TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 22ND JULY 2024)
“The Lord God has given Me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear To hear as the learned.
The Lord God has opened My ear; And I was not rebellious, Nor did I turn away.” Isaiah 50:4-5 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 204TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Glory be to the LORD God for giving us another day. It is out of His mercies that we are not consumed, for His compassion fail not. Day unto day we have been loaded with His benefits.
As we sit before Him to be taught, He waters our lives with His presence. He visits our lives as the earth of the now. We are sure, with all the manifestations of His love, our year will be crowned with His goodness. The Bible says;
“You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; The river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, for so You have prepared it.
You water its ridges abundantly, you settle its furrows; You make it soft with showers, you bless its growth. You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance. Psalm 65:9-11 NKJV
May the LORD keep visiting our lives. May the rain of His presence keep falling upon us. May He crown our year with His goodness.
May our lives be established in His paths, and may they drip with abundance according to His word, in Jesus precious name. Amen!!
Today, God has a word for us.
One major activity that goes on in God’s kingdom can be captured in one word, and that word is KNOWING. The Bible says they that know their God, shall be strong and do exploits. Citizens of God’s kingdom thrive in a dark world by knowing God.
Yes, we thrive by knowing God, His way of doing things, His precepts, His glory, His power, His judgments, statutes, His purposes and routes for our lives, and etc. We also thrive by knowing how He carry out His activities on the face of the earth.
That is why if you are not ready to KNOW, you are not ready for the Kingdom life, the blessings in it, and the glory it sends into a man’s life.
MOST PEOPLE ARE NOT READY TO LEARN OR KNOW, THEY ARE JUST INTERESTED IN MAKING THEIR PROBLEMS KNOWN TO GOD.
They are usually consumed with making what they are going through known to the LORD. But in as much as it is important to pray about what we might be going through, most times our turn arounds do not come by God listening to us, they come by us listening to God.
Life improves through a man’s prophetic hearing system not necessarily his prayer tongue. In fact, you can only pray acceptable prayers after you have heard from God. Sometimes, you have to listen to God first before He can listen to you. The Bible says;
“One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.” Proverbs 28:9 NKJV
It is those who give attention to God’s word that receive most of God’s attention. If you want God to listen to your words in prayer, you must be ready to listen to His word in the more sure word of prophecy, the Bible. In most cases, you must first listen to His word.
God listens more to those who live their days listening to Him. He listens more to people who live their days looking for what next He is saying. They come into faith realms where before they call, He answer them, while they are still speaking, He hears them.
Bible History is littered with the lives and times of men and women who got great blessings from God, not because God listened to them, but because they listened to God. In fact, it does not matter how effective your prayer tongue is, if you do not have a prophetic listening ear, you will live a life that is full of unanswered prayers.
The best way to collect the results of a prayer tongue, is to have a prophetic ear that pays attention to what God is saying, especially in the now. God said in His word, “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed from God.” God did not say man shall live by every word that proceeds from him to God. Understand that.
People who walk with God in our dispensation will tell you that prayer is good, but listening to God will fix your life faster than God listening to you. They will tell you to develop a prophetic ear to listen and follow God’s voice if you want to lead a better life.
THEY WILL TELL YOU NOT TO BE DEPENDENT ON PROPHETS BUT ON THE PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD.
Yes, they will tell you to spend more time with God listening to Him, than spending time to have Him listen to you. They will tell you to stop wasting your energy trying to make God listen to you like the prophets of Baal did, screaming and shouting at Baal to hear them.
They will let you know that People who scream and shout to God to hear them, like the prophets of Baal did to Baal, do live their days listening to God. They will counsel you to listen to God like Elijha did, before even talking to Him, and you will operate a prayer realm where you pray simple prayers and unlock great answers.
Friend, the Bible teaches that if we are always talking to God, and seeking that He listen to us, without having a prophetic ear that listens to Him, you we will never reap the results of our talking to God.
Enoch became a template of the end time Church, not because God listened to him, but because he listened to God. Noah became a significant person in God’s kingdom, not because God listened to him, but because he listened to God and built an ark of safety for his generation.
You will never become anything significant by having God listen to you, but by you listening to God.
You see that even in the life of Abraham. He is what he is today, both in Heaven and on earth, not because God listened to Him. But because He listened to God. The Bible says;
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Hebrews 11:8-10 NKJV
FAITH COMES BY HEARING AND SEEING FROM GOD. IT IS A CHILD OF A PROPHETIC EAR THAT LISTENS TO GOD.
So, we can say, by listening to God, Abraham moved from where He was, to where he would receive as an inheritance. By listening to God, he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country. By listening to God, today he has become the father of many nations, including the Church, the Holy Nation.
His life and the life of other Bible men and women who became great, teaches us that, we gain more value in life by listening to God and not by God listening to us. Even Jesus, when He came as man; He did not succeed in life and ministry because God listened to him. He succeeded because He listened to God.
He healed the sick, raised the dead, opened blind eyes, walked on water, calmed the storms, died and resurrected, not just because God listened to him. But because He listened to God. He said in His word;
…“Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.” John 5:19-20 NKJV
Your life will be meaningful on earth, if you live it according to the content of what the Heavenly Father might be showing you. That is why you must develop a prophetic ear that listens to God like Jesus had.
Our devotional text says,
“The Lord God has given Me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear To hear as the learned.
The Lord God has opened My ear; And I was not rebellious, Nor did I turn away.” Isaiah 50:4-5 NKJV
This is a messianic prophecy from the book of Isaiah. It contained the kind of prophetic ear Jesus had, which we must have also.
If we all can get to the faith position in Christ, where He wakens our ears morning by morning, to listen to Him; if we will come to the place of prophetic ear opening, and we are not rebellious, our lives will take a positive leap forward.
God sent this word today, to help us upgrade our walk and talk with Him. He wants us to move from the place of trying to secure His attention in prayer, to the place of Him having the totality of our attention. If we will let Him have the totality of our attention, our lives will be better off.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways!
I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries.
The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, But their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; And with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.” Psalm 81:13-16NKJV