TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 9th DECEMBER 2024)
And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Genesis 2:18 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 344TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Yes, it is not good to be alone without God. Thank God He has been with us all the year. We have indeed not been alone. He has been our constant companion. That is why we are alive.
His kindness has kept us, His power is perfecting us every day, His grace is guiding us and His mercy molding us into what he wants us to be. His glory on the other hand is making sure we are not put to shame. He has been all over us, with His beauty, love and compassion.
Today we will be refreshing our minds on matters of relationship.
One of the blessings you will need in the coming year is the blessing of people, good people the LORD would have to touch and place in your life. People who will serve as His ministers to the different areas of your life that will need help in the coming year.
You see, faith and Obedience are the currencies of the Spirit. In other words, if you want to get anything from God, you will need to walk in faith and obedience. If you want to operate powerfully in the Holy Spirit, you will need to walk by faith, and live a life of submission and obedience to God’s will, ways and word.
But relationship is the currency of the earth. It is the bridge upon which all things flow from God to us. That is why everyone who was blessed in the Bible, had God given people doing one thing or the other in their lives.
After having a good pastor over your life as a child of God, the next most important thing to have in the coming year is people – people God has touched to touch your life and bring to pass the manifestation of His perfect will for your life.
ONE OF THE GREATEST BLESSINGS YOU CAN HAVE ON EARTH IS NOT ALWAYS MONEY BUT MEN; NOT PROVISION BUT PEOPLE.
For instance, a good family is better than a good plot of land, a certificate, some money, and etc. because none of that can do what a good family can do in your life. That was why God said, it is not good for man to be alone, that is to be without a family, despite the richness of the Garden of Eden.
God had to create a family for Him despite him having a beautiful Garden to make His life blissful on earth. God never designed a man to be alone. He never designed a man to be without a family.
When we say family, we are using that word in a broad sense. It is not limited to blood relatives. Your family is not always those you are related to by blood. The word family means a group of people related by birth, marriage, adoption, or any common good. That common good could be God, because God is good.
So, we can be family because we all believe in Christ, walk in His ways and do His blessed will. We can be family because God created man to need a family to live out His will. He created us to need family to become all He called or designed us to be.
People who say they do not need people are missing it. Yes, you may not need bad people, but you need people in your life. You need people who will function as blessed and eventful personalities in your life, to become a person – the person God wants you to be. I have said that repeatedly.
You need people Heaven designed from the foundation of the world, to be part of your life on earth, in other to become a person Heaven designed you to be from the foundation of the world.
Abraham needed his three friends to be what God called him to be. You will need people to become that person God has created you to be. David needed Jonathan during His moment of trial with King Saul, Elijah needed Elisha to prolong His legacy, while Elisha needed Elijah to become a legacy prophet.
Paul needed Timothy and Titus, and some other people who travelled with him as ministry companions.
The entire early Church needed Paul to be established in the doctrine of Christ. So, do not say you do not need people. You need people to be healed, you need people to be born again and stay born again, you need people to be prosperous on earth, you need people to be protected and to be all the good God desires you to be.
YES, YOU NEED PEOPLE, AND YOU WILL NEED PEOPLE IN 2025.
Pray the LORD to bless you with those special people, if you do not have them already. Some will be needed for a short time, maybe just for few weeks, months or years. But there are those who you will need for a life time. You must discern the difference and learn to stick to people for the duration the LORD brought them to be in your life.
That was what Ruth knew. Which was why she never let go, despite the adversity that had happened to her in her marriage. She knew she did not need Naomi for a month, year, or years. She knew she never needed her for a long time. She knew she needed her for a life time.
She also knew that you do not walk away from someone you need for a life time even if they give you reason to walk away. She knew if you do, your life will lose alignment, sometimes eternally. She definitely knew the cost of letting someone you need for a life time go away, hence determined not to let Naomi go away without her.
The Bible says;
“But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, would you wait for them till they were grown?
Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me!”
Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”
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.”
When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her. Ruth 1:11-18 NKJV
THE WOMAN WAS DETERMINED BECAUSE SHE KNEW NAOMI WAS A LIFE TIME AND NOT A LONG OR SHORT TIME RELATIONSHIP.
You must learn to discern the duration of any God given relationship, and allow it to serve its purpose for your life during the time. Doing so will bless you significantly. It will give your life the flavor its needs to become beautiful, prosperous, and all God designed it to be.
Ruth would later become part of the maternal roots of Christ because of her decision to stick to who she realized she needed for a life time. You must stick to a God given person, church, or system you need for a life time to become what God wants you to be for a life time. That is the message.
Ruth’s words and actions provides a guide on how we are to treat people we need for a life time, and how to be determined to stick to them. I reiterate again that you do not walk away from the life of someone you need for a life time, no matter the adversity.
Check out those who have left spouses they never knew they needed for a life time, jobs they never knew the needed for a life time, churches they never knew they needed for a life time, pastors they never knew the needed for a life time, spiritual authorities they never knew they needed for a life time, business contacts they never knew they needed for a life time, and etc. You will discover that they are not fine at all.
For many, its death and destruction. For others, it’s a life of perils and dissatisfaction. For most others its worse. All that they try to do does not really give them stability, peace or good success in life. They are disorganized and always in company with the wrong people.
Which reminds me of Lot. He never knew he needed Abraham for a life time.
Sadly, he allowed his prosperity to create the strife that separated him from Abraham. He would later find himself with the wrong people; he would later find himself living in Sodom, and eventually on the mountains alone with his two daughters who he even impregnated without knowing.
He ended up as an old man full of misery.
The life of Lot is a lesson that if you walk away from people you need for a life time, you will not live your days in total peace. You might end up with people and perils that will wipe away your God given glory. So, do not depart from those you need for a life time. Be humble enough to let them know you need them for a life time and behave yourself properly. That is the message.
MAY THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
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