TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 16th NOVEMBER 2023)
“By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” Hebrews 11:24-27 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 320TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
Glory be to God that we have seen the 320th day of this year, according to the Gregorian calendar. With the whole of my heart, I want to thank the LORD for helping me, and my spiritual and natural family, to experience these days. It is out of His mercies that we are not consumed.
Someone may consider it a small thing to sleep and wake up for 320 days. Like I have always said, the cost of staying alive is not on us, but on God. That is why many of us think it is cheap to be alive for even one day. May the LORD be glorified for all He have been doing for us and will keep doing.
We have been looking at visionary living. Visionary living has a lot to do with the private spiritual realm of every one of us. Maybe you may not have heard that. Yes, everyone has a private spirit realm.
It is our private spirit realm that determines what happens in our private lives. Visions, revelations, and dreams are constituents of our private spiritual realms. What we do with God and righteousness privately, or with the flesh, the devilish and sinful privately, are what determines the spiritual nature and texture of our private spiritual realms.
The spiritual nature and texture of our private spiritual realms, is what controls our lives; they determine if we will be visionary or not. That is why it is important for us, as children of God to live the God kind of life in our private lives.
One major aspect of a God kind of life is a life that appreciates God. It has a way of filling our private spiritual realms with the power and presence of God. It has a way of helping us to be happy in our faith.
WHEN WE ARE HAPPY IN OUR FAITH, WE WILL BE ABLE TO REJOICE, WITH A GLAD HEART ALWAYS, AND NOT QUENCH OUR PRAYER FIRE.
The Bible says;
“Be happy [in your faith] and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always); Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly];
Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].
Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the [Holy] Spirit;” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 AMPC
This is one scripture that should guide our conduct in a wicked world like this. A lot of us live under intense pressure from things we cannot change. If we do not do things stated in this scripture, thanking God always and keeping the Spirit aflame instead of quenching Him, we will be swallowed by pressure.
What we are saying this morning is, thanking God is presented in this scripture as the will of God for all of us; yes, for every human with those of us in Christ Jesus leading the way.
We should never let the perils of life take that away from us. Now, take some time if you can, to sing some songs to the LORD, appreciating Him for even the air in your nostrils. Forget about what you may be going through for a moment. It is my prayer that God will use the act of faith to quench all your storms in Jesus precious name. Amen!!
We have been on a journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit on visionary Living. The LORD has been refreshing our spirits with life giving thoughts on the subject. Some of us have learned a lot already and are yearning for more.
There are things you will never know how to do until you learn the laws that governs them. There are blessings in GOD that you will never experience until the laws of the LORD (or principles) that governs them are known and applied.
For instance, there are laws that governs the blessing of getting and staying married. Going to preachers for deliverance is not one of them, that is why many are either single or married but single despite going for deliverance for the same.
Drinking olive oil, or using it as directed by preachers is not one of them either. Doing weird things they call prophetic acts, is not one of them.
NONE OF THESE CHARISMATIC WITCHCRAFT ACTS IS A LAW OF GETTING AND STAYING MARRIED.
They are rather laws of putting the demon of deliverance to work. They are all metaphysic practices and not the laws that god established to govern our lives on earth. You will never get the blessings of following the laws of the LORD practicing these things.
You may get what look like them, but will never get the original.
You know, Satan manufactures things that look like blessings by the hand of preachers who give people his acts to practice. He does that through a manifestation of his spirit called the antichrist. Jesus spoke about our age and warned us about such practices.
Paul also did warn, and Peter too. We were warmed about preachers with such practices.
Understand that when the devil finds a preacher, whose passion is not to form Christ in men but to give them miracles and make money in return, he will use that preacher to express his power in church. He can use him to manifest his great power, with all sorts of dark miracles and signs and misleading marvels.
That is what happens when you get miracle by the use of oil, feet washing, seed sowing, unholy holy communion, water, salt and any of the metaphysical practices in Church, instead of by the power of Christ who should live in us. The preacher who gave them to you have just been used by the devil to give you those things. The Bible says;
“The coming [of the lawless one, the antichrist] is through the activity and working of Satan and will be attended by great power and with all sorts of [pretended] miracles and signs and delusive marvels— [all of them] lying wonders— 2 Thessalonians 2:9 APMC
THERE IS SO MUCH IN THIS SCRIPTURE, BUT WE WILL LEAVE THAT FOR ANOTHER DAY.
What we are saying this day is, God has laws that govern the manifestation of His blessings in our lives. The metaphysical practices you see in Church today are not one of them. There was a time that none of them was in Church. They were just in black witchcraft and occult centres worldwide. But now we find them in the Church.
The blessing of visionary living has its laws too. One of them is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The foundation for this was laid yesterday. When it comes to visionary living, the Holy Spirit has a great role to play, because He is the custodian of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
In very clear but limited terms, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is all about a saved and sanctified soul, living and walking in the Spirit, and being led by the Spirit of Holiness.
That is what frees us from the law of sin and death, which is all about walking according to the sinful and godless nature (the spirit of lawlessness) that God’s justice system condemned. The Bible says;
“Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” Romans 8:1-2 AMPC
This part tells us that if we spend our earthly lives living according to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, it will result in a life that is not dictated by the flesh. When that happens, we will not be condemned or adjudged guilty of wrong in this life or the life to come.
In other words, we will be free from the penalty and practice of sin in this life, and the presence of sin in the life to come. Now let us look at how the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus helps us in visionary living.
As earlier stated, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is all about a saved and sanctified soul living and walking in the Spirit, and being led by the Spirit of Holiness. There can be no visionary living without living and walking in the Spirit, and without being guided by the Spirit of Holiness.
THE BIBLE SAYS BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD.
Without seeing God, you will never be able to lead a visionary life because visionary living is all about being led by God, and you cannot be accurately led by God if you cannot see God. The Spirit of holiness will help you see God!
God is invisible. It is when you see Him by sensing Him that you can walk with Him and allow Him to lead you. You will never disconnect from other forms of living if you have not seen or encountered GOD.
Visionary living is all about being led by the GOD you have encountered. We can find that in the lives of so many people in scriptures.
Moses, for example, was living a rich life in the palace of Egypt, fighting wars for Pharaoh and succeeding greatly in the ancient Kingdom of Egypt. History has it that GOD gave him great victories and one would have taught, that was God’s vision for his life.
There is a lesson there. The fact that God is helping you succeed in a thing, does not make that thing His vision for your life. It could be an invitation to step into His vision for your life. Moses would have grown up and died as a commander of the military forces of Egypt, or at best a Pharaoh of Egypt. But none of that would have been God’s vision for his life.
A day came that something in line with God’s vision for his life entered his heart, in response he did something that took him away from Egypt for 40 years. It was during that time, he met with the invisible God; the meeting propelled Him into God’s vision for His life. Our devotional text says;
“By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” Hebrews 11:24-27 NKJV
Visionary living is all about walking in the Spirit, and seeing Him who is invisible, leading you through and through, until you get to the finish of your life on earth.
When you see Him who is invisible, you separate from all that has nothing to do with God’s vision for your life, no matter how prosperous they may be. Yes, you will begin to esteem Christ greatest riches than all the treasures in Egypt, so to speak.
You will forsake this world and all its treasures and cling to the LORD Jesus Christ, the King of the world to come, and allow His Spirit of Holiness to begin to lead and carve out a successful life that is not of this world for you.
There is so much in this stream of revelation but that is how much we can take for the day. When we return tomorrow, we will look at another law of visionary living. Until then, let these living thoughts from the living word of God keep resounding in your spirit.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You In a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him.
You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you.” Psalm 32:6-9 NKJV