TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 20TH October 2023)
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
“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 9:6-7 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 293RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
It is another weekend, and we give GOD the glory for seeing us through to the end of the week. We believe as we move closer and closer to the end of the year, according to the Gregorian calendar, we will see more and more of God’s goodness and mercies in our lives.
Today we will be looking at matters of spiritual maturity. If you take a Bible gaze into the lives of so many believers today, you will realize that many are still immature in faith. We have a church mixture of unsaved and immature Christians both in the clergy and laity.
Most have grown in Church, and became mature in religious practices, the handling of church dogmas, and the things of men, but are still Babies in the things of the Spirit. Most have become great religious politicians instead of mature believers in Christ.
Many do not know that there is age in the spirit, and that age in the spirit is different from age in the flesh. They have no idea of spiritual chronology. That is why the aspiration for spiritual growth is zero in Church. People are just bust seeking for miracles. Not knowing that once they grow up, what they are looking for will begin to look for them.
Spiritual chronology must be understood. That is why, when you stand on it, you can say, “David was older than Saul the day the giant was taken down” and not be wrong.
It takes people who are older to confront giants. We must begin to aspire for spiritual growth because we will not be able to surmount certain circumstances of life until we have grown up spiritually. When the Philistine appeared, all the spiritual babies in Israel, including the king, went into hiding. It took one Old man called David (Old in friendship with God) to deal with the giant. Your true age in Christ will be revealed in the day of war!
HOW MATURE YOU ARE IN THE FAITH WILL BE REVEALED WHEN GIANTS COME AGAINST YOU.
If you run into hiding or start going about looking for who will help you deal with them, irrespective of how old you may be in Church or natural age, it is a sign that you are not yet mature in the things of God. Our age in the Kingdom is determined by how long we have lived in God’s active presence, and how many years we have spent our Christian lives in deep intimacy with God. Understand that, those who have spent more years in deep intimacy with God, or in the realm called “the courts of our God,” are Older than those who have not.
David was one of such men, that was why He was Older than Saul who knew nothing about being intimate with God. That was why he could understand that the Philistine was not defying any man but the armies of the LORD – the invisible army. And because he defied God’s invisible army, his days on earth were over. It takes spiritual age to know that, not natural age.
It was David’s spiritual age, acquired through countless hours of being with God, that made him to know that battles with people who have defied the armies of the LORD, are not fought with swords, spears and Javelins, but with the name of the LORD. That was why he picked five stones, representing the five letters in the name “Jesus.”
It’s so sad that we have so many Church leaders and lay believers, who are still in the class of Saul and the soldiers of Israel by spiritual age; it’s sad that we have people who cannot stand against the giants of life. We have people, whose immaturity, has robbed of great victories over devils and the issues of life.
We have people who have been in their Churches for many years and have grown through the ranks, to become pastors or other officers of their denominations, but have not spent even a day in the active presence of God – I am not referring to a Church service – I mean the active presence of God – the very realm David spent his days in, hence becoming Older than Saul.
MOST OF WHAT WE LOOK FOR IN THE CHRISTIAN FAITH IS BURIED IN WHAT WE CALL “SPIRITUAL MATURITY.”
In other words, most blessings that we need, miracles or deliverances that we seek, are only answerable to spiritual maturity. As we grow up, we come into them. That is why the primary calling of the five-fold ministry gifts, is to mature believers.
The Bible makes it clear that if we are not mature in the faith or the things of the Spirit, there are spiritual inheritances we cannot come into. Even if we do, we will just waste them. There have been a lot of people who wasted the opportunities the LORD gave them in our ministry due to their immaturity.
In helping the Church understand the dichotomy between the law and the grace of God in the Book of Galatians, Paul the apostle revealed the role of spiritual maturity in a man’s walk with God. He made it clear that it is the only way we can come into greater things in God.
It is the only way we can be free from the status of a slave in the spirit realm, and released into that of a son. He wrote saying;
“Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.” Galatians 4:1-2 NKJV
We will never come into things that our redemption has made us master over, until we grow up in the things of God. Things like sicknesses, diseases, demons, the satanic world, sin, suffering, poverty, witches and etc.
People who do not spend quality time with God to grow up, like David did, will never acquire the age in the spirit, to exercise mastery over the works of the devil. They will be depending on preachers.
Our devotional text this morning is full of prophetic and apostolic truths. But a devotional is too small to unpack them all.
The text spoke about a child being born, and a Son being given. That was a messianic prophecy which was later fulfilled in the day Jesus was born. It was a word God sent to that generation to reveal the true identity of the messiah long before he was born.
A MAJOR HIGHLIGHT IN THE TEXT SAYS,
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.”
Hidden in this statement is the apostolic function of the true Church (I mean the Church global). The Bible says the government of Jesus will be on her (us) because we are His shoulder. Don’t forget, He is the head of the body. The Bible also says, He is the governor among the nations.
So, as our Head and His shoulders, we are called to carry out His governmental functions on the face of the earth. The functions are in two folds or phases. The first is the demolition phase which involves rooting out what He has not planted in the nations, pulling down what He has not built in the lives of men, destroying every evil works and throwing down anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of GOD.
The second is the reconstruction phase which is to build lives and get His redemptive will planted or established on earth as written in Heaven. However, just as immaturity prevented Saul and the rest of the soldiers of Israel, from carrying out God’s governmental function then, against the giant, so is it preventing so many of us in Church today from doing the same.
What is the message from the LORD to us this morning? The message is simple, God sent this word to say to us, “grow up!” That is the word. Child of God, as a follower of Christ – the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, you are also a lion to be feared in hell and respected in Heaven, that is by destiny. But spiritual Immaturity can turn you into a goat to be slaughtered by the devil.
Yes, you are God’s weapon of war, destined to be used in defeating hell and promoting Heaven on earth. But lack of spiritual age acquired through countless hours in God’s presence can turn, you into a man or woman to be pitied.
Many in need of deliverance today, are warriors of righteousness by destiny, but lack of spiritual age has kept them in spiritual prisons and satanic dungeons. Time has come to grow up! Time has come to be fed the word of God, into stature in the spirit. Time has come to look for men and women God can use to help you grow up in the things of God, so you can begin to unleash your destiny.
If you make “GROWING UP” through proper spiritual feeding, by the hands of God’s apostles and prophets, or through the “ACQUISITION OF SPIRITUAL AGE,” you will gain stature rapidly in the spirit, and begin to manifest as a Son of God on the face of the earth.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY.
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
“For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”
“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
“For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” Romans 8:18-22 NKJV