TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER 2023)
“My soul has dwelt too long with one who hates peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.” Psalms 120:6-7 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 255TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS
How do we get the mind of Christ to fully comprehend the things of GOD? How do we move from walking in the flesh to walking in the Spirit? In our devotional yesterday, we made it clear that, we need a constant impartation of the word and the Spirit of GOD.
That makes environment very important, because where you are, is what determines what happens to you!
It’s being our season of schooling in the things of God. And as we take a quiet but steady march towards our day of final redemption, GOD has a word for us today as always.
Today, Heaven will help us to look at the power of environment, in our walk and talk with GOD, being His righteous seed. Many of us in the Christian faith are yet to come into the revelation of our seed nature. I mean our spiritual nature as God’s righteous seed.
To start with, understand that true salvation encounter transforms; it makes a person God’s righteous seed. It transforms a sinner man, through the washing and regeneration of the human spirit, by the power of the Holy Spirit, into a righteous man. The Bible says,
“But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,” Titus 3:4-6 NKJV
If your salvation was based on a mere “decision” instead of an “encounter,” you are not safe. You will be living a life of sin and explaining it away. Genuine salvation encounter transforms. It transforms a sinner from the seed of the wicked to that of the righteous.
Off course, from the Parable of the wheat and tares, it’s clear that, there are two kinds of people on the field of the world; we have the seed of the righteous One, and the seed of the wicked one. God who does not want anyone to perish, made it possible for every seed of the wicked one (who we all were), to experience salvation, by the washing and regeneration of the Holy Spirit.
When they experience salvation in truth, they become the seed of the righteous One. So, if you are not genuinely saved, you are a seed of the wicked one! There is no middle ground.
SADLY, THE WORLD IS VERY FERTILE FOR THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SEEDS OF THE WICKED ONE.
In fact, everything in the world supplies enough fertility to the soil of humanity, so that the seed of the wicked can grow prosperously or unhindered. The media, the society in general; the universities, the colleges, the policies of the government of nations, and sadly even the Church today; all these are full of influences that fertilizes the seed of the wicked one to grow, and to prosper.
These institutions have been so structured that most of them no longer have the moral strength to fertilize the seed of the righteous. No seed of the righteous can be allowed to take root by them. In fact, they kill any desire in the righteous to live right.
I believe, it is the inability of these systems, to help the seed of the righteous take root, that made God warned all of us, saying;
“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
Friend, the world is fertile enough to allow the growth of the seed of the wicked to happen prosperously, but too barren for the seed of the righteous One to grow. That is why any righteous seed, that plants himself in the world system, dies spiritually and becomes as corrupt or dead as those in the system.
Which brings us to the issue of environment again.
The most important need of a seed is a good or ideal soil for it. Not even prayers for it, or fasting for it. It just needs a good soil. Once the environment is right, prayers or fasting can then work. But if the environment is not right, it does not matter the amount of prayers or fasting, it will still not prosper.
The fields of the world today have become so corrupt and very good to grow the seed of the wicked one. So, if the seed of the righteous will ever grow and flourish in this wicked world, it must discern the ground GOD has determine that it be planted, and plant himself or herself there.
IT MUST NOT COMPROMISE THE PRINCIPLE OF RIGHT ENVIRONMENT.
The Bible made it clear that,
“The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing,” Psalms 92:12-14 NKJV
The courts of our God in the future will be the judgment seat of Christ, where we will one day stand before Him to be eternally rewarded, or reproved, for the work we did while here on earth.
Meaning, as the seeds of the righteous, if we are not planted in the soil that God designed that we be planted, especially after getting saved, we will not flourish when we stand in the courts of our God in the next life to be judged. This is what makes attending the wrong Church eternally dangerous.
The soil God designed that we be planted in this life, to make it in the next life, is called “the House of God.”
The house of God is the place of His manifest presence. It is not a building. Today, it can be a local church where God’s manifest glory can be experienced. In other words, a local Church that is a city of refuge not a city of refuse in the Spirit realm.
Child of GOD, there are so many false Churches, but that has not erased the importance of belonging to a true local Church, HEADED by God fearing men or women – local Church with the House of God content. God’s greatest vision is to use our present life to prepare us for the next life. But He cannot do that in your life, if you can’t find a Heavenly minded spiritual fountain to connect to.
Understand that the present life is like a vapor compared to the next life where we will all be. Planting yourself in the wrong Church, as the righteous seed, will prevent you from flourishing in the courts of our God, sometimes in this life, but definitely, in the life to come.
The eternal consequence of being in the wrong Church, is the reason Satan is raising more dark preachers, and sending them to establish Churches. In other cases, he will raise dark Christians, and send them to infiltrate already established churches.
