TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 5TH NOVEMBER 2024)
“While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me.
And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.
I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ Acts 26:12-18 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 310TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Today we will be refreshing our minds with truths on spiritual blindness. It has cost us humans, a lot, since we are physical and material in nature.
What we are not seeing spiritually, is responsible for the many woes we are experiencing physically as humans. We always look at outwards appearances instead of spiritual appearances when making decisions, consequently creating huge problems for ourselves.
We do not consider spiritual appearances when choosing who to marry, we do not consider spiritual appearances when choosing a friend, we do not consider spiritual appearances when choosing who or what to bring into our lives.
We do not even consider the spiritual appearances of pastors and churches before we entrust our lives to them.
We have no concern for spiritual appearances, hence conquered by dark forces in the spirit realm or playing into their hands. All that is happening because of spiritual blindness.
The greatest blindness on earth is spiritual, not natural.
That is why every genuine apostolic and prophetic ministry will teach men and women great eye-opening truths, like the one in our devotional text. Not heresies and confusion. The reason is to open the spiritual eyes of people.
The opening of spiritual eyes is a central activity of the Godhead, because the difference between people who will be in hell and those who will be in Heaven, is in what they can see or cannot see spiritually.
MANY HAVE NEVER SEEN THAT HELL IS REAL AND JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY.
Some preachers are even yet to see that. The reason we will go to Heaven or hell lies in our spiritual sight. It’s my prayer that GOD use today’s devotion to touch your spiritual sight again and again until it become very bright. Amen
It’s been our month of God’s Mercy and Heaven has been smiling on us with scriptural Revelations on the subject, even from things published in the past.
Our hearts are being enlightened and coming into fresh spiritual understanding of divine mercy; especially through the yesterday’s devotion that explained “the Mystery of Making God’s Mercy One’s Prophetic Tomb”
In today’s devotional, God will be taking us further. He will be helping us out on matters of spiritual blindness. Like stated earlier, we follow physical appearances, and take no thought of spiritual appearances, basically for not having people who will teach us eye opening truths early in life.
Going to church has not helped many of us because the churches we went to do not have eye opening truths. They have spiritual blindness re enforcement truths. They will put a blind fold on you, and you begin to raise altars, silence altars, and engage in all forms of charismatic witchcraft, using oil and etc.
These they do mostly to very dedicated people.
That is why being dedicated is not enough. You must be dedicated with a good spiritual eye sight, because spiritual blindness can prevent a dedicated person from seeing the most important things of the kingdom of God.
It can prevent a man from recognizing his day of divine visitation and what God sent to execute it. The Bible made it clear that spiritual blindness is over every one with no personal relationship with Christ – be it a Muslim, Hindu, Judaist, or Christian.
Now don’t be surprised because I included Christians in that sentence.
Many Christians (even members of the clergy) are blind in the spirit. They are blind to the things of God. That is why they talk about the things of men, the world and Satan when they preach. I have shared that before!
YOU CAN HARDLY HEAR THE THINGS OF GOD TAUGHT IN MANY CHURCH CIRCLES TODAY.
If you are blind to the things of God as a man or woman of God, your preaching will be full of the things of men, using scriptures sometimes to make them look like the things of God. Those who sit under your spiritual influence, will be mindful of the things of men, like money, relationships, getting a visa to travel for greener pastures, seeking for fame and etc.
Money, traveling out to other nations, and the rest of the things of men, should come as a consequence of pursuing divine purpose, not as a consequence of pursuing the things of men, and using God is an incentive.
It is when our hearts depart from the LORD, that we make the acquisition of the things of men our purpose for living.
You will be drawn to preachers who teach the things of men, the things of this world, and the things that Satan does, as teachings of God, spicing their messages with scriptural quotations, but leaving the hearts of those who listen to them, empty of GOD.
If your heart is empty of God, you will never lead a blessed life on earth. You will always depend on the oil, holy water, prayer clothes, and etc., dished or sold out to people by charlatans, called preachers. You will be spiritually blind to the true things of God, revealed in Christ.
I have come to realize that one may be blind to anything in GOD, but one thing he cannot afford to be blind to, is to be blind to the MERCIES OF GOD. It is too costly to be blind to divine mercy, and sometimes the cost is eternally unredeemable.
