TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 3RD NOVEMBER 2024)
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.
When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 2 Chronicles 7:12-16 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 308TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Yes, as we prepare for the coming year, and look forward to the peaceful end of this year, our eyes are on “God’s Mercy” His word in the Holy Scriptures stands strong in our hearts.
He said He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and have compassion on whom He will have compassion. Yes, the LORD has decided to have mercy upon us; in other words, to make sure the consequences of living in a fallen world, do not cripple our lives.
Yes, He has decided that the consequence of living in a fallen world, do not cripple our lives in any way. We believe this is not limited to this month alone, because His mercies are from everlasting to everlasting.
Now, when God decides to have mercy upon you, it puts a call to prayer upon your life. A call to demonstrate your faith in His word through prayer. For some, it will require the prayer of faith, and others the prayer of repentance. This is very important.
The Sons of Light must understand that prayer is a faith position to take when God decides to show you mercy. Yes, I reiterate again that when God says “I will have mercy on you.” He has automatically placed a call to prayer and deep repentance upon you.
The reason for this is simple; Mercy is not something you pick on the streets. Mercy is something you find on the prayer knee. I repeat again, mercy is not something you pick on the streets. When God says, “I will have mercy on you” you go meet Him to collect it through the prayer knee.
You go meet Him to receive the freedom from the consequences of sin, ignorance, rebellion, or the consequences of living in a fallen world, a world that is constantly under the sway of the evil one. You see this all through the scriptures.
So, when God decides to have mercy on you, you do not sit down there waiting for it. Rather, you journey in the Spirit realm, using your prayer knee until you find it. You do that in deep repentance until you find it.
THE FIRST PLACE I SAW THIS WAS IN THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT OF THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON.
The Man of God (Solomon), a King (according to the book of 1 kings and 2 Chronicles) and a preacher (according to the book of Ecclesiastes), knelt down before God at the dedication of the temple and said,
“When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near; yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness’;
and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name:
then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place. 2 Chronicles 6:36-40 NKJV
What can you find in this scripture? We find so many truths that we can’t chew in a devotional. But the Bible clearly shows here that when a people who need God’s mercy do not seek it, they will never find it.
They are to seek for it through prayers, born out of deep repentance. And it described deep repentance as, “returning to GOD with all our hearts and with all our souls in the land of our captivity.” The land of captivity for us today is the place where we are going through something unpleasant. That is the very place in life to return to the LORD.
Meaning, our captivity or unpleasant circumstances should not be the focus during such prayer sessions. A return to the LORD should be the focus!
The prototype of the place of God’s mercy in the days of Solomon was the temple, and the King was telling God that each time His people are in need of His mercy and they seek it in that place, they should find it. And God responded with what our devotional text says to us today.
A MAJOR HIGHLIGHT OF IT SAYS,
“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
A generation that will not seek God’s mercy through a prayer that is born out of deep repentance will perish in the mess of their sins and attacks of their enemies. They will be crippled by the cost of living in a fallen world like ours.
Before God responded with those gracious words in our devotional text, the singers who gathered at the dedication service to sing unto the LORD, caught the revelation of the atmosphere of “Enduring Mercy” that filled the Temple, and sang to Him saying, “For the LORD is good and His mercies endure forever.”
If you are in gospel music ministry, or if you are serving the LORD in your local Church as a gospel music minister, this is a word for you. Be a servant of the Most High God who will not sing in the flesh, or be controlled by money.
Yes, be one who will not sing according to his or her needs or pocket, but according to the atmospheres of GOD in the Spirit realm!
Solomon dedicated the Temple in an atmosphere of Enduring Mercy. That was the atmosphere in the Spirit realm that the singers picked and sang from. They made us to understand that in that atmosphere, mercy does not come to an end.
Their song revealed to us that the GOD we serve is one whose mercies endure forever. But the revelation on how to access that mercy did not come until GOD Himself spoke the very words that are captured in our devotional text. Those words were God’s response to Solomon’s prayer!
The response made it clear that those seeking His Enduring Mercies can only find it when they seek it in deep repentance. I am sharing all these to tell us that mercy is not assumed, mercy is sort for on the prayer knee.
If you do not look for it, you will never find it; and if you will ever find it, you must not look for it under the ministry of a preacher who do not operate in the realm, and connect hearts to it. You must understand that, like it happened to Saul, due to persistent unfaithfulness, there are preachers God has withdrawn His mercies from.
IF YOU SEEK HIS MERCIES UNDER THEIR SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE, YOU WILL NEVER FIND IT.
So, you must look for God’s mercy in atmospheres where it can be found, and recognize it when it is released. Ordinarily, God’s mercy should be found in any Church or gospel ministry, but that is not so. Some local church heads are like king Saul, and some local churches synagogues of Satan, and cities of spiritual refuse. You will never find God’s mercy there.
Hence you find people there who are being pursued by avengers not finding spiritual refuge there or mercy to help them in time of need.
That is why the preachers request for money for every miracle they need and other kinds of deliverance rituals from every freedom they need.
Where God’s mercy does not exist, suffering men will be seduced by prophetic witchcraft, and hoodwinked with on-point revelations and misinterpreted scriptures, to give money for their breakthrough. But where it does exist, breakthrough comes by the blood of Jesus.
Very few really know that God’s mercy does not need our money to set us free. That is why they fall victim of lying wonders and greedy preachers, who carry the anointing of the anointed cherub, and the divination of the moon and the stars.
There is a place in the spirit where God’s mercy can be found, and there is a place where it cannot be found. Until you connect a church that will connect you to the place where God’s mercy can be found, a local church operating as pillar and ground of truth, where the spirits of just men are made perfect, you might never find the mercy you need to survive this wicked world.
It is such churches that will open a portal of mercy over your life, and teach you how to always access the “Throne of Grace” to obtain mercy and find grace in time of need. The Bible says,
“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16 NKJV
So, if you are hooked up to a local church that lacks the word and grace, to connect you to God’s Throne of Grace, you are in trouble.
The evidence will be written all over your life. You will never find Mercy to help you in time of need. That is when Satan will become your Chief tormentor, and your enemies your ultimate focus, because they will ever be with you!
It is what we find in the throne of Grace, through a prayer that is born out of deep repentance, that manifest in our lives. In other words, if we cannot ascend that height in the Spirit and find it, there will be nothing manifesting in our lives.
It’s a New Day for someone who will wake up this morning from spiritual slumber and make the right decisions. The decision to be planted in the right Church, and taught to access the mercy of the LORD, through the prayer knee, whenever you are in need.
May this month remain a month of God’s mercy for you and your family, amen and amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek your face. Selah
Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Psalms 24:3-8 NKJV