TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 27TH DECEMBER 2023)
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 361ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
Glory be to the LORD God for His mercies and marvelous kindness. They have been the fuel of our survival in a wicked and dark world. He has been more than a Father to us.
A marvelous kindness is not an ordinary kindness. It is a kindness that produce marvels. The type that all the sick got from Jesus in the days of His flesh, and all the sinners drew from Him.
One day He met a man whose sins where responsible for His predicament, and instantly healed Him of his ailment without asking for a fast, some sacrificial giving, like it’s been done today or etc. Then He said to him, “sin no more, least a worst thing come upon you.” That was marvelous kindness. The man had been sick for 38 years.
He healed Him before placing a demand on him to repent of His sins. That is the nature of God’s amazing grace and marvelous kindness on people in the outer darkness.
Can you imagine, though He preached repentance from sin, He never put the sin of any in front of them when they needed help. He did not even put a religious obligation they must carry out as condition for their deliverance or healing. He just healed them all, then went to the temple that was responsible for their spiritual states to cleanse it.
In fact, He put the blame of the spiritual state of the people on the religious leaders of their days! That was kindness; a kindness with power to take away what the enemy was using to enslave the people.
May the Kindness of the LORD not depart from our lives. May He keep satisfying us with same kindness.
Our devotional text today is short and simple. It says,
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
Some years back I was listening to certain Preachers to study about the content of the charismatic movement and what it accomplished in the lives of men.
One day I heard Kenneth Copeland, one of the voices of the Charismatic movement, read the scripture of our devotional text and said, “if it did not come from God what are you doing with it.” It made a lot of sense to me.
TRULY IF SOMETHING DID NOT COME FROM GOD, WHAT ARE WE DOING WITH IT?
The Bible says God has not given us the spirit of fear, so what are we doing with fear? His words sparked certain thoughts in me. I began to realize that we often hold on to things that God has not given us; and they become our destruction over time.
We do not just hold on to fear. We hold on to lack, sinful pleasures, dark relationships that are giving us something we desire, jobs that are ruining our walk and talk with God, and etc. The question remains, “If God has not given you something, what is it doing in your hands?”
The thoughts those word sparked, made me to begin to carry out a personal appraisal of my life. I began to look into my life to see if there is anything, I may be holding tightly to that did not come from God.
Our greatest battles will be fought around things God has not given us that we hold onto.
For instance, there are Christians in marriages God has not given them. There are Sons of the king in Churches and under pastors God has not given them. There are people in careers that God has not given them to pursue. There are young men and women in relationships God has not authorized that they get into.
What is it that God has not given you that you are holding onto?
You will never conquer the enemy in any battle that rages around things God has not given you. If God has not given you a business and you go pursuing it, you will never be victorious in any battle the enemy muster to stop you from succeeding.
If you go into a relationship or marriage with anyone God has not given you, you will lack divine intervention when crisis results from it. What God has not joined together, even intensive prayers cannot keep together.
As you pass through the last days of the year 2023, look inward and check to deal with what the LORD has not given you that you may be holding on to. That may be the reason for all the woes that may have happened to you to this day.
THERE ARE THINGS YOU MUST NOT CROSS OVER WITH INTO 2024, OUR YEAR OF IMPACT
Whatever the LORD has not given you must not cross over with you! Again, our devotional text says God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and sound mind.
I ask one more time, “what is it that God did not give you that you are still holding tightly to?” Is it a Church, a preacher, a job, a relationship? What is it? Be honest to yourself, and use the remaining few days that are left of 2023 to give it a quit notice.
It is my prayer that GOD will open our eyes to anything He has not given us that we are holding tight to. God never gave Ishmael to Abram, but he held tightly unto him, even in the place of prayer (Genesis 17). But God will later ask Abraham to send him and his mother away.
It was a painful separation. It will not be easy when it comes to dealing with some of the things God has not given us. But the potential destruction they will unleash in our future, should motivate us to expel them out of our lives without sentiments.
For Ishmael, the Bible says, “his hands will be against everyone, and everyone’s hands will be against him.” Whatever God has not given us will always be against what He has given us. It will be against our Isaac of His promises, ministries, families, plans, purposes, and blessings for our lives.
One of the greatest blindness that can occur in the life of a Christian, is blindness towards the things that God has not given him or her.
That is the blindness and spiritual ignorance that make us hold on to things that God has not given us. Understand that Satan will never allow you to let go of what God has not given you,because that is the only way he can have an advantage over you.
He will therefore convince you that what God has not given you is divine. In fact, he will act “God” to keep you in things God has not truly given you – marriages, businesses, Churches, relationships, and etc.
For instance, he could act “God” to move you out of a difficult marriage God wants you to stay put to, or keep you in a difficult marriage God want you to move out from.
UNDERSTAND THAT THE ISSUE IS NOT THE DIFFICULTY BUT THE BLINDNESS TO WHAT GOD WANTS DONE AT AN IMMEDIATE PRESENT.
You will be amazed at what you take to be God’s will that is not,when you step into the glory of God. You may be anointed, but it takes the glory to truly know, and come to accurate discernment. The reason is because, under the glory, everything is bare. Nothing can be hidden.
David said,
“But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked…Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence…. Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end.”
Under the glory, there cannot be spiritual blindness. Satan blindfolds us through our carnal passions and desires. But the journey to the glory, removes all that, and brings us to the place of accurate discernment.
Moses got there and understood how the world was created. The Bible says God spoke to him face to face. The face to face communication of the Spirit of God in the glory realm is what reveals the hidden to us.
May you begin to spend quality time with the Holy Spirit, so that your eyes can be opened to things that God did not give you, that you are holding on to.
It is my prayer that, as we exhaust the days God has given us (2023), we will come into a place in His presence where our spiritual blindness will be stripped off, and our eyes opened to sense things God has not given us that we might be holding onto.
May He speak to us even in dreams and visions, and may He tell us things plainly, so that we will not step into 2024 holding on to things that we should let go. Amen
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all your works.” Psalm 73:28 NKJV