Blindness to divine mercy is simply, “not recognizing the mercy of God when it shows up.” Sometimes it shows up in a person God send to you; and the reason many do not recognize them is because this kind of people usually come in packages, systems, and circumstances we do not like.
Other times God sends His mercy to us in form of acts of kindness, spouses we are married to, ministers of the gospel we need, a church we worship, or even a word from the Spirit of the LORD. It could be a word of rebuke or even judgment.
You see, words of rebuke, correction, warning, or judgment are aspects of God’s mercy that our generation is spiritually blind to, things they do not understand.
It is an act of mercy for God to raise a man who will be revealing God’s severity to you like Moses, Jeremiah or Elijah, and calling you names to provoke you to holiness like Paul, and making it uncomfortable for you to live in sin like Micah. It’s an act of mercy for GOD to allow unpleasant things to flow into our lives so we can sit up straight in our walk and talk with Him.
BUT LIKE I SAID, OUR GENERATION HATES THAT.
Many reject the mercy of God, especially when it comes to them in form of people, by branding them with all kinds of unprintable names, and weakening them from doing what the LORD has raised them to do. Consequently, putting the eternal lives of many in danger.
Israel saw this dimension of divine mercy in their days and resisted it to their detriment the way many are doing today. The Bible says,
“And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.
But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 NKJV
It’s my prayer that this judgment will not be said of us on the final day.
Friend, Satan can let you see anything in the spirit realm; those who hate you so that you can hate them back, those who want you dead, so you can seek to kill them, and etc., but he will never let you recognize God’s mercy when it shows up in your life.
That is why the true gospel of the KINGDOM is an eye-opening gospel.
Child of God, understand that, if anything we call gospel is not opening the eyes of the Church or the world to accurately see God’s Mercy, judgments, ways and will, it is not gospel but a death pill from hell. Satan’s specialty is to blindfold people; God’s specialty is to open the eyes of people.
Our devotional text today tells us of the encounter Paul had on his way to Damascus that also became the release of God’s mantle upon his life.
He was spiritually blind before he had that encounter but woke up seeing spiritually and blind physically. God had to send one of His Sons to open his natural eyes having opened the spiritual eyes.
The encounter of Paul with Christ shows us that true encounter with the Light of God, Jesus Christ Himself, is the only way to cure spiritual blindness.
A MAJOR HIGHLIGHT OF THE TEXT READS,
“And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.
I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’”
There are other things we can dig from the words in this highlight.
If you look at it carefully, you will realize that until the eyes of sinners are opened through an accurate presentation of the true gospel (not the enemy killing, depths of Satan transmitting, and money-spinning gospel on many mouths today), they cannot be certified saved by God.
Yes, the Church could certify them saved and make them Church members and even appoint them into different positions, but God will not.
In God’s eyes, genuine encounter with the word will open the spiritual eyes of people, resulting in them turning from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to GOD. When they turn, forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among they that are sanctified will be released to them.
Meaning, there can be no spiritual blessings without us turning from sin and the power of Satan. And we cannot turn until our spiritual eyes are opened through the message of the cross – the gospel. The opening of spiritual eyes remains key to accessing all things in Christ!
I began this devotional by showing us that spiritual blindness is the greatest blindness on earth. It is the reason many have not genuinely repented and turned to the LORD.
It’s the reason many profess salvation with their mouth but deny it with their deeds.
They receive Jesus with their lips but not with their hearts. It is the reason for lack of repentance! And from our devotional text it’s clear that many have not repented because they have not heard the true gospel. The Bible made it clear that if the true gospel is preached hearts will be pricked to turn to the LORD.
Sadly, the gospel that is being preached today only prick people’s hearts to raise altars of sacrifice, give and give, and give money to their prophets and prophetess, and fight all kinds of enemies. It is really a terrible gospel! It will produce very sad end in the lives of their listeners.
We can go on and on, but like I have always shared, this is a devotional not a book. The message of today has been passed.
Do not be spiritually blind. You may be spiritually blind to anything but don’t be blind to God’s mercy when it shows up. May God keep you sensitive in the Spirit to God’s mercy, so that your life will not be messed up. Amen!!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.” Psalm 32:1-2 NIV