TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 25TH NOVEMBER 2024)
“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
“The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;”
“Moreover by them your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.” Psalm 19:7-8, 11. NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 330TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
We give God the glory for all the days we have seen and the peace we have enjoyed from Him this year. God indeed has been FAITHFUL. He has kept us from the wickedness of the wicked, and has watched over us.
He has protected us from those who prophesy evil about us and made them understand that He is not involved in their outburst and that they are being used of the devil.
For those who may be prophesying your death, it is important to let them know that your life is in the hands of the LORD.
For everyone out there that the enemy might be using to threaten you in one way or the other, just know that your life is in God’s hands not in their hands. You are written on the palms of the LORD’s, hands not on their shrines.
The counsel of the LORD for our lives shall stand and the expectation of the wicked shall not stand in Jesus precious name! Amen
One of the major passions of every one God has placed in His vineyard, is to see men and women genuinely coming to the LORD and living a pure and righteous life. When they encounter the truth of God’s word, they will be sanctified.
If you look at our devotional text this week, you can see the answer. It says “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;” It is the simple at heart that the word makes wise not those who over estimate themselves at heart.
To be simple is to be humble at heart, teachable and reachable by the Holy Spirit. That is one of the keys to receiving maximum impact through the word or testimony of the LORD.
It is important to note that, one could be reachable by a preacher but not by the Holy Spirit speaking through the preacher.
Yes, you can be available to your pastor but not to your GOD. If you are available to your pastor only, your faith will be this way; when the LORD needs you, you are not there.
BUT WHEN EMPTY RELIGION NEEDS YOU, YOU ARE THERE.
There are people some of us have wept over and prayed for in secret for not living lives that aligns with the will and ways of the LORD. Then we discovered that they are not having the heart position to be changed by the word of the LORD. They are not simple.
Any man who is simple enough to be made wise by the word, and reachable enough to have his moral nature healed by the Holy Spirit, will not take ages to move from the inglorious states of sin and iniquity to the glorious states of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
This morning I want to take us through some truths that may have been taught at our apostolic center. I want to share about certain rules God created to govern our existence as mankind.
To start with, we must understand that mankind was created by God as spirit beings. Our bodies are just what houses us! They are sheer earth suits for living. The real man is not seen. The real man is spiritual. We are spirit beings living in a physical body!
As spirit beings living in physical bodies, there are rules that should govern us.
Life will always be unbearable when we live our lives contrary to those rules. The rules were not made by man but by God – man’s creator. The rules are in God’s Holy Book; the Bible.
The book calls them, “The law of the LORD,” “the statutes of the LORD,” and “The commandments of the LORD.”
Our devotional text made it clear that, the rules are perfect, right and pure. It says they convert the soul, rejoice the heart, and enlighten the eyes. It says by them we are warned.
Meaning we cannot live a perfect life in a chaotic and immoral world until we are impacted by them.
They are the source of true light in a morally dark world for the Child of God. They have divine capacity to protect us from harm and deliver us from evil.
THEY TRANSMIT A KIND OF JOY INTO US THAT KEEPS US HAPPY EVEN IN VERY SAD SITUATIONS.
The first of these rules I want to present to us this great day says, “Mankind shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
The Bible teaches that, this is the first and most important rule God presented to us, through the nation of Israel.
It is one beautiful rule that sets the ball rolling, and determines all things in the Kingdom of God that we all should belong. If we do not feed on what comes out of the mouth of God, we will die spiritually.
When we die spiritually, it’s just a matter of time. We will also die in our marital life, economic life, physiological life, psychological life, and etc.
Many are already dead in their marital lives. That is why they cannot get or stay married!
Others are already dead in their economic life. That is why they are either poor or rich through corrupt means. Many others are dead in their physiological life, that is why they are sick.
It is not the will of God for our life that we die that is why He gave the rule.
God never created man to die but to live forever. It was sin that brought death. That is why when we break this rule and suffer the consequence; there is nothing God can do about it, other than to appeal to us to return to Him through repentance.
Friend, most things people struggle with and go through in life are products of spiritual malnutrition.
We feed our hearts with other things, but do not feed it with what comes out of the mouth of God. We feed our hearts with worries, worldly things, carnal desires, information from anything that twinkles our fancy, but ignore what God said we should feed it with.
We forget that what we eat will eventually eat us. If we eat what Comes out of the mouth of God, God will eat us up, resulting in supernatural living and amazing blessings.
Let me reiterate again that we suffer what we suffer as men, because we do not keep the first rule God made to govern our existence. The rule of feeding our hearts daily with what comes out of the mouth of the LORD, and applying same to our lives.
For example, many of us feed on the headline news, secular humanism, self-help knowledge, the social media, or the words of the aggrieved, and allow them to influence us terribly. You should not feed your spirit with what will feed on you and destroy you. You should change your spiritual diet.
You can begin a journey of feeding on one life changing scripture a day today.
UNTIL WE CHANGE OUR SPIRITUAL DIET, WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STOP WHAT THE ENEMY MAY BE DOING IN OUR LIVES.
If you change what comes into your spirit, you will change what comes into your life. If you change what comes into your life, you will change what comes out of your life.
Let me state something to kingdom citizens at this point;
Sometimes when God want to change your life He will give you a fresh preacher to feed you spiritually.
He will give you a preacher after His heart for you to commit your time, treasures and talent to, for your spiritual feeding. If that person shows up in your life and you do not commit, your life will keep going in a circle.
He said to us in His word (Jeremiah 3:15-16) I will give you pastors after my heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
He did not say He will give us prayer warriors, as important as they are. He said He will give us spiritual leaders who will feed us. That buttresses the truth that says, “lack of proper spiritual food is the reason for the woes of mankind.”
As you embrace this day, do not forget that a healthy and proper spiritual feeding program is the seed to sow in order to reap a healthy spiritual life.
A healthy spiritual life is the seed to sow to reap a glorious life in an accursed world; it is the seed you sow to live a Holy Ghost shaped life, a life that is permanent freed from sin and all other works of the devil.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
“But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'” Luke 4:4 NKJV