TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 23RD APRIL 2024)
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.
But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’
Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.
Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. Jeremiah 7:21-26 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 114TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
This is the day The LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it.
We appreciate the LORD for waking us up this morning and for giving us another brand-new day. God has been so faithful to us, and has shown us much mercies.
Glory be to the LORD GOD almighty for helping us to stay alive, and showing us mercies to be what He wants us to be. This is a child of the impact of His amazing love. A love He has not ceased demonstrating in our lives in so many ways, of which sound spiritual feeding is one.
One way a man demonstrates responsibility and love for his family, is to feed them.
The Bible says a man that does not take care of his family is worse than an infidel. Feeding us with choice spiritual food, is one way Daddy God demonstrates His love towards us. The reason is because, what food is to the body and soul of a man, is what doctrine is to the spirit and soul of a man.
Today we will be refreshing our hearts on matters of doctrines, or spiritual feeding. I hope we are ready!!
To start with, it is important to understand that, the Kind of food a man eats is what determines how His health turns out. In the same way, the kind of doctrine we imbibe in life, is what determine how our lives turns out.
IF WE FOLLOW SOUND DOCTRINES, OUR LIVES WILL BE SOUND.
But if we follow false, and man-made doctrines, or the doctrines of devils, our lives will be full of crisis.
The life of a man was not designed for doctrines that are false, man-made, or demonic. The word doctrine as often defined on this platform simply means, teachings, life style or instructions. The life of a man was not designed to follow instructions, a life style or teachings that are false, man-made, or demonic.
The life of a man was designed to follow and function by sound doctrines; the doctrine of Christ. The doctrine of Christ, among other things, is the lifestyle, teachings or instructions of Christ. That is what the Bible calls sound doctrine.
Whenever our lives aligned with Sound doctrine, and begin to follow the lifestyle, instructions and teachings of Christ, diligently obeying the LORD and doing all that it teaches, it will begin to enjoy peace, progress, and prosperity on earth.
The Bible says;
“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.” Deuteronomy 28:1-2 KJV
What we diligently hearken to, observe and do on daily bases, is what determines if blessings will pursue and overtake us or not. People who are constantly overtaken by evil must understand this truth.
God created our lives to be over taken by blessings not evil.
He created our lives to be seeing sudden blessings here and there not sudden destruction here and there. In His plans, we should be blessed in the City and Blessed in the country. Yes, in His plans we should be blessed when we go out and blessed when we come in.
HE CREATED US TO LIVE LIVES BEYOND THE REACH OF OUR ENEMIES.
He created us to live victorious lives that the enemy cannot capture. His plan is, when they come against us in one way, they flee before us in seven ways. That means His perfect plan, is that we do not live lives that are subject to any form of destruction, especially by the enemy.
His perfect plan for our life is only ruined when we do not follow the right doctrines. That is why the Bible says;
“Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” Psalm 107:17-20 NKJV
From this scripture it is clear that destruction and afflictions are not God’s perfect plans for our lives, but children of transgressions and iniquities. Only in some cases, especially in the life of the righteous, can they be a test of faith.
To transgress is to go beyond the standard the LORD has set, and to commit iniquity is to go against God’s will and ways. They are a catalyst of destruction, especially if one continues in that direction for a very long time.
Whenever we go beyond the standards that God has set, without repentance, we suffer afflictions and destructions. Whenever our will go against God’s will, we suffer destruction.
Now, what makes us transgress or go against God’s will is the kind of doctrine that governs our lives. It is the truth, knowledge, or doctrine that influences, rules and reigns in our souls and spirits, that determine what we do with our lives. It determines if our will is in God’s will or not.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE KIND OF INSTRUCTIONS AND TEACHINGS WE FOLLOW, IS WHAT DETERMINES WHAT FOLLOW US.
If we live our lives according to the teachings and instructions of either false, man-made, or demonic doctrines, dark influences will be following us, and we will find ourselves committing iniquity or trespass.
We will never be able to live a life that aligns with God’s will and ways.
For instance, it was the impact of false teachings in church that has made some ladies in certain assemblies, to be trusting God to marry men who are already married. They were taught the false doctrine that says there are more women than men, hence there will be seven women to one man these end time.
The doctrine was carved out of a misinterpretation of Isaiah 4:1. Either you believe it or not, these kind of wrong doctrines in Church today, are reshaping the thinking of Christians and making many mentally unstable.
Yes, it is mental instability that will make a woman to be believing God or dreaming of marrying a married man. It is mental instability that will make a professor of chemistry to be drinking oil and calling it Holy Spirit, or a health scientist to be drinking water from a preacher for spiritual reasons.
It is mental instability that will makes someone sell a family land and take to a prophet or any preacher so that you can get deliverance from God.
