TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2024)
“So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.
‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”‘” Zechariah 4:6-7 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 54TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Indeed, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!” Words that proceed from the mouth of God,are containers of the treasures from the throne of God.
If a man needs anything from God’s throne, he must receive a proceeding word that carries that thing from the throne of GOD. For those who need deliverance, God would have to send forth His word to deliver them from all their destruction.
Words from God’s throne carry everything we need from God to live and thrive on the face of the earth. They are containers of throne room treasures.
That is why whenever we obtain mercy in prayer, God sends us words that carries what we have asked of Him in prayers. The scripture confirmed that when it says we should call unto God, and He will answer us, and then show us great and mighty things which we do not know.
Today one of the major things we need as children of God is maturity. Yes, spiritual maturity. That is one major thing that needs to come out of God’s throne to us on earth. To get that, we will need words that carry it.
Words that carry spiritual maturity from God’s throne, are not evangelistic by content, but apostolic.
Words that are evangelistic by content, carry some other treasure from God’s throne, but maturity is not one of them. The reason why majority of us will prefer them, is because the kind of treasure they bring.
They focus on our earthly needs, hence very need centered.
We all love what address our earthly needs, but because it is always at milk level of the word, it will never bring the heavier freedom and blessing that spiritual maturity brings. That is why after staying too long under such words, one begins to suffer decay morally and slip back into his or her old life.
Words that brings spiritual maturity from God’s throne are apostolic by content.
They come in form of apostolic teachings, corrections, instructions in righteousness, directives, and etc. All through the scriptures, you find apostolic teachings as God’s tool for maturing the saints in faith and in personal ministry to the LORD and others.
SADLY, APOSTOLIC TEACHINGS ARE ABSENT TODAY IN MANY CHURCH SYSTEMS.
The smart ones use the term “apostolic” to describe their meetings, and etc. but what they say is not apostolic in any way.
What is apostolic will bring order, neutralize the mystery of iniquity, expose errors, establish one’s dominion over sin, bring the oppressed into rest, make people temples for God in the Spirit, mature us in the faith, raise little Christ on earth, fill hearts with God’s glory, and paralyze the activities of the antichrist, among other things.
You will never be mature enough to come into the fulness of rest in Christ, if you are not exposed to apostolic teachings. They are the carriers of the treasure of spiritual maturity from God’s throne to believers on earth.
The church needs spiritual maturity today than anything else because what we have accepted as spiritual maturity is different from what the Bible presents.
For instance, it is grossly spiritual immaturity to carry oil in a bottle and begin to pour on places to sanctified them. It takes maturity to understand that you do not sanctify places for use by pouring oil on them.
It takes spiritual maturity to understand that such old testament practices have been buried with the advent of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. So, all the fathers and children of faith who are doing that, are still immature in the things of God.
Yet, they call themselves mature, and occupy positions that they lack the spiritual maturity to occupy.
You see, when spiritual babies carry grey hairs, and long years in ministry, they mislead a lot. They make many follow their errors and defeat God’s redemptive plans for their lives.
What then is spiritual maturity?
I HAVE HEARD PEOPLE DEFINE SPIRITUAL MATURITY IN DIFFERENT WAYS.
Some have said it is when you can speak in tongues, lead in prayers, lead a church, give prophecy, or carry a religious title gracefully that you are mature. Others have said it is when you keep silent in the face of provocation, even if it is because of cowardice, or not knowing what to say.
Some others have said if you follow sheepishly or sacrifice resources immensely towards their ministries, you are mature in spirit.
If you look at the Bible’s definition of the fruit of spiritual immaturity, you will discover what spiritual maturity is. You will then come into the shocking discovery that most of us Christians today, including some of those with large churches preaching the gospel, are immature in the spirit.
The Bible says, “the heir, so long as he is a child, is not different from a slave; though he is master of all.” The sign of spiritual immaturity is hidden in this scripture. The hair to great treasures, so long as he is a child or immature, is not different from a slave. You see that?
The scripture presents spiritual slavery as a sign of spiritual immaturity.
That includes slavery to the practice or a life of sin, which almost the entire church is still trapped in, calling it weaknesses. It also includes slavery to an old testament doctrine that have been fulfilled in Christ, like the redemption of first born, giving of first fruits, use of oil, raising of altars of sacrifices, and etc.
It also includes slavery to the love of money, which you see in almost all so called fathers of faith,
In simple terms, many heirs of salvation are not different from slaves because they are not mature in the things of God. There are those who are still under the slavery of demons, curses, moral decay, diviners, dark practices in church, human traditions, and etc.
You will never come out of any kind of spiritual slavery if you are not mature in the things of GOD.
You will not be different from an unbeliever by lifestyle if you are not mature spiritually. There are so many of us today who have become very comfortable with the return of our old nature. That is a terrible slavery.
We get involved in all forms of infidelity, lead lives of terrible deception and craftiness, have hearts full of carnality, etc. All that are signs of spiritual immaturity.
God does not want this to continue because we will never go to heaven if we die as slaves to sin. That is why the first blessing you will experience when you become mature in spirit is deliverance; deliverance from a life of sin.
YES, DELIVERANCE FROM A LIFE OF SIN, FOLLOWING FALSEHOOD, DARK PRACTICES, AND LAWLESSNESS, COMES WHEN WE GROW UP!
This deliverance comes when we become mature in spirit, and the maturity comes when we are constantly exposed to genuine apostolic teachings. Genuine apostolic teachings, as earlier stated, are carriers of the treasure of spiritual maturity from the throne of GOD to the life of the saints.
Trust me, Satan would not want anyone to come under apostolic teachings. He knows their capabilities more than any Christian on earth.
That is why people with genuine apostolic teachings, are usually resisted by Satan using preachers and their followers who are mindful of the things of men instead of the things of God. He will make sure that they are demonized and terribly treated.
He will make sure that they are so treated because of the deliverance their ministries and grace bring from the throne room, especially to sinful habits, deception, dark religion, heretic teachings, and dark men or women of God.
As we bring this to a close, I want to submit to you that falsehood hates the deliverance of those enslaved to it. Dark prophets hate the deliverance of those enslaved to them, their dark anointing, doctrines and etc.
We have a work to do. We have some slaves to free from the kingdom and world of darkness. We have some brethren to take the apostolic truth to in other to bring them into a spiritual maturity that will end their spiritual slavery to anyone or anything.
Our devotional text this morning says,
..’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”‘”
Yes, it will not be by might or by power but by the Spirit of the LORD. But we will get to the finishing place, where all who are appointed unto salvation will be saved.
However, we must also understand that the start place is us.
Slaves cannot bring deliverance to slaves. We must not be slaves to sin, evil, our carnal nature or anything. Yes, we must make sure we are fully enjoying the freedom in Christ, else we will just be noise makers.
It is my prayer that we make use of every apostolic truth at our disposal to come into the fulness of our freedom in Christ, even as we yield to the Holy Spirit to use us and deliver others. Amen.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY;
“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8:31-36 NKJV