TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 21ST FEBRUARY 2024)
“THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.”
“For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” Romans 8:1-2 AMP
WELCOME TO THE 52ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
How great is the LORD’s goodness stored up for those who fear Him! Truly, there is no end to the compassion that comes from Him each day. That is why we bank on the mercies that come from His presence whenever we wake up to see a brand-new day.
That mercy hides us from storms and all that the enemy muster against the human race.
You see, if the eternal God is not your refuge, the earth will not be safe for you. His everlasting arms will not be there for you when the enemy stretches forth his wicked hands against you.
We all must make Him our refuge and lead our lives under His glory.
One major thing that will be accomplished when that happens is spiritual feeding; yes, quality spiritual feeding because the glory of GOD is full of grace and truth, among other things.
It is important to understand that, quality spiritual feeding should not be absent in the life of a human being, because man was not created to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.
As the body needs quality natural food to survive, so do the spirit and soul of man need quality spiritual food to survive. Your life will never be peaceful without it. Yes, evil will be feeding on you until you start feeding on quality spiritual food.
I have come to discover that what deliverance ministers do blame on evil altars and foundations, ancestral curses, etc. was blamed on the lack of quality spiritual food by Christ.
Feeding involves assimilating and applying to your life quality spiritual truths (the doctrine of Christ) taught to you.
Understand that the blood of Jesus has set us free from all forms of captivities, spiritual feeding is what will establish that freedom in our lives.
Now, due to a lack of proper spiritual feeding, many have not been able to actualize what the blood of Christ did for us in their lives. They have not been able to truly repent of sins and turn fully to Christ due to a lack of spiritual strength to do so.
THEY DO NOT ENJOY SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS OF OUR REDEMPTION.
Consequently, many who claim born again are merely psychologically saved. No real encounter with Jesus. In spiritual reality, they are still under the domain of darkness in the spirit realm where deliverance is not possible. And for some of them, the pastors who minister to them are also not saved.
So, they pray, fast, go to this mountain and the other mountain, and do so much, without entering into the rest Christ brings. The unsaved cannot deal with the satanic. We must all understand that.
An unsaved pastor cannot minister deliverance to an unsaved person. Both first need salvation and a baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, to come into the real where deliverance is possible.
Yes, they need to be saved and sanctified by the word and Spirit of truth to enjoy all that was purchased for us by the blood of Jesus Christ. Until that happens, both pastor and members will never stop talking about evil altars, evil foundations, and ancestral connections.
If a salvation experience is not genuine, those certified saved by the preacher or the Church will be found walking after the dictates of the flesh not the dictates of the Spirit.
The Bible says,
“there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the dictates of the flesh but of the Spirit.”
Meaning if you find someone who claims born again, but walks after the dictates of the flesh and not the Spirit, you have found a condemned sinner who parades himself or herself as saved. You have found an unsaved person claiming to be saved.
Genuine salvation makes it impossible to be comfortable with the dictates of the flesh. It is a by-product of deep convictions of the Holy Ghost that plucks one away from being led by the flesh at all times.
It is a product of divine encounters that are deep enough to turn a harlot, an adulterer, a thief and liar, or a murderer, an ardent criminal, a greedy and bloodletting person, into a precious saint of the Most High God.
ONE WHO LIVES A HOLY LIFE IN PLACE OF THE SINFUL AND WICKED LIVES HE OR SHE ONCE LIVED.
When genuine salvation experience takes place in the life of a man, it replaces his flesh-led life with a Spirit-led life, making it impossible for the person to be adjudged guilty before God irrespective of what he or she may have done in the past.
That is why the Bible says,
“There is therefore now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.”
What is the message of our devotional this morning?
The message is simple and clear! Without genuine salvation experience, the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire, and regular intake of quality spiritual food, the full blessings of our redemption purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ will never speak in our lives.
There is still power in the blood of Jesus; the Old Rugged Cross has not lost its power. It still washes from sin and makes it impossible for any form of satanic and demonic works to prosper in our lives.
But it will take a genuine salvation experience – founded in conviction of sin, conviction of righteousness, and conviction of judgment – and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire, coupled with a regular intake of rich spiritual food and constant infilling of the Holy Ghost, to experience the power of the blood and Cross of Jesus Christ.
Sadly, many do not know that there is a difference between a “salvation decision” and a “salvation encounter.”
Salvation decisions are religious decisions we make to follow Christ or become Christians. Usually, most are not based on convictions of the Spirit. They are based on circumstances!
They are based on the desire to be free from demonic attacks, get or stay married, walk away from poverty, or obtain one miracle or the other from God. They are not based on the conviction of sin, judgment, and righteousness.
THAT IS WHY MOST OF THE PEOPLE WE CERTIFY SAVED IN CHURCH, ARE STILL UNSAVED AND LOST –
Despite their salvation decisions, you still find them living lives that are not different from the lost and hell-bound sinners out there.
To make matters worse, certain grace preachers now say this breed of born-agains,will go to heaven, irrespective of how they live their lives, because their active sins have been covered by the blood.
They claim you may lose your reward if you go back to sin as a Christian, but will not lose your salvation.
I see confused preachers trying to keep people comfortable in their sins.
In their confusion you find them quoting Romans 8:1 in half, basically to buttress their argument. They teach that the second part of that scripture was not originally in the Bible, but ancient texts prove otherwise.
If anyone deceives us, please we should not deceive ourselves.
No active sin is covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. What the blood covers is repented sins. If active sins are covered by the blood, there will be no one in hell. Even Satan will stand forgiven, because God will no longer be a just God.
If indeed scholars added that part as these grace preachers claim, then God must have spoken to them to do so; because the one the preachers quote in half is heretic and not consistent with the word of truth and righteousness.
My prayer for us this morning is that we will not allow some preachers to preach us to hell.
A major highlight in our devotional text today says,
“For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.”
If you look carefully at this scripture, you will find two laws that were uncovered by God to us.
The first is “the law of the Spirit of life,” and the second is “the law of sin and death.” Everyone on the face of the earth is hooked on to either of these laws.
THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IS SUPERIOR TO THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH.
It is that law that you see at work in the life of those who are genuinely saved; those Christians who lead their lives according to the dictates of the Spirit of Holiness, and not according to the dictates of the flesh.
When you see someone living in sin and calling himself born again, you have seen an impostor. The law of sin and death is operational in the person’s life. When the Bible says death, it is referring to moral decay.
That is why if you yoke together with them, you lose your moral excellence.
The moral decay or death that operates in their lives, will be transferred to your moral nature. The Bible says we should not yoke together with them if we want to be morally upright before God.
As we bring this to a close, I want to submit to us that, what makes us born again is the law of the Spirit of life working in us not that of sin and death.
If the law of sin and death is still at work in your life after a so-called salvation decision, you are not born again; you are lost, hence in need of a genuine salvation experience.
The quicker we come to terms with these Biblical truths, the better for us.
May the LORD open your heart and eyes to find truths in this devotional to live by, even as you make it your meditation for the day, in Jesus’ precious name! AMEN!!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION;
“For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.”
“Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].”
“[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.” Romans 8:5-7 AMP