TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 7th DECEMBER 2024)
“Behold, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who by night stand in the house of the Lord!
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. The Lord who made heaven and earth bless you from Zion!” Psalms 134:1-3 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 342ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
The whole of this devotional text you just read is an entire psalm. Psalm 134 is the shortest Chapter of the Bible. This chapter has just three verses. It is short but has very strong truths with long lasting effects!
I remember years ago when we use to sing that Psalm in a Song; especially when we assemble in what we call tarry nights, to seek the LORD. It used to be very glorious! When we get to the line that says “lift up your hands” you see hands lifted up in total surrender to the King, and you see His presence hitting us in response.
The lifting up of hands in the spirit (not in the flesh) by those who serve the LORD in times like that is considered an offering of evening sacrifice by the LORD. That is why we usually see Heaven pour out a fire from His presence upon us in reply.
Even in Church here in Kenya, whenever we enter the impartation session, hands are lifted up to the LORD, because He considers it as an offering. The divine response is usually the release of power.
Many people do not know why we have to lift up our hands to receive from the LORD. As those hands are lifted, He receives it as an offering, and sends His power to heal or deliver us in response.
The principle is, each time acts of worship are acceptable to GOD, you see an outpouring of the fire of His Holiness upon the people. That is how we grow up and walk in victory over sin, Satan and the evil and corrupt system of this world.
This year has been a year of impact even on this platform. We have learnt a lot, and encountered dimensions of grace and truths that we know would have been impossible without God’s mercy speaking for us!
When you read through the devotionals with a hungry heart, you find timeless truths. You discover that they hold timeless principles of the kingdom that need to be applied to our daily lives. Change does not come when we read, but when we pally what we read.
For instance, if our marriages are dying and we sit under the most beautiful marriage seminar God has in store for us, our marriages will not be restored because we attended the meeting.
THERE IS NO MUCH BLESSING IN ATTENDING A CHURCH MEETING OTHER THAN EXPERIENCING THE WARMTH OF FELLOWSHIP.
Our marriages will be restored because we attended the meeting, took note of our mistakes, and made decisions to apply what was taught in the seminar in other to bring a change. Life does not change because you attend a good seminar or Church, life changes because you apply the things taught in the good church or seminar that you attend.
It is application of the principles that restore a marriage that brings it back to order not hearing or reading of the principles. The import of this is commitment. Yes, commitment.
Let’s look at the subject of commitment. It is important to note that, in the Kingdom of God, nothing stands without commitment.
Truths are taught so we can commit to them. Relationships are given so we can commit to them. God presents Himself to us so we can commit to Him. It is commitment that brings the turn around.
Commitment to a righteous course will change your life.
The life of Ruth comes to mind. She was one young woman who use commitment to move from where she was, to the center of God’s redemptive move, and finally became part of the messianic lineage. When she started the journey, she had the chance and reason not to commit, but the Bibles says;
“But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.
Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.” Ruth 1:16-17 NKJV
Bible history has it that it took a long time for the book of Esther to be canonized into the scriptures; and you will agree with me that if that book was not made part of the Bible, so many would not have stepped into their destiny through it.
The same can be said about the story of Ruth. If it was not written, many of us would have not known the true meaning of commitment. Not even the pain of loosing her husband could stop her. In other words, death could not weaken her commitment. That was why she qualified.
SOMETIMES, WE ARE THE ONES TO QUALIFY OURSELVES FOR BLESSINGS.
When you look at the word commitment, you will realize that many people no longer commit these days. They just hang on. That is why as soon as what they do not want happens, they are out.
Pastors no longer commit themselves to their members or Churches. Members no longer commit themselves to their pastors or Churches. We make quick promises with our mouths but deny we ever made them with our lives, making it difficult for even the loving God to commit blessings and other sacred things to us.
In the kingdom, if you do not commit you are not entitled to anything. There are things heaven will never SUBMIT to us until we COMMIT or become committed.
