TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER 2024)
“Our God is the God of salvation; and to God the Lord belong escapes from death.” Psalm 68:20 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 258TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Glory be to the LORD GOD Almighty for taking us through and bringing us to the last day of the week. As we get ready for the 1st day, Sunday.
Day by day, His glorious light has been shining into our hearts through these devotionals. He has never left us without a word from His throne! Paul puts it this way;
“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6 NKJV
He is faithful and ever loving. For the sake of His own, He can clothe Himself with great zeal, and roar the angels to their rescue.
That is why the righteous falls seven times (not into sin) and bounces back. The roar of our God is what neutralizes our enemies and bring us back to our feet from any kind of fall like He brought Job back.
For Job, it was a double, (God gave Him double) for His troubles, but for us in the new Covenant, it will be seven times. Hallelujah!
This morning, we shall be looking at something that everyone who is born again in spirit and in truth need to know.
To start with, permit me to state this; it is important that you understand certain mysteries about the Kingdom of God we all belong to, and the privileges the Holy Spirit was given to us to display in and through our lives to everyone on the face of the earth.
The manifest presence of the LORD, is the ultimate security we have from the perils of life. However, there are divine tools that put the manifest presence to work in our lives. These things are the spiritual things that make escape from death and other forms of wickedness possible.
The first is a word from the LORD. The Bible teaches that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.
We can also call the word of the Lord, God’s power tool.
This power tool specifically, refers to an immediate present word from the throne room! It is not just any word in the Bible, but that which the Holy Spirit has acted upon in the Holy Scriptures.
THAT IS THE WORD WE ARE TO HOLD UNTO TIGHTLY, AND VERY TIGHTLY UNTIL IT CLINGS TO OUR HEARTS.
It is the very word to cling unto even when all men depart from us; it is the word to feed on even when we have no food to eat. Oh yes, that helped me in my days. By experience, I found out that the word has a way of bringing God’s power down to put food on our table over time; and even give one the economic capacity to feed others.
That is the kind of word that the Bible says, “must not depart from our mouth.” Something we must meditate on, day in and day out. I hope someone understands me!
Man indeed, was not designed to live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God! That is why you will be spiritually “worthless” when you are prophetically “wordless.”
You see, there is something about words that many do not realize.
Words are very powerful in the spirit realm. They open up things and close down things. They are the access codes to hidden blessings in the Kingdom of God. By word men are condemned and by words men are justified.
Yes, by words men are made fearful and turned into cowards, and by words men are made bold and turned into lions that put up a strong fight against the enemy. By words we are made strong in battle, and by words one can be made weak in battle.
In fact, by words people are defiled and made sinful enough to go to hell, and by words people are purified and sanctified to go to Heaven. That is why you must be careful what you hear. You must understand that Words are the activators of everything in the spirit realm.
Words from the Holy Spirit are God’s capital for the start up and execution of His kingdom projects. Man gives money to start up projects, but God gives prophetic truths or words to start up projects.
In other words, if God is sending you on an errand, He will not give you pocket money to start up the journey. He will give you prophetic truths or words to start up the journey. Then the word will produce all you need for the journey.
THAT IS ONE MAJOR TRUTH YOU MUST KEEP AT THE CENTER OF YOUR HEART.
We do not use money to start anything in God. So long as there is divine approval, we use words from God to start anything from Him.
You see, there may be no money to execute a kingdom assignment, but if there is a word from the LORD, everything you need for the assignment will be made available. I have come to realize that people who are attentive to genuine prophetic words; I mean clear immediate present words from the LORD, will never be stranded in life, or miss their way.
When we first came to East Africa for Missions, everyone was asking me, “Which missionary Organization sent you? Do you have money for your upkeep and for the work you have come here to do?” I was puzzled and almost weakened by the questions. I was wondering where they were all talking from.
Then I look at some of them and said, “None of the above.” We do not have money or backup from anywhere in the world. We just have “a word from the LORD!”
