TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 6TH JUNE 2024)
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 158TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
This is the day the LORD has made. We shall rejoice and be glad in it.
Our God has been faithful to us and we give Him all the glory. Day unto day He has been showing us mercy. He has been our refuge and shelter.
God is our man of war, because man was created in a spiritual war zone. But originally kept were there was no war. That was why there was no diseases, famine, sorrows, death, mourning, decay, losses, or etc. in Genesis chapter 1 and 2.
However, after those two chapters, war broke out in the realm of mankind.
Sometimes, due to this ancient spiritual wars, that are still raging today, you find yourself in battles that you can’t share with any because there are no words.
Maybe we will begin this devotional with some thoughts on that line. We are in perilous times, and a lot is happening in the lives of both believers and unbelievers alike. We might look into our lives through the lenses of some Bible men.
Samson, was one Bible man that I believe went through a season of his life that he had battles that he could not share. I believe he found himself in a state of personal wars that he lacked one, an ear to tell, and two, words to use in telling.
Not that there were no people; there were people, but none could help out.
Long before meeting Delilah he had become vulnerable to any little harlot out there. His life proved, Delilah was a fallout of the internal war fare he had; things he found no ear to talk to, and no words to use in telling.
He found no ear and no words, because there were no ears to listen with care, and no hearts to comprehend words he would have said. Everyone has such moments in life. The only thing that helps some of those who are saved, is the prayer knee.
Whenever I read stories of warriors who fell suddenly, I connect easily because I have been there. But our case today is different, and even better than Samson’s, but the warfare type remain the same, because we are still dealing with the patterns of the things they faced in their time.
UNLIKE DAVID, SAMSON HAD NO PROPHETIC FINGER IN HIS LIFE TO OFFER DIRECTION AND HELP.
There was no Holy Spirit to guide him the way we have now. There were no preachers to preach to him from week to week or day to day like we have today. There was just the Torah.
While growing up, his parents taught him what they learned from the priest; and like every Jew, he must have grown up memorizing it. But that is not always enough when dealing with problems that are too personal in life.
Apart from Him coming on the prophets and judges, from time to time, to do a quick work through them, that generation had the Torah as the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit Himself was not living in them like he live in us today. He was only present symbolically in the use of oil. But that presence and the Torah they had could not give an immediate present word.
The torah only had written standards to live by. Only prophets could help them find an immediate present word.
Sadly, in the case of Samson, there was no prophet to offer help. He must have known every detail of the Torah but that was not enough! But our generation is blessed. We now have the Holy Spirit and the immediate present word.
We have a complete Bible that if we read and reason over can always help us in time of need. We have the Holy Spirit as a replacement of the Torah and Old Testament type of prophetic ministry.
Yes, the new has a new kind of prophetic ministry, Powered by the Holy Spirit. We only need to cultivate and maintain a healthy relationship with the Holy Spirit, because if that relationship is not there, we will always fall back to the very defeat that people like Samson fell in their time.
But thank God they got back to their feet, fought to the finishing line (even though it was with destiny injuries), and finished strong!
CONCERNING SAMSON, THE BIBLE SAYS;
“Then Samson called to the LORD, saying, “O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!”
And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left.
Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.
And his brothers and all his father’s household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.” Judges 16:28-31 NKJV
The life of Samson was like the life of everyone else living in a wicked and imperfect world. His brothers and his father’s household should have shown up when he needed support, but they showed up to bury him.
Such is life! People who do not care what might be happening to you, will always be the first to announce your fall or death. It’s a terrible world we live in. For Samson, they only came when he no longer needed them. They came after he had died.
Their showing up was just to burry him. That is the irony of life. People who do not care must be treated with caution, because whenever they show up in your life, they might have come to burry you. They must have thought its over for you.
Child of God, the best friend to have is Jesus, made active in your life by the Holy Spirit; and the best people to have in your life, are people who are in God’s will, and have received the call from the LORD to become part of your life, in one way or the other.
That brings us to our consideration for the month – the Cry of the Holy Spirit on fear matters. Our devotional text says;
“Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 NKJV
THIS SCRIPTURE IS ABOUT COMPANIONSHIP AND PARTNERSHIP IN LIFE.
There is a kind of fear that is generated by not having the right companions or partnership in life. In other words, there is a fear created by being alone in life – a loneliness associated fear. That is why God said in His word, “it is not good for a man to be alone”.
Yes, loneliness can induce fear into a man’s heart. It is responsible for some bad decisions in relationship matters. It can make you keep who you do not need in life, just to deal with the fear. Many have attracted their destroyers to themselves due to that fear, and even refused to believe that they are their destroyers and not helpers, as they appear.
Loneliness induced fear has made people marry plagues as wives or husbands. It has made people bring into their lives very bad people who they can’t let go.
While some keep bad people in their lives out of compassion, hoping they will change, those plagued by this kind of fear keep them for security reasons. They try to create a sense of security having the people around, despite who they are in their lives.
A loneliness induced fear only disappears when the right people come into your life. The right people most times are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
God the son said if we obey Him, the three of them will come in and make our lives there home. They are the most important right people we need in life. If they are there, it does not matter who is not there. They will be the one to bring who need to be there to us.
When who need to be there come, so many beautiful things will begin to happen in our lives. We will come into the realm of uncommon boldness, even if we are facing the greatest danger in life.
So, having the triune God in your life, is the first step to take in matters of walking away from a fear driven life, to a faith driven life. If God sits at the center of our lives, we will not loose grip in life. There will always be a present help in time of trouble, and there will be no crippling fear.
OUR FATHERS WHERE ABLE TO FEARLESSLY STAND BEFORE THE TERRIBLE THINGS THEY FACED, BECAUSE GOD WAS AT THE CENTER OF THEIR LIVES.
The Bible says;
“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—
of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. Hebrews 11:32-38 NKJV
If our fathers in this scripture were men and women whose lives were driven by fear, they would not have successfully defended their faith and pressed on to the end in the midst of the fiery trials we read here.
They would have fearfully caved in and submitted to the evil one in the evil people he used to unleash such sufferings on them. But they were never fearful in the midst of it all, because the LORD God of Heaven and earth sat at the center of their lives.
He stood in them and animated them to function in His likeness.
As we bring this to a close, I want us to understand that, to terminate fear sometimes (especially a fear induced by loneliness), God will bring us to the right people or have the right people brought to us. That is why many have found themselves becoming bold and fearing no more by even joining the right church.
I pray that the LORD use these words, to keep building us up, and giving us an inheritance among they that are sanctified. Amen!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the LORD.
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called:” Jeremiah 23:3-6 NKJV