TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER 2024)
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalms 23:1-4 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 255TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
We have had 255 days of the year already, how many of these days can we say we allowed the LORD to be our shepherd in our life decisions? For many, the answer might be a shocking none. Which explains why our lives are the way they are.
The Bible is littered with glorious stories of men and women who rose from trash to becoming the treasures of their age and time, because they allowed the LORD to be their shepherd. Yes, you will find paupers who became kings, slaves who had their slavery terminated, ancient kings and royalties who secured their thrones, their prosperity and posterity, and etc.
There is no life that cannot be turned around if it allows the LORD to be its shepherd.
You may be considered the black sheep of your family, if you make the LORD your shepherd, you will become the one who lays the golden egg for your family. No life remains in the trenches when the LORD becomes its shepherd. No life remains in the grip of curses when the LORD becomes its shepherd.
When the LORD becomes the one who decides our decisions, we will develop the heart desire for His truth, and begin to ride of grace.
Every Bible man or woman who walked with the LORD will tell you, riding along with God, on the chariots of His grace, through an adherence to liberating truths, is the best ride on this side of eternity, which also happens only when you decide to make the LORD your shepherd.
Friend, these are days of horsemen; the days of running our lives on the strength of the LORD. The Bible made it clear that, “by strength shall no man prevail.” We must all understand that and avoid living our lives on our mortal strength.
The first man that lived on this planet never survived by His own strength! He survived by the strength of Jehovah! He is a message to us all that we are not designed to survive by our strength. We are designed to survive by the strength of Jehovah.
We are therefore to live our days depending on God.
TO DEPEND ON GOD TODAY IS NO LONGER AN OPTION BUT A NECESSITY.
Things are becoming dark and tough by the day. We must all learn to depend on God, else we will have no life to live. You cannot depend on God and fail or have no glorious life to live. No one who depended on God in scriptures failed. They all had glorious and victorious lives to live because they depended on God.
Joshua was able to speak to the sun and the moon successfully because he depended on God.
Moses was able to break the backbone of Pharaoh, bring judgment on the gods of Egypt, and bring Israel out successfully, because he depended on God. Elijah was able to restore God to the national consciousness of Israel in the Mount Carmel showdown, because he depended on God.
Solomon became the wisest and Riches King of all times because he depended on God. Samson also did exploits when he depended on God. People who depend on God, put their trust and faith in Him at all times.
Sadly, at one time Samson began to withdraw his trust and faith in God, and began to come under spiritual decline, developing dependency of a woman called Delilah. He depended on her for emotional help, and became a reproach in the camp of his enemies.
But when He was depending on God, he was a wonder to his enemies. He could carry gates of Cities and eliminate entire armies without using a bomb. No one who depended on God failed in life. Out of weakness all of them were made strong.
So those of us who are claiming to be depending on God and yet are failing in everything we do are not really depending on GOD.
We may be sincere at heart but are not enlightened in our minds. Except we are ignorant, bad things do not perpetually prevail over people who depend on God. That is why God lamented in His word saying, “my people are destroyed for lack of Knowledge.”
WE COULD BE SINCERE, BUT IF WE ARE IGNORANT, NOTHING GOOD WILL COME OUT OF OUR SO-CALLED DEPENDENCY ON GOD.
Sadly, the rate that the knowledge of God is spreading today is very poor. Other forms of knowledge are spreading faster, making things more difficult. You find those who claim to be depending on God engaging the arm of flesh and coming under the power of the evil one because of spiritual ignorance.
Hence when they face uncommon problems, they fall down flat and start contemplating suicide or run to mediums called prophets.
Depending on God is not possible until we are schooled in the things of God. The Bible teaches that we will never make headway in life, if we are not schooled in the things of God. Where there is no revelation knowledge of God, every virtue we may muster to succeed will not lead to a happy ending.
The first way to depend on God is actually to sit down and be schooled in His things. Everyone who depended on GOD in scriptures, spent time with Him learning His ways and studying His paths; from Moses to Joshua, to David and to all other men and women of exploits in the Bible.
Let’s take Joshua for example. He was blankly told that he will not be able to fulfil his assignment without depending on God. He was given a faith position that kept Him sitting with the word of the LORD to absorb the revelation knowledge of who He is, on daily bases.
The Bible says, GOD said to him;
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8 NKJV
This was a faith position that placed him on the chariots of grace and made his dependency on God fruitful. It also teaches that if we say we are depending on God, but not spending the better parts of our lives schooling ourselves in His ways and paths, we are deceiving ourselves.
Like I said earlier, you cannot depend on a God whose ways you do not know! You must spend the better part of your life knowing His ways and paths to truly depend on Him. The first step to take if you want to enjoy the benefits of depending on God is to the very faith position that Joshua took.
THE SECOND IS STILL IN THE SCRIPTURE OF THAT FAITH POSITION – A LIFE THAT OBEYS GOD.
He said to him, “..That you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” If we claim to be depending on God, but not obeying Him, or respecting His ways, we are in reality depending on ourselves.
I have said it on this platform repeatedly that rebelling against God’s way and word, is one way we tell Him, “we do not need you.” If you look at the life of everyone who truly depended on God in scriptures, you will see a life of implicit obedience to the will and ways of God, even at the cost of their lives.
The loudest and most effective way you tell God, “I depend on you” is not prayer, but obedience by faith. Yes, we can pray and fast to demonstrate our dependency on God, but prayer without living a life of obedience will yield nothing significant.
The Bible teaches that obedience is better than sacrifice, which brings us to the last secret or tip on depending on God – “being led by the Spirit.”
People who depend on GOD are not led by themselves. They are constantly led by the Spirit.
The life of David comes to mind at this point. He demonstrated dependency on God by waiting for Him to speak before taking any major step in life. That is what people who are led by the Spirit do. Amazingly, even those led by demons do the same.
In the midst of battle and war, with all kinds of weapons at his disposal, David would still step aside, and wait on God to speak. We all know that it is easier to wait on God to guide us when we do not have what it takes to do a thing than when we have.
Most times people wait on God for direction just because they do not have the means to do what they want to do. When they have the means, they move without asking God for direction. But David knew better. He knew that having the means is not a sign of divine approval. The sign of divine approval is the voice of God coming to you to either approve of disapprove.
The Bible teaches that, “A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.” “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalms 33:17, 20:7 NKJV).
Friend, as we bring this to a close, I want you to understand that when it comes to making it in life, it is not really about “what” you have by your side, but “WHO” you have by your side!
If God is not by your side, even the best equipment or most trusted people on your side will not be of any significant help. Again, our devotional text explained the kind of walk and talk David maintained with God that put Him by his side. It says,
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
I believe God has spoken to us this morning. I pray that you walk in light this month in Jesus precious name. AMEN!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Jacob defend you; May He send you help from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion;
May He remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah
May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your purpose. We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Psalms 20:1-5 NKJV