TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 16 JULY 2024)
“And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” Luke 22:31-32 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 198TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
It’s been a season of transition for so many on the planet earth today.
All kinds of transitions are taking place in the lives of those living either in darkness or sin. But it is not just those who are in darkness or sin that are experiencing these things, even those in light and right standing with God, seems to have their own kind of transition also.
The Bible says many are the afflictions of the righteous. So, the right standing with God are not spared as well. It is just that they stand a better chance to be helped than those who are in darkness or sin.
A lot are going through a lot. Yes, we are all going through one thing or the other. An ill wind seems to be blowing. Our prayer is that the LORD will not allow what we might be going through to go through us, or consume us.
Yes, may we find strength this day and prevail over our prevailing circumstances.
It is important to note that this earthly Life is designed to experience all kinds of transitions, either good or bad. That was why our fathers looked forward to a new Life in a New heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. However, until that life comes, we will continue to experience the transitions of a fallen earth environment.
It is important to note that God has a survival plan for our stay on this fallen earth environment. That is what He want to share with us on this platform today.
At one time the Disciples of Christ were on a boat going somewhere, and it ran into a storm. That was their transition experience. But thank God Jesus was on the boat too. The Bible says because He was there, what the Devil had planned did not happen.
He stood up, after the disciples woke Him up, He rebuked the storm and there was calm. That is the blessing of living your life with Christ at its center, yes, the blessing of allowing Jesus to be on the boat of your life as you peddle the affairs of your life through the sea of humanity.
HE CAN ANSWER YOUR PRAYERS QUICKLY AND CHANGE THINGS FOR YOU IF HE IS ON THE BOAT OF YOUR LIFE AFFAIRS DIRECTING THINGS.
The survival plan of God for you and I is right in that story. His plan is to put Jesus on the boat of each of our lives, by His Holy Spirit teaching us to have Him at the center of everything. That is the only way we can live our days in victory.
His plan is not to have you raising altars, and giving sacrificial offerings to some so-called prophets, as much as it is good to support God’s work financially. You will never have permanent peace or victory in life doing that or doing any other thing you are told to do to have peace in life.
You will only have peace if Christ is at the center of your life piloting your affairs.
From this Bible story, we can see that it does not really matter the kind of transition one might be going through. What really matters is Christ being at the center of our lives. Yes, what matters is for us to carry a check to see if we are spending our days with Christ at the center of our lives.
Him being at the center is all that is needed for us to survive a world like ours. It is all that is needed for our prayers to be answered. It is all that is needed for our lives to be turned around. That is all that is needed for our sorrows to be mitigated and paralyzed.
The Bible teaches that the human life can be very unpredictable without the LORD at its center. Often, we go through things that the human energy cannot help us out. We go through transitions seasons of life that the human strength cannot withstand or survive. But if we have Him on the boat of our lives, there will be safety.
If we have Him at the center of the affairs of our Lives, we can call unto Him in the day of trouble and He will answer us swiftly. We will not be calling and calling and calling, and not get answers. He will be the strength for us to use in prevailing.
THE BIBLE TEACHES THAT BY STRENGTH SHALL NO MAN PREVAIL.
The strength we need to prevail against prevailing circumstances like sin, satanic attacks, adversities of life, and etc. can only come from Christ. If He is in our lives, our prayers for Help will be answered speedily. We will not be calling, and calling, and calling, and there will be no help from anyone.
Understand that it is when we call and call and call and not get answers, that we begin to look for prophets, and become misled into doing what they say we should, and all that. But if we can call and He answers us, we will not need to raise an altar, silence one, give some seeds, go to a mountain or some prayer camps to pray.
The Christian life will not be that complicated.
Christ at the center of our lives is the key to survival on earth, not even oil on your forehead, Holy water on you, the burning of incense and all that. Yes, not some prayer clothes from a prophet, salt of deliverance, serving of holy communion, and any gadget from Israel as we see preachers use and give to people in spiritual help.
