TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 23RD NOVEMBER 2023)
“My soul still remembers and sinks within me.
This I recall to my mind; Therefore, I have hope. Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD.” Lamentations 3:20-26 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 327TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
Indeed, it is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. That is the faith position that has helped us for the 327 days that we have seen this year. We give Him all the glory!
The presence of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a man or woman is a great blessing or facilitation of eternal relevance. That is the blessing that makes us believers’ live lives that are out of this world.
It has a way of bringing us into some sanctification seasons: seasons of seeing the glories that lies ahead of us in Christ Jesus, if we continue in the faith, the light of God to use in separating ourselves from the darkness of this age, and how terrible sins are before God!
God reminds us how terrible sins are before Him so that we will not go back to our old ways. And one way He does that is to bring the sins we committed in our days of darkness to our remembrance. He will make us grief over them again and again, by helping us understand how terrible they were before Him.
During those moments, your soul will remember certain dark things you did and sink within you; dark things you did in your days of darkness that your days in light is letting you know how dark and terrible they were; something you never felt while doing them.
TRULY, IT IS WHEN YOU STEP INTO THE LIGHT, JESUS CHRIST, THAT YOU BEGIN TO SEE CLEARLY.
Indeed, He is the light of the world. The clarity is not even possible when you are living in religion. Religion will either make you a Sadducee or a Pharisee. It will never help you see clearly.
That is why, it does not matter how good our eyes are, or how bright the light we live under is, if we are not in Christ, we are still living in darkness. Sadly, many in the lost world are living in darkness. They are in dire need of the LIGHT of the world.
But who will take it to them since most of us in church are also living in same darkness? We do exactly what they do and destroy what should have saved them.
When you live in darkness, deeds like sexual sins, will be no sin to you. Sleeping with a man or woman who you are not married to, will be fun and fulfilling to you. Co- habitating, will be marriage to you. Bearing kids with different men, will be a beautiful way of life to you.
Taking away another woman’s husband, hating the woman and treating her with contempt, will be a great achievement you even celebrate, or a noble thing to do. Taking another man’s wife, maybe to spite him, will be a thing of joy to you.
For some, having intercourse with same sex, with animals, or blood relatives will be no evil. Sleeping with their biological or spiritual fathers, sons or daughters, will be no evil. It will be pleasurable and something you always crave for.
Life in darkness makes all sexual abominations a norm.
Deeds like lying, walking in deceit, and craftiness, is no sin to those who live in the moral darkness of this age. It is a way of survival to many. Things like stealing and doing very wicked things to get economically free, will be great achievements to you if you live in darkness.
That is why when we come into light, we begin to regret, detest, and feel so bad over the dark things we did when living in darkness. When our souls remember such deeds, it sinks within us. Life in the LIGHT of the world, Jesus Christ, is the only life that helps a man conquer a life in moral darkness.
We have been looking at visionary living, understand that you can never live the visionary life of God’s kingdom, living in moral darkness. People who live in moral darkness will end up in hell fire when they die.
MORAL DARKNESS MAY BE WRAPPED IN RELIGION BUT IT WILL NEVER BE GOD.
In fact, anything we live that has darkness in it, is not God, because the Bible says, “God is light, in Him is no darkness at all.”
How do we mix moral darkness with religion?
Let me site an example; when a man or woman who is prayerful, or who ministers in the house of God as a faithful preacher, choir member, prayer leader, Sunday school teacher, church staff or etc., snatches another person’s wife or husband, by any ‘righteous’ means or ‘justifiable’ reason, that person has mixed moral darkness with their religion.
You see church people who are serving the LORD, serving the flesh of sin at the same time, and committing even worse sins in church than unbelievers outside the church. That is how we mix our spirituality or religion with moral darkness.
When moral darkness is mixed with religion or spirituality, people will no longer see immoral and terrible deeds as immoral and terrible. They will justify them. That is how husband snatching has been justified in some churches.
The level of unfaithfulness to God and to ourselves in our churches today, has reached the highest heavens.
Yesterday, we shared about the law of God’s faithfulness. We said that God’s faithfulness is the reason for the success of His mandates, assignments and visions for our lives. But our faithfulness is a necessity if we must collect, last long, or not end up in hell after enjoying the blessings, achievements and exploits of His faithfulness to us.
That law states that “God’s commitment to His vision, calling or purposes in our lives is always for His name sake not for our sake.” That is why even when we are not living right, we still see God do amazing things in our lives or by our hands.
THAT IS GOOD BUT VERY DANGEROUS.
It is good if we respond by living a life of faithfulness to Him, and very dangerous if we do not. If we do not, our hearts will become hardened, and we will begin to justify our evil deeds with twisted scriptures or with what God’s faithfulness might be doing in our lives or by our hands.
People who justify their evil deeds with twisted scriptures, or with what GOD’s faithfulness might be doing in or through them, will end up in hell when they die. Let no one deceive you about that.
It is therefore very dangerous to remain unfaithful while enjoying the blessings, feats, and exploits of God’s faithfulness. Our devotional text says;
My soul still remembers and sinks within me. This I recall to my mind; Therefore, I have hope.
Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD.” Lamentations 3:20-26 NKJV
May we always hope in the LORD’s mercy and salvation, and may we live faithful lives before Him in response to the activities of His mercies and salvation in our lives.
May delusion be far from us.
May our souls sink within us each time we commit any sin, so that we will not be deceived that whatever we may have done is acceptable to Him. May our evil deeds no longer be justified with twisted scriptures or the with the glorious things the LORD might be doing in or through our lives.
I pray that the LORD uses these thoughts to keep us in the faith, in righteousness, in holiness and in His vision for our lives. I pray that He helps us each time we are tempted. I pray that we all fall back to the law of His faithfulness, resist any temptation and come out victorious.
I pray that He delivers us from living lives that are acceptable to our religious minds but not acceptable to Him. Amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vain (empty and futile—only a breath).
Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your law, That You may give him power to keep himself calm in the days of adversity, until the [inevitable] pit of corruption is dug for the wicked.
For the Lord will not cast off nor spurn His people, neither will He abandon His heritage.
For justice will return to the [uncompromisingly] righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.” Psalm 94:11-15 AMPC