TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 25TH SEPTEMBER 2024)
“Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.”
“After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
“Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.” Acts 16:6-10 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 269TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
We bless the LORD of Heaven and earth for His mercies in our lives and great deeds for us.
The scripture has a way of setting our hearts aflame. God has been using this platform to do just that in our lives. Our devotional text is one with such capacity. It gives us a bit of how Paul, one of the most imminent apostles of Jesus Christ, functioned.
In it, we can clearly see that a man needs clarity of vision, on a daily bases to be able to align with the will of the LORD for his life. He also needs the revelation knowledge of GOD.
As important as it is to align with the LORD, it is clear that no one can harmonize his life with the will of God He does not know. We need an infilling of “the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” to be able to align with GOD daily.
We also need a constant leading of the Holy Spirit, and why? you may ask.
You see, the Holy Spirit is the manager of God’s will; He is the steward, accountant, security, and protocol officer of God’s will. He is also the executioner, implementor, revealer, co-ordinator, and power behind the success of God’s will.
As the revealer of God’s will, He goes into the mind of God and searches out God’s will and does what is necessary with it. We cannot therefore, harmonize our lives with God’s will without His constant leading.
People do not know that the Holy Spirit is a Person who desire friendship with us.
They see Him as a symbol or any other thing but the third person in the Godhead. You will never be able to harmonize your life with God’s will without His constant leading, and you will never be able to recognize and experience His constant leading if you do not know Him personally.
THE SPIRIT REALM IS A COMPLICATED REALM.
We are dealing with unseen beings and spirits that require harmonization with God’s will in all fronts to conquer. If we are not therefore constantly led by the Spirit, we will not be able to harmonize with God’s will in all fronts, consequently becoming food for devils.
Jesus said in John chapter 3 from verse 4 that one of the hallmarks of salvation is a life that is unpredictable.
In other words, if you are born again, you should be unpredictable, because being born again is being born of the Spirit, and those who are born of the Spirit are unpredictable because they are constantly led by the Holy Spirit.
The constant leading of the Holy Spirit makes a Child of God unpredictable. He becomes like the wind. Except you press into the third dimension, you will not be able to tell where He is coming from or going.
That is why if we are not constantly led by the Spirit, we will suffer a lot of attacks and set back in our walk and talk with God. God’s warrior king and amazing servant, David, once said;
“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.” Psalms 23:1-3 NKJV
The phrase, “the LORD is my Shepherd,” and, “He leads me” in this Psalm, talks about a constant leading of the Spirit. If the LORD is the one who is constantly leading you, you will not lack. Yes, you will not lack whatever your life needs to become what God created it to be.
You will not lack supernatural supply of means of livelihood, you will not lack the right people whenever and wherever you need them, you will not lack divine revelation, you will not lack divine presence, you will not lack divine backing; you might lack what you want, but will never lack what you need.
In fact, lack and poverty, has a way of fleeing from people who are constantly led by the Holy Spirit. They are usually too harmonized with God’s will to be poor. They are usually blessed with the prosperity of the righteous. Satan can not find a gap in their lives to infiltrate with his evil work.
IT PAYS TO BE CONSTANTLY LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. IT IS A MARK OF SONSHIP!
The Bible says,
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Romans 8:14 NKJV
In other words, as many as are constantly led by the Spirit of GOD, are the offspring of God. That tells us what should be happening in our lives when we become God’s offspring; a constant leading, governing influence, instruction, direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
This bring us to an important caution when it comes to being led by the Holy Spirit. Understand that there are false leadings of the Spirit.
In church today, you find people who claim to be constantly led by the Spirit not having the fruits of being genuinely led in their lives.
You find them not enjoying the benefits of constant leading of the Spirit. That tells us there is something wrong with their leading.
It is important to note that both Satan and the flesh lead people constantly also, sadly using a voice that sounds like God’s. That is why, when you see someone, who says He is born again, living in sin and experiencing what look like a ‘constant prophetic leading,’ that leading might not be from God.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Holiness. When He is constantly speaking to you, it will be impossible for you to live a life of sin, because of the rebukes, convictions and corrections that comes from Him. If pride is not on your case, there will be an awe of God’s presence in your life, and you will find yourself making use of it to turn from iniquity whenever it entices you.
If the Holy Spirit is constantly speaking to you, His power will be present in your life to help you in putting your flesh under subjection. That is why we experience a cleansing each time we hear from the true God. God knows if we are not constantly led, we will not be harmonized with His will and ways!
Our devotional text this morning tells us how a constant leading of the Spirit helped Apostle Paul and his team to be harmonized with God’s will in a missionary journey.
It perfectly reflects what we have been sharing about this morning – the role of the constant leading of the Holy Ghost in harmonizing our lives with God’s will.
THEY HAD ATTEMPTED PREACHING THE GOSPEL SOMEWHERE AND THE HOLY GHOST FORBADE THEM.
That was a onetime leading. But it did not stop there. They attempted doing so in another place and He stopped them. That was another leading. But it did not stop there.
Then in a vision he showed them a man of Macedonia calling on them to come and help them. A major highlight in the text says,
“After they had come to Myasia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Myasia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
“Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
If you add all the leadings together, you will see the power of God’s constant leading at work. You will discover that God’s constant leading harmonized their ministries with His will and the result was amazing.
That is what you and I need today to live blessed lives and fulfill God’s assignment for our lives.
There is a onetime leading and there is a constant leading. A onetime leading will not help us in our walk with GOD. I am yet to see a man harmonized with God’s will through a onetime leading of the Spirit.
Many encountered a onetime leading of the Spirit, taking it as a life time leading. If you take a one-time leading of the Spirit for a life time leading, you will make huge mistakes in life and ruin everything. God lives and He speaks.
Our lives are in seasons, each season will need a fresh word from the LORD for us to align with God for the season. Sometimes, circumstances also change leading to a need for fresh directives from the LORD. We must be open to the LORD and always ready for His alternate plans.
I believe the word of the LORD for today’s devotional has been passed. God wants us to be constantly led by His Spirit.
We must learn to move from faith to faith, and since faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of the LORD, we must therefore learn to move from one time of hearing the word of the LORD to another, one leading of the Spirit to another, until we fulfil our days.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.
Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you.
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.” Psalms 32:8-10 NKJV