchcraft. It will get your faith build in salt, sand, water, oil, and all that, instead of on Christ Himself.
That is why dark teachings will place shadows in your hands instead of the substance in your heart. They will make other things the source of the information in your spirit and soul.
Our devotional text today presents one major reason people’s faith in GOD is destroyed and their lives ruled by the dictates of their hearts instead of the Spirit of GOD; heaping up teachers for themselves. The full text says;
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
“But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:3-5 NKJV
In God’s kingdom, you do not choose a preacher over your life because of carnal or earthly reasons.
You allow GOD to give you a shepherd after His own heart and God does that through so many means. However, no matter the mean, when you find the person, the first thing that will happen is this, you will fear no more, peace will come into your life, and Jesus will become real to you.
For instance, most people who ended up with rogue preachers and dark messengers of God, found themselves there because their earthly needs or life problems took them there. They wanted deliverance instead of the Deliverer, healing instead of the Healer and all that.
They actually looked for the acts of God and not the ways of God, hence meeting preachers with dark powers that could ‘manifest’ or counterfeit the very acts they are looking for; with many experiencing terrible deception and disappointments as a result.
Friend, God does not want to give you miracles or blessings, He wants to live in you. He wants you to be His home on earth. That is what you should look for in your quest to join any church.
Look for a preacher who is equipped with grace and truth by God to make you a dwelling place for Him in the Spirit; a preacher of the word with grace and truth to make you a Tabernacle of GOD on earth! The greatest miracle of all miracles, and the greatest blessing of all blessings, is to truly have the miracle Worker Himself, and the One who is the source of all blessings living in you.
When He lives in you, He will become the greatest influence in your life. He will wipe away your tears from within, and grant you the best of Heaven as you let Him make you His Tabernacle on earth. That is the word of the LORD to us today!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION TODAY
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4 NKJV