TODAY’S DEVOTION (Sunday 8th December 2019)
“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.” Luke 4:1-2 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 342nd DAY OF OUR YEAR OF GOING FORWARD.
We bless the Almighty God, creator of Heaven and Earth for His loving Kindness towards us. We bless Him for the mercy to read another edition of this online devotional, even as we maintain a solemn moment for the glorious departure of God’s Evangelistic Voice to Africa, Reinhard Bonnke. It’s no longer news that this man of God went to be with the LORD yesterday.
Today I shared in Church the prophetic significance of this season and what to expect as the Body of Christ. The Evangelistic is off the center stage with the exit of this great voice of God and that of others that will follow. This is time for the Apostolic to take the CENTER stage. Let the sons of Issachar understand the times and know whet Israel ought to do now.
If we remain in the mountain called evangelistic ministries, things that are already bad for not moving with the cloud will get worst. The evangelistic is to set men free from the penalty of sin. The apostolic is to set them from the practice of sin so that they will not return to the penalty they have been set free from.
This is the way I explained it in Church today. The evangelistic sets free. The apostolic tells us why we are set free. We return to captivity if we do not know and walk in the revelation of why we are set free. That is why so many who were declared saved by the evangelistic have gone back to their unsaved state.
THE APOSTOLIC IS NEEDED NOW MORE THAN BEFORE.
The sin problem in church today is becoming very alarming and dangerous to us more than before. There is need for the apostolic. Thank God the LORD has given it the center stage. I believe a holy people are going to rise. In fact, they are rising already.
You see, I tell people that most times God does not punish us when we sin, because He has reserved final day for judgment and eternal punishment on sin and sinners. What is punishing people today is sin. Sin has a way of punishing people. The Bible says hand join hand no sinner will go unpunished. But each time we repent and seek the LORD for mercies, the application of His mercy takes place wiping away sin and its immediate consequence in our lives.
But the preaching of false grace teachers has misrepresented this Bible truth and given people impetus to live a life if sin and be damn in hell. They sprang off from evangelistic ministries that lack the imputes of genuine apostolic truth.
Yes, God hates a life of persistent sin because He who lives in sin is of the devil (even if he is a pope or an archbishop). But He does not deal with us according to our sins all the time. It is our sins that deal with us according to our sins all the time.
As we begin the countdown to the end of the year, it’s important that we keep our eyes on the subject of deep intimacy and today let’s consider what I title as “the Spirit of Deep Intimacy.” The apostolic calls for deep intimacy and unconditional commitment to Jesus Christ.
There is the Spirit of Deep Intimacy – He is a person. The Bible calls Him the Spirit of the LORD, the Spirit of Holiness, the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God etc. He is full of names that describe His functions. He is the Spirit of deep intimacy. Deep intimacy is not possible without Him.
OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT TODAY MADE THAT CLEAR.
A major Highlight in the text said; “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,..”
He was led to be tempted and taken deep into God because though He was GOD, at that time He has become man and needed to go deeper than the Baptism of John the Baptist.
He needed to start unleashing His ministry but what the captives in His environment then needed was not found in the shallow waters of the encounter He had at river Jordan but in the deeper places of the Spirit He was yet to get to as man. So, the Spirit of Deep intimacy had to come upon Him to lead or drive Him to the wilderness where He went without food for 40 days to get to the deep.
There is the Spirit of Deep intimacy. He is responsible for taking us to the Deep. What makes Him the Spirit if Deep intimacy is this; He searches the Deep things of God and makes them known to us. Apostle Paul wrote;
“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:10-11 NKJV
Deep intimacy makes us knowledgeable of the deep things of God because the Spirit that searches them is the Spirit that usually drives us to the Depth of God!
If you want to obey the DEEP INTIMACY call, friend, you must be intimate with the Spirit of Deep Intimacy Himself – the Holy Ghost. You must be sensitive to know when He wants you to go without food and go without food.
You must be sensitive to know when He wants you to separate from people, places, Churches, programs, etc. to be alone with Him and do it. If you are married, you must be sensitive to know when He wants you to stay away from your spouse to seek Him. You must be sensitive to His DEEP INTIMACY calls whenever they come and respond promptly.
DEEP INTIMACY CALLS COME TO ASK US TO DENY OURSELVES THE LEGITIMATE AND PRESS INTO THE ULTIMATE.
Deep intimacy comes to demand that we deny ourselves, food, legitimate sex, and comfort in other to press into God. It comes to demand that we deny ourselves some rights to press into God’s righteousness. But the flesh and the world do not usually allow us to obey the call, which is why many fall.
When it comes to obeying “the Deep Intimacy Calls” of “the Spirit of Deep Intimacy,” we must be ruthless to the flesh, the world and ourselves. It was obeying that call Paul meant when He said;
“But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection …” 1 Corinthians 9:27 NKJV
If you do not decide to be ruthless to the flesh, the world, and yourself when a Deep Intimacy call comes, you will remain in shallow waters all your Christian life. People God wanted to use you to save will remain under the clutches of the wicked One. If you are in ministry, you will be like a powerless and toothless bulldog when praying for people.
You don’t find the power to save people from death, debts, poverty, sicknesses and diseases, and all the works of the Devil in shallow places. You find such power in the deeper places of the Spirit.
If Jesus who was “God step down” needed to follow the Spirit of deep intimacy to “the deep” to collect the power to Change His world as man, then we will be kidding and deceiving ourselves not to do the same and expect devils to obey us.
The Bible made it clear that after being in the DEEP with the Spirit of Deep Intimacy for 40 days, Jesus returned with power from on High. Here is Luke’s account of it;
“Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.” Luke 4:14-15 NKJV
WE ARE THE NEXT ON GOD’S LIST!
Child of God Heaven is waiting for you to get connected to the Spirit of Deep Intimacy and allow Him to start leading you to the deeper places of the Spirit. God wants you to develop a sensitivity to His Deep intimacy calls that comes through His voice and inward witnesses.
He wants you to rise from the clutches of the flesh and press into the Spirit.
These are the days of the move of the Spirit to bring men to the glory. We have camped around the anointing for too long now Devils have come to dwell with us. But there is a place they can’t get to. It is called the glory.
However, the glory is not in religion but in the deeper places of the Spirit. And Only the Spirit of Deep Intimacy can take us there! That is the message of today’s devotion.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).”
“For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other [continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do.”
“But if you are guided (led) by the [Holy] Spirit, you are not subject to the Law.” Galatians 5:16-18 AMP