TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 19TH AUGUST 2024)
“And he hastened to take the bandage away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.”
“Then he said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.'”
So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and displeased, and came to Samaria. 1 Kings 20:41-43 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 232ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
The Impact of the LORD’s mercies, grace, and truth upon our lives cannot be denied. The book of proverbs 5:1-2 says, “My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding, that you may preserve discretion, and your lips may keep knowledge.” (NKJV)
The only thing that some of us have accomplished this year, is paying attention to the LORD. From the eternal point of view, that is one of the greatest achievements one can have on this side of eternity.
It may look small, but it is small things like that really matters.
They give you stability, self-control, focus, a right standing with GOD, vision, provision, peace, protection, progress in life, contentment, discipline, the knowledge of God’s will and ways, and cut off greed, covetousness, aimless pursuits, and confusion from your path.
If you know the cost of not listening to God, you will appreciate the blessing of listening. If you know the cost of rebellion, you will know the blessing of obedience. You will pay every price to live your days paying attention to the LORD.
I don’t know about you, but we never entered this year with the goal of traveling all over the world, becoming everyone’s attention, eating the best foods we can find, making the greatest amount of money we have ever made, or living in the best houses.
The Bible teaches that those are the goals of people or nations without God.
We entered this year with the goal of paying attention to the LORD, lending our ears to the Spirit of understanding, preserving discretion, and keeping knowledge. It has helped us much more than any goal one may have. To God be the glory!!!
This is a platform for those who have made paying attention to the LORD, their life goal. So, today, we will be paying attention to the LORD, one more time, on the subject of Relationships; we will be lending our ears to the Spirit of understanding on the matter.
THE REASON IS BECAUSE, THE WORLD RUNS ON THE CURRENCY OF RELATIONSHIPS.
Your life will never be better than the people you have in your life. Yes, the people you have in your life, either by blood, marital ties, spiritual affiliations, economic or immigrational ties, or any form of life affiliation, will determine how your life turns out.
For instance, you cannot compare a child of a millionaire and a child of a poor man out there. They may sit on the same seat in class learning, but who they both have in their lives, puts one child economically ahead of the other. It is who you have in your life that puts you ahead of others, so relationships matter.
Many people are under the pressures of hell because they are hooked up to people the Bible describes as wrong relationships. Some are hooked up to them through marriage, economy ties, ministry or church affiliations, social ties, and etc., yet expecting God to make their lives better.
Your life cannot be better than those who influences it daily. God will have to move you away from them and give you fresh people to make your life better.
Understand that, the breakthrough of many on earth today, does not lie in prayer and fasting only. It lies in walking away, yes walking away. You will need to add “walking away” to your prayer and fasting to have a turnaround in your life.
God will never bless you until you walk away from some people.
You will have to walk away from them for the manifestation of His will for your life to take place. Israel had to leave Egypt to enter the promise land. They never got to the promise land while in Egypt.
There was a migration, separation, or a walking away. Psalm 114 says, God sat on them when they walked away.
You would have to leave some people for God to sit on you. Yes, you will have to walk away from some life styles and relationships to begin your journey into God’s promise land for your life. So long as you remain attached to them, you will be detached from His prosperity, freedom, and etc. for your life.
When you decide to walk away and leave them, nothing about the life styles and those relationships should follow you, else you will not get to God’s promised land for your life. Do not forget, it was the mixed multitude that followed Israel from Egypt that actually influenced those who never got the promise land, not to get there.
SO, WHEN YOU WALK AWAY, WALK AWAY!!
Do not mix your life with any residue from those relationships or lifestyles you lived. Do not allow anything from what you need to walk away from to become mixed with you. Do not allow the defiled resources, the passions, the cravings, the feelings for or against, the thought systems, or anything tangible from what you are walking away from to follow you.
Yes, do not walk away with a mixed multitude from Egypt. Your life will remain as if you have not walked away; you will be as if you are still with them, having the same problems you had while with them.
In walking away, you must understand that it is not the will of the LORD to still have Egypt in your life after leaving Egypt. It will ruin you if that happens. All the prices you paid to walk away will become futile if you do not walk away the way you ought to walk away.
Yes, there is a way you ought to walk away. It will not always be like that of another person. Yours might be different, because our circumstances are not the same. That is why you do not imitate anyone in this matter. You do what best suits your life and destiny.
So, you must walk away properly, and make sure nothing social, mental, spiritual, and sometimes, material follows you from there. Not even a thought system or crave.
If they do, they will become a snare or trap to you.
The enemy will use them to either take you back or keep you back even if you are no longer physically with them. That is why you find people returning to their ex-this, and ex-that, after walking away. You find them returning only to be destroyed.
So, learn to walk away. Learn to do it the right way, with God leading the way. If you do not, you will soon discover that wrong people can be worst in our lives than devils, most times. Do not become sentimental when you should be sensible about walking away.
YES, DO NOT BECOME EMOTIONAL WHEN YOU SHOULD BE INTELLIGENT ABOUT IT. WALK AWAY AND DO THAT WELL.
The vision of GOD to separate us from wrong relationships and connect us to the right ones, has not changed. But even after you are connected, your lack of proper detachment from the one you should walk away from, can ruin the one God may have given you.
so, learn to detach properly; stay away after you have walked away!
Yes, stay away and pay the price of staying away. The price could be economical or spiritual, just pay it. Do not forget that you need to go through a process to birth a new life. The price of staying away could be the process. The process will result in having the kind of life God wants you to have.
So, pay the price. Go through the pain, the lack, the darkness. It is just for a season, so long as you are sure God is leading the way. Light is right at the tunnel. So, keep walking, keep detaching, keep staying away.
The Bible teaches that except a seed of corn falls to the ground and dies, it abides alone. You will need to fall away from what you need to walk away from, die to certain things, and resurrect into a divinely approved desire, behavior, and lifestyle, to break into the life God has preplanned for you, as you stay away.
Understand that, you will never have the kind of life that God wants you to have, except you embrace His principle; the principle of walking away, staying away, and paying the price to go through the process.
I believe the LORD Has spoken to us this morning. But there is still one more thing in our devotional text. The text says,
“And he hastened to take the bandage away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.”
“Then he said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.'”
So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and displeased, and came to Samaria. 1 Kings 20:41-43 NKJV
From this text, it is clear that there are things God appoints to destruction. Sometimes, certain relationships are part of it. If God has appointed a relationship to destruction, and we try to keep it alive, we will be sorry what will happen at the end.
Sometimes our lives or families, marriages, businesses, peace or prosperity, joy, life progress, vision or purpose for living, blessings or even an entire glorious future, can be lost because of it. I believe strongly, God sent this word to save us all from going in that direction.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!!
“Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:”
“That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:”
“That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets: That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.” Psalms 144:11-14 KJV