TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 9TH FEBRUARY 2024)
“Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain.
So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.” 1 Kings 18:45-46 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 40TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
It’s a good thing to give thanks to the LORD after passing successfully through a night, and resting to have our cells renewed.
Let me refresh our minds one more time on this.
Generationally, the night season is God’s season of renewal of life on the face of the earth. That is why it’s important that when we wake up, we kneel down in prayer before Heaven, to say to Jesus Christ our LORD and Savior, “thank you LORD for another New Day.”
It’s being our season of refreshing our minds on matters of divine destiny, and God has been faithfully breaking the seal of His word to us. The Spirit of truth has been feeding us properly; I don’t know about you, but I am very grateful to God and His Holy Spirit who made all that happen.
Indeed, God pursues those who seek Him with the revelation of His will, ways and Person. He will never stop pursuing them with mysteries because He wants to be revealed.
God does not want to be concealed, God wants to be revealed. He wants all the mysteries in His Heavenly shelve to reach us here on earth before we fulfill our days. That is why He has raised interpreters of His will, revealer of His ways, and builders of the faith of His people, whose primary assignment is to make Him known.
He has raised people to preach the message of the cross; the only message that can bring us to the place of having a consistent personal revelation of God, and living a crucified life.
The message of the cross is Satan’s greatest fear because it has a way of neutralizing His kingdom. He will prefer a church full of very inspiring messages that are not putting Christ and His cross at the center of people’s lives.
He will even send those God has not sent into ministry to do just that. They will come in preaching a Christ-less and Cross-less gospel, with some releasing prophecies here and there. That is why we have such gospel everywhere today.
That is why there is no holiness impact on the souls of men from what many are preaching.
A life of sin and wickedness is still having dominion over people even while living under a grace dispensation. No Cross-less and Christ-less message transform the sinful life of a dying soul. None can unlock the true riches of God’s grace on a man’s life.
IT WILL ONLY MAKE THEM RELIGIOUS, LIVING THE LIFE OF THE UNSAVED AS SAVED.
Yes, many in Church, including some of us preachers, live very unsaved lives as saved lives. We have forms of godliness without power; we have mouths full of “thus says the LORD” but no character of the LORD in our lives. We seem not to have the genuine Holy Spirit because most of us are not walking in truth.
Over 98 percent of Christians today are walking and living in error. You annot have the Holy Spirit and live in error, or walk in it for too long. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. If you have Him in your life you will be walking in truth.
But all these things are the consequences of carrying, believing, or preaching a Christ-less and Cross-less gospel.
A Christ-less and Cross-less gospel will never cure the sin problem in your life. It will not even make it a problem. It will make it a weakness. It will never grant you the rest Jesus gives. It will never allow you to become independent spiritually.
It will make you a dependent of preacher’s prophecies and prayers.
You will never come into the glorious liberty and prosperity of the righteous listening to a Christ-less and Cross-less gospel.
In deliverance matters, listening to a Christ-less and Cross-less gospel will keep you in the shadows of what Moses taught, and never allow you to come into the substance of what Jesus has accomplished on the Cross for you.
Consequently, to be free from your persistent problems, you will be told to be raising altars, giving sacrifices for your freedom, and using salt, water, clothes, etc. for prayers.
Listening to a Christ-less and Cross-less gospel, will make you live in church buildings, calling them houses of God, or going to prayer centers endlessly to seek miracles or deliverance. You will never come into the place in Christ where you become the house of God or a house of prayer for all nations.
IF YOU LOOK AT THE SCRIPTURES, YOU WILL REALIZE THAT THE TRUE JESUS MAKE US HOUSES OF PRAYERS FOR ALL NATIONS.
He does not send us to prayer houses anywhere in our nations. It is a Christ-less and Cross-less gospel and those who preach it that does that. Some do not just send people to prayer houses and mountains to seek God, they exploit them in the process of doing so.
Which bring us to why most preachers prefer a Christ-less and Cross-less gospel.
The Bible made it clear that one of the reasons many of us preachers do not preach a gospel with Christ and His cross at the center of it, is because of the gods in our hearts. Most do so because they serve the god of the belly.
Others do so because they serve the god of gold or riches, while others do so because they serve some other gods.
The gods in the hearts of the men and woman of God are responsible for the kind of gospel on their lips. They are making it impossible for them to preach the ideal message; the message of the cross.
