TODAY’S DEVOTION (Saturday 17th May 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 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 137TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY
Man was not originally designed to be sustained by man. Man was originally designed to be sustained by God.
God has been sustaining us from day one of this year. I almost called this year a year of battle when the LORD said to me it will be our year of victory. With all we have seen this year, we can clearly understand why He called it a year of victory. It is victory in every battle that may come our way. Hallelujah!!
Our job is to keep trusting the LORD and fixing our hearts on the word He declared to us, the word victory. Yes, we are to keep fixing our hearts there during any storm because He has granted us victory already. In fact, the storms came late because he granted us victory before they came. All we need to do is to trust Him. 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 AMPC
As we keep trusting or committing ourselves and leaning on Him each day of the year, the enemy will never overrun our lives.
If GOD is our victory maker, we have no choice but to trust in Him. Yes, we have no choice but to commit ourselves to Him through consistent prayers, lean on Him through fellowship with the Holy Spirit before making decisions, and hope confidently in Him.
DO NOT SEE ANYONE AS YOUR VICTORY MAKER. MAN WAS NOT DESIGNED TO BE OUR VICTORY MAKER. GOD IS OUR VICTORY MAKER.
Sadly, many do not know that God is the only victory maker we have as humans. They invest their trust and treasures in men trying to motivate them to be their victory maker. Preachers invest their trust in church members, church members invest their trust and treasures in preachers, all do that trying to make each other their victory maker.
Some raise altars at the beckoning of apostles and prophets they have invested their trust in. They do all they are told to do, taking the apostles and prophets to be their victory maker. You find some others running after anointed men and women they have been made to believe are their victory makers.
But the Bible is clear that God is our victory maker. If we do not have Him by our side, it does not matter who might be by our side. If God is by your side, He will be a victory maker for you. The Bible says He will thrust the enemy before us, saying destroy.
It is therefore important that we set Him always before us, not any man. 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
Talking about setting the LORD always before you, it is important to note that you might 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.
The Bible also made it clear that He is our Rock. Yes, you may have heard or read that God is our “Rock.” You will begin to see Him in your life that way if you set the LORD always before you.
PEOPLE WHO EXPERIENCE HIM AS THE ROCK DO NOT FAIL IN LIFE.
They do not labor in vain and bring forth for trouble. Even if they fall seven times, they will bounce back with greater glory. 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 learn 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? The answer is in the scriptures. The Bible teaches that to set the LORD always before you, simply means to make Him your focus and highest priority in life. To make sure He is at your right hand, is to seek His will concerning any direction or decision you want to take in life before taking them. 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 16:9-11 NKJV) Hallelujah!
While this was a messianic scripture that was fulfilled by Christ in the day of His resurrection, there is a prophetic word here for us all.
The scripture also teaches that if we make Jesus our focus and Highest priority in life; if we make sure He guides our decisions and directions in life, our heart or inner self will always rejoice even when things are not okay with us, thereby promoting our health.
Come to think of it, the Bible made it clear that God will not leave us in sheol or any circumstance that is simply a reflection of the place of the dead itself. Neither will He allow our lives to see corruption.
He will always show us the path of life, even during the worse attack from hell and grant us victory. That revelation of the path of life will come as a counsel or an instruction that a man’s heart receives from the LORD in the night season of life.
WE FIND THAT IN OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT THAT 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 AMPC
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 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 that 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 “schooling in the things of GOD” that takes place in the deeper places of the Spirit where “deep calls unto deep.”
The Holy Spirit was referring to this kind of schooling when He used John the beloved to write these words down:
“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. The Holy Spirit would later confirm those words to be the true covenant of grace in the book of Hebrews.
In other words, this advanced way of schooling is a 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
