TODAY’S DEVOTION (Saturday 4th January 2025)
“Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:3-4 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 4TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY.
We give God the glory for bringing us to the first weekend of the year. What a joy!!!! We believe the rest of the weekends have been given to us as well. It’s been three days of peace. That explains what the rest of the days holds.
The start of our devotional this year, instructed us to keep our lives in the Hands of the Holy Spirit. We understood that His hands formed us in our mother’s womb, and only His hands can keep us safe in a trouble world.
It may interest you to know that He also scheduled our days long before our great grandparents thought of getting together to conceive whoever became our maternal and paternal roots. He also scheduled our days. Meaning, 2025 was scheduled long before it came. We are therefore expected to spend the year as scheduled.
People who do not live their years as scheduled, will always have a bad year. Life will be full of trouble if we spend our days outside the schedule of God for them. That was what our Bible fathers knew.
One major benefit of placing our lives in the hands of the Holy Spirit is how He helps us to live our days; He will help us to live them as scheduled. That is why if you want to spend your days according to God’s schedule for them, you must keep your life in the hands of the Holy Spirit.
One of the things that the leaders of the early church tried doing in their days was to keep their lives in the hands of the Holy Spirit. They never allowed anything to creep into their faith and destroy their relationship with the Blessed Spirit of God.
One of the things they did to remain in His hands was to go deep in their walk and talk with God! If you are deep with God, you will not be carnally minded. You will be spiritually minded. You will not be swallowed by sense and reason without the Holy Spirit. You will live your days crucifying the flesh.
Beautifully, there is a remnant that has seen these things in the Spirit in our days, and are adjusting their lives and getting closer and closer to God. Majority have responded to the call of God to go deep in their walk with Him.
I PRAY THAT YOU BECOME PART OF THAT REMNANT IN 2025!
Friend, intimacy with God is what eliminates carnality. Intimacy with God guarantees Heaven. But today we are going a step further.
When I look at the book of Genesis Chapter 1 and 2, and see how mankind ought to be, and compare it with how we have all become now, I cannot but feel so sorry for myself and the entire human race. There are certain things sin brought upon us and the entire creation that only the consummation of all things can cure.
The limitations and impact the fall created in us is yet to be understood.
For instance, mankind was created to live forever; spirit soul and body. But when man fell, only our spirits and souls remained immortal. The body became mortal. It became possible to be sick, poor, or grow old, and even die.
Before now, it was impossible for any of that to befall man. He lived in the glory and since there was no time in the glory environment he lived, there was no death. In other words, it was impossible for natural life to come to an end, because nothing comes to an end under the glory.
The glory is the fullness of God on display, and since God cannot die or come to an end, everything under the glory cannot die or come to an end. The good news is God wants us back in the glory. He wants us back in the very realm we fell from.
The Holy Spirit was given to help us live in, or from that realm, as we travel through time. That is why you must make Him your greatest companion this year.
The journey back to the glory begins from the place of accepting Jesus Christ as LORD and savior and pressing on through unbroken intimacy with God, until you find your sit in the heavenly places and sit spiritually and mentally with Christ. That is why we are refreshing our minds today with matters of deep intimacy with the LORD.
Our devotional text today was a spiritual decision the leaders of the early Church took to maintain their faith position, when the challenges that comes with ministry growth met them; the challenge of managing people.
WHEN GROWTH CAME, THEIR CHANCES OF SPENDING QUALITY TIME WITH GOD CAME UNDER THREAT, THEY REACTED WISELY.
You see, when your prayer life starts bearing fruits, there are chances that you will get up from your knees, and start living your days in carnal pleasure. But not these early Church leaders who knew the key to survival and were not willing to trade it for anything.
A major highlight in the devotional text said, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” I submit to us that if we spend this year, giving our selves to prayer and to the ministry of the word, things will be fine.
If we live our days from a cultivated consistent prayer life, and the habit of feeding ourselves continuously with the word, we will find ourselves in the deeper places of the Spirit one day, each day and live our lives according to divine schedules.
When you give yourself to prayer and to the ministry of the word, you will begin to touch the glory. When you begin to touch the glory, your God given potentials will begin to come out. That is when age will begin to give way and you start looking younger than your peers.
You will begin to operate in the supernatural, and see Heavenly things made manifest in your life in quick succession. There are no words to accurately describe the glory you will be in if you live your days giving yourself to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
The ministry of the word is enabled by teaching prophets and apostles in the Church. Prayer is enabled by your heart being yielded to the Spirit of God.
The ministry of the word will give you wisdom, while prayer will give you power. Like we said in the day two of our 30 special days with Jesus, we need both wisdom and power to succeed in life. Power alone will never help, and wisdom alone will never help. We need both.
One takes care of the natural, the other takes care of the supernatural. One takes care of the visible, the other takes care of the invisible. You will need to give yourself to prayer and to the ministry of the word this year, so that you will have what it takes to take care of the natural and the supernatural.
It is when we have the Heavenly graces to take care of the natural and the supernatural, the visible and the invisible, that we can do the impossible, and have one of the best years we have ever seen in life.
May the year 2025, be one of the best years you have ever seen in life. Amen!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever.
He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.
He has given food to those who fear Him; He will ever be mindful of His covenant. He has declared to His people the power of His works, In giving them the heritage of the nations.” Psalm 111:2-6 NKJV