TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 9TH MARCH 2024)
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:10-11 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 69TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Many years ago, I was in a meeting with my spiritual father.
Then I had not been fully integrated into the closeness of a father and son dimension. I just heard he was holding a prayer conference around Abuja City and saw it as a destiny opportunity for me, so I decided to attend.
Today, looking back at those moments, I can tell that one meeting can leave an impact in your life; an impact that can last for a very long time. It’s been decades after that meeting, and I still have the impact today.
He was one of the two speakers invited by the woman of God who organized the meeting. They all taught about prayer.
My spiritual father is not a teacher of the mysteries of the Kingdom. He is a demonstrator of the Kingdom. So, while the other speaker taught things on prayer that still guide me today, my spiritual father demonstrated them to us. It was such a synergy.
That was when I knew that there is a difference between preaching or deeply teaching the Kingdom of God and demonstrating it. Jesus had both. He preached and demonstrated the Kingdom in signs, wonders, and miracles.
A people of God will come out well if they experience both the preaching or teaching of the deep things of the kingdom, and the demonstration of same. Sadly, under evangelistic mantles, you will never find one with both grace dimensions, except those teaching and demonstrating heresies.
Now, in matters of preferences, it is good to have a preacher who teaches good or deep kingdom mysteries, but not good to have one who does so but cannot demonstrate what he is teaching.
If a teacher of deep kingdom mysteries, and a demonstrator are presented to me, I will prefer sitting under one who demonstrates it. The reason is because, you will always need a man who is there to bring you into the realm of demonstrating the kingdom.
In most cases, you will not be able to get there on your own. But if you are a great Bible student, you can get the knowledge of deep kingdom mysteries on your own. Besides, it is easier to find people who teach deep kingdom things than to find those who demonstrate them in our age and time.
So, since it is easier to find men who teach the Kingdom, and very difficult to find those who demonstrate it, I prefer sitting under the one who demonstrate it.
YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO POINT WHAT YOU ARE SEEING AND EXPERIENCING IN THE BIBLE BECAUSE OF IGNORANCE.
However, any day you become a Bible student, you will find the Holy Spirit teaching you or completing your encounter with living truths of kingdom things you experienced when they were demonstrated to you.
But sitting under one preacher who preaches and demonstrates deep kingdom things, is the best thing that can happen to a Child of God. That was why the apostles came out great after watching Jesus do both for three and half years.
So, experiencing the demonstration and teaching of deep kingdom truths on prayer in that meeting, changed my prayer life forever. It also taught that I will only be of great help to people, as a minister of the gospel, if I press into God’s grace to become both a teacher and demonstrator of His kingdom, power and glory.
God has given us another day to come to the knowledge of the truth. I believe we have already learned something from this opening. No day will be a good day, except the good God talks to you that day.
That is why we should cherish these devotionals. For those who know, they are the voice of the good God to us. And when the good God speaks to you, you can make use of your day properly, especially to build your faith or amend your ways.
To God’s Kingdom Citizen, days are gifts from Him to amend our ways, increase our knowledge of the just One, strengthen ourselves in righteousness, deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ, and fulfil our destiny.
Days to us are not just to be lived, but to be fulfilled.
There is a difference between living your days and fulfilling your days. The word fulfill suggest there are predetermined things in a day to walk in and actualize. There are prophetic purposes of God to accomplish.
God’s will for us is that we spend our days walking in those predetermined purposes, actualizing them, and fulfilling their prophetic contents. His plan is that we fulfill the prophetic contents of our days. That is why one of the blessings He conferred on us reads, “I will fulfill the number of your days”.
If we spend our days according to divine pattern; seeking to actualize the predetermine things God wants us to actualize in each day, the number of our days God will fulfill.
WE WILL LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO UNLEASH OUR DIVINE DESTINY. THERE WILL BE NO PREMATURE DEATH!
So, I urge you to seize this day with understanding. That is why the devotionals are important.
