TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 4TH MAY 2024)
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”‘ Revelation 2:7 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 125TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
It’s been 125 days since we stepped into this glorious year.
God has been faithful in protecting us from the angers of the lions; the attacks of the wolves, the bite and barking of the dogs, the vomit of the puppies, the venom of brood of vipers, and of recent, the rage of the floods, the rains, and etc.
His mercies, kindness, compassion, and everlasting love has been amazing. Day unto day, we witness what a combination of all of His loving deeds, can accomplish in the life of a man or woman, who cannot survive without Him.
Yes, I don’t know about you, but some of us belong to the breed that cannot survive without God. We depend on Him much more than the fishes depend on water. He has been our reason for living. We remain grateful because He has never failed us.
He has been our unchanging God, ever dependable, ever reliable, a very present help in time of trouble. Aligning with some gracious words on the lips of David, permit me to say,
“if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; then the waters would have overwhelmed us,” (Psalms 124:2-4 NKJV).
The best life to live in a wicked and perverse generation, is a life that always has the LORD God Almighty by its side. He will not give that life to the teeth of its enemies, He will be a pillar of fire by night, and a pillar of cloud by day for that life.
He will surround that life like a shield. He will make sure His angels build a camp around that life.
Yes, just like the private properties of political leaders are protected by the state in most African countries, so will He cause His angels to protect everything that belongs to such a person. He will make sure the person is blessed as he or she goes out and blessed as he or she comes in.
The person will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
Those who rise against the person will fall for the sake of that person. A thousand may fall at his or her right hand, and ten thousand at his or her left, but nothing will come near him or her.
The goodness of the LORD will be running after the person. His mercies will never be withdrawn from him or her.
CHILD OF GOD, LET US ALL LIVE A LIFE THAT ALWAYS HAS THE LORD ALMIGHTY BY ITS SIDE.
For GOD to be on your side, you must learn to have Him at your right hand always. Our right hand represents our natural strength or weakness. It also represents the place of our natural power and authority.
Yes, let us live lives that always have the LORD at its right hand, so that we can experience His wonders. David said the LORD was always at His right hand. That was why He prevailed.
To have the LORD at our right hand also, is to rely on His supernatural strength, power and authority, not in our own strength, power, and authority. That can only happen through submission.
Yes, if we submit to His will, ways, and voice, we will always see Him at our right hand – we will move in His strength, power, and authority. We will see ourselves sitting at His right hand and having our enemies made our foot stool.
Our devotional text this morning urges us to tune our ears to His Holy Spirit.
It’s amazing the number of influences that seek the attention of our ears. It’s amazing how the flesh, the world and the devil, crave for our ears. They also crave for our eyes.
Yes, so many influences want our ears and eyes on them. They know the power of having them. Whoever has you ears and eyes, controls your life. That is how television and now smart phones, control the lives of billions.
They have the full attention of many ears and eyes, hence controlling so many people. It is either they have our ears or eyes. They have never missed either, except when we are asleep.
I repeat again that for so many of us, our ears and eyes are fully controlled by our smart phones. We are always looking, or hearing from them using ear phones.
Obviously, everything that influences people on earth wants to have either our eyes or ears. They either want us to be watching them, or listening to them. But if we do, we will not live the exciting life of having the LORD always at our right hand.
THE BIBLE SAYS, “HE WHO HAS AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS TO THE CHURCHES.”
The Bible did not say, He who has an ear, let him hear what the flesh, the world, or the devil is saying. If we tune our hearts to what these three are saying like many of us are doing, we will be submitting to ourselves, the world, or the devil – we will become false worshipers – leading to a lot of trouble in our lives.
The Bible is full of the stories of those who tuned their ears in certain moments to things looking for them, other than God, and got bad results. It also has the stories of those who tuned their ears to the LORD and got the result.
Samson, for instance, tuned his heart to the flesh in one moment, and cut short both his calling and life. But Joseph rejected the voice of the flesh, and tuned his ear to the voice of the LORD, and fulfilled his calling.
