TODAY’S DEVOTION (Saturday 8TH August 2020)
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Psalms 23:1-3 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 219TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
Life is all about what is leading you. While many of us are eager to occupy places of authority and lead others, very few of us are mindful of who is leading us. Until you are led by the LORD, you will not be approved by Heaven to lead others. I believed even those who are leading need to cross check who is leading them.
In life, who you lead is not as important as who leads you. You could be the shepherd of so many people but until the LORD is your shepherd you will still want. Yes, you will want in so many areas including having His manifest presence in your life.
This month for us is a month of feasting on fat things. We just concluded the first circle of our 50 days wings of the Spirit, where the LORD’s release was used to seal our encounters with the LORD these seven days. What we got is divine wisdom from the mysteries in the throne room of GOD, the mystery of divine patterns and other mysteries.
Simply put, there are no words to describe the quality of the word that came by the Spirit of the LORD in the first Circle. Today we are beginning the second circle. You see, God never created us to lead our lives with our finite minds. We are infinite beings that need God’s infinite wisdom to live on this fallen earth. That is what this 50 day trip on the Wings of the Spirit is achieving in our lives.
The reason God reinforces our wisdom is to enable us function as the regents of the earth. We were that high in God until the fall of man took the crown from our heads and threw us down. But Jesus came and restored us back. Sadly, many who claimed to have been redeemed by the LORD are still not getting it right. We are not getting it right because we do not know certain truths.
WE THINK GOD IS IN CONTROL OF EVERYTHING AND BELIEVE THE HARDER WE PRAY THE CRAZIER HE BECOMES. BUT THE OPPOSITE IS THE CASE.
There is the place of prayer in turning our lives around and there is the place of other principles that governs things in the Kingdom of GOD. One of it is the mystery of control in the kingdom.
You see, God is in control, but He is not in total control of everything. He delegated some controls to mankind at creation, and even after the fall He did not take it back. He is not therefore in total control of everything.
There are three kinds of controls in the Kingdom of God – sovereign control, total control, and delegated control. God is not in sovereign control, therefore not in total or delegated control. The delegated control of the earth is under man. The total control of the earth is under God and His appointed or sanctified ones on earth.
You can now understand what I mean when I say God is not the one in charge of all the controls He created. He gave some to man and His sanctified ones on earth.
Let me reiterate against that God delegated some of His control of the earth to man to manage. He designed that man manage it using His wisdom. There are certain things therefore, that God will never do because He has made His wisdom available to man for use in doing them.
For instance, God may help you get married, but not to stay married. Helping you get married is also a blessing to stay married. When God blessed you to get married, your staying in that married will depend on your wisdom. I have seen people destroy their marriages through lack of wisdom.
God designed that we use His divine wisdom contain in scriptures to stay married. Now, this principle is not applicable to marriage only. Economically speaking, God may help you get to where riches are but may not help you to gather them into your life. You will have to use His wisdom tin your life to gather the riches into your life. Meaning, if you do not have it, you will be in trouble,
If you get married but do not use divine wisdom to stay married, you may lose your marriage. If you come into where riches are and you do not use divine wisdom to gather them into your life, you will see so many resources around you but remain poor for being foolish.
DIVINE WISDOM IS THE INSTRUMENT FOR MANAGING DELEGATE CONTROL.
If it is not there, delegated control will become either useless or destructive. Prayer is the use of delegated control to talk to God. Wisdom is the proper use of delegated control to get moving in life.
This is where divine direction comes in.
Divine direction is an aspect of Heavenly wisdom. It is one of the catalysts of the protection, economic prosperity, and peace of the righteous. If you are not divinely directed on how to use God’s delegated control given to man, you will ruin your life with your own hands; and maybe blame it on others.
When you hear people saying, “our destiny is in our hands,” they are referring to the delegated control God gave to us to manage our lives properly. If you lack divine direction you will use that control to ruin your marital life, your finances, your family, or your spiritual life.
Wise Christians are men and women who know how to follow divine direction and use it to manage their lives. Divine wisdom is the proper application of divine direction to life. It is hearing from God and doing as He says! Our devotional text this morning is a common Psalm that many in the Christian faith recite off by head, and that is beautiful!
It says,
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake”
The first truth we can glean from here is obvious. If the LORD is the one leading you in life you will never lack (want). That alone tells us why some Christians are poor; especially those who claim to be hearing from God. You cannot be hearing from God and be poor in life.
The word says, “The LORD is my shepherd I shall not want (or lack).” If the Spirit of Jesus is truly who you are hearing from, except you are rebellious or ignorant, poverty will not be part of your Christian faith.
Let me tell you a little about poverty. Poverty is always because of power failure. When the power to get wealth is not operational in your life, you will become poor economically. What defined our riches in God’s kingdom is not money but the riches of God’s Grace, Mercies, and glory.
Yes, it is determined by the richness of our friendship with God and the quality of what He put inside us.
THAT IS THE RICHES THAT GRANTS US ECONOMIC FATNESS.
Now, the power to get wealth manifest as divine direction, bringing us to riches prepared for us before the foundation of the world. It makes the LORD the Shepherd of our economic life, wiping away lack out of your life!
Therefore, the first benefit of divine direction as outlined in Psalm 23 is supernatural supply from God. You see that reiterated again and again in the next statements. It says, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters”.
The next is restoration. The word calls it the restoration of the soul.
Friend, no matter what the devil may have done in your life, divine direction can fix it. You are just one instruction away to your financial freedom. You are one instruction away from your restoration. You are one instruction away from your peace. You are one instruction away from the best of GOD for your life.
One instruction from God is all your need this time. If only you can bend your spiritual ears and pick the right word from the LORD, things will be different.
Divine direction is what gives God what He needs from our lives, to make us lie down in green pastures. It is what positions us properly to be brought to still waters and full restoration.
May this day be a blessing in your life in Jesus precious name! Amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.”
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalms 23:4-6 NKJV