TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 28TH JANUARY 2024)
“Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” Acts 11:25-26 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 28TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Impact is the word, and the LORD is impacting us with amazing truths in our ongoing Inhouse Apostolic Summit. The LORD has been speaking to us from His mercy seat. Truly, it’s of His mercies that we are not consumed.
We began this year with high expectations built on faith in what God promised us. We have already seen Him do fearful things in righteousness in attestation to His faithfulness.
We give Him the glory for all that because we can joyfully see the things His glorious hands are doing to take the Gospel of the Kingdom, from His throne Room to the hearts of men by our hands.
In today’s devotional, we want to refresh our minds on certain things that our divine destinies in Christ Jesus will need to be fulfilled. I hope you are ready!!!
To start with, what do we mean by divine destiny?
Our divine destiny consists of the sum total of God’s eternal and prophetic plans and purposes for our lives. It covers the visions and goals, routes and pathways, and all He has pre-determined for us before we were formed in our individual Mothers’ wombs.
It is something that needs to be given total attention, because it serves like the storehouse of all God wants us to do and become on this side called time and the other side called eternity.
It is very possible to live a life on this side of life called time, or the other side called eternity, without fulfilling your divine destiny. If you find yourself in a state of life in time or eternity that God never pre-determined for you to fulfill, you are not fulfilling your divine destiny.
FOR INSTANCE, EVERYONE IN HELL FIRE RIGHT NOW HAS NOT FULFILLED OR IS NOT FULFILLING HIS OR HER DIVINE DESTINY.
They are only sharing in the eternal punishment of fallen angels because they refused God’s redemptive plan for their lives.
Many do not know that God never pre-determined mankind to spend eternity in hell fire. People go there simply because of their earthly choices; the choice not to accept Jesus Christ as LORD and savior and allow Him to transform them inside out for eternal rest with Him.
The greatest killer of divine destiny sometimes is manmade religion.
Many who are trapped in manmade religions will not go to heaven. It’s as serious as that. Unless they make Jesus their LORD and savior, and allow His Holy Spirit to live in them, transforming them inside out, they will never fulfill their divine destiny after death.
The first thing your divine destiny will need to be fulfilled, therefore, is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That is the first thing everyone who will fulfill his or her divine destiny will need.
Now, I am not referring to a religious relationship but a relationship born out of an encounter with Him, that makes you a temple for Him in the Spirit.
Many who claim to be saved or have a relationship with Jesus Christ have no fruits to show. Though their mouths tell us they are born again their lives tell us they do not have a true relationship with Him.
We have said over and over that born again is not a religious title my friend, but a life that flows out of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Christianity itself is not a religion but a pre-determined life of God for mankind – a life we can only live after a true encounter with Jesus Christ, KING of kings, and LORD of lords.
The first people to be called Christians were not Catholics or Protestants, neither were they Anglican, evangelicals, or orthodox.
They may have devotions that look like those of the sects we have mentioned. But the first people to be called Christians were people who had true encounters with Jesus Christ.
Yes, people with encounters that resulted in their names being written in the Book of Life and their lives taking a fresh turn on the face of the earth.
THEY BECAME MEN OF GODLINESS, CARRYING CHRIST IN THEIR SPIRITS NOT MOULDED IMAGES AND CRUCIFIXES IN THEIR HANDS.
Consequently, they moved in the power and Spirit of the LORD, converting the kingdoms of the ancient world into that of God and of His Christ.
In simple terms, their salvation made them men and women with a fruitful and powerful relationship with Jesus Christ, manifesting in unconditional commitment to His will, His way, and His life.
Anything we are living that is short of this is not Christianity but a form of godliness that has no power. That is why true Christianity is not a church thing. True Christianity is a Kingdom thing.
It is an extension of the Kingdom of God from Heaven to the earth through saved and sanctified men and women – it is a manifestation of Christ in our daily lives to a lost and dying world.
Until our relationship with Jesus Christ manifests as that, we are not truly saved and therefore cannot fulfill our divine destiny. This is where the Church you attend comes in.
The primary purpose of the gospel is to reconcile men back to God through Jesus Christ. The primary purpose of the Church therefore, is to foster or help people build, maintain, or grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Any church that is not doing that is not fulfilling its purpose.
A major highlight in our devotional text for today says,
“So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”
What truth can we glean from this highlight? If you have a little knowledge of Church History, you will realize that the Church at Antioch was an Apostolic Breakthrough Center.
That was where the pattern for true Church work was received from Heaven through the Prophets and Teachers that were there, and established on earth; first in that place, then in other places.
It takes an Apostolic Breakthrough Center to teach sinners into saints and followers into disciples of Jesus Christ. It takes an Apostolic Breakthrough Center to turn crowds into Churches and Churches into centers of Kingdom Activities.
For instance, the Cry of the Spirit Ministries in Kenya was established by God to be an Apostolic Breakthrough Center for East Africa.
That is why the Believers, churches, pastors, etc. who drink from our fountain are growing in their personal relationship with God. What happened in Acts 11:25-27 is repeating itself among us.
GOD IS MOVING HIS PEOPLE FROM RELIGION TO A MORE PERSONAL AND DEEP RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST THAT IS UNCONDITIONAL.
What is the message this morning? The message is simple! You can never fulfill your destiny without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The Bible says to they that believe in His name, He gave them the power or right to become sons of God.
That is the right you need!
You may need a one-time encounter with God through a preacher to initiate that relationship, but you will need an apostolic Breakthrough Center to grow in it and come to the point where you can unleash your destiny as a manifest Son of God.
Yes, you need to come to the faith position where you become a manifest Son of God. You will never fulfill your divine destiny accurately as a child of God. You must grow into sonship to be able to do that because judgment is committed to sons, and immaturity will make you a casualty in our war against the dragon.
The Bible says the whole creation is waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God, not the children of God. Children would have to grow before they can manifest. That is why you need an Antioch church like the Cry of the Spirit Ministries here in Nairobi Kenya to do so.
Genuine salvation and an Antioch Church is all you need.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY;
And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him. Matthew 4:18-22 NKJV