TODAY’S DEVOTION (Sunday 26TH July 2020)
“Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men!”
“You shall hide them in the secret place of your presence from the plots of man; you shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.”
“Blessed be the Lord, For He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!” Psalms 31:19-21 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 206TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
We are in extremely critical seasons of the battle between good and evil. Yes, the gates of hell are unleashing all they can on the programs of GOD by attacking His people in so many ways. He is also making people feel there is no God using all kinds of tactics.
One of it is through financial hardship and most times financial plenty.
Financial hardship or plenty has a way of making people foolish by making them feel there is no God. But the Bible says, “a fool says in his heart there is no God!” Meaning, any there-is-no-God feel within us a sign of foolishness.
Actually even if in your hardship or plenty you consider the oceans, the great whales and other aquatic animals in it, if you consider every created thing on the face of the earth, only a fool will indeed say, “there is no God.”
Every created thing testifies that there is God. Even the way our spirits, souls and bodies are intricately knitted together attest to the fact that God do exist. The Bible says His invisible attributes are clearly seen so that man can be without excuse in the Day of Judgment.
But wait a minute; do we really need the Bible to know that God exist?
I doubt! There had been generations that had no Bible in their hands, yet they worshiped and experienced God. They had encounters with Him and knew He exists. The Bible was not there to tell them. Creation told them!
One of my best songs says, “If I suddenly wake up and find that the world is upside down. If I suddenly wake up and find that the Bible is not real. I still believe you LORD because you live inside me. You are the reason for living.”
But I have come to realize that either financial plenty or hardship, they all have a way of polluting someone’s spirit.
BUT I WILL LIMIT MYSELF TO FINANCIAL HARDSHIP.
Financial hardship could be a tool of God but not His perfect will for any man. God’s perfect will for us is that we prosper and be in good health even as our souls prosper. The prosperity God has for us is the prosperity of the righteous, which only comes through the proceeding word of GOD.
All through this season we have been looking at matters of the proceeding word. In other word, the Rhema Word. It seems the stir will continue for a season. I trust God to download from Heaven a Rhema Word into your spirit today on matters of financial freedom, in Jesus precious name.
Apart from the horrors of the last days, there is so much lack and poverty in the lives of many today and the devil is using that to shortchange their destinies.
Sadly, what is adding to the pressure to so many souls today, are the half-truths on financial prosperity that are being peddled and forced into the spirits of the redeemed of the LORD. We have been taught that money comes when we SOW SEEDS or give, and that we have done yet it has not come.
God made me to understand that financial prosperity does not come by giving but by grace. Giving only maintain the flow. That means when you have given and the flow refuses to be activated, it means you lack the grace that is responsible for financial prosperity. You need to activate that grace, and righteous prayer is one key to use in activating it.
And do not forget, righteous prayers can only come from a righteous heart. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God break out through their prayers. Hallelujah!
Anyone who have not knelt long enough before God, cannot obtain certain blessings and favors when he or she stand before men. That is why many Christians struggle, and use the arm of flesh to try to move things in their favor. They do not spend enough time to kneel before God hence spending fruitless time kneeling before men for financial favors.
I have come to discover that when it comes to critical needs of man, people who do not know how to spend quality time humbling themselves before God for help, will be spending fruitless time disgracing themselves before men for help.
A major highlight in our devotional text today says,
“Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men!”
WHAT DO YOU SEE IN THIS SCRIPTURE? WHAT CAN YOU GLEAN FROM IT?
One thing I can glean from it is this; “the goodness of God that is laid up for our financial plenty is among the sons of men not in Heaven. In other words, Heaven controls it, but the substance is here on earth.” The text says, “how great is your goodness which YOU HAVE LAID UP FOR THOSE WHO FEAR YOU.”
Two things we can get from this statement. First, this goodness of the LORD or our wealth, it is not laid up for those who pretend to fear Him. It is laid up for those who fear Him. Secondly, it is not in Heaven but here on earth. So we humble ourselves before God, to push it from wherever it is here on earth, to wherever we are here on earth.
I have come to discover that pride is one major thing that prevents us from enjoying this move of GOD. We forget that God resist the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Friend, no matter how much we need help, if there is an aorta of pride in us, we will be resisted in the Spirit’s realm. And once we are resisted, there can be no outbreaks of GOD in our lives to bring what is laid up for those who fear Him to us.
Wherever God may have planted you, therefore, is where your financial plenty is stored up for you. The people in that nation or City are the very ones holding your money. They are the storehouse of God’s goodness laid up for you among the sons of men. However, your pride can cut you off from it. It can cut off the power flow you need to see them exchanging it for the services you may be rendering.
If you are poor, therefore, it is simply a sign that you are yet to access what is laid up for you among the sons of men. But if you can humble yourself under the mighty hand of GOD, you will see Him lifting you up.
ONE WAY TO DO SO IS THROUGH BIBLICAL FASTING AND RIGHTEOUS PRAYER.
Righteous prayers will move God to touch the hearts of the men who serve as His storehouse for you to bring the money to you in exchange of the services you render. If you neglect humbling yourself before GOD, you will not be able to access your provisions among men.
Everyone God has ever prospered, humbled themselves completely (some through righteous prayers), then worked with their hands in humility before GOD and men, before receiving the provisions God has laid for them among men. It was when they received it that they gave large portions back into the kingdom.
God’s grace is for humble not the proud at heart. To keep it active in your life, you must be humble and submissive to all righteous authorities in your life. It is the grace you allow to go active in your life that goes into the hearts of men to assemble what God stored up among them for you to you.
What is out message this morning? The message is simple. If you remove humility before God and men your quest for financial freedom as a child of God, you will have sufficient trouble. Prayer will unlock the power to get wealth into your life and place substance in your hands through the work of your hands only when you walk in humility of heart. That is the message of today’s devotional!
Many do not know that it is not just tithing that puts God to work in our lives (to rebuke the devourers), it is tithing with sufficient prayers wrapped in the grace of a humble spirit that cause changes for us. If we give sacrificially in the right place, but do not have the right attitude towards God and men, there will be nothing flowing our storehouse among men to us.
I am fully persuaded that God will not cease from showing us His marvelous kindness in any City we find ourselves, but we must be humble at heart and allow God’s grace work for us so that whatever is laid for us in those Cities can come to us.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“Surely, He scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble.” Proverbs 3:34 NKJV
“Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5 NKJV