TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 7th NOVEMBER 2023)
“Then some of the sons of Benjamin and Judah came to David at the stronghold.
And David went out to meet them, and answered and said to them, “If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if to betray me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look and bring judgment.”
Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the captains, and he said: “We are yours, O David; We are on your side, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, And peace to your helpers! For your God helps you.”
So David received them, and made them captains of the troop.” 1 Chronicles 12:16-18 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 311TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
The LORD has been so good to us. It is from the fountain of His goodness that we are alive. We thank Him for all we have been learning on this platform from the beginning of the year.
We have been looking at matters of visionary living. The LORD has unveiled to us what we now know as laws of visionary living. One of the laws is the law of visionary relations. There are visionary relations from hell, and there are visionary relations from Heaven.
Yesterday, we said visionary relations from Heaven are sent to us according to our mantles, mandates and rankings in the Army of the LORD. They come to serve as helpers in the wars of life. Their destiny is only fulfilled when they help us to fulfil ours.
I believe with the few thoughts we shared, we all understood the importance of this destiny relations.
By definition, destiny relations are relationships that are planted in our lives based on our God given life visions or purposes. They are attracted into our lives by the power of our mantles, mandates,and ranking in the LORD’sarmy.
Meaning, we must be pursuing something purposeful or visionary,standing on our mantles, mandates and rankings to attract visionary relations from Heaven, especially the way David in our devotional text did.
I have come to realize that,we will never attract visionary relations into our lives, or get them planted if we are not living God defined, or God given purposeful and visionary lives. We will never have them in our lives if we are not living lives within our mantles, mandates and rankings.
Our failure in matters of relationships, has always been because we are not respecting the law of visionary relations.
FOR INSTANCE, YOUR RANKING CAN GUIDE YOU ON WHO TO RELATE WITH SO WELL, ESPECIALLY IN CLOSE QUARTERS.
Even in the natural or secular spheres of life, Generals relate with Generals who are fighting similar course. They do not relate with recruits other than to train them. That is how our ranking guide us. But we in God’s army behave foolishly sometimes. We often do not follow the simple principle of ranking in our interpersonal relations.
You will find one with a higher purity and character ranking, bringing into their lives persons with lower purity and moral ranking, and before you know it, they are unlocking the sin in them, defiling and making them to sin against the LORD.
Sadly, we do not know how to define boundaries according to our moral or purity rankings. We forget that Jesus related with all He related with,based on purity and moral ranking.
For instance, He ministered to the woman that was caught in Adultery, and the one who was a harlot with seven demons, but never brought any of them into his apostolic team. None started sitting at the table to talk with him, or joined His team in the work of the ministry.
He knew their purity was low, and that they needed to grow up in holiness, hence keeping them where they ought to be.
His relationship with the men and women who later became the apostles was based on training and nothing else. He called them friends and all that but never prayed with them at any time because they were men of lower ranking in the Spirit.
Someone who do not understand this concept will call it pride, but it is the law of visionary relations.
If you read the four Gospels,you will discover that the only persons Jesus prayed with, was an angel that was sent from Heaven to strengthen Him. He never prayed with any of the disciples. He only taught them how to pray and also prayed for them. If they were at the same ranking with Him, He would have had so many prayer sessions with them.
At one time, He needed someone at the same ranking with Him to pray with, so He took three of His disciples He trained to help at that time.
BUT WHEN THEY GOT THERE, THEY ALL FELL ASLEEP.
Things that are to be done by ranking capacity,cannot be done by training capacity. If they were the same rank with Him, they would not have slept but helped. That is how difficult it is for a leader who need support from ranking men and women but cannot find it.
God had to send an angelto help Jesus according to scriptures.
The Bible is clear on the fact that theonly prayer sessions Jesus had with the disciples, were for them, not with them. Prayer session FOR people is different from prayers session WITH people.
Any prayer session that you find someone of a higher ranking, having for a people, it is meant to bring them under the prayer mantle. You must understand that. Any prayer session a man or woman of high ranking have WITH a people, is usually with people of same ranking in God’s army, so that it can make a needed kingdom impact.