Today, we will be looking at an apostolic statement that GOD’S servant Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesus. Our devotional text captured it this way, “ Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might”.
In a chaotic world like ours, we just have to be strong in the LORD.
In fact, these end times, being strong in the LORD is the only insurance against evil works, evil workers, and sad developments. It is the apostolic cure for any successful attack of the enemy against us.
The righteous falls seven times but rises up again because he is strong in the LORD.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all. Now how does the LORD do that? He does it by making use of the determination of the righteous to remain strong in the LORD, especially in the midst of it all.
Yes, He does that by making use of our resolves to remain strong no matter the cost. The resolve to remain standing is a necessity of the faith.
So, when temptation comes our way, and the flesh drive us to do despicable things and sin against our God, we are not to give in, we are to be strong in the LORD. But even if we give in and fall, it is not the will of God that we remain down, living in that fall and continuing in the very sin.
We are to rise up!
Being strong in the lord is both an apostolic and prophetic command from the source of our strength Himself – Jesus Christ. In His pre-incarnate form, He gave similar instructions to Joshua who was about stepping into ministry. He told him to be strong and very courageous.
There were kings to conquer and lands to take possession of and give to God’s redeemed people – the Israelites. His job was to walk with God to do all that.
It was very risky, but faith is risking it all with eyes on the LORD to help you. That was why the LORD commanded him to be strong and very courageous.
I SENSE THE SAME COMMAND COMING TO SOMEONE THIS MORNING.
In takes inner strength and courage to do certain things with God. I don’t know what call of God is upon your life, but the key to allowing His glory to be revealed in that call, is being strong in the LORD, and being persistent in responding to whatever He tells you to do with courage.
We are in the days of glory. One way to unleash the glory of God is to be strong in the LORD and be very courageous in doing whatever He has assigned you to do; even if you are in the face of the stiffest opposition.
The presence of any opposition to a thing God has called us to do create an opportunity for God’s glory to be revealed.
In other words, when circumstances, sad developments, people, or devils, stands on our way to hinder us from fulfilling a divine assignment, they have created an opportunity for God’s glory to be revealed.
God Himself sometimes, allows things to stand against us so that His glory can be revealed and His call upon our lives either affirmed or authenticated. He said to Jeremiah;
“For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land — Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, And against the people of the land.
They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you.” Jeremiah 1:18-19 NKJV
I do not know what you may be facing, but this is a Rhema word for you this day.
The spiritual controls the natural. God was telling Jeremiah what He has already turned him into in the spirit. His natural frame may not have suggested any of it, but spiritually he has become a fortified City, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land of his assignment. Hallelujah!
Now to actualize that, he had to be strong and not succumb to his internal or external fears.
HE HAD TO BE BOLD IN THE FACE OF THE THREATS OF THE ENEMY!
Friend, the easiest way to manifest in the natural what God has already made you to be in the spirit, is to be strong in the LORD, and not bow to any fear or opposition that may be up against you, especially in the place of His will for your life.
My prayer for you this day is that God will use these words to strengthen you to be His fortified City, His iron pillar, and bronze walls against all that you fear.
If you will be strong in the LORD, you will see the glory of the LORD revealed. If you will be confidant in His power to save and word to deliver, your vindication will be made manifest to all!
Don’t forget, Satan will first strike you with fear before striking you with any other thing. If you will be confident in God’s power to save and God’s word to deliver, you will never come under any of his successful attacks.
May this day be a day of reinforcement for you in Jesus’ precious name! AMEN
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
“Behold, all those who were incensed against you Shall be ashamed and disgraced; They shall be as nothing, And those who strive with you shall perish.
You shall seek them and not find them. Those who contended with you. Those who war against you Shall be as nothing, As a nonexistent thing.
For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’
“Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you,” says the LORD And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
“Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, And make the hills like chaff.
You shall winnow them, the wind shall carry them away, And the whirlwind shall scatter them; You shall rejoice in the LORD, And glory in the Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah 41:10-16 NKJV