TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 24TH APRIL 2024)
Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?
For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’
But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” Matthew 15:1-9 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 115TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in Him.
The statement is worthy of being repeated over and over because of the goodness of the LORD. Yes, days are made by the LORD, but the responsibility to rejoice and be glad in them is in our hearts.
You may not be feeling alright this morning, just know that Jesus cares for you. Things may be tough in your life, just hold unto the LORD because He has a History of being an immediate present help in time of trouble. He said in His word;
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV
I think we should not stop running to the LORD for help. It is a doctrine (lifestyle, teaching, and instruction) of Christ to always make Him our refuge. To always run to Him for rest on every side.
When we are troubled, He remains our peace. When we are in warfare, He is our man of war. When we walk or fall into sin and become in great need of help to be restored back to righteousness, He is our righteousness. When we are weak, He is our strength.
When we lose our way, He is the way. When we can’t find an access or a door to success, healing, deliverance, peace, or progress in life, He is the door. When we fail, He is the one who lifts us up. Yes, when the flesh prevails against us and we fall into sin, He remains the redemption sacrifice and mercy seat to turn to for help.
When we cannot stand temptation, He remains the loving savior whose hands are always open to offer us spiritual help. When we are in need, He remains the shepherd who guides us into prepared places where our needs are supplied.
When we are in fear, He remains our faith. He is the light that shines in every darkness to those of us who might be in darkness. When we are under attack, He is our shield.
WHEN THE FLOODS OF LIFE RISE AGAINST US, HE IS OUR FIRM FOUNDATION, AND WALL OF RESISTANCE.
When evil winds or the rains of destruction come against us, He is our roof and wind breaker. He is our everything. That I why we should always use the prayer kneel, to reach Him. Yes, we should not depart from the school of kneeology, because in that school there are no graduates.
Sometimes, we fall into spiritual laziness, weakness, doubts, or sin, and become filled with convictions, and then walk away in shame from the LORD, like Adam and Eve did. But that is the best time to walk to the LORD, because we need help at that time.
Spiritual laziness, weakness, doubts, and sin all have a way of making us hide ourselves from the LORD, most time in shame.
But if anyone has the seed of God in them, they will always return to their God when His Spirit prompts them. They will not permanently walk away from Him, or grand stand when his Spirit confronts them.
Let me share this. Falling into sin for a true Child of God is not a cheap thing. It is usually a season of shame, pain, regrets, and lost of confidence. It is usually a season of darkness for the Child of God, a season of weeping before the LORD and wanting to hide from His loving face due to shame.
It is usually not a season of justifying oneself or being spiritually arrogant, like Cain. It is always a season of humbling oneself, staying away from public eye or friends, and withdrawing to God for mercies to go and sin no more.
The shame, darkness, regrets, pains, lost of confidence, and etc. that a Child of God experience after falling into sin, are great signs that the person is having the seed of God in him or her. It is the seed that makes the person feels that way.
IT IS WORKING IN THE PERSON TO RETURN BACK TO THE LORD.
But if none of that happens when a Child of God falls into sin, it is a sign that the person is GENUINELY UNSAVED, and that the seed of God Is not in him or her. Yes, it clearly means that the Spirit of Christ is not in the heart of that person. The Bible says;
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Romans 8:9-10 NKJV
From this scripture, we can see clearly that if the Spirit of Christ dwells in us, we will not behave like Cain when we fall into sin. The spirit of hell that make people behave like Cain, will not have access to our hearts to make us do that.
I think at this point, let me draw our attention to a living truth, You see, there are two spirits in the realm. There is the Spirit of God that works in every heart, and there is the spirit of hell that does the same.
The Spirit of God is what keeps us alive to righteousness, while that of hell keep people alive to sin. If that of hell is working in a person’s heart, the person will be dead to righteousness and alive to sin.
When one is alive to sin, they will not see anything wrong in wrong doing.
They will instead see everything wrong with right living, and try to talk you out of it. That is why the sealing of hearts with the Spirit of the LORD, is a major salvation preservation requirement, that happens at the point of salvation encounter.
If hearts are not sealed during a salvation encounter, then that encounter is false. It is that sealing that puts the presence of the Spirit of God in us, and helps us to be alive to righteousness.
So, if you do not feel ashamed after committing a sin, and move on to desire a change, it is a dangerous sign. It means your spirit is not alive unto righteousness. It means, instead of being dead to sin, your spirit is alive to sin, and that has put your eternal life into danger.
When our spirits are alive to sin, we do not care about any sin we commit.