All these things complicate the Christian life and make the preacher rich and famous. Christ in you, Him at the center, running the affairs of your life, remains the hope of your glory. Anything outside that is a waste of time, energy and resources.
If Christ is running the affairs of your life, it will not matter the painful or life-threatening transition periods you might be facing; He will rise, rebuke the storm and bring calmness to the situation if you call on Him.
Yes, He will be acting as your judge whenever spirits, demons, dark systems, governments, satanic or human structures, or even people lift up their voices against you in judgment. He will be your lawgiver, guiding you through and through, and putting your life within the framework of His righteous laws.
He will also be your King, ruling the affairs of your life and overruling whatever the devil or his agents plan against you. He will make you share in kingdom power, and touch you from time to time with His kingdom glory.
That is why you must not allow religion and the dark deliverance methods of some preachers to be at the center of your life. You must put Christ at the center of your life.
PEOPLE WHO PUT THE RELIGIOUS THINGS PREACHERS TELL THEM TO DO AT THE CENTER OF THEIR LIVES, ARE DOING THE WRONG THING.
The Bible says;
Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet home, A tabernacle that will not be taken down; Not one of its stakes will ever be removed, Nor will any of its cords be broken.
But there the majestic LORD will be for us A place of broad rivers and streams, In which no galley with oars will sail, Nor majestic ships pass by (For the LORD is our Judge, The LORD is our Lawgiver, The LORD is our King; He will save us); Isaiah 33:20-22 NKJV
What a scripture to believe in this morning. What a word to seal our spirits with in transition periods.
In this scripture, we can clearly see that, for the majestic LORD to be for us a place of broad river and streams, He needs to reign over us as Judge, Lawgiver, and King. He needs to be at the center of our lives.
The scripture also teaches that once we get saved, and place Jesus at the center of our lives, we will find ourselves in a spiritual system called Zion; also described as the City of God’s appointed feast, a tabernacle that will not be taken down.
In simple terms, we will become part of a spiritual system that cannot be taken down. That is why storms do not take those who belong to it down.
Yes, the system will make it impossible for even their stakes to be removed. The majestic LORD will be for all who are within the system, a place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will sail. Hallelujah!!
That is why you will never find those with the LORD at the center of their lives fainting in the day of adversity. They will be going through much, with nothing going through them. The Bible says;
“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” Proverbs 24:10 NKJV
Their strength, which is Christ in them, sustains them in adversity. The strength that the Bible calls small strength here is human strength. Human strength is usually too small to sustain anyone in the day of adversity.
So, if you see people going down in the day of adversity, you have seen people living their days with human strength, the small strength.
Those who live their days in the strength of the presence of Christ within them, do not faint in the day of adversity.
YES, PEOPLE WITH CHRIST IN THEIR LIVES AS JUDGE, LAWGIVER, AND KING, WILL NEVER PERMANENTLY GO DOWN IN LIFE.
Our devotional text is about the LORD’s intervention on Simon’s life. He was a prospective apostle who would later function as the second leader of the early Church. The LORD was his Judge, lawgiver and King, when the devil desired to sift him like wheat. But he could not permanently put him down.
The text says,
“And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” Luke 22:31-32 NKJV
He would later go on to deny the LORD three times.
But the LORD went after Him, brought him back powerfully, and through the upper room experience, made him the first preacher on earth after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The lesson here is this, with the LORD at the center of our lives, we are safe. He will always come after us. He will never abandon us if we make Him our Judge, lawgiver and King. Put that in the middle of your mind and never allow it to depart from you. Jesus will always come after you!!! He will always come for you.
As we bring this to a close, understand that there are powers that are beyond us. From time to time, they ask for us; they ask to sift us like wheat. But if the LORD is our Judge, our lawgiver, and king, they will not have a permanent victory over us. You can see that all over the scriptures. In the New Testament Paul stands out as a pillar to learn that from.
May the LORD be with us!! May He remain our Judge, Lawgiver, and King. May He save us. Amen!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
“On the third day we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands. Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.
But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss.
And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’
Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. However, we must run aground on a certain island.” Acts 27:19-26 NKJV