TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 30TH DECEMBER 2024)
“Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.”
“Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.” Isaiah 5:13-14 KJV
WELCOME TO THE 365TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT
I woke up this morning wondering why today is the 365th day of the year, while we were not yet in December 31st. Then I checked my Calendar to verify the day. That was when I realized that the year had been a leap year.
I said to my self, you mean we have been living in a leap year? Wao. How did I forget that? I remember emphasizing the prophetic significance of this kind of year that comes once in four years in February this year.
Indeed, the LORD have been mindful of us. We are still here because He has been mindful of us.
A lot happened this year, both in heaven, on earth and beneath the earth or the underworld. All of these three realms had eternal events in them this year. The realm of heaven and the underworld, received the souls that left the earth this year. Those who went to Heaven were welcome by the LORD, and those who went to the underworld, welcomed by the evil one.
The Bible admonished everyone to live their days on earth having that in mind. It will be unwise for any man not to keep that at the centre of their hearts the way I did not keep the fact that the year had been a leap year at the centre of my heart.
The word of the LORD admonished everyone to have it in mind that one day each and everyone of us will come to the end of their days, and the destiny for some will be the underworld, where the devil resides with the souls of those he misled while they lived in their bodies, and the destiny of others will be heaven, where Christ sits with the souls of those who worshiped Him, or live their days doing His blessed will while living in their bodies.
One of the beings that knows this very well is the devil himself. He lives each day doing what the Bible says we should do but in another way. He lives each day having the end of each person’s days at the centre of his heart, and fighting to make sure none of us make it to be with the LORD when we fulfill our days, but rather be with him.
That is why he is working over time to achieve the eternal feat of having as many souls as possible in the underworld when they die, where they are lost with him forever.
The gospel of the Kingdom and the power of our LORD and saviour Jesus Christ is to defeat this plan of the devil; it is to make sure that the enemy does not fulfill his expectation of having our souls with him in the underworld when we die. That is why God has given us the Bible, His holy Spirit, the Church and our will as eternal facilities for defeating this plan of the enemy.
MEN AND SYSTEMS THAT ARE SUBMISSIVE TO THE DEVIL ARE BEING USED BY HIM TO KEEP PEOPLE IN IGNORANCE OF THE INEVITABLE.
The enemy is using both to plant the fear of death in people, for the purpose of preventing them from preparing for the next life by living their days in such a way that they will be with Jesus in heaven when they die.
He knows that if one is not living for the LORD, he or she will be with him in the underworld when they die. He does so much to achieve that, including the act of planting the fear of death in the hearts of many, to prevent them from living for the LORD. That is why there is no fear of death in the heart of those who are in Christ.
The reason Jesus takes away the fear of death from people who worship or live for Him, is to keep them out of moral bondage and ready for the inevitable. The Bible says,
“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Hebrews 2:14-15 NKJV
You can see in this scripture that it is through the fear of death that people are subject to bondage. One of the bondages is the bondage of being careless about eternal judgments and consequently, living a life of sin and calling it pleasure.
To this end, men and women who know of what lies ahead of the human race, are submitting their lives to the God of Heaven and Earth, and dying the necessary death to live for the LORD on daily bases, ready for the inevitable, and walking with the Holy Spirit to seek and to save that which was lost. God wants you to be part of this breed, and remain part of them.
IF YOU ARE PREPARING FOR 2025, THAT IS WAY TO PREPARE.
Prepare to be part of these men and women, if you are not yet part of them. If you are part of them, prepare to remain part of them. Do not step into the New year as part of those who will find their souls in the underworld with the devil in the new year. People who live that way usually go through things from the underworld.
They go through spiritual attacks from the underworld, diseases from the underworld, pain and sorrows from the underworld, death and destruction from the underworld, lack and poverty from the underworld, marital headaches from the underworld, career failure masterminded by the underworld and etc.
Some receive prosperity from the underworld, success and fame from the underworld, and so many other ‘good things’ described in scriptures as the prosperity of the wicked or the pleasure of Egypt. If nothing comes from the underworld to our world, Jesus would not have gone there to defeat the devil. The Bible says;
Therefore, He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”
(Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) Ephesians 4:8-10 NKJV
This scripture teaches that Christ descended to the underworld because battles are raging their as well. It happened during the three days and nights He was dead. His Spirit went there to release the souls of the righteous; those who through the laws of the fall of man were subject to the bondage. He went there to conquer the devil and release them.
So, things do come from the underworld to the world of men and women on planet earth, and when they do, they alter the course of their lives on earth. This will be happening in 2025, just as it happened this year. You must understand that live and your days in Christ for your security.
The things that will come from the underworld to our world in 2025 will be more terrific.
They will take away the lives of some, and destroy the lives of others. They will destroy marriages, governments, systems, economies, and spread immoral behaviour among the youths as never before. God is sending this to show us why we must not live our lives in sin, but in Christ.
Yes, we must not live a life that keeps people on the lanes of life that receive dark visitations from the underworld.
WE MUST LIVE LIVES THAT PREVENTS THE VISITATIONS FROM HAPPENING TO US.
If you want things from heaven; the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places to be made manifest in your life in 2025, you must live for the LORD and Him alone. There should be no middle ground. You must join those why are dying the necessary death that is required to survive such visitations from hell. That is the word of the LORD!!!
The Bible teaches that;
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”
“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” Psalm 1:1-3 NKJV
If you want to live your days in the coming year where nothing from the underworld will visit your life, then you must follow what this scripture teaches. You must not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the way of sinners, not sit in the seat of those who scorn at the word of the LORD.
Your heart must feed on the word of the LORD, day and night, so that you will be encountering the Knowledge that will enable you to live your days in 2025, like a tree that is planted by the river of waters, that brings forth its fruits in its season; whose leaves does not wither.
He wants you to live in a realm of grace where all you do within His will prospers, despite the visitations from the underworld. Hallelujah!!
Our devotional text presents one reason why people sink into the realm of hell or hades; or the underworld. It teaches that they do so because they have no knowledge; the very knowledge that one should get by feeding their hearts with the laws of the LORD, day and night.
I believe today is the right time for each and everyone of us to take a personal responsibility of our hearts (if we have not done so), and begin to feed it with what the LORD said we should feed it with day and night. He said we should feed it with His laws or ways to live by, day and night. If we do, we will have the best of God in 2025.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!!
“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.
Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:5-8 NKJV