THE CRY OF THE SPIRIT DEVOTIONALS – BY RICHARD E. S. TAKIM

TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 26TH FEBRUARY 2025)

I will bless the Lord, who has given me counsel; yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory [my inner self] rejoices; my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety, For You will not abandon me to Sheol (the place of the dead), neither will You suffer Your holy one [Holy One] to see corruption.

You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Psalms 16:7-11 AMP

WELCOME TO THE 57TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY

It’s been a journey, and the LORD have been faithful in fulfilling His word in our lives. If it was man that was sustaining us, he would have complained so bitterly and even abandon us with all our troubles. But God is not a man. He is full of power, grace, mercy, compassion and very patient.

Man was not originally designed to be sustained by man. Man was originally designed to be sustained by God. That is why no man can perpetually sustain another. We naturally run into trouble as Children of God when we try to become the perpetual sustainers of others.

We function better when we trust God and make Him our sustainer. The Bible says,

“So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages]” Isaiah 26:4 AMP

If GOD is our ideal sustainer, then we have no choice than to trust in Him. He would not be an option but the only one we have and will always have.

We must discipline ourselves to commit to Him through consistent prayers. We must learn how to spend our days leaning on Him, consulting His Holy Spirit before making life decisions, and hoping confidently in Him. The reason for all that is simple; man was not designed to be sustained by man. Man was designed to be sustained by God.

We must all understand that to be sustained by God does not necessarily happen by giving an offering or going to Church. It’s good to go to church and serve God with our substance. There is a huge blessing in doing so.

BUT TO BE SUSTAINED BY GOD ONLY HAPPEN WHEN WE TRUST IN HIM.

Trusting in Him will involve “setting the LORD always before you” and making sure He is at your right hand. These things have deeper meanings. A highlight in our devotional text says,

“I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Psalm 16:8

You can go to church or give an offering even sacrificially without setting the LORD always before you or making sure He is at your right hand. But you cannot set the LORD always before you and make sure He is at your right hand without doing both unconditionally.

If you do not understand the statement, please go over it again. You may have heard or read that God is our “Rock” but have not experienced Him as Such. Well, we can only see His manifestations in our lives as the Rock when we “set Him always before us” and make sure “He is at our right hand all the time.”

People who experience Him as the ROCK do not fail in life. They do not labor in vain and bring forth trouble. Even if they fall seven times, they have a way of bouncing back into a more glorious life than what they had before.

It is the manifestation of GOD as the ROCK in our lives that prevents us from sinking. Sadly, that is the missing manifestation in the lives of many today. That is why we must be determined to set the LORD always before us and make sure He is at our right hand all the time.

Now, how do we do that? Do we do that by putting the photos of some preachers before us, or what? You see, to set the LORD always before you simply mean, “to make Him your focus and highest priority in life.”

To make sure He is at your right hand means “to cultivate the royal habit of seeking His will concerning any direction or decision you want to take in life before taking it.” It’s as simple as that!

PEOPLE WHO LIVE THEIR CHRISTIAN LIVES THAT WAY WILL NEVER BE MOVED!

They will always see the manifestation of the LORD as the ROCK whenever the enemy strikes or the perils of an unstable world come upon them. The Psalmist puts it this way;

“Therefore my heart is glad and my glory [my inner self] rejoices; my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety,

For You will not abandon me to Sheol (the place of the dead), neither will You suffer Your holy one [Holy One] to see corruption. You will show me the path of life;” (Psalm 11:9-11 NKJV) Hallelujah!

If you make Jesus your focus and Highest priority in life; if you make sure He guides your decisions and directions in life, your heart or inner self will always rejoice even when things are not okay with you, thereby promoting your health.

And come to think of it, the Bible made it clear that God will not leave you in Sheol. The word describes the abode of the dead and speaks of God not leaving Christ in the abode of the death. But it also has a message for us.

Sheol can also be used to describe any circumstance that is simply a reflection of the place of the dead itself. The Bible says our LORD Jesus Christ will not leave us there. It also says He will not allow any of us to see a permanent moral decay or corruption.

He will always show us the path of life in the midst of any attack from hell and bring us out gloriously. Hallelujah!

It really pays to set the LORD always before you and to make sure He is at your right hand all the time. But from a major Highlight in our devotional text, it’s clear that no one can do that without being schooled in the things of God. The highlight says,

“I will bless the Lord, Who has given me counsel; yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Psalms 16:7-8 AMP

Before the Psalmist could set the LORD continually before Him and see Him at his right hand, he was given counsel and instructed in the night season by the LORD. That was “schooling in the things of God.” However, it was “Schooling at Advance Level.”

This schooling type takes place in the Spirit realm where the LORD Himself is the Teacher. In my opinion, that is the ultimate way to be schooled in the things of God.

Everyone who did one exploit or the other in God was schooled this way; from Enoch who walked with God and was not, to Noah who built the ark to save the ancient world. From Moses to Joshua and to the rest of the Old and New Testament Generals of faith, the list is endless.

You cannot be schooled this way and not set the LORD always before you or see Him at your right Hand.

Schooling at advance level is one of the ways we worship God in Spirit and in truth. I call that Spirit (of God) to spirit (of man) communication. It is a schooling that takes place in the deeper places of the Spirit where “deep calls unto deep.”

John the beloved was referring to this advanced way of schooling when he wrote saying.

“But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.” 1 John 2:27 NKJV

God indeed promised through the prophet Ezekiel that He will write His laws in our hearts, and we will not need anyone to teach us again. Hebrew would later confirm that to be the true blessing of the covenant of Grace. In other words, this advanced way of schooling is a pathway into the blessing of the covenant of grace.

It’s my prayer that you begin to enjoy the blessing in its fullness in Jesus precious name! AMEN!

LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY;

“And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Hebrews 10:11-17 NKJV