There are different kingdom impacts. There is this one called, “strengthening of hands in the LORD.”
Men of low ranking cannot provide such strength to one in a higher rank. It will take a Jonathan to strengthen a David not a Jonathan’s servant. I hope you understand me! The Bible says;
“And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.
So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in a forest. Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God.” 1 Samuel 23:14-16 NKJV
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE LIVE OUR LIVES WITHIN THE LIMITS OF OUR MANTLES.
If you live your life within your mantle, your mandate and allow your ranking to guide you, you will never see a relationship from hell planted in your life. You will always have visionary relations, very helpful ones from Heaven, in your life.
Samson did not allow his mantle, mandate and ranking to guide him on who to bring into the close quarters of his life. That was why he failed. Samson’s problem was not his conversation with a human being, but a conversation with the wrong person.
Our problems are not always because of a conversation, but because of a conversation with the wrong person.
Conversation with people of low ranking in purity and moral character has been the problem of some of us reading this word this morning. Personally, I had thought it was humility to sit with people of lower moral character on the same table, and allow them into the closest quarters of your life. But now I know it is not humility but stupidity.
When we call stupidity humility, we ruin our lives.
If you take away the romantic aspect of the Samson and Delilah story, you will understand that if Samson, for example, had revealed the secret of his strength to a fellow general in the LORD’s army, one with the same purity ranking, kingdom mandate or prophetic mantle with him, it would not have been tragic.
In fact, it would have been called fellowship.
During any fellowship among visionary relations, people of same mantle, mandates, or rankings, they talk about their accomplishments in the Kingdom, they share secrets of success, and encourage themselves in the war through such sharing. Everyone usually lives fired up to keep fighting the battles of the LORD.
No conversation or revelation to another on the secret of our strength will be tragic if the conversation is among men of similar purity ranking and etc. That is why we should not break our ranks in any kind of relationship we might be trying to cultivate. We should obey the law of visionary relations and maintain ranking.
The truth remains, if we walk away from people of our mantles, mandates, and ranking, and begin to share precious fellowships with people like Delilah and other strange people, who are lower in purity ranking, consecration, kingdom mandate and mantle, we will be ruined.
SADLY, SOMETIMES WE WALK IN THE FLESH AND HAVE SUCH PEOPLE IN OUR LIVES AS SPOUSES, COMPANIONS, CONFIDANTS, CLOSE STAFF, RESTING HANDS, AND ETC.
Then, they begin to transmit what they really are into us, and destroy us completely in the long run. History is full of people who ruined God’s plans for their lives that way. Sadly, many of us are on the verge of repeating such terrible histories. That is why God sent this word to us! To stop us!!
So, the first way to attract visionary relations to your life, is to live a visionary and purposeful life, especially as defined by your mantle, mandate and ranking in God’s Army.
That was how David lived,hence attracting the men who came to him, as we can see in our devotional text. The text says;
“Then some of the sons of Benjamin and Judah came to David at the stronghold.
And David went out to meet them, and answered and said to them, “If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if to betray me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look and bring judgment.”
Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the captains, and he said: “We are yours, O David; We are on your side, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, And peace to your helpers! For your God helps you.”
So David received them, and made them captains of the troop.” 1 Chronicles 12:16-18 NKJV
God will always send Heavenly men and women our ways, to function as righteous visionary relations in our lives, if we will live them within the definition of our mantles, mandate and ranking. Where there are no such men, He will become the man.
It is difficult to live a Christian live within your kingdom mantle, mandate or ranking in a Church that has been taken over by all kinds of strange doctrines. You will be called Deputy Jesus, holier than thou, and all kinds of demoralizing names. But it is better to be called names than to be ruined.
It is my prayer that God will use these few thoughts to position you rightly for the visionary relations you need from His throne to unleash your glory on earth before your days are over. When we return tomorrow, we will look at another secret that will be of help!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth.
The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.” Psalm 25:12-14 NKJV