TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 7TH OCTOBER 2024)
“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
“Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.” Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. Deuteronomy 28:1-6 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 281ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Yesterday’s Church service is something everyone must keep in view until we all fulfill our days on earth. The LORD gave us a message for each one of us to listen to monthly to keep fit in the Spirit these last days.
We have had wonderful teachings and awesome sessions where God baptized us with rare truths and laid strong spiritual foundations in our hearts. But the Sunday service was an eternal service. One of the major things that will be required after now is our Response.
Yes, our response. Living truths are not revealed for revelation sake. They are revealed to produce life in us. Life cannot be produced in us except we respond to truths revealed. If we do not respond we will rot spiritually and become like sons of hell.
So, we are beginning today’s word with the necessity of human response to divine teachings.
One thing we have always urged us to do each time we end a session with God is “to respond” positively. A generation that does not respond to God after an encounter with Him, will only be talking about the blessedness of the encounter without having their lives changed.
There was a time in ancient Israel that Ezekiel was put in a position in the Spirit where the people were eager to come hear him prophesy but none of them was responding to the word of the LORD in his mouth.
God had to report the matter to Ezekiel.
WHAT HE SAID TO HIM WAS AMAZING. THE BIBLE SAYS,
“As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’
So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain.
Indeed, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. And when this comes to pass — surely it will come — then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” Ezekiel 33:30-33 NKJV
Sadly, every church generation usually have people like these; people who hear but do not do. Yes, it usually has people that the word of the LORD has become like a lively song to, and the preachers pleasant voices that can play well on an instrument.
God wants us to be seekers of Him who do what he says. That is why sometimes I am not really amused by what people say positively about what we teach. I am only satisfied when we do the word of the LORD. It is in the doing that blessings come, not in the hearing! The Bible did not say blessed are those who hear, but blessed are those who do!
Friend, no one can be blessed doing what ancient Israelites did under the prophetic ministry of Ezekiel. Lack of proper response to a prophetic and an apostolic teaching from the LORD will never fulfil God’s intentions in your life.
The primary essence of genuine apostolic and prophetic ministries, is to build and bless the Body of Christ; but all that is impossible where people gather around a servant of GOD, sit before him, hear his words, but do not do them.
In the school of recovery, revival, and reformation, response to God’s word is a vital key! Doing what we are taught by the LORD is vital to our becoming a temple for Him in the Spirit.
Mary said to those who needed a miracle in John 2:5 “Whatever He says to you, do it.” And I want to say to you this day, “Whatever you have been schooled in concerning the matters of the Kingdom respond to it.”
IT WILL DO YOU NO GOOD IF YOU DO NOT!
A million people could sit down to hear a word from God, but response will separate those who “really heard” from those who “heard.”
One thing we do not know about response or lack of it is that what we do with the word of the LORD or a revelation we receive from Him, will stand for or against us on the judgment day. That is why it is dangerous to hear truth and not respond to it. It is in time of ignorance that GOD overlooks not in time of rebellion. The Bible says,
“For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation…,” Hebrews 2:2-4 NKJV
The reason for teachings, schooling in the ways of the LORD or receiving revelation from His word, is to escape things. But if we do not respond positively to them, we will not escape. The Bible says “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.”
From this scripture it’s very clear that the difference between those who will be in Heaven in the next life and those who will not be is RESPONSE.
Even in this life, response is the difference between those who do reap the full blessing of a teaching or revelation and those who do not. There is what the Bible calls “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel.” You will never reap that fullness if you do not have the character to respond positively to God’s word. The Bible says,
“For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” Hebrews 4:2 NKJV
True faith exhumes corresponding response to a word heard. Not being mixed with faith means there was no corresponding response to the word that was preached to them; hence the word did not profit them!
If we do not respond positively to what we have been sharing in this devotional, or what we have been sharing in our meetings, it will not be a blessing to us. We will not escape the things the word was sent to deliver us from.
YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS A “VOICE” AND “ACTS” ACTIVATION KINGDOM.
In other words, a response activation Kingdom. If you say what God wants you to say and do what He wants you to do, things will be moved from Heaven to the earth. In divine terms, eternity will invade time.
Positive response therefore is one of the most powerful Keys in the KINGDOM. It is the trigger of miracles, signs, and wonders, blessings and other covenant things God does in our lives.
To remain in the garden of Eden, Adam had to do the word of the LORD; or respond positively to God by keeping to the instruction not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day he withdrew that response or stopped doing that word, he lost the garden.
Blessings are released and retained in our lives through consistent positive response to God’s will, God’s way, and God’s word. That is why the word of the LORD is not to be discussed and abandoned but obeyed.
Our devotional text this morning gives us a stronger insight into the power of a positive response, especially in aligning us with eternal things and bringing blessings into our lives. It says,
“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
“Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
I don’t think I need to add anything to this word. It’s as clear as crystal. Obedience to the voice of the LORD is the currency of the Spirit.
WITHOUT OBEDIENCE YOUR CHRISTIAN LIFE WILL JUST BE A FORM OF GODLINESS WITHOUT POWER.
Christianity without obedience stinks in the nostril of GOD. Many have had their blessings reversed due to disobedience. Except for sovereign dealings of God in the life of His men, men like Job, crisis always results in the life of a Christian in His area of rebellion, and recovery always come in his area of obedience.
Obedience is a child of positive response to a divine revelation, instruction or will. That reiterates the role of positive response in our walk and talk with God. It is the bridge upon which all blessings flow into our lives.
It’s my prayer that you catch the light that God is shining into our hearts through this devotional today and become a son of God with a positive response mentality. Amen
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Wisdom calls aloud outside; she raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words:
‘How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? for scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.
Turn at my rebuke; surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, Because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke,
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Proverbs 1:20-27 NKJV