TODAY’S DEVOTION (Tuesday 15th April 2025)
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6
WELCOME TO THE 105TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY
It’s been God’s goodness all along. What a beautiful week that the LORD has given us! A week that will end with another Passover or Esther celebrations. I believe it will be full of God’s mercy and marvelous deeds as well.
I trust Him to keep giving us a word in season through this devotional, even as we feed our spirits with what He has prepared for us today!
There are certain menus that look too good to be consumed. If you ask everyone with a degree in “food consumption” you will hear that. I used to have that degree until I lost it to maturity and praying and fasting. Today I no longer eat like I did when I was younger. But in my days of gluttony, I knew there were certain menus that were too good to be consumed.
I remember one meal that I took a good picture of before eating. There was no social media then, maybe I would have posted it there like many with that degree do today.
Now, if you translate this to the realm of consuming the spiritual food of God’s word and promises, you will realize that there are certain scriptures about the results of a man’s walk with God that sometimes sound too good to be true.
In the light of what earthly life has become, these scriptures indeed look unbelievable. Like the scripture of our devotional text this morning. It says:
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Now wait a minute! The house of God is not a building but the place of His manifest presence. That means one can live in God’s manifest presence all the days of His life and see God’s goodness and mercies following Him to help him do that. That is too good to be true. But it’s very true!
When God’s goodness and mercies follow you, the curses of your father’s house will not follow you. There is no devil, evil, or successful satanic assault that will follow you if God’s goodness and mercies are following you. The reason bad things follow people is revealed in that scripture.
THE PEOPLE ARE NOT FOLLOWED BY GOD’S GOODNESS AND MERCIES HENCE BEING FOLLOWED BY BAD THINGS.
You find whatever that is occurring in people’s lives following them into marriages, jobs, fresh relationships, etc., bringing down any good thing that may be happening.
If we do not want bad things to be following us in life, or to follow us into good places or new phases of life, like a new job, a marriage, membership in a new church, opening of a new business, etc., we must live lives that will allow God’s goodness and mercies to be following us.
The kind of life to live can be found in the first few verses of the Psalm of our devotional text. It says:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Psalms 23:1-3 NKJV
One thing that is common in this scripture is divine direction or leading. If we live lives that are directed by the LORD, His Spirit, the knowledge of His will, His ways and His words, nothing bad will follow us successfully.
We will find ourselves walking in wisdom from above. We have shared in our previous devotionals that divine wisdom from above is the missing ingredient in the lives of so many today. People are not truly having the LORD as their shepherd in the everyday life decisions they make.
Is the LORD your Shepherd? Are the decisions you make daily governed by His Holy Spirit? Is the knowledge of His will guiding you in what you do or say? Is the revelation of His ways the reason for your day-to-day decisions? Do you have such light at all?
IF YOU DO, THEN THE LORD IS YOUR LIGHT. IF YOU DO NOT, THEN HE IS NOT YOUR LIGHT.
The Bible says:
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell.” Psalm 27:1-2 NKJV
If the LORD is your light, this scripture tells us what will happen in your life. Whatever that might be following or coming against you to eat up your flesh (the things that give shape and beauty to your earthly life), will be stumbling and falling.
No weapon formed against you shall prosper.
Friend, our world is full of evil and all forms of wickedness. We cannot survive it if we do not have the LORD as our light. But He cannot be our light if He is not our Shepherd.
The LORD is our Shepherd if His Spirit guides us, and the knowledge of His will, word, and ways governs our decisions. One of the many things that the early Church majored in was in training the disciples to know Him intimately and walk in the knowledge of His will, word, and ways.
If we are guided by the Spirit of the LORD, and our thoughts filled with the knowledge of God’s word, will, and ways, we will be able to follow divine direction in all we do. When we follow divine direction, that means the LORD is our shepherd. I hope you understand me!!
People usually recite the Psalm (Psalm 23) starting with those words, “the LORD is my Shepherd,” when in trouble. It’s a good thing but not always the best thing to do, because not all comes out well despite reciting it. Protection might not come by reciting a Psalm, it will come by walking in the knowledge of God’s word, will, and ways, and following the directions of His Holy Spirit.
When we walk in the knowledge of God’s word, will and ways, and follow the direction of the Holy Spirit, we are walking in divine direction. Divine direction is God’s way of helping us walk out of trouble, walk into miracles, do the impossible, prosper during the worse economic situation, marry the right person, and keep doing the right things.
DIVINE DIRECTION HAS A WAY OF TURNING THINGS AROUND IN OUR LIVES.
That was why Mary once told those who sat around Jesus in need of a miracle in John chapter 2 “Whatever He tells you to do, do.” Divine direction is doing whatever God tells you to do.
It is a major source or aspect of divine wisdom. It is one of the catalysts of the protection, economic prosperity and peace of the righteous. If you are not divinely directed on how to lead your life, you will always lead yourself into trouble. Except to fulfill a divine purpose, God does not lead us into trouble.
Wise Christians are men and women who know how to follow divine direction and use it to manage their lives. Your life is a product of the quality of your decisions. If your decisions are divinely directed, they will produce amazing things in your life.
As we bring this to a close, understand that sometimes one instruction from God is all we need to turn things around in our lives.
If you can bend your spiritual ears to the LORD and pick the right word from His heart every day of your life this year, you will end up with a brighter life by the end of year. May this day be a blessing in your life in Jesus precious name! Amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY.
“The Lord God has given Me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear To hear as the learned.
The Lord God has opened My ear; And I was not rebellious, Nor did I turn away.” Isaiah 50:4-5 NKJV