King Saul allowed the voice of the flesh and that of the devil to have his ears, the result was not good. He died as if he was not anointed by the Holy Spirit.
His life became a lesson that, things that should not happen to the anointed of the LORD, will end up happening to them, if they allow the flesh, the world, or the devil, to have their ears and eyes.
Yes, if they allow anything sinful or ungodly to have their ears or eyes.
Friend, whoever or whatever has your ears and eyes, either good or bad, will ultimately control your life. The voice of the flesh, the world, and the devil, should not have our ears or eyes. That of God should.
Our devotional text against says;
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”‘ Revelation 2:7 NKJV
The apostolic message in this scripture is simple. It says, if you have some ears, please train them to hear only what the Spirit of the LORD is saying, and live your days hearing and doing things through what you have heard and seen from the Holy Spirit.
Nothing more, nothing less!!
THE WORLD WE LIVE IN, IS TOO DANGEROUS FOR US TO LIVE OUR LIVES THE WAY WE WANT.
It is too dangerous for us to live our lives letting anything or anyone outside God, to have our ears and eyes. It is too dangerous for us to allow what is sinful and defiling to have our ears or eyes.
The devotional text says, he who has some ears, should allow the Spirit of God have all of them, so to speak. He or she should hear what the Spirit is saying. But there is another message in the text, and we will be concluding with it. That message says,
…“To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”‘
Victorious and prosperous living is for overcomers. If you do not learn to have the overcomer’s mentality, you will always be complaining of things and will never be able to be all that God has created you to be.
I have come to discover that there are challenges that will remain with us till death, consequences of bad decisions that will not go away, no matter how we pray about them, or fast. Things that must remain with us till we leave this world.
Those are the things that becomes our cross to carry, as we follow the LORD, and you carry every cross without opening your mouth. Such things are things that if we try to take them away from our lives, we will end up sinning against God and coming under terrible judgment.
Though they might be extracting things from us or causing us so much pain, we are to leave them there, as we serve the LORD. If we try to remove them, we cause a problem that might bring us under divine judgment.
For example, the fact that you are a single mother, a divorcee, or a bearer of a child out of wedlock. It could be painful, but you can’t change what might have happened. You just have to overcome it.
It could be you have no one in life to stand with you, like some of us. You just have to overcome that, there is nothing else you can do about it.
In the case of a child born outside wedlock, though the child came via sin, and might be causing you so much pain, you can’t kill the child. You will be coming under judgment if you do.
YOU CAN’T THROW THE CHILD AWAY EITHER OR SEND HIM OR HER OUT OF YOUR LIFE.
Time will judge you if you do. You are to stay with that child with an overcomer’s mentality.
It might be your father, your mother, or any other blood relative. It might even be a marriage that does not qualify to be dissolved but has become toxic and distractive. You are not to kill it. You might come under judgment if you do.
You are to live with it with an overcomer’s mentality. The text says, “to he that overcome…” You must become one of those who overcome challenges that will not go away. That is the message!!
To overcome does not mean to eliminate all the time. There are things you overcome by eliminating, like sinful habits and all that.
But in this case, the challenges could still be there, when you have overcome them, but they will no longer bother or distract you, neither will they cause you to take ungodly actions again. They will be there, but appear as dead to you.
Once the challenges are as good as dead to you, and they no longer make you react as you usually do, you have overcome them. You are then successfully carrying your cross and following the LORD. The Bible says that is when the LORD will begin to give you access to blessings you never had before.
It is a new day for you. May the message of the LORD this day find a resting place in your heart; may it become flesh in you again. Amen!!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].
For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting].
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life [his blessed life in the kingdom of God]? Or what would a man give as an exchange for his [blessed] life [in the kingdom of God]?
For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory (majesty, splendor) of His Father with His angels, and then He will render account and reward every man in accordance with what he has done.” Matthew 16:24-27 AMPC