TODAY’S DEVOTION (Sunday 22nd June 2025)
“Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” Acts 11:25-26 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 173rd DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY
God has been faithful in teaching and igniting our hearts on matters of our divine destiny. To Him all the glory belongs. From today’s devotion, we will begin to refresh our hearts with the revelation of the things that our divine destiny will need to be fulfilled.
We have shared these things before but because of how much they helped us then, I think we should run through them again and apply our hearts to wisdom. Let us begin by refreshing our hearts on what divine destiny is.
“What is my divine destiny,” you may ask? Your divine destiny consists of the sum of God’s eternal and prophetic plans and purposes for your life. They include the visions and goals, routes and pathways, and all other things that He has predetermine to happen in your life before you were formed in your mother’s womb.
Things that Satan preplan to happen to you are not part of your divine destiny. Yes, there is no evil occurrence in a man’s life that was part of his destiny.
The manifestation of the curses of life are not part of someone’s divine destiny. Not even the consequence of our sins is our destiny. Whatever the LORD did not originally plan that it happen to our lives is not our destiny if it does. For instance, going to prison was used by God to take Joseph to the place, but being incarcerated was not part of his destiny.
Our divine destiny are the glorious things spoken concerning us that God preplanned that they happen to us. Anything outside that may happen is not our destiny. Our divine destiny is something that needs to be given total attention because above all, it also serves as the storehouse of all God wants you to do and become on this side and the other side of eternity.
It is very possible to live a life in this side of eternity without fulfilling your divine destiny. It is possible to see just evil happening and people convincing you that it is your destiny. But God sent this word this morning to tell you that any evil occurrence in your life was not part of your destiny.
DO NOT ACCEPT IT. FIGHT IT, USING ALL THAT GOD HAS MADE AVAILABLE TO US!
The reason for spiritual warfare is to content for things that are part of our divine destinies and reject or resist the ones that were not originally preplanned by God to be part of our destiny.
If you find yourself in a state of life in time that God never pre-determined for you to fulfill, you are to seek redress in the court of divine settlement because you are not fulfilling your divine destiny. You must understand that our eternal destinies are determined by how we live our lives on this side of eternity.
For instance, everyone in hell fire right now did not fulfill his or her eternal destiny. They are only sharing in the eternal punishment of fallen angels because they refused God’s redemptive plan for their lives – which is part of their eternal destiny – redemptive.
Many do not know that God never pre-determined that mankind spend eternity in hell fire. People go there simply because of their earthly choices – the choice of not accepting and living for Jesus Christ – our redemption sacrifice.
I have come to discover that the greatest killer of divine destiny sometimes is manmade religion. Many who are trapped in manmade religions will not go to heaven. It’s as serious as that. Except they make Jesus their LORD and savior, they will never fulfill their divine destiny after death.
The first thing your divine destiny will need to be fulfilled therefore is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That is the first thing everyone who will fulfill his or her divine destiny will need.
Now I am not referring to a religious relationship, but a relationship born out of an encounter with Him. Many who claim to be saved or having relationship with Jesus Christ have no fruits to show. Though their mouths tell us they are born again but their lives tell us they do not have a true relationship with Him.
BORN AGAIN IS NOT A RELIGIOUS TITLE MY FRIEND, BUT A LIFE THAT FLOWS OUT OF A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.
Christianity itself is not a religion but a pre-determined life of God for mankind – a life we can only live after a true encounter with Jesus Christ, KING of kings and LORD of lords. That encounter will get His Holy Spirit planted in our human spirits, leading to a life that is not of this world – a life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
I want you to understand that the first people to be called Christians where not Catholics or Protestants, neither were they Anglicans or Presbyterians. The first people to be called Christians were people who had true encounters with Jesus Christ, that resulted in their names written in the book of life and their lives taking a new turn on the face of the earth.
They were men of Godliness, carrying Christ not on molded images and crucifixes on their necks, but in their hearts. Consequently, they found themselves moving in the power and Spirit of the LORD, converting the kingdoms of the ancient world into that of God and of His Christ.
In simple terms, they were men and women with fruitful and powerful relationship with Jesus Christ, manifesting in unconditional commitment to His will, His way, and His life. Anything we are living that is short of this is not Christianity but a form of godliness that has no power.
That is why true Christianity is not a Church thing. True Christianity is a Kingdom of God thing – it is an extension of the Kingdom of God from Heaven to the earth through saved and sanctified men and women – a manifestation of Christ in our daily lives to a lost and dying world.
Until our relationship with Jesus Christ manifest as that, we are not truly saved and therefore cannot fulfill our divine destiny. This is where the church you attend comes in.
THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL IS TO RECONCILE MEN BACK TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.
The primary purpose of Church, therefore, is to foster this process or help people to build, maintain, or grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Any church that is not doing that is not fulfilling its purpose. A major highlight in our devotional text for today says:
“So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”
What truth can we glean from this highlight?
If you have a little knowledge of Church History, you will realize that the Church at Antioch was an Apostolic Breakthrough Center. That was where the pattern for true Church work was received from Heaven, through the Prophets and Teachers that were there, and established on earth, first in that place then in other places.
An apostolic breakthrough center is spiritual life construction center. I call it an Apostolic Construction Site.
That is why it takes an Apostolic Breakthrough Center to teach or train sinners into saints, and followers into disciples of Jesus Christ. It takes an Apostolic Breakthrough Center to turn crowds into Churches and Churches into centers of Kingdom Activities.
For instance, the Cry of the Spirit Ministries in Kenya was established by God to be an Apostolic Breakthrough Center in East Africa. That is why the Believers, who drink from our fountain are growing in their personal relationship with God. What happened in acts 11:25-27 is repeating itself among us.
God is moving His people from religion to a an unconditional, personal, and deep relationship with Jesus Christ.
Our message this morning is simple. You can never fulfill your destiny without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You may need a onetime encounter with God through a preacher to initiate that relationship, but you will need an apostolic Breakthrough Center to grow in it and come to the point where you unleash your destiny as a manifest Son of God.
Do not forget, you may never release your destiny as a Church member. But you will always release your destiny when you become a son of GOD or a true Citizen of God’s Kingdom, and that begins with a heart preparation to follow Jesus until He make you what He wants you to be. Amen!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR TODAY;
And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. Matthew 4:18-22 NKJV
