TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 17TH JUNE 2024)
“The wicked flee when no man pursues them, but the [uncompromisingly] righteous are bold as a lion.
When a land transgresses, it has many rulers, but when the ruler is a man of discernment, understanding, and knowledge, its stability will long continue.
A poor man who oppresses the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaves no food [plundering them of their last morsels].
Those who forsake the law [of God and man] praise the wicked, but those who keep the law [of God and man] contend with them. Evil men do not understand justice, but they who crave and seek the Lord understand it fully.” Proverbs 28:1-5 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 168TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
This is the day the LORD has made. We shall rejoice and be glad in it.
Have you considered how free the best and most essential things of life are? How they are gotten without a cost? And do not depend on our morals or economic values, our knowledge, or ignorance of God?
Have you considered that they come to mankind without a cost? Irrespective of how people treat God and Jesus Christ, the Maker of them all?
Yes, the air we breathe in, the ability to sleep and wake up, the sunshine that helps our crops to grow, the rain that falls and all the others that God created. If God was to be sending bills to men to pay for any of this, it would have been hell for mankind.
We get all that from Him freely and still some men and women believe He does not exist. That is saddening!!
Can you imagine feeding someone faithfully, and yet the person believes you do not exist? He has no time for you or recognition of you, and say all sorts of nonsense about you, yet you give him the air his lungs need to keep him alive?
Sometimes, it is important that we sit down to consider what GOD is going through in the hands of some of us humans. Indeed, if Love was not His nature, no human would have been alive on earth. The Bible says God is love. If He were not love, He would have been given us back in our own coins.
If God were to treat us the way we treat HIM, no human would have been alive. If love was not His nature, He would have been giving us all what we deserve.
IF WE GET WHAT WE DESERVE FROM HIM, WE WILL NOT EVEN BE ALIVE, THAT IS WHY HE KEEPS GIVING US WHAT WE DO NOT DESERVE.
For instance, if He was to treat those who say “He does not exist” the way they treat Him, He would have withdrawn the air they breathe in, and all other things they survive on, because you do not supply the needs of someone who say you do not exist.
It could be an understatement to say, “God is loving.” Loving us is God’s nature. Unlike we humans, He is not trying to learn how to love us, loving us is His nature. The reason for the eternal pain He feels for those in hell, and those who are still here but going through hell, is because of His love for mankind.
Now, some have argued that, “if love is God’s nature, why did He create hell?” Maybe let me shared this with us. To start with, understand what the Bible teaches about hell.
The Bible teaches that hell is a place, hell is a situation, and hell is a spirit. It is the spirit that creates the situation and take men and women to the place. There is also what the Bible calls the gates of hell. The gates of hell are spiritual portals or entry points manned by hell the spirit. Jesus says, they will not prevail against His Church.
When hell the spirit leaves in a person or a spiritual leader, the person will become a gate of hell also. If the person is a spiritual leader, he or she will groom people who will operate as sons of hell.
The Pharisees where of this kind. Jesus said they travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when the person is won, they turn him twice a son of hell like themselves.
Meaning, a leader with the spirit of hell in them is also a son of hell. When Jesus said He will build His church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, He was also referring to this kind of spiritual leaders and their followers.
It is the spirit of hell that will take people to hell the place. Now, hell the place was created for two basic reasons.
It is important to understand that hell or the lake of fire, never existed in the beginning. In simple terms, there was no hell fire or the lake of fire in the eternal past. It was the fall of Lucifer that led to its creation.
JESUS SAYS, IT WAS CREATED FOR SATAN AND HIS ANGELS.
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: Matthew 25:41 NKJV
This scripture made it clear that Hell fire was not prepared for man, but for the devil and his angels. Men are only there because they slipped into eternity without making peace with God, and living His way and will.
Now, why did God create hell for Satan and his angels with love as His nature? To understand that, it is important to also know the other nature of God. The Bible says, “God is just.” Meaning, God is not just love, God is just. As a just God, He gives to everyone according to what they have done.
So, hell was created because God is just. As just, He gives to those who refuse to repent what they deserve. It is important that we understand how both dimensions of His nature work. As love, He delays a judgment to give room for repentance. As a just God, He judges after waiting for repentance in vain.
The Bible teaches of an approaching Judgment Day.
On that day, God will not sit on the Judgment Throne as a loving God. He will sit as a just God. That is why no amount of tears or cry will save anyone on that day. Tears and cries only strike the cord of love not the cord of justice. They only change a decision when there is just love.
