TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 27TH JULY 2024)
Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.
The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
“Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side.
Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. Isaiah 60:1-5 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 209TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Today we will continue our discourse on practical Christianity. I hope you are still logged in. There is so much that is against humans becoming Christlike. That is why the Holy Spirit and the word of the LORD are here to help us.
It is very important to acknowledge that, in our world today, there are ancient mysteries and forces that lies behind the things we see happen in the natural realm. These mysteries and forces are in the unseen realm. They shape cultures, traditions, decisions, and lifestyles using the power of sight and sound. They also use our feelings.
Another thing they do is making people godless and lawless by removing the sense of accountability from the hearts that are exposed to the things they create and offer.
There is a culture that is terminating the sense of accountability from men’s hearts even in Church, called freedom. That is why there are so many perilous people around who are disobedient to all forms of divinely ordained spiritual and biological authorities.
It seems to me that the worst attack that we are facing is in the area of submission and accountability. People no longer want to be accountable. We just want to be lawless.
The mysteries and forces that lies behind these developments are deleting the sense of accountability from people daily. That is why lawlessness is on the rise.
These are end times. Jesus says in times like these;
“…many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:10-12 NKJV
In other words, there will be a time when the sense of accountability will be lost from the hearts of many, leading to an increase in lawlessness. But everything will begin from the valley of offense, then continue in the pits of betrayal and hate, and progress into the rise of false prophets, whose ministries will kill the love of GOD in the hearts of many.
Let me share something about offense at this point.
OFFENSE MAKE S PEOPLE RESIST ACCOUNTABILITY.
It makes people seek a freedom that has captivity in it, and that freedom is lawlessness. It makes people betray one another, hate one another, and believe whatever suits their feelings or carnal desires, thereby creating the environment for false prophets to rise.
I have come to realize that lawlessness and wickedness are children of a heart that has lost its sense of accountability. They result from a heart that is out of the control of the fear of GOD.
It is when the fear of GOD controls our hearts that it fills us with the sense of accountability to GOD. It is the sense of accountability to GOD (and sometimes men in spiritual authority, that God delegated to act on His behalf), that His Holy Spirit puts in us, that convicts a sinner of judgment and gets him or her converted to the LORD, the Judge of all.
Friend, a lot is happening in the unseen realm that is affecting the seen realm very badly. The darkness that is covering our earth, and the deep darkness that has covered so many people, is crippling. That is why we need God’s amazing truths, shining His glorious and eternal lights in our hearts.
GOD’s amazing truths with capacity to shine His glorious light in our hearts, do come full of grace. It is that grace to helps us to withstand any form of darkness.
There was this place in the Bible that Paul had it rough with some of these elements of darkness. But God’s grace, inflamed by the truths in his heart, helped him to come out well. The man of GOD would later write to the Church at Corinth saying;
“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NKJV
When the grace of GOD is highly inflamed in your life, strength will always come when you are weak.
ONLOOKERS WILL THINK THAT YOU HAVE LOST YOUR CAPACITY FOR WEAKNESS.
Friend, this scripture made it clear that only God’s sufficient grace, inflamed by His glorious truths, can help us neutralize dark mysteries and forces that exist in the spirit realm, and resist us in the natural realm. When it inflames our lives, we can begin to rise and shine the light of Christ into the underlying darkness. Destroying its influence completely.
Our devotional text says;
“Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.
The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
“Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side.
Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you.” Isaiah 60:1-5 NKJV
Practical Christianity is not possible until our lives are inflamed by the grace of God.
Now, our lives will never be inflamed by the grace of God, until the scriptural truths that inflame God’s grace live in our hearts. The prophecy of Isaiah chapter 60 is about the end time Church; a people of Christ, whose lives will be so inflamed by God’s grace and glory that every darkness covering the earth will not be able to cover them.
With scriptural truths in our hearts, and God’s grace inflaming our lives, we will be able to see the glory of the LORD rise upon us. Yes, it will rise upon us to dispel the end time darkness that has covered the earth, and the gross darkness that is covering those God wants saved from eternal damnation.
