TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 3RD JUNE 2024)
“There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.
The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.
Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places. Deuteronomy 33:26-29 KJV
WELCOME TO THE 155TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it.
He has woken us up again, He has given us the refreshing of spirit to start a new day. There is no need for boosting our vitality with any herb or beverage, His presence is the boost.
We are grateful!!
His presence will not always get you slain in the Spirit. If not, we will be falling and rising under the anointing everywhere we go, because His presence is everywhere with us.
So, His presence will not always get us slain, and will still do the most amazing things in our lives without our senses even knowing God is there doing something.
Even in Church, the presence of God will not always get you slain in the Spirit to do the most significant work in your life. We have a lot of God’s manifest presence in our services, for example. Many get slain in the Spirit wherever they are, even at home while following on Tv. And amazing things happen after that.
Yesterday I received a testimony from someone who attended the Service.
Her menstrual circle was healed after the Spirit of God touched her and she was on the floor. She said she had never had a normal circle from childhood. But there are people who have never fallen under the anointing but have experienced God doing very significant things in their lives also.
God is sovereign, He choses how He manifest in our lives and sometimes we also have to be positioned to experience such manifestations. Once our hearts are willing, His power will be present to heal, deliver, and set free.
LET ME BEGIN TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL BY SHARING THIS STORY. IT MIGHT NOT BE NEW TO SOME OF US ON THIS PLATFORM OR IN CHURCH.
My mum told me that when I was less than a year old in our village, I crawled into the rain without anyone seeing me and followed the erosion until I ended up in the forest nearby. When the rain stopped, they realized I was not around.
They panicked and began to look for me everywhere.
After a little while, they heard my voice afar off, screaming and shouting. I was caught up in a plant that has a chemical that strikes the skin with some stings like a scorpion.
You see, until you get into a rain forest, you will never know what came out of the mouth of God when He said;
…”Let the earth put forth [tender] vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to its kind, upon the earth. And it was so.” Genesis 1:11 AMPC
The Bible said,
“The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good, suitable, admirable, and He approved it. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.” (Genesis 1:11-13 AMPC)
The creation of GOD is full of wonders. The rain forest alone is full of wonders. I have once seen a tree in our rain forest, that brings out sap that look like blood; I mean blood, and flies were gathering around it.
If one is the superstitious type, or the over spiritual, one will say he saw a tree bleeding. Until the sap is taken to the lab to prove you are deluded, you will believe there are trees that bleeds.
You may be wondering why I am sharing about my life.
Let me just humbly say that the stories of my life are around the word, and the word is around the stories of my life. That can happen to anyone that God shows mercy to be born in a Christian home.
IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE THE LORD SHOWS MERCY TO START PREACHING AS A TEENAGER.
I have not known any other thing in my life apart from the word of the LORD. Besides this month is my birth month, so let us glean some truths around my life. It will be helpful at the end. So, my mum and her siblings finally got hold of me and the rest as they say is history.
I grew up in the rain forest of Nigeria and spent my adult life in North Central part of Nigeria where the climate is temperate and sometimes hot. So, being in Kenya, Nairobi specifically, at this time of the year, when the cold is setting in, is usually challenging for me.
If I try to live here the way I lived in Nigeria at this time of the year, it will be suicidal. The preachers and their members who want me dead will have a funeral to attend in celebration saying like the Philistines, “Our god has delivered Samson into our hands.”
So, I will not live here, especially at this time of the year, the way I lived in my home country.
Where I grew up, we take chilled or iced water because of the weather. In fact, I ate ice block often. But doing that here, especially at this time of the year will kill me.
Also, at this time of the year in Kenya, you have to be taking hot beverages at all time. In some places you have to be on warm water all through. I am not used to all that, posing a major challenge. I have tried severally to conform but it has not worked.
If it was in my power, I would have been leaving the country this time every year and returning when the cold season is over. But the work of the King requires no such thing.
There is a very important survival system I embrace that keeps me. Since I was not born here, and I did not grow up here, my system and entire chemistry usually fights to survive this season of the year.
The survival system is to use heaters to condition the environment around me, in order to create an environment that is akin to the one I grew up in.
NOW TO THE REASON FOR ALL THESE STORIES ABOUT MY LIFE.
Moses and Jesus Christ had almost the same valedictory sessions when their time on earth was over.
Moses wrote the entire book of Deuteronomy, a class of eternal words, and brought out the revelation of the eternal God being our refuge, as we can see in our devotional text, and Jesus spoke eternal words that are still valid today and will remain valid in the age to come.
Eternal words are words that transcends the power of time because of the realm where they are coming from.
You will never be able to speak eternal words from the heart of the Father, until you have one leg in time and the other in eternity; something that only the Holy Spirit, also known as the eternal Spirit of God, can help one accomplish.
Both Moses and Jesus as man, spoke eternal things that tells us they had one leg in eternity and the other in time when they were speaking or writing those things. Moses wrote so much truth in his valedictory that has guided us from time to time. But today let us look at what Jesus said.
The Bible says,
Jesus said; “And [now] I am no more in the world, but these are [still] in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep in Your Name [in the knowledge of Yourself] those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We [are one].
While I was with them, I kept and preserved them in Your Name [in the knowledge and worship of You].
