TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER 2023)
“Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
In His humiliation His justice was taken away, and who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.”
So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?”
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.” Acts 8:29-39 NKJV
..for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13
WELCOME TO THE 249TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it.
Sometimes things will remain the same in your life, until you begin to call on earth what is being said in Heaven concerning you.
I am not referring to what many preachers have presented as confession of faith; confessions that never changed anything. I am referring to “a synchronization” with Heaven, that put things in your mouth to say on earth as received from Heaven.
David said.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” Psalms 19:14 NKJV
If the words of your mouth and the meditations (or inner thoughts) of your heart, are not synchronized with the words that are settled in Heaven concerning you, nothing about you will be settled on earth.
Your marital life will be in shambles, your economy unsettled, everything about you will be unsettled, and in a zero point. Even eternity will not be in your view. The Bible says, “forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven” (Psalms 119:89 NKJV).
It is through schooling in the things of God, that we are synchronized with things settled in Heaven concerning us.
For instance, there are revelations that are settled in Heaven concerning our walk and talk with God. Until we are schooled in them, nothing about us will be settled on earth.
There are things that are settled in Heaven concerning your destiny, marriage, health or economy. Until you find and get schooled in them, your life will never be settled on earth.
We live in an unsettled world, that is constantly evolving courtesy of dark forces. If our lives are not structured after things that are settled in Heaven concerning us, they will remain unsettled like the wicked world we live in.
The Life of the Ethiopian Eunuch comes to mind at this point.
Our Devotional text today, is lengthy but necessary. It made it clear that it was settled in Heaven that He becomes one of the sons of God (like every other person on the face of the earth then). But he never stepped into it. He never saw what God settled in Heaven settled in his life. Hence, He was not settled spiritually.
THERE ARE SO MANY CHRISTIANS LIKE THAT TODAY!
Sadly, they get trapped in the ministry of poverty killing, miracle water and oil selling preachers, who only invites them to rob them of their money through heretic teaching and perverted seed faith principle.
In such ministries you find only the poverty of the preacher killed through charismatic robbery, sorcery and heretic teachings. But the people will not even know they are being robbed, neither do they even have genuine salvation.
They have been unsaved for years and a lot that is settled in Heaven concerning them, is yet to be settled in their lives.
You find some running from Church to church, prophet to prophet, people to people, Prayer Mountain to Prayer Mountain, and etc. Drinking Oil, using soaps, sand, salts, water and all types of things to pray! Sowing all kinds of financial seeds – basically looking for things that are not really lost.
Yet they are still unsettled in life.
The way God brought the Ethiopian eunuch to the things that were settled in Heaven concerning him is the same way He uses today. He took a man named Philip by the wings of the Spirit.
This man was no small man of God. He was a man who could transport physically using the portals of glory in the spirit. The Bible says,
“Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.” Acts 8:39 NKJV
It was a man of this spiritual calibre that GOD used to school the eunuch in things that were settled in Heaven concerning him. Time has come for us to start checking the spiritual character or credentials of preachers before we start listening to them.
The reason is simple; any preacher who claim to be used of God, but is actively living in sin, is a fraud.
God does not use active sinners. God will first cleanse, and then make them repented sinner, before using them.
Any preacher who majors his ministry just in poverty killing and demon casting, instead of building people to become temples for God in the Spirit, is a contemporary prophet of Baal.
If you are Bible student, you will realize that Baal was the god of deliverance, vengeance, fruitfulness and economic might.
He blessed people through the release of rain on their farms, resulting in bountiful harvest. But today, he is the god of gold; the one who contaminates with the love of money.
He was also the god of sexual rituals. That is why, if you look closely at present day prophets of Baal, you will find all of these spiritual traits in them. Most are sexually perverse, and others possessed with the money-making demon.
They will make you give your entire earnings or earthly treasures without realizing that you are being stripped.
Wherever you see the prophets of Baal in scriptures, you see the prophets of Asherah – the demon of sexual immorality.
If you are under a man or woman, who knows all about the devil, and how to scoop money from people, but does not know the “wings” or “ways” of the Spirit like Philip, reconsider.
He may be able to school you in other things, but he will not be able to school you in the things that are settled in Heaven concerning you.
Friend, you will never kiss the glory or have peace under such ministry! You will remain unsettled in life. To bring the Ethiopian eunuch into the things settled concerning him in Heaven, God had to use a clean man of God. We need clean and holy men of God, to be schooled in the things written concerning us in Heaven.
The next thing God did, was to make Philip join the chariot of the one who needed the schooling. For you, you may need to join the Church or ministry of the Holy man or woman of God, especially those with the spiritual credentials to school you in the things settled in Heaven concerning you.
YOU MAY NEED TO PAY THE PRICE TO LEAVE ANY CITY OF REFUSE OR WRONG CHURCH, ELSE YOU WILL REMAIN UNSETTLED IN LIFE!
Now, when Philip joined the Chariot, he was right on time. He met the man reading the book of Isaiah but without understanding. There is divine timing to divine moves. If you do not sense when you ought to leave a particular man of dog you see as a man of God, or a money-making machine you see as a Church, you will expire.
The joining of Philip to the chariot of the Ethiopian Eunuch, took place right on time, and the result was glorious. The man was schooled in the things settled in Heaven concerning his spiritual life and got his walk and talk with God settled. Hallelujah!
History has it that he was the one who brought Jesus to the entire nation of Ethiopia. God made him a gate for the gospel to that nation. That was what was settled concerning him in Heaven, but it never happened, until he was schooled in the things that were settled concerning him in Heaven.
A major highlight in our devotional text says,
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.
You cannot be settled in life, by becoming a spiritual wanderer and vagabond on the face of the earth like Cain; going from one Church to church. No! No! No! No!
You can only be settled, if you locate one preacher anointed for you, sit under his or her ministry, and get schooled in the things that are settled in Heaven concerning you. What is the message this morning?
The message is simple; it says, “Until you are school in things that are settled in Heaven concerning you, your life will not be settled on earth.”
There is something that when you find in GOD, will make good to begin to find you. There is something that when you find in God will make sure things that are settled in Heaven concerning you become settled in your life. Your expectations will no longer be cut off.
That thing is called the knowledge of wisdom downloaded from the storehouse of the revelation of things settled concerning you in Heaven. That is what to sit under “your Philip” to learn, until you have found, eaten and made sure it gets digested in your spirit. The Bible says,
“My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:
“So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.” Proverbs 24:13-14 KJV
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY;
“Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you established the earth, and it abides.
They continue this day according to your ordinances, for all are your servants. Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have given me life.” Psalms 119:89-93 NKJV