TODAY’S DEVOTION (Wednesday 5th March 2025)
“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go.
“Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:17-18NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 64TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY
It’s been 64 days already and our LORD has been faithful in keeping and sustaining us. His mercy has been upon us, His grace has been oiling our lives, and His power working in and for us. We give Him the glory for all that!!
We cannot ignore what He has been using this platform to do in our lives either. We give Him the glory for the daily word.
When Jesus said, “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceed from the mouth of God” He was showing the us where our spiritual life should be proceeding from. He was establishing that good food takes care of the physical life, but words from Him (His doctrine) takes care of the spiritual.
That explains why the New Testament Church made sound doctrine very important to each believer. They even warned that people will depart from sound doctrine (what proceed from the mouth of Christ) and give heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of devils (what proceeds from the mouth of dark or fallen spirits).
In the days of the Church in the wilderness Israel, the word that proceeded from His mouth came as the doctrine of God taught to them by Moses. They lived by it and walked by it. It shaped their lives and built their homes. It took them from the traditions of the nations around to the traditions of God. In living by it they became God’s special nation on it.
Whoever broke it was broken, whoever kept it was kept. They walked in amazing blessings whenever they kept the doctrine or lived by it and walked in amazing defeat whenever they did not.
JOSHUA WAS TOLD CLEARLY BY GOD THAT HE CAN ONLY PROSPER IF HE FEEDS ON IT DAY AND NIGHT.
God said to him.
“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 1:8 NKJV
He would conquer 31 kings by feeding on what proceeded from the mouth of LORD and written down in what was known to them as the Book of the Law, he would ask the sun and the moon to stand still, and they would obey him. He would go to part the Jordan River and do other great exploits in life.
All that by the energy he contacted from God when he fed on what proceeded from His mouth.
If our lives lack significant events with God, if we are struggling and sorrowing despite serving God, it’s a sign that we are not living our days by what comes out of the mouth of the LORD. We are not feeding on the proceeding word. It is a symptom of lack of the very energy Joshua got from the LORD, when he fed on what proceeded from Him.
We should not blame altars, evil patterns, evil spirits, go to mountains or caves to pray, but get to what the LORD says we should do with our lives; feed it daily with what proceeds from Him. Feed it daily with sound doctrine and govern our lives by sound doctrine.
If you look at the history of Israel, you will realize that each leader who arose and lived by what proceeded out of the mouth of the LORD, got written down and presented to them as the Book of the Law or the doctrine of God, brought great victory to Israel, and unleashed great prosperity.
David lived by it and established a great Kingdom, with prophetic significance that will be fully revealed in the millennium reign of Christ. Solomon had the greatest prosperity in human history when he was living by the proceeding word, book of the law or doctrine, but corrupted everything when he ceased feeding on and living by it.
JOSIAH FOUND IT AT ONE TIME AFTER YEARS OF APOSTACY AND DEPARTURE FROM IT AND WEPT PROFUSELY.
He wept because Israel had not fed and lived by it for years, leading to idolatry and great trouble for the people. He would go to bring amazing reforms after feeding on it and restore God’s outbreaks, favor, prosperity, peace, joy, health, and moves to the nation. That is what we are to do if we want to turn things around in our lives.
His life and ministry as King over Isreal teach that we will feed on other things and become worshipers of the gods that supply those things, if we do not feed on what proceed from the mouth of the LORD. When it comes to what our spirits feed on, there can be no middle ground.
If we are not feeding on what proceeds from the mouth of the LORD, the doctrine of Christ or the laws of the LORD, we will be feeding on what proceeds from the seven gods of the nations. The Bible says.
“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple…More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:7,10 NKJV
How can you put your life in perfect order so that the LORD blesses it with the prosperity you need, without feeding on and living by the laws of the LORD? How can you sweeten the bitter life you have lived or are living with the goodness of the LORD, if you are not feeding and living by the testimony of the LORD?
If things are not working in our life, if devils are feeding on our children’s health, our finances, our marital life, our hopes, our health, our peace or anything that should have made our lives meaningful and blissful, it is because we are feeding on either the doctrines of devils taught by many fathers of faith today, some forms of foolishness, or the cravings of our flesh.
IN LIFE, IT IS WHAT YOU EAT THAT EATS YOU. WHAT YOU DO NOT EAT WILL NEVER EAT YOU!!
If something is eating your life up, it’s because you have eaten something. As believers, we are to feed only on the doctrine of Christ. We are to treat the doctrine of Christ today, the way our fathers before the cross treated the Law in their days. They valued it and respected it.
As a fulfillment of the law, we are to treat the doctrine of Christ more than people treat gold. We are to feed on it and allow it to govern our lives. The doctrine of Christ is the great Salvation we should never neglect but live our days feeding on. The Bible says,
“For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him”, Hebrews 2:2-3 NKJV
What you neglect cannot save you. If you refuse to feed and live by what comes out of the mouth of the LORD, His doctrines, laws or commandments, your prayers cannot save you because they will be useless. You would have to depend on the prayers of others, which is dangerous, sometimes.
A Portion of our devotional text says, “Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” That captures all that the LORD sent this devotional to speak to us today. It tells us why our lives are the way they are.
How we treat what comes out of the mouth of the LORD, His laws, doctrine, etc. is what determines how life treats us. That is the message!!
In conclusion, permit us to say this: the life and ministry of Josiah also teaches that true and lasting reformation, revival or spiritual awakening, only happen when people feed on the proceeding word, or the doctrine of God. It does not just happen by prayer.
The reformation brought about by Martin Luther started when he fed on a scripture in the book of Romans. The Old Testament saints had the book of the Law as their proceeding word from the LORD.
The New Testament Church, which we are part of, has the doctrine of Christ as its own proceeding word from the LORD. Anything outside that will not bless but destroy!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries.
“The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.” Psalms 81:13-16 NKJV