As a marriage minister, I have come to discover that one factor that is keeping many single, or making those who got married not to stay married, is lack of commitment. A man of God once said, “People no longer get married these days.” and I concur with him, because marriage without commitment is a mirage.
I believe strongly that people no longer get married; they only march to the altar or look at themselves and exchange empty vows – vows they will never keep – then go to live together without committing to themselves (and maybe bear Children) and then tear themselves apart afterwards.
One of the greatest plagues that is upon us today as humans is lack of commitment to what is right in God’s eyes. Obviously, it is not helping us! It is hurting us very badly ad we are not ready to repent.
For instance, lack of commitment is the reason we have Children without parents. It is the reason for broken homes and broken hearts. A young man will impregnate a young woman and not commit himself to her, resulting in what the society calls “a fatherless Child.” But the truth is, there is no fatherless child, we only have children with non-committed fathers.
SADLY, WE DO NOT KNOW THAT COMMITMENT IS WHAT SHOULD QUALIFY A MAN TO PUT HIS SEED IN A WOMAN.
On the flip side, commitment is what should qualify a woman to open her legs to a man, not the satisfaction of sexual desire. But we all do what God created to be done between two committed people, within a marriage covenant, just to satisfy our carnal desires.
If Ladies stop men who will not commit to them take them to bed or march them to the altar, and if men stop women who will not commit to them from seducing them to the bed, or to the marriage altar, it will reduce a lot of pain on the face of the earth.
So many children are owned by parents who are not committed to them, leading to a lot of crises in their lives. Anyone who lacks commitment should never go into a relationship.
I submit that if Pastors stop joining people who will not commit to their marriages in marriage, it will save unborn children from the perils of life. Commitment is the glue that keeps any relationship together, especially when things goes sour.
Yes, genuine commitment to a course is not known when things are rosy and great. It is only known when things become ugly.
We are all guilty of lack of commitment in one way or the other. We forget that commitment is the force that pulls things from heaven to earth. It is the very salt of Christianity. Christianity without commitment (to the will and ways of the LORD) is deception.
God will always bless the committed and judge those who are not committed.
Our devotional text revealed how committed Ruth was, and the Bible made it clear that she became one of the maternal roots of David. It is through the commitment of those God has called and appointed that Heaven commit things to the earth. Vision without commitment will never be fulfilled.
Commitment is an unknown preservative of destiny.
Marriage without commitment will never be blissful. Prayer without commitment to God will never get answers from Heaven. If you remove commitment from anything in Christ, it will die without any attack from the devil. That is how things that are even God’s will die in the hands of many.
This morning God is calling on us to commit ourselves because He wants to submit things to us. Yes, we have to enter the coming year with fresh levels of commitment to the LORD, to our wives, to our husbands, to our children, to our pastors, to our members, to our staffs, to our bosses, and etc.
If you are looking for a word from God for your life today, and for the years to come; a word to guide you for the rest of your life. You have juts found one.
THAT WORD IS; “COMMITMENT! “COMMITMENT! COMMITMENT!”
It will keep you through and through. It will turn your life around for good, and make your Christian life beautiful. Without it, you might remain stagnant in life and never be able to succeed in anything. Commitment to a right course is one way we break from stagnancy and move forward in Life.
Commitment is what separates men from boys and women from girls.
It is commitment that separates the responsible from the irresponsible. If you will commit to that thing that God has given you; that marriage, that business, that Church, that vision in your heart, or that job, no matter the cost, you will stumble into blessings that will amaze you. God will begin to submit grace dimensions, prosperity, access to the high places of the earth, and never withhold any good thing form you.
If you will commit to that pregnancy, that child you gave birth to, that career you are pursuing, God will commit uncommon blessings to you. God does not commit heavenly things to the prayerful, God commit heavenly things to the committed who live their days from the prayer knee.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
“Then he said, “Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich.
And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.” Ruth 3:10-11 NKJV