In fact, we will not even see whatever we may be doing as grievous before the LORD. Excuses will be springing forth within us that will keep us going back again and again to it, until we are completely swallowed by the portals of hell.
On the flip side, if the Spirit of God dwells in us, He will keep taking us from faith to faith, grace to grace, glory to glory, truth to truth, revelation knowledge to revelation knowledge, until we are not, for God will take us.
THE BIBLE SAYS THIS OF ENOCH;
“So, all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” Genesis 5:23-24 NKJV
Enoch was the 7th from Adam and we are getting ready for the 7th day of God. Walking with God today, is no longer an option but a necessity.
As children of God, instead of walking in sin until every bit of the divine nature in us has become corrupt, we are to walk in God until we are not.
This is a very important dispensational revelation for our day.
Christ is our pattern, and His pattern in Enoch remains a pattern for us when it comes to our walk and talk with God, especially as end time saints. God use men as patterns and standards for others. He will work in one, and then display Him before the rest saying, “here is how I want you to live, please come let me make you like this.”
So, from the life of Enoch, we see that we must walk with the LORD, daily until He takes us over and we cease to be.
It is not by might or by power but by His Spirit teaching and instructing us in the things of God. This will lead to constantly sitting down at the feet of the LORD to learn, bringing ONE to the place of being well pleasing to Him, in all he or she does.
It will bring us to the place of having a testimony before God; a testimony that we please Him. We see all that in Enoch. The Bible says;
“By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him” for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Hebrews 11:5 NKJV
IF OUR CHRISTIAN LIVES DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME TESTIMONY THAT ENOCH HAD, THEN WE ARE NOT WALKING WITH THE LORD.
We must have a testimony that we please God, that is what makes a believer stand strong in righteousness; and that is what makes those who fall to run back to God as quickly as possible after sinning against Him. They want to maintain their testimony before the LORD.
If the Testimony of being well pleasing to God is not your vision for the faith, then you are not in the faith. You are in a counterfeit. You are already descending into Sheol while alive.
Many of us are not aware that hell enlarges itself every day towards all on the face of the earth, and we hand ourselves over to it when a life of sin becomes our habitation. Sadly, because of the absence of sound doctrine in so many churches, people do not know these secrets.
There is no one who leads a life of sin that is not under the portals of hell. That is why the issue of sound doctrine must be considered by every believer.
Where there is no sound doctrine, people will lack the knowledge to live lives that are outside the portals of hell; they will be swallowed by them. They will go into the captivity of this ancient spiritual gates. The Bible says;
“Therefore, my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; Their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
Therefore, Sheol has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure; Their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.” Isaiah 5:13-14 NKJV
This scripture explains to us the necessity of sound doctrines. It tells us how many of us are sinking jubilantly into hell and yet not knowing, because we have no knowledge. When it says knowledge, it is not referring to secular knowledge but the knowledge of God.
The only knowledge that will prevent one from being swallowed, by the ancient spiritual gates described as Sheol in this scripture, is the knowledge of the Holy one. The knowledge of the Holy one is a product of sound doctrine.
So, where there are no sound doctrines, hell or Sheol hold sway in the lives of men and women.
THAT IS WHY DISCIPLESHIP REMAINS THE CENTRAL ACTIVITY THAT GOES ON IN GOD’S KINGDOM.
Let me share this in conclusion. There are traditions of men that are being taught to many believers as the gospel of Jesus Christ these days. Most of them are cooked from hell. They are responsible for the many that are sinking into hell.
A tradition is a custom or culture that is passed from generation to generation. It is a practice that is passed from time to time. God has His own traditions and practices, man has his, and Satan also has his. That is what the doctrine of Christ brings to the table.
Believers are to live their lives according to God’s traditions. God’s traditions are the customs and culture His Holy Spirit passed to us in Christ Jesus; the very things Jesus spoke and manifested through our Bible fathers and taught when He was physically here.
God wants our lives established on His own traditions not ours. It is when our lives are established on His Righteous traditions and practices, that we can have peace in time and eternity. But in so many assemblies today, most believers are taught the traditions of men as doctrines.
Many others are taught the traditions of demons as deliverance. There is so much deception.
People take demonic and human traditions as doctrines of God and put their lives in eternal danger. All thanks to the greedy and Godless shepherds whose goal is money and fame instead of souls. That brings us to our devotional text. It will also be our meditational scripture.
Friend, God wants us to walk away from our sinful traditions, and embrace His righteous tradition and practices, mirrored in the lives of Christ and the early Church. It is my prayer that the LORD uses these few thoughts to add to the building blocks of our faith. Amen!!
MAKE OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
“Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’
But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” Matthew 15:1-9 NKJV