TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 12 JULY 2024)
“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Revelation 21:5-8 AKJV
WELCOME TO THE 193RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
We bless the LORD for another day! His mercies are indeed new every morning. They are responsible for ushering us to each new day within our appointed days on earth.
We believe as we continue to follow the LORD, they will usher us into His arms at the end of our days on earth.
Our journey here on earth can be very troubling at times, and for some, challenging all the time. But God’s mercies are available to help us. We thank Him for oiling our lives with His grace and compassion, and not dealing with us according to our sins.
If God were to deal with us or the world according to our sins, we will all be annihilated by His fury. However, the days are coming when unrepented sinners and all who refuse to make peace with Christ will face His fury. That day is called Judgment Day!!
But if we were still in the days before the cross, many of us would not have been alive today.
Historically, we have done worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the church, many of us preachers have done worse than Eli and sons who received instantaneous judgment for corrupting the priesthood. Yes, we have done worse than Uzza who only touched the ark with the aim of preventing it from falling, but was struck.
Oh yes, many of us have done worse than Manasseh, who brought witchcraft to Israel and enthrone occultism in the land, with many others doing worse than Nebuchadnezzar, who was reduced to an animal for seven years for his pride.
We have done worse than these people but have not received the judgment they received. We are not seeing the things they saw for doing what they did, even when doing worse than they did. The reason is because we are living in the dispensation called the acceptable year of the LORD, the dispensation of grace.
THAT ALONE SHOULD MAKE US TO BE THANKFUL TO THE LORD.
This kind of demonstration of God’s mercies will continue till we enter into the ages to come. It is a wealth of kindness that is released to foster something eternal in the lives of men of our age and times.
The vision for it is captured in the holy scriptures. The Bible says the vision is for us to make use of GOD’s forbearance and kindness, and repent from our wicked and sinful ways. But many are not doing that, hence the darkness in our lives.
It is important to note that, anyone who does not make use of God’s mercy and repent, is storing up wrath for himself or herself. Lack of genuine repentance is the reason people will suffer terrible consequences of sins, both in this life and the life to come.
In God’s view, a wealth of kindness should foster a life of repentance and holy living. But for many, kindness and mercy embolden them to keep sinning. That is what we called “abuse of grace and mercy.” You can never abuse God’s grace and mercy and not have a terrible end; sometimes it begins like incurable illness in this life, and then ends as eternal judgment in the next.
The Bible says;
Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience?
Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)?
But by your callous stubbornness and impenitence of heart you are storing up wrath and indignation for yourself on the day of wrath and indignation, when God’s righteous judgment (just doom) will be revealed.” Romans 2:4-5 AMPC
I BELIEVE THIS IS CLEAR ENOUGH AND NEEDS NO FURTHER EXPLANATION.
Anytime any of us commit a sinful deed and do not see an immediate consequence from God, it is a message that we should not repeat it again. But we do not get the message. If we were getting the messages, we will be striving on daily basses to live right and not bow to the flesh.
This scripture made it clear that if we remain callous, stubborn and impenitent despite the wealth of God’s kindness, we are storing up for ourselves indignation that will be poured upon us in the day of wrath when God’s judgment will be revealed.
We are setting ourselves up for incurable diseases, hardship, sorrows, or sudden destruction. But God does not want that to happened hence sending this word to us.
You must understand that this wealth of GOD’s kindness recognizes that mankind is constantly under attacks from the kingdom of darkness, hence offering help to us.
The Cry of the Spirit for us today is clear, it says we should fear God enough to make use of His mercies properly; we should use it to repent of our sins and evil deeds. That is the fear God wants us to cultivate, not any other fear.
The evil one often attacks us with fear of this and that, hence making it impossible for us to walk in this fear, the fear of the LORD, the right fear for an earthly life.
Some are attacked to walk in the fear of losing a beneficial relationship, instead of walking in the fear of the LORD. Others have been attacked to walk in the fear of delivering themselves from the snare of a destructive relationship.
Some others have the fear of walking out of wrong churches, due to the curses that may result from the grievances of the pastor.
They know the church is dark and sinful, but are afraid to walk out of it. They do not realize that it is an attack from the devil to fear curses from an aggrieved pastor instead of fearing God.
No one will be afraid of losing a beneficial relationship, or walking out of a destructive one if he or she has the fear of God. Yes, none will be afraid of walking out of a wrong church due to curses that might be spoken by an aggrieved preacher if he or she has the fear of God.
YOU WILL NOT BE CAGED BY ANY OTHER FEAR ONCE THE FEAR OF GOD FILLS YOUR HEART.