A Christian lady once cried unto me for help. I have received a lot of such appeals for help. What ails her was the father, taking all the lands he inherited, one after the other, and giving to a prophetess in the village. He was stripped of everything. Later he abandoned their mother to go marry the prophetess.
That is mental instability, induced by a dark spirit and a false doctrine on giving.
Sadly, so many prophetesses and prophets have twisted Biblical truths and use them to prophesy people out of God given marriages, and even given single ladies the husbands of other people’s wives and single men the wives of other people’s husbands.
THERE IS SO MUCH MENTAL INSTABILITY IN CHURCH TODAY CALLED SPIRITUALITY BECAUSE OF WRONG DOCTRINES.
Anyone who believe that they must give God some money before He blesses them is under false doctrine, and if you check further, you will realize that most have been made mentally unstable.
I have met so many people who wept before me hopelessly, asking why God hates them so much. When I asked them why they were saying so? Many would say because God will not give them a job, a marriage, a raise, or deliverance until they sow a seed.
He knows they do not have money because they are either suffering, or jobless, and still demands a seed from them before giving them the miracles they need from Him. When you ask them how did God tell them that, they will say one prophet or prophetess said that to them and they believed it because it is in the Bible.
But I have read my Bible for years and preached from it for over 30 years yet I have never seen that part of the Bible.
You see, these kind of narratives from money-minded preachers are the seed of mental instability in the lives of those who imbibe their doctrines. Balaam, an old testament false prophet, followed a wrong doctrine from his heart, and became insane. The Bible called it the madness of the prophet.
Many in our generation today have gone after his principles and have become mad like him. The Bible says;
“They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.” 2 Peter 2:15-16 NKJV
If these mentally insane people do not vomit the wrong doctrines they have imbibed from Balaam preachers, and begin to follow the doctrine of Christ, they will never be restored to sanity. They will keep going from insanity to insanity, arguing with words of truth and reason until they are destroyed!
ONLY THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST CAN RESTRAIN AND HEAL PEOPLE OF THE MADNESS THEY PRACTICE AS SPIRITUALITY.
Sadly, there are people who do not follow either false, man-made, or demonic doctrines, but follow the dictates of their hearts. They will still get the results of those who follow wrong doctrines, especially if those dictates are not shaped by the doctrines of Christ.
Some of them are in churches where sound doctrine is taught. You still find this kind of madness in their lives. They come into the realm of spiritual insanity and people blame their innocent pastors for it. Others remain in the hands of their enemies for the same reason.
Ordinarily, we should not be destroyed when the LORD gives us teachers of sound doctrines, but many are still destroyed because they follow the dictates of their hearts instead, despite what they are being taught by the LORD where they worship.
From the voice of Christ in the Prophets of the Old Testament, to the Teachings and Instructions of Christ in the New, you will find out that God hates it when we follow the dictates of our hearts.
Our devotional text says;
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.
But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’
Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.
Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. Jeremiah 7:21-26 NKJV
THIS IS ONE OF THE LAMENTATIONS OF THE ALMIGHTY YOU FIND IN SCRIPTURES
The central truth here is the people following the dictates of their hearts instead of the sound doctrine from God through the prophets. It tells us how we distort God’s plans and process for our lives when we follow what our unchanged hearts are teaching or instructing us to do.
If your captivity in life is a child of following the dictates of your heart, you will never be free from it no matter how you pray. The dictates of our hearts are as dangerous as the wrong doctrines the LORD has been Crying against in His word.
If we follow the teachings or instructions (doctrines) of the dictates of our unchanged hearts, we will be living a life of sin, iniquity and trespass, defeating the plans of God for our lives.
So many of us are not being ruined by our enemies, but by what our hearts tells us to do, and in a follow-your-heart world, it has become imperative that we warn our generation about the dangers of following the dictates of our hearts.
If you find out that someone’s life is always overtaken by evil and destruction of any kind, check the kind of doctrine they are either hearing or following, or you check if they are following the dictates of their hearts.
Most people in good churches, hear sound doctrines, but still follow the dictates of their hearts, thereby making the word of God ineffective in their lives.
Some even discuss sound doctrines with themselves and sound very knowledgeable in the things of God, but still follow the dictates of their hearts, especially when it comes to decision making. That is why they remain the same, despite what they know, and the good churches the LORD has planted them in.
They leave one wondering why they will be in great Churches, and under accurate ministers or sound Bible teachers, yet live very sinful, ungodly, unproductive, and some very miserable lives.
The doctrine of Christ will not work for us if we know everything about what He says and Teaches, but apply none of it to our lives. It will never work for us if we hear it, but still follow the dictates of our hearts when decision making times comes.
I pray that the LORD GOD will use these things to build us up and give us an inheritance among those who are sanctified. Amen!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.
Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you.” Psalm 32:8-9 NKJV