TODAY’S DEVOTION (Wednesday 16th April 2025)
“Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.
Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.” Acts 16:29-35 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 106th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY
Since the beginning of this year, the LORD has been speaking to us on so many issues of spiritual importance. The core of one of the most important truths we have learned on this platform this year, centers around the use of delegated control.
When the God of Heaven and earth comes down by His Spirit to tell you that He is not in total control of your life but in sovereign control, and that He delegated some controls of your life to you so that you can use it under His direction to make it what He wants it to be, over half of your problems will be solved.
You will realize that many things that you are praying about that He does are in your power to do. You only need to seek Him for direction on how to get them done. That is why Psalm 23:1 is very important to our lives as children of God.
If the LORD leads you on how to use His delegated control in your life, you shall not lack. Yes, you shall not lack even victory over your enemies. They will come to you in one way but flee in seven ways! Meaning if we are lacking anything in our lives, be it peace, prosperity, joy, protection, good marriages, success, etc., we are not listening to Him.
In other words, He is not the one leading us in our use of His delegated control in our lives. Our carnal nature is leading us.
The Bible indeed made it clear that if our carnal natures lead us, it will produce death in our lives. In other word we will use God’s delegated control in our lives to produce moral corruption in us and even in the lives of others. Death also means absence of life.
If our carnal nature leads us, it will produce an absence of life in everything we do, and in every aspect of our lives.
It will produce death or decay in our economic lives, in our marriages, in our churches, in our careers, in our relationships, in everything! Making life unbearable. To be carnally minded is really death. It has a way of killing everything in our lives that has life in it.
THAT WAS WHY PAUL WROTE TO THE CHURCH AT ROME SAYING:
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:5-8 NKJV
One major thing that we should not hand over God’s delegated control in our authority to (or our lives to) is our carnal mind.
If we allow our carnal minds determine how we run our lives or handle God’s delegated control in our possession, we have handed over our lives to one of the enemies of God. And it will not be well with us.
The Bible says the carnal mind is enmity against God. If you allow it to control your life, you have handed your life to one of the enemies of God, and you will be ruined over time. That is why we have men and women with broken lives all over the place.
Understand that you could be free from Satan, God’s arch enemy. But if your life is not free from your carnal mind, you are still under the grip of an enemy of God. This time an enemy that is part of your being.
Most times we point our fingers at the enemies without – our destroyers, our betrayers, our haters etc., but forget the one within. The one within is more dangerous. The carnal mind is the enemy within. He is against God hence will never allow anything that is of God to move well and smoothly. It will seek to kill it.
That is why when we hand over God’s delegated control to our carnal minds, we start failing and then dying.
The Heavenly approved system for guiding God’s delegated control in our lives is the Spirit of God within us. People who listen to Him before determining what to do will never ruin their lives. That is why I consider listening as one of the best things to do when walking with God. I hope you understand me.
GOD SAID TO THE JEWS (AND INDIRECTLY TO US);
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
“But My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels.
“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.” Psalms 81:10-14 NKJV
The best thing to do when walking with God is to listen, not even to pray. It’s just that you cannot come to the realm of listening without praying. Listening is one of the best forms of worship. That is why if God want to make you a worshiper, He will first teach you to listen to Him. He will not teach you how to play a musical instrument.
Sadly, many of us do not know that. We think singing is worship. But like I have always taught, worship is not singing, worship is living. Spending time in prayer to listen to God on how to direct the issues of your life is a major form of worship.
If you look at the scripture above carefully, you will realize that the blessings that come our way when we listen to God are much more than the ones that comes when we pray to Him without listening.
Listening will help us direct God’s delegated control in our lives properly, after we have prayed.
Sometimes we wonder why we pray and do not see the answers. One of the major reasons is this, we pray without listening to God.
When you pray without listening to God for instructions or direction, you will always use God’s delegated control in your life to hinder the answers to your prayer. You will ask God for something then do another thing to cancel your request.
Sadly, that is the dilemma of many Christians today. They are good prayer warriors but very bad decision makers – they do not know how to use God’s delegated control in their lives properly.
A GOOD PRAYER WARRIOR WHO IS A BAD DECISION MAKER WILL END UP IN MISERY THAT NO ONE CAN BRING HIM OR HER OUT.
Good decision making must be added to good praying for the things we seek GOD for to be done in our lives. Good decision making is the proper use of God’s delegated control in our lives. It involves knowing what to do to be protected by God, preserved by His power, healed from any diseases, made successful or saved from eternal damnation. And all that comes by listening to God or to men who listen to God.
It pays to listen to God or to men who listen to God! Paul the apostle was one of the men who listened to GOD in his generation as many as listened to him got the best of GOD in this life and the life after.
Our devotional text is about one of such men who listened to him. The man used what Paul told him to properly direct GOD’s delegated control in his life and got himself and entire family saved, without uprooting an altar or sowing any financial seed.
A major highlight in the text says,
“And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
It pays to listen to God or to men who listen to God. Listening is a major part of a man’s walk and talk with God. If this part does not exist in your relationship with God, there are blessings you will never come into in Christ.
Men who cannot hear God directly or accurately, are to have men who listen to God and hear Him accurately so they can grow and start hearing God accurately and directly. That is the system of God. Sadly, there are people who do not listen to God who will always want to direct us on what ‘God’ is saying. We must be careful of them.
Also, among the clergy, there are men who listen to God and there are those who listen to money; they listen to their greed and covetousness and ask people to sow all kinds of seeds to be saved from one thing or the other.
Men who listen to God will tell you the right thing to do to be saved but those who listen to greed and covetousness will tell you the money thing to do to be saved. We must be careful.
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.” Psalms 81:14 NKJV