TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 2ND AUGUST 2024)
“ Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:7-10 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 215TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
It is a new month!! May the LORD watch over you and may He bless your going out and your coming in, this month. May His mercies be upon you. May His goodness not forsake you. May you be in good standing with Him every day. In Jesus’ precious name.
Our days these days seems to be running very fast. Well, some may say they are slow. It all depends on what you are living your days for. For me they are running really fast.
We are already seeing the second day of a new month that just began Yesterday. Before you know it, we will be at the end of the month. We must all understand that our days are passing, and our life span is reducing by the second.
We are all aging bit by bit. Our eyes must be on our final days even as we embrace each day. Final days are the final moments of a man’s life on earth. There are also present days. Present days are the very days you are seeing right now.
For instance, today is your present day. Even tomorrow, down to the end of the year, are all your present days. Present days are the days that forms your youthful age and early old age. The Bible says,
“The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.” Lamentation 3:25-27 NKJV
This scripture contains the things that are good for a man’s life on this side of eternity, especially in his present days.
It says it is good for a man to wait on God and hope quietly for His salvation. That the LORD has a history of being good to those who wait for Him. That is why we miss so much blessings if we allow haste to characterized our walk with GOD.
THE NEXT TRUTH IN THAT SCRIPTURE SAYS, IT IS GOOD FOR A MAN TO BEAR HIS YOKE IN HIS YOUTH.
Meaning, it is good to carry any yoke that you would have carried in old age during your youthful age. For instance, it is good not to be lazy and foolish in your youth, so that you will not beg at old age and die like a fool. People who find the LORD and work hard and smart, in their youthful days, will have a blessed old age with God by their side.
The message of that scripture is clear! We must know how to handle present days well; and one way to handle them well is to live our days working hard and smart, with eyes on the salvation of the LORD!
Our present days must be lived well, because it is what we do with our present days that determines how we end in our final days. Final days are days of reaping what we have sown in present days. That is why it is good to bear your yoke in present days.
Yes, bear all the troubles that would have come to you in final days. Pay all the necessary prices you need to pay. So that your final days can be blessed.
Final days are days of getting the harvest of all our decisions, choices and knowledge or ignorance applied in life. They are critical days because they do not give us the opportunity for making corrections. If we do not live our present days well, our final days will be filled with regrets, leading to a sorrowful end.
For instance, if you did not marry the right person in present days, or if you bore a child with or for the wrong person, you will not be happy in your final days. If the LORD gives you an opportunity to serve His anointed or His purposes in your present days, and you did not use them well, you will end up like Ghehazi in your final days.
If you made very bad financial decisions in your present days, you will end up very poor and most time sick at the same time in your final days.
If you made very bad relationship decisions in your present days, like having no regard for those the LORD placed in your life and loosing them rapidly, you will suffer the consequences in your final days. You could end up being alone in life in your final days for not handling the precious people the LORD placed in your life properly in your present days.
HOW WE HANDLE OUR PRESENT DAYS, WILL DETERMINE HOW OUR FINAL DAYS WILL TURN OUT.
I reiterate again that everyone has present and final days on earth. Present days are the assets of final days. Yes, present days are the assets of final days because they give us the opportunity to correct our ways, redeem whatever is lost, so that we can have better final days.
They give us the opportunity to move from bad decisions to good decisions. They are the greatest assets of final days.
For instance, if we have made a decision that will make our final days sorrowful, God in His mercies, will reveal it to us through His word. Maybe as His servants preach. If we respond positively, we will change a lot of things that would have made our final days sorrowful, resulting in very blessed final days on earth.
In God’s plan, our present days should be blessed, and final days more blessed. You see that in the life of Job. His present days were blessed, but his final days were more blessed; especially after going through the trials of his present days.
Yes, a man’s present days do have test, trials and temptations that shape them; things he must overcome to have better final days. That was exactly what Job had. He went through hell, but stood firm and overcame, ushering in one of the best final days a man can have on this side of eternity.
The Bible says;
“Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.
He also had seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch.
In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days.” Job 42:12-17 NKJV
GOD WANTS OUR FINAL DAYS AS BLESSED AS THIS.
Yes, His will is that our final days be as blessed as the final days of Job. With this kind of final days, you will transit into Heaven with great joy and sense of fulfillment. Oh, how great it will be to have this kind of final days.
However, if you look at Job, you will know such final days do not come cheaply. They come if a man spend his present-days fearing God, eschewing evil, working hard and smart, following the friendly counsel of the LORD in business and financial matters, watching over his children in the Spirit, touching the lives of others positively and lots more.
Yes, we can have very blessed final days like Job had if we live the way he did. If we see the miraculous things he saw, and endure the trials of present days he endured.
Blessed final days are products of a righteous living, that is heavily supported by the miraculous arm of the LORD, a healthy relationship with Christ, and touching the lives of others according to divine will and ways.
I believe there is someone reading this, handling their present days in a very bad way. Yes, if you are reading this being someone who makes very bad present-day decisions, God wants you to stop, because they will result in very painful final days.
He sent this word to admonish you to change your ways and choices in life.
If you have given your life to the LORD, yet you are living your days making bad present-days decisions, God wants you to stop. Present-days decisions like living according to the flesh will never result in blessed final days.
Yes, if you spend your present days living according to the carnal desires of the flesh instead of the righteous desires of the Holy Spirit in your life, you will have very sorrowful final days. Our devotional text says;
“ Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:7-10 NKJV
THIS SCRIPTURE CANNOT BE CLEARER. IT HOLDS SO MUCH WISDOM FOR THOSE WITH A HEART FOR IT.
If we live our days sowing to please the flesh, we might even run into problems that we might not have what it takes to have them corrected by miracles from God. The Bible says we will reap corruption. Yes, our final days could be full of painful things that we just have to live the rest of our days with.
It is therefore important that we live our present days with eyes on how we want our final days to look like. If you live your present days with eyes on your final days, you will not live them sowing to please the flesh. You will live them sowing to please the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says if we sow to please the flesh, we will reap corruption. Pleasing the flesh is Godless. It will yield bad things, sometimes in our present days, other times in our final days, that will not attract any miracles from GOD except we repent,.
A present day you spend pleasing the flesh, is shaping your final days into what God do not desire for you. But a present day we sow to please the Spirit of God, shapes our final days into what the LORD wants them to be.
Therefore, how our final days will look like is in our hands. The laws of seed, time and harvest, are very powerful in shaping our final days. Any final days they shape, remains that way. Nothing can change them. That is why people in their final days with predicaments created by these laws, remains in them until death.
Understand that, if the laws of seed, time and harvest, are responsible for how a man’s final days look like, there is nothing anyone can do about it. That is why God sent this word to guide us.
May We all apply our hearts to this Bible wisdom. Amen!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap.
For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.
So then, as occasion and opportunity open up to us, let us do good [morally] to all people [not only being useful or profitable to them, but also doing what is for their spiritual good and advantage].
Be mindful to be a blessing, especially to those of the household of faith [those who belong to God’s family with you, the believers]. Galatians 6:7-10 AMPC