So as a just God, He will give to everyone according to their deeds on the Judgment Day. It is His nature to give to everyone according to their deeds. You see all that in the Holy Scriptures. That is why there is judgment even in time, and chastisement to prevent that from happening.
He sits as the judge of the earth and lawgiver, and dispenser of justice, both in time and eternity, so that there will be order among men. If there was no justice on His earth, evil would have consumed all of us.
Can you imagine someone doing you evil or raping you and there is no justice for you? That will be terrible. So, He sit as judge over the earth to watch over our affairs and restrain evil. It is His justice system that has not allowed evil to overwhelm the earth.
Do not forget, in His justice system, there is also mercy that always triumph over judgment.
SO, THE LOVE PART OF HIM BRINGS MERCIES AND HIS JUSTICE PART JUDGMENT.
No one can satisfy His judgment except He Himself, that is why He came to die on the Cross to satisfy it, because all who are born of Adam have sinned and fallen short of His glory. So, there was need for intervention. A part of our devotional text says;
“Evil men do not understand justice, but they who crave and seek the Lord understand it fully.” Proverbs 28:5 AMPC
So, there are people who will still not understand no matter the explanations you make on these important truths. But it is important to note that it is God’s love-nature that forgives all who repents, and His justice side that judges all who persistently refuses to repent.
God’s loving nature is doing something now. It is urging everyone to come to Him and let Him pour His Spirit upon them so that mankind will not need to live lives that will attract His judgment.
The reason He raised preachers and prophets was just for that but sadly, in our generation, many of us preachers have failed Him. We no longer pursue this divine purpose for preaching. Our messages, doctrines, and lifestyles no longer encourages people to live right and get ready for the next life.
There is a lot of transgression in our nations and churches because of the failure of preachers to preach the right messages to the people, and lead righteous and holy lives. Most live very prosperous lives, but not holy lives.
People with no good intention, and no spiritual leadership qualities who just want to preach are the ones in charge of congregations today. A look at the political terrain for example, has so many leaders who should not be leading our nations. It is just a sorry sight to behold.
A part of our devotional text says;
“When a land transgresses, it has many rulers, but when the ruler is a man of discernment, understanding, and knowledge, its stability will long continue.
A poor man who oppresses the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaves no food [plundering them of their last morsels].” Proverbs 28:2-3 AMPC
These scriptures tell us why there are many who want to rule and why politicians have not fixed our nations. Most of them are oppressors of the poor, leaving no food but plunder for the last morsels.
If you try to point out how futile our kind of gospel ministries are, how counterproductive the pouring of oil in cities is, and how stupid we have been, becoming part of the problem instead of the solution by importing eastern ways or occult practices into church in the name of deliverance, they call you names and accuse you of not honoring fathers.
But how can one honor someone who dishonors GOD’s way of doing ministry? How can you speak kind messages to people who are unkind to GOD and the doctrine of Christ?
A true child of GOD will always contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints, and by so doing they will not honor one who is dishonoring it. But a false child will praise those who forsake it and import witchcraft into the church. Another part of our devotional text says;
“Those who forsake the law [of God and man] praise the wicked, but those who keep the law [of God and man] contend with them.” Proverbs 28:4 APMC
If you are working in the ways of GOD and you know the price of not working in His ways, you will not keep quiet when a preacher leads people into charismatic witchcraft.
People may fight you but there are elects that will thank you for opening their eyes. History has it that no matter the resistance the kingdom of GOD faces in any Generation, those who heed to the call of the LORD as it came by the hands of His righteous servants, will always live lives with Jesus as their LORD and savior, and make Heaven at last. None of them will be in hell.
Which brings us to the second reason why God created hell. The Bible teaches that God created hell to function as a dump site for all who cannot spend eternity with Him in Heaven due to their decisions.
God created the way of righteousness for us to follow and live with Him in eternity, and Satan created the way of sin and wickedness for us to follow and be damned.
If we come to Christ and submit daily to His word and Holy Spirit, we will live the life that God created that we live. But if we do not, we will end up living the life that Satan creates for mankind to live and be damned.
One word for the life God created for mankind to live is RIGHTEOUSNESS. Only the righteous will make Heaven. The unrighteous will be in hell. That is what God’s just nature teaches.
The Bible teaches that righteousness exalts a nation or even a people, but sin is a reproach to every people. It brings a reproach either in time or eternity. It is my prayer that God’s mercy will prevail over our lives today, as we all seek to lead lives described as righteousness in the Holy Scriptures. Amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing,
To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” Psalm 92:12-15 NKJV