Those You have given Me I guarded and protected, and not one of them has perished or is lost except the son of perdition [Judas Iscariot—the one who is now doomed to destruction, destined to be lost], that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
And now I am coming to You; I say these things while I am still in the world, so that My joy may be made full and complete and perfect in them [that they may experience My delight fulfilled in them, that My enjoyment may be perfected in their own souls, that they may have My gladness within them, filling their hearts].
I have given and delivered to them Your word (message) and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world [do not belong to the world], just as I am not of the world.
I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one.
They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth. John 17:11-17 AMPC
WHAT A PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE TO READ FROM TIME TO TIME!
The first verse of this scripture tells us Jesus indeed had one leg in eternity and the other in time when He spoke. You find that in the words “I am no longer in this world.” Remember, then He had not died or resurrected.
Then the last verses tell us that, we are not of this world, and then presented to us how to survive in a world that we are not of. There are great lessons to draw here, standing on the snippets of my Kenya cold experience story that I shared earlier.
For the purpose of understanding, let me say, “I am not of this weather,” because I was not born here, neither did I grow up in this place. I have to create the weather of where I was born here in order to survive here. I hope you understand me!
It costs me so much because of electrical bills and other things I had to buy and so forth. People have suggested I take garlic and other stuff but I do not like the smell of garlic and those stuff.
So, I had to spend some cash to create the very environment of the place I was born, here in Nairobi Kenya, to survive this time of the year.
The import of this story is, we are not of this world, to survive a world that we are not of, we must create the environment of the world that we belong, in this world. Though it will not be cheap because of the cost it will inflict on our flesh, but it will be worth it if we are to survive a world that we are not off.
The Bible says;
“We know [positively] that we are of God, and the whole world [around us] is under the power of the evil one.” 1 John 5:19 AMPC
We cannot survive a world that is under the power of the evil one if we do not create the environment of the world that we are part of in this world. We will give up and become part of it, through what the Bible calls “friendship with the world,” which is enmity with God.
AND THEN DIE AND GO TO THE VERY HELL IT IS GOING TO.
The reason why our original fathers of faith; our Bible fathers, were slain, sawn in two, persecuted, and destroyed, was because the world as we know it, is under the power of the evil one. They were that treated because they decided not to maintain friendship with it.
They did not commit any crimes, they only preached the gospel. Yes, they preached a gospel that turned criminals into saints, and took the hearts of men from the false gods that were worshiped, to the true God that should be worshiped.
That was not a crime, but they paid dearly for it, because the world is under the power of the evil one.
You see, preaching is not a crime but if you live in a world that is under the power of the evil one, preaching of the gospel or preaching of the authentic gospel can be criminalized.
It is important to note that, righteousness is usually criminalized and treated or perceived as wickedness by people who are under the power of the evil one. That is why it will be rewarded greatly in eternity.
For instance, what I said about the olive oil being used to pour in places and anoint business places is scriptural, but it is being resisted by people who are under the power of the evil one. That is why they issue threats and try to destroy our reputation.
Whatever is under the power of the evil one will pass away when the evil one will be passing away! The Bible says;
“And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever.” 1 John 2:17 AMPC
The world is under the power of the evil one. This scripture made it clear that it is going to pass away.
THAT IS WHY GOD PLACED US IN A WORLD THAT WE ARE NOT PART OF.
It is important that we create the environment of the world that we are part of so that we will not become part of a world that we are not part of and pass away with it.
To create the environment, you must understand and be familiar with the world that you are part of. That is why Christ gave some to be teaching apostles and Prophets; to tell us about the world that we are part of.
Due to some failure on our part as church leaders, the Church has been ignorant of the revelation, that is why we have all become worldly and the world churchy.
We have developed great friendship with the world and lost touch with our real WORLD – the world of the eternal GOD. That is why we are like them in every bit.
For instance, there is no difference between our marriages and theirs. There is no difference between our paradigms and theirs. The spirit of lawlessness rules them and the same spirit rules us.
Our love for the world has made us lovers of pleasure more than lovers of GOD. We will not even align with God’s truth on use of oil, salt, and all the nonsense we use in prayer, which are not fulfilling the great commission in any way!
We do not outsource our lives from the world we are of – the world of the eternal God. That is why for many, Christ is not manifesting in their lives as their refuge. Hence walking in fear all the time. If the God of Heaven and earth begins to manifest in our lives as the eternal God, we will not be walking in fear.
Our devotional text tells us what will be happening in the lives of those who make themselves our enemies when that happens.
From God riding upon the heaven in our help, that is in his excellency in the sky, to Him thrusting the enemy before us to say destroy, we will become a people saved by the LORD, kept in His everlasting arms. It says;
“There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.
The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.
Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places. Deuteronomy 33:26-29 KJV
WE HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT MATTERS OF FEAR. THE WORLD THAT WE ARE PART OF HAS NO FEAR IN IT.
Fear is from the environment of the world that we are not part of. So, whenever we become afraid, we should remember we have touched a world that we are not part of. We should go back to God’s word of promise on our protection and provisions and meditate in it.
Through meditation, we get back to the world that we are part of.
The message this morning is all about living a life that is carved fromp the world that we are part of in a world that we are not part of. The Holy Spirit has been given to help us live that life.
The word of the LORD (the Bible), the church, and our will are His instrument of teaching us how to carve that life, in our bid to survive from the world we are part of, in a world that we are not part of.
May we remain yielded to Him. Amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 NKJV