TODAY’S DEVOTION (Wednesday 12th March 2025)
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”
“And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.” Acts 4:13-14 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 71st DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY
It is another day that the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it, because the LORD will be with us and His presence will give us rest.
I think it’s right if you confess that. Say, “the LORD will be with me today, and His presence will give me rest.” Amen.
You can repeat this again and again until it sinks into your heart. Confessions of faith are amazing faith boosters, especially if God’s anointing is on your life.
The rest the presence of God gives is what the Hebrew nation calls Shalom. That is the only nation whose God is the LORD. That is the only nation whose history is intertwin with God’s outbreaks on the face of the earth. It is the only nation whose God is the creator of Heaven and earth.
The next nation is the Holy Nation. The Bible says.
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” 1 Peter 2:9 NKJV
Hallelujah, we are the Holy Nation. The LORD is our God. His presence will go with us today, and always, and it will give us rest.
That presence is the Presence of Jesus Christ, who when we come unto Him, He will give us rest, or Shalom. I think the 1st Century Church knew it so well, that they decided to live their days around the presence of the LORD, the presence of Jesus Christ.
It so changed them that the religious leaders of their day were startled. It made them people who could preach the gospel with power, heal the sick, deliver the oppressed, raise the dead, stop the satanic and the demonic, and walk in such power that everyone got talking.
They delivered men and women from a life of sin and influenced them powerfully to make Jesus the center of their lives. As they were setting others free, they were being lifted by the LORD and glorified. That is how we become when we live our days around the presence of Jesus.
WE WILL NO LONGER LIVE ORDINARY LIVES.
They did impossible things in the lives of people that they stirred up some hate around. Then their haters began to look for the negative in their lives and found one. They accused them of being uneducated and untrained in matters of the law; it was the only negative they saw in them.
But their haters did not understand how God function. They did not know that God does not choose the qualified, God qualifies the chosen. He qualifies them as they build their lives around His presence. This statement is true of me and everyone who is being used of Him today – either educated or uneducated.
Education is good if it has no stain of the spirit of Babylon. It becomes better if you build your life around the presence of the LORD. Both educated or uneducated people can become effective weapons in the hands of the LORD, if they be with Jesus, or build their lives around the presence of the LORD.
The Bible says if we seek Him with the whole of our hearts, He will so transform us that we will become super intelligent.
There is no end to what will happen in our lives if we become men and women of the presence of the LORD. There is no end to the peace we will enjoy even during trouble. There is no end to the miracles we will be seeing, and the impossible things that will be made possible.
There will be no end to the deliverances from sin, Satan and the demonic that we will be experiencing. There will be no end to the goodness of the LORD that we will be experiencing, no end to His favor, kindness, break throughs etc. There will be just no end to our joy and laughter. The Bible says,
“When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing.
Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad.” Psalm 126:1-3 NKJV
ONE OF THE MAJOR BLESSINGS WE WILL ENJOY IS THE BLESSING OF SEEING WHAT GOD SAY COME TO PASS.
When God speak, He speaks from opened portals of Heaven. It is those portals that release the power to perform what He says. They make it possible for the word to come to pass.
When we become men and women of the presence of the LORD, those portals open over us, giving us the measures of God’s presence that is needed for the performance of His word in our lives.
The word of the LORD carries in it an inherent power to perform itself. The Bible says,
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, But water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11 NKJV
As we can see in this scripture, the word of the LORD does have the power to perform itself. But it is the presence of God in our lives that put that power to work. That is why if you do not have the presence, the word might be true but might never come to pass.
You might apply the principle of faith and confession, and still not see the word come to pass. I have seen a lot of believers whose faith and confession is not working, getting very frustrated.
Faith and confession only work without fail after one has become a carrier of God’s manifest presence. That was why nothing Jesus said fell to the ground. Even silent whispers happened, they happened because of the measure of the presence He carried wherever he went.
I believe the message of today’s devotional has been passed. It is my prayer that people will look at the exploits and blessings that the presence of the LORD is making happen in our lives and say to us, “these men have been with Jesus.” Amen and amen!!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” Psalm 42:1-3 NKJV