The LORD said to me, “meet me in Kenya.” Then I came, wondering what I came to meet Him for. Then He said to me, “There is an army lying dead in the rubles of religion. Stand, preach, teach, rebuke correct and prophesy until the army arise.”
Today, after few years of ministry, doing only what the LORD brought us here to do, I can tell you that God’s proceeding word is much more of a backup than any missionary organization in any mission field of the world. Hold unto the word of God for your life. Do not be distracted.
The word is enough capital for anything in God’s kingdom. Some trust in chariots others in their horses but we will remember the name of the LORD our God!!
Our ministry is a living proof that words from God are more valuable than money. Money may fail but God’s word abides forever!
A journalist asked me few years back, what the secret of our ministry is. He said the progress is amazing! I said to him, “honestly, I can’t explain. It is when you are making things work by your hands that you can explain. But if God is the one making them work, you can’t explain.”
GOD DID NOT BRING US HERE WITH MONEY. HE DID NOT GIVE US A START UP CAPITAL. HE GAVE US A START UP WORD.
He gave us a vision not a provision. The vision is what we see bringing the provision. The start-up word was all we needed and that is all we still hold unto; through the storms we have seen, the triumphant things that has happened, the battles of a fallen life, the victories that broke forth, the tears we have shed, and the joy we have experienced.
Yes, His word has been our resource for the work here.
Child of God, will you hold unto God’s word this morning? Will you let it be a light unto your feet and a lamp unto your path? Will you turn it into the sword of the Spirit through prayers, and use it to confront everything that may be confronting you this morning in prayer?
If God created everything by the word of His mouth, then there is nothing His proceeding word cannot do.
I am persuaded that we are yet to tap into the full potential of God’s preceding word. Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you, they are spirits and they are life.” God’s proceeding word is the missing life in the lives of so many. That is why there is so much struggle.
Sadly, Satan knows the power of God’s proceeding words than most of us. That is why he will fill us with pride, arrogance, or ignorance, leading to a lack of sense of value for it or for those who preaches it.
He will not stop you from praying or singing so long as you lack the humility to be taught what will save you from his grips. Our devotional text this morning is a proceeding word for anyone whose life is under any kind of threat.
The Bible says, “to God belongs escape from death.” It did not say “to man belong escape from death.” Are you being hunted by premature death? Are you under any kind of threat? Or you are just afraid that you might just fall and die.
God is saying to you this morning, “to me belong escape from death.” It means no disease, messenger of death, circumstances or threat can kill you until God say so. While this scriptural position may not be true in the life of those who have no relationship with God, it is true in the life of those who do.
SOMETIMES, WHEN MEN THINK THEY HAVE YOU FOR THE KILL, THEY ARE LYING TO THE TEETH.
They may have succeeded on others, leading to their dying before their time, but cannot succeed on the seed of the God who spoke saying, “to me belong escapes from death.”
I have seen God break the fangs of death and bring precious souls out of its grip. You are the next on His list. Just turn His proceeding word today into one of the following;
1. A BOAT TO RIDE through those storms…it could be the storms of nightmares, death threats or curses from aggrieved people, spells from witch doctors, and etc. Do not forget that for those of us in divine will, Satan can only bark at us but cannot bite us.
2. A SWORD FOR BATTLE through intense prayers. It could be a battle with cancer, HIV/AIDS, a bad dream, or any other fatal thing. Use the word to fight!
3. GREAT WINGS TO RIDE ON through the heights of success… Yes, success sometimes makes one afraid of his life. Only the rich or successful knows this fact! That is why the more money you have, the more security conscious you become. But if you ride on the wind of this word from the LORD, you will be established far above the enemy.
The Bible indeed promised that God will protect us with the shadow of His wings. The wings are sometimes formed by the word from Him we are holding unto.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!!
“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to help you, and in His Excellency on the clouds.”
“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, ‘Destroy!’
“Then Israel shall dwell in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, in a land of grain and new wine; His heavens shall also drop dew.”
“Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty! Your enemies shall submit to you, and you shall tread down their high places.” Deuteronomy 33:26-29 NKJV