You will fear God enough to make use of His mercies as an incentive for genuine repentance. You will fear Him enough not to repeat any sin you have been forgiven of. You will fear Him enough to repent of it.
But because most do not fear God enough to repent of sins and live right, other forms of fear are ruling our hearts, hence preventing us from walking in the right fear; the fear of GOD!
The Bible even spoke of a kind of fear that can send someone to hell; a fear with eternal consequences. You find it in our devotional text. The Bible teaches of sin sending someone to hell, and also warns of fear sending someone to hell. But God’s warning on fear has not come into the consciousness of many of us.
Friend, there is a fear that is eternally damning. It is one of the fears that results if we do not walk in the fear of the LORD.
The fear that can be eternally damning includes the fear of what to lose when we live right or do the right things. This is the kind of fear that hinders people from walking out of sinful lives that are full of great financial benefits, comfort, and other forms of amazing rewards or pleasure.
It is a fear that keep people in sinful relationships, wrong alliances, damning Churches, and etc. It keeps them in whatever is giving them money, fame, and fortune, but taking them to hell. It manifests as the fear of losing the benefit, hence continuing in the evil deed or lifestyle.
This fear also manifests as the fear of what will happen if we confess our sins to the right ear and renounce them.
In fact, this is the fear that is responsible for lack of repentance in the lives of many, because there can be no repentance without confession of sin; sometimes publicly. Yes, publicly, because if the sin affected many, you must confess it to them all, which might lead to public confession of that sin.
Many who should confess their sins publicly do it privately or do not do it at all because of fear. The fear to confess a sin and receive forgiveness can send someone to hell. Our devotional text says;
“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. BUT THE FEARFUL, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Revelation 21:5-8 AKJV (emphasis mine).
THIS SCRIPTURE MADE IT CLEAR THAT HEAVEN IS NOT FOR PEOPLE WHO JUST RECITE THE SINNER’S PRAYER.
Yes, it made it clear that Heaven is for people who renounce the sinner’s life. People who were not afraid to do the right thing, and walk in righteousness. The scripture made it clear that the fearful, just like the adulterer and adulteress, the liar and the murderer, the abominable and sorcerer, will also not make Heaven.
The phrase “THE FEARFUL,” refers to a coward submission that has eternal consequences, because that is what fear is. Fear takes away your courage and makes you submit cowardly. It takes away the courage to resist what you know is not good for you.
It takes away the courage to stand before your perverted parents, spiritual or biological, to refuse things they want you to do that are against the faith that was once delivered to the saints. Especially when you are ignorant.
That is when they use the scripture that says “honor your father and your mother” to crush any courage that may still be there and make you submit cowardly to them and damn your soul in hell.
And let me say this; a lot of people are being put in by parents (spiritual and biological) to do things their own ways; things that hold eternal consequences.
Child of God, when the Bible teaches that we should “Honor our fathers and mothers without questioning their authority,” it was referring to biological fathers and mothers and spiritual parents who are in the LORD.
THE NEW TESTAMENT EXPLAINS THE OLD.
In other words, parents who will never go against God’s will for your life, either saved or unsaved, biological or spiritual, should be honored unreservedly.
Parents who will not manipulate you, expose you to witchcraft (either black witchcraft or charismatic witchcraft), or make you do things that negates God’s eternal will for mankind, should be honored without questioning. But those who will not, should not be that honored. They should be told how their parenting is going against God’s will or word.
If you allow yourself to be inflicted with the fear that has eternal consequences by derailed parents, spiritual or biological, people who are not aligned with God’s will and ways, you will have yourself to blame. There are fathers who sleep with their daughters or hand them over to marriages that are not God’s will for them.
Parenting was originally created to be in the LORD, not outside the LORD.
The fear that holds eternal consequences manifest in so many ways. It completely takes away one’s courage to do the right thing. It was the very fear that Jezebel used in caging God’s prophets, and making sure none could prophesy against her activities in the land of Israel.
It is the same kind of fear that is spreading today through the present day Baal worshipers in church, who resist the apostolic message, and do not want the activities of Nehushtan to stop.
Do not allow religious people to inflict you with fear and prevent you from doing or saying the right thing. That kind of fear has eternal consequences. The Cry of the Holy Spirit to us today is clear; it says we should live a life of repentance and never walk in any fear that will end us in hell.
It is my prayer that the mercy and power of the LORD will use this devotional to break us free from any snare that we might be in, that is taking us to the fires of hell, in Jesus’ precious name. Amen!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”
“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. Revelation 22:10-15 NKJV