I THINK SATAN KNOWS THE ‘POWER’ OF BEING IN THE WRONG CHURCH MORE THAN MOST CHRISTIANS DO!
That is why he fights to make sure wrong churches prosper and grow, with very few Christians trying to stop him. Most supports him, ignorantly. They allow him to use their tithes and sacrifices to grow such churches. They allow him to use their skills and gifts to grow and prosper them.
Friend, the energy of Christians who calls everyone in God’s garment “man of God,” is what Satan is using to build the dark churches into global fame. That is why many will weep on the day of judgment. They will be shocked how the aided the devil to take souls to hell.
Apart from flourishing in the courts of our GOD in the next life, as earlier stated, there is flourishing in life on this side of eternity. The Bible says, “Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing…”
Bringing forth fruit in old age denotes flourishing in this life, for a lifetime. All that is tied to where the SEED is planted.
Right seeds, in wrong soils, will kill the quality of the seeds, and finally the seed will get rot. That is what the evil one wants to accomplish in every one of us.
For instance, if you plant yourself in a metaphysical cult called church, you will never flourish. If the righteous seed plants itself in a church, that is running structurally like a political party, a money-making machine, a social club, or a place of theatrical performance, he or she will not flourish in the courts of our GOD, either in this life or the life to come.
A seed of the wicked one may flourish in Churches like that, but the seed of the righteous one will never.
That is why the first thing GOD gives a genuinely saved person, is a spiritual family where they can find a pastor after His heart, and a local church to function as a good ground for them, to grow and flourish in Christ. If your salvation is genuine, but your pastor and church are not holding on to a genuine doctrine, you will never flourish by God’s design.
ONLY FALSE CHRISTIANS (THE SEED OF THE WICKED ONE) FLOURISH UNDER PERVERTED PASTORS AND WRONG CHURCHES.
That brings us to our devotional text. It says, “My soul has dwelt too long with one who hates peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.”
If your soul dwells with people who hate righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, you will never flourish in the courts of our God; you will never grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Even when you mean well, and serve God genuinely, there will be no fruits to show. You would have to change environment for your faith to bear fruits. The Bible called Lot, Abraham’s Nephew, righteous Lot. But when he dwelt in a wicked spiritual zone, he lost all that quality. He would end up recommending that his virgin daughters be sexually molested, and they in turn would later sleep with him to bear children.
It was a messy end for the righteous man. No thanks to the environment he left his uncle to go live in, Sodom. His life remains a big lesson to every generation, that a righteous seed in the wrong soil will always loose its spiritual quality.
Talking about the spiritual travail of Lot while in Sodom, the Bible says,
“And He condemned to ruin and extinction the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes [and thus] set them forth as an example to those who would be ungodly.
And He rescued righteous Lot, greatly worn out and distressed by the wanton ways of the ungodly and lawless” 2 Peter 2:6-7 AMP
Let me delve a bit, into what we call Eschatology, in Theology.
Child of GOD, one day, we shall all be rescued from this wicked world like Lot was. It is coming by and by. We shall be rescued from a falling world that will soon be doomed by God’s judgement through the rapture of the Church. Every thriving child of GOD looks forward to that day.
But as it stands now, there is a prophetic pattern. Lot’s story contains a pattern of what we go through if we plant ourselves in the wrong soils as God’s righteous seed. We will be distressed by the wanton and wicked ways of the ungodly and lawless around us – leading to strife and dissatisfaction.
THAT ALONE CAN DESTROY ONE’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.
Except God gives you a promise of Break Through, it’s better not to be there, than to be there, hoping that things will change. The truth is, nothing can change the devil; not even time; he is the one that will change you if you plant yourself in his territory.
If things seem to you to have changed in your sight after a while, you are the one that have changed by becoming a seed of the wicked one. He is not the one who has changed.
This message is a wake-up call for a present-day Lot, who is in a wrong environment, in Sodom, hoping that Sodom will soon become Zion. The Bible proves that Sodom will remain Sodom despite warnings from God. So, run for your life, before it’s too late.
As we bring this to a close, do not forget that the most important thing in the life of a seed, is the soil. Where you are planted as God’s righteous seed, will determines how your life turn out. Do not be carried away be the outlook of any place, or people; churches and men of God inclusive.
Let GOD clearly speak to you about the character content of a place or people before you join yourself to them.
Let God speak to you about the motive of a church or preacher before you join then. No matter how they appear, if there is no glory of God, manifesting as grace and truth among them, that is the wrong place to plant yourself. Let the story of Lot be your guide!
I pray that God will use this devotional, to further improve your “walk” and “talk” with Him, in Jesus precious name, Amen!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU;
“And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar.
“Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.
Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.” Genesis 13:10-13 NKJV