But I believe with the whole of my heart that God is raising an army to preach the message of the Cross again, and impact the souls of a perishing generation. Yes, our generation is marking the end of a Saul Era; The David era is beginning.
Giants are being taken down. It’s important that we see into the Spirit and sense what needs to be done.
I sense a release of divine acceleration for us this season. People will be made to run ahead of time, to catch up with the time they have wasted in false Christianity.
Yes, they will run ahead of time and catch up with the time they have wasted drinking oil, using sand to pray, using water to obtain deliverance, and practicing all kinds of sorcery in the guise of prophecy.
But let me go away from that for a moment and wrap up this devotional with a word on divine acceleration and divine schedules. Talking about divine acceleration, if there is anything more our divine destiny will need to be fulfilled, especially in the seasons that are upon us, that thing is called divine acceleration.
WE HAVE LOOKED AT CERTAIN THINGS THAT OUR DIVINE DESTINY WILL NEED TO BE FULFILLED, ESPECIALLY THIS ERA.
Divine acceleration is one of the many things our destiny will need to be fulfilled. You will need to be aided by God, to run ahead of your time sometimes, to be able to fulfill your destiny, especially after wasting a significant amount of time doing the wrong things.
I remember a Deep intimacy session we had in 2016. I took time to share on the mystery of DIVINE SCHEDULES.
It’s important that you get the message because God originally scheduled everyone to come into destiny at 30 years of age. The topic of that message was; “Opening the Portals Of Divine Acceleration” (Part 1 & 2).
You see, in God’s perfect plan, once you are thirty, you should start unleashing your divine destiny. That was why people entered into priesthood in Israel at 30. Joseph became prime minister of Egypt and minister of Agriculture at 30. And at 30 Jesus began to fulfil his ministry.
Bible patriarch like Abraham woke up at 75 because of the idolatrous background they had. But waking up to destiny at 75 is not the will of God for anyone. However, God used divine acceleration and longevity of life to make sure he fulfilled his destiny despite waking up at 75.
The same blessing is available for anyone who wakes up late to destiny matters in life.
God designed and scheduled that when a man hits thirty years of age, he should begin to be what He has created him to be. But many have missed this schedule. That is why at above 30 they are yet to find their bearing. The answer to such mishap of life is in the blessing of Divine Acceleration.
The blessing or grace of divine acceleration, will be needed to catch up with certain things in life.
Apart from catching up with time wasted, the grace and blessing will also be needed to walk with the One and Only True God because of where He operates from.
DON’T FORGET, GOD OPERATES FROM A REALM WHERE THERE IS NO TIME.
There are times that when He wants to execute certain redemptive purposes in our lives, you find Him freezing time, and bringing in divine acceleration. He did that for Philip to rescue the Ethiopian Eunuch, and used him to open a great door for the gospel to Africa.
The foot print of that event is still in Ethiopia today. That teaches us that divine acceleration will be necessary for the rescue of souls this end time.
A Major highlight in our devotional text this morning says; “Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.” That is Divine Acceleration.
This is the time for the hand of the LORD to come upon you like it came upon Elijah. This is the time to stretch forth your faith and catch this dimension of God.
You will remain stagnant in life until that happens.
I submit to you that you do not kill stagnancy by giving sacrifice to some prophets, apostles or prophetess. You kill stagnancy by the grace of divine acceleration.
I reiterate again that the grace does not come upon us by giving. That is why you can’t find either Elijah or Philip giving an offering to tap into it. The grace comes upon us when we are unconditionally committed to the plans and purposes of Jesus Christ.
The Bible made it clear that God want to do a quick work in our age and time, and cut things short in righteousness. His outreached hands have been positioned to be placed on people. May you be one of them.
What are we saying this morning? We have spoken about the need to be cut off from a Christ-less and Cross-less gospel. We have also shared about the grace of divine acceleration. There is a connection between the two, and it is important that we know the connection.
It is important to note that a gospel with Christ and His Cross at the center, will position us for the grace of divine acceleration, because that is the only gospel that will make us unconditionally committed to the plans and purposes of Jesus Christ.
May the LORD use these words to keep building us up and giving us more inheritances among they that are sanctified. Amen!
LET THESE SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY;
Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Philippians 3:17-20 NKJV