TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 12TH JUNE 2024)
“O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.
At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.
And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.
The LORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure. Isaiah 33:2-6 KJV
WELCOME TO THE 163RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
God has been gracious to us, and hse been our helping hands every morning, and our salvation all the days we have seen so far this year. We believe His unfailing arm will still be there for the rest of the year.
Indeed, blessed, happy, fortunate, to be envied is the man who makes the Lord his refuge and trust, and turns not to the proud or to followers of false gods.
A lot of what people follow today are false gods and man-made systems. That is why the reward of following the true God is missing in so many lives. But the LORD has been mindful of us, that’s why the enemy has not had the last laugh over us despite our carelessness.
One of the rewards of serving the true God is the mercy you enjoy. Other gods do not have such a package. He also gives light and understanding. He fights our battles and make sure we are not given over to the will of our enemies.
Yes, Light and understanding from God, are some of the Heavenly products that makes a man superior to the ground and air forces of the wicked one parading the earth. If the enemy will not outwit us in battle, we must be ahead of him and his men in light and understanding.
Not the light and understanding of this age, but that of God. That was what the life of Daniel communicated to us.
Do not forget, in the days of Nebuchadnezzar he was far ahead of the magicians and astrologers because he had light and understanding from the LORD.
THE RESULT WAS BOLDNESS AND SAFETY EVEN IN THE LION’S DEN.
After the death of Nebuchadnezzar, the next King he was serving was hit by an issue that rattled him. When that happened, the people did not go searching for a noisy and heresies driven prayer.
Yes, they did not go asking someone who know how to silence altars to come. They went in search of a man of light and understanding.
The man they were looking for was Daniel; also, a man of prayer. Which teaches that it takes a man of righteous prayer to be a man of Heavenly light and understanding. The Bible says;
“The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall. The queen spoke, saying, “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change.
There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers.
Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation.” Daniel 5:10-12 NKJV
There are critical lessons to draw from this story! If you read the entire chapter of Daniel 5, you will understand that before Daniel came, the king was struck by a terrible fear. Though the message that formed the object of his fear was not pleasant.
But after hearing Daniel speak and helping him to understand the mystery surrounding all that happened, the fear left him. He would have averted the disaster that followed thereafter if he had fallen to his knees and repented of the things the LORD pointed out to him.
THE GREATEST FORCE THAT HELPS A MAN AVERT DISASTER IN LIFE, ESPECIALLY AFTER RECEIVING REVELATION FROM GOD, IS REPENTANCE.
Yes, repentance. Falling down before God and pleading for mercy.
That was what David and the rest of the Bible men used in their days. That was what Saul could not do. Sometimes we just pray and do not repent because in our hearts we are already saved and sin no longer matters.
For some, they can’t find wrong in how they are living. Hence, see no need for repentance. They just pray asking God to avert the disaster. But that does not work. Prayer could be good, but repentance must come first, especially if our ways are not right before the LORD.
If that King had replaced the fear of the experience he had with the fear of the LORD, things would have turned out well for him.
But like most of us would do, he went headlong and lost his kingdom that night, just because he would not fall Down before the LORD that Daniel was serving, the one who sent the warning finger, to repent. The Bible says;
“That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.” Daniel 5:30-31 NKJV
People who know how to fall before God in repentance, will never fall into the hand of their enemies in regrets. They will never fall into the consequences of their sins. They will be redeemed by the LORD. Repentance does so much than anything else in God’s kingdom.
Most of what people are smeared with oil for, or made to raise altars and sow seeds for, only happens when people repent. The essence of the warning finger GOD sent to that king, was to help him avert the disaster, but his pride or spiritual ignorance could not let him.
SWIFTLY, HE WAS DETHRONED THAT NIGHT.
One other lesson we can pick from the story is this, ignorance can make one afraid. But once light and understanding comes, fear disappears. Daniel got there, and in few minutes, dealt with the issue by giving light and understanding to the king.
KNOWING, MAKES ONE BOLD! NOT KNOWING, MAKES ONE AFRAID.
And let me say this; there is a difference between arrogance and boldness. The two looks alike but they are not the same. Arrogance is a child of ignorance. Boldness is a child of knowledge and courage. Once you know, you become bold and courageous, yet humble.
Sadly, some call boldness arrogance. Arrogance is overbearing pride. It is not boldness. They might look alike but not the same. If you have eyes, you will see that even the arrogant are afraid. You will not see them standing boldly in the face of danger, especially when the result of their arrogance comes.
Another lesson we can draw here is in how Daniel handled the matter.
He was stable and strong. He was not rattled by the hand of the LORD like the rest of the wise men who must have been affected also. He walked into the palace and solved the mystery in minutes.
That tells us that men of light and understanding solve issues of life without taking much time. If you are struggling to solve an issue, just know that it’s because you lack insight and understanding for solving the issue.
Just retreat to the LORD and let Him give you something superior from Heaven.
That is why even when we are calling upon the LORD for help, we should be ready to received light and understanding from Him first, because righteous prayers are good at bringing a man’s heart to the place of light and understanding.
The Bible says;
“Thus, says the Lord Who made [the earth], the Lord Who formed it to establish it—the Lord is His name:
Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).” Jeremiahs 33:2-3 AMPC
Talking about fear, it is important to note that fear is usually sustained by things that are hidden in a mystery; things fenced in and hidden which we do not know, distinguish, recognize or have knowledge of.
That is why people who use fear to keep others under subjection hate eye opening messages, like apostolic teachings. And those who are always praying righteous prayers, studying the Bible in-between, do not walk in spiritual illiteracy.
THEY WALK IN HEAVENLY LIGHT AND UNDERSTANDING.
You cannot force them into a cage, you cannot cage them into a box of fear that is usually presented in church today as submission to authority, or respect for spiritual fathers; the very forces that killed the young prophet from Judah!
What they know will make them to humbly neutralize you.
Light and understanding are two forces that will make one bold and fearless even in the face of death. For instance, prayer for long life was not one of the prayers of the apostles in the early church. They had light and understanding and were not afraid to die.
But today we even give huge amount of monies to preachers for long life. That goes to tell us that our version of Christianity is not having the same source with theirs, and that most of what we do today as believers that make preachers smile to the bank is born out of fear.
The preachers use the story of what people are going through to induce them with fear, and make them give their hard-earned money to them in the name of deliverance. God wants that to stop.
Stability, prosperity, restoration and all we look for in this life, comes through heavenly insights and understanding.
A major highlight in our devotional text says;
The Lord is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure. Isaiah 33:6 KJV
What is the LORD saying to us? What is the Cry of the Spirit to us today? The cry of the Spirit today is saying, if we will not walk in fear, we must be mentally capable of applying acquired knowledge.
We must also have or walk in a Heavenly understanding. Among other things the LORD has spoken to us today, that is the word of the LORD.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“And there shall come forth a Shoot out of the stock of Jesse [David’s father], and a Branch out of his roots shall grow and bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord—
And shall make Him of quick understanding, and His delight shall be in the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord. And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, neither decide by the hearing of His ears;
But with righteousness and justice shall He judge the poor and decide with fairness for the meek, the poor, and the downtrodden of the earth; and He shall smite the earth and the oppressor with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.” Isaiah 11:1-4 AMPC