CHILD OF GOD, CHRIST, THE INFLAMED GRACE OF GOD, WANTS TO RISE OVER US TO IMPACT THOSE WHO ARE TRAPPED IN GROSS DARKNESS.
He wants to use our kindness, forgiveness, love, mercy, endurance, holiness, sacrifices for others, integrity, consistency, patience with the weak, compassion for the hurting and haughty, prayer lives, faithfulness to others, self-control, discipline, sexual purity, faith, and other kingdom values we demonstrate and live by, to deliver them from the grip of the gross darkness they are under.
The question is will He find them to use? Are our lives having the kingdom values? Sadly, the answer for many of us is no.
That is why God is calling on us to wake up and fill our hearts with the scriptural truths that will inflame us with God’s grace and provide Him with kingdom values to use in touching the lives around us.
There has been so much intelligent preaching but so little kingdom values, that is why many are still in the grip of gross darkness.
God wants us to be like that fig tree that the LORD will check and find what to use in quenching His hunger; the hunger to bring lost souls out of the grip of gross darkness. We should not be like the fig tree that is full of leaves but no character fruits; no kingdom values for Christ to use to bring perishing souls from gross darkness to God’s shining light.
He said in His word;
“For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
“If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.” Psalm 50:10-12 NKJV
WE CAN GLEAN A GREAT TRUTH FROM THIS REBUKE GOD SENT TO ISRAEL WHEN THEY THOUGHT THE SACRIFICES THEY WERE GIVEN ARE FOR HIS BENEFIT.
In fact, some of them thought they were feeding Him; they thought He was eating the roasted meat. That was why He said to them, If I were hungry, I would not have asked you. I would have just reached out to the animals myself, and take some, roast and eat.”
Do not forget He is the consuming fire, so, he would not have needed a fire to roast them even. The truth I want us to examine is buried in the statement that’s says, “If I were hungry, I would not tell you.”
The question is, can GOD be hungry? If yes, what can He be hungry for? Food? Roasted meat? No!! God can be hungry, but the hunger is usually to see His will done on earth, as written in Heaven. He can be hungry and He is hungry right now; hungry to see the souls covered in gross darkness come to light.
He is hungry and going through the branches of our lives to find Christlike behavior to use in winning the world back to Himself. He is very hungry but not finding what He is looking for in the lives of many of us.
It will take practical Christianity to supply him with what He needs. Yes, Christian values produced in us by His Holy Spirit. That is the only thing the lost world needs now to be saved.
Understand that, there is so much preaching, so much prayer and etc., but that has not helped our cities, and nations because prayer or preaching without Christlike character destroys the potency of the preaching or prayer.
Is it not shameful that with Churches everywhere there is still no reduction in sinful living? There is abundant corruption, destruction, sexual perversion, lying, deception and etc. even among so called born again?
IT SO SAD THAT THERE IS LITTLE OR NO HOLINESS AND PURITY IN OUR LIVES, THAT GOD CAN USE IN RESCUING THE LOST WORLD.
We have been made to believe that it is our songs, preaching, church services and religious activities that will save the world, but Jesus is saying something different. Jesus said being the salt of the earth, and the light of the dark world is what will save the lost world.
God has never called for more intelligent preachers and preaching. He has always called for more holiness, purity, and righteousness. Yes, He has always called for preachers who are holy, pure, and righteous, to bear His message to the morally sick, with power and purity.
He has always called for preachers and preaching with Christian values.
If the LORD finds what He can use to change our world in our lives, the Bible says, He will make the nations or gentiles to come to the brightness of our rising. The prophecy put it this way;
“The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. …. Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. …. Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you.”
You can see in this scripture how many are hindering their economic prosperity by not being Christians with values. So many of us are Christians with vices, enjoying the prosperity of the wicked, and cut off from that of the righteous.
Yes, so many are Christians with vices that is why god cannot use us to change the moral climates of our world.
Friend, this is the time to wake up from slumber! Time to be a Christian by kingdom values not by worldly vices wrapped in religious practices and hypocrisy.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.
And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.” Mark 11:12-14 NKJV