TODAY’S DEVOTION (Thursday 24th July 2025)
“Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you! O Israel, if you will listen to Me! There shall be no foreign god among you; nor shall you worship any foreign god.
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.” Psalms 81:8-12 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 205TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY!
We are in the days of knowing all of God’s written will and ways for our lives. The Bible makes it clear that every mystery will be revealed and most of the mysteries are trapped in the things God asked the nation of Israel to practice in their day. The Bible calls them the law and the prophets.
We thank God for speaking to us from these fountains in the ongoing seminars. Indeed, God is up to something in our lives. To Him belong the glory!!! Amen.
On this platform, we have been looking at the things our destiny needs to be fulfilled, today we will be looking at the next. I hope we are ready!! God has a word for us. I pray it finds a resting place in our hearts.
It’s been a time of special faith building insights from the LORD. He has been faithful in making sure we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The next thing your destiny in Christ will need to be fulfilled is in the mystery of the sabbath. Yes, the mystery of the sabbath!!
Let me say this, your destiny in Christ will need you to enter your sabbath for it to be fulfilled. If you do not enter your sabbath, you could get any other things right but will never fulfill your destiny.
Our fathers in the early church entered their sabbaths before stepping into destiny. You can see it in what they said and preached. You can not be what or who God has called you to be or carry out any assignment for Him in a world that is constantly under the sway of the wicked if you have not entered your sabbath. That was why despite what they went through they never caved in.
ONE OF THEM WROTE TO THE CHURCH AT CORINTH SAYING:
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 2 Corinthians 4:7-11 NKJV
Paul’s sabbath was what gave him a testimony like this. If you do not enter your sabbath before trying to pursue your destiny or become what God has called you to be, you will not be able to see this kind of testimony in your life or ministry.
You will be hard-pressed on every side and end up crushed by the challenges of saying yes to God’s will for your life. You will be perplexed and plagued with despair, persecuted and forsaken, or struck down and destroyed. Your suffering or sacrifices for the release of your destiny will consume you instead of resulting in an eternal weight of glory.
In fact, will not be able to get to the place of carrying the dying of the LORD Jesus in your body so that His life can be made manifest in and through you.
The mystery of the sabbath must be understood by any man or woman of destiny, hence any attempt to step into GOD’s plans for your life will be met with great resistance from hell that will succeed against you. The life of Paul shows the importance of a man entering his sabbath before entering his calling, even in the first step he took towards his destiny. The Bible says:
“ Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.
However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.” Acts 14:19-20 NKJV
If Paul had not entered his sabbath before entering his assignment in Christ, he would have not survived the stones. He would have died. But the Bible says he was stoned and dragged out of the city and left for dead, however the disciples gathered around him in prayer, and he rose up.
IF HE HAD NOT ENTERED HIS SABBATH BEFORE THEN, THE PRAYER OF THE PEOPLE WOULD NOT HAVE RAISED HIM.
Understand that no man or woman of destiny will survive any destiny related attacks of the enemy until he or she enters their sabbath before entering ministry or the pursuit of their assignment. How do one enter their sabbath? That is what we will be concluding this devotional with.
First, it is important to know what the word sabbath means. It’s a Hebrew word for seven. The word sabbath was used to describe the very day God rested after creation. It would later go on to be a special weekly religious holiday in Israel after they left Egypt.
However, there are other minor historical details about it that we will not go into. But there were two reasons for the sabbath that God asked Israel to observe; the first is the historical reason and the second the prophetic. Now, let us begin with the historical reason.
The Jews were slaves in Egypt who worked 24 hours a day and seven days a week without rest.
They carried on like that for hundreds of years resulting in a no-rest lifestyle. They never knew what rest was all about. But a restless lifestyle was not good for anyone’s health, hence when GOD delivered them from slavery, He instructed that they do nothing but rest on the seventh day.
Sadly, because they were a stubborn set of people, many could not catch the revelation behind the instruction; hence the instruction was made a law with stiff penalties attached. It became the law of the sabbath. Which brings us to the prophetic reason behind the practice.
THE PROPHETIC REASON IS WHAT SO MANY TODAY ARE YET TO COME TO TERMS WITH.
Many argue with it, hence believing so many things about the Seventh day. Some believe that all who do not go to Church on Saturday will go to hell. But all who snatch other people’s husbands, live in adultery, fornication or co-habitation, fight in church for money matters, or continue in other wicked ways will make Heaven.
They are like pharisees who are strict on the application of the law instead of lining up with God’s prophetic word for their salvation. The Bible says they rejected the counsel of the LORD for their lives and went to establish their own righteousness.
When God instituted the law of the sabbath, He was carving a path for the execution of His redemption plan for mankind, so those who broke the law were severely punished for not resting on the seventh day.
Breaking the law was distorting the plan. God has a history of taking tough actions to protect His plans, whenever there is a distortion, hence the stiff penalty on defaulters. The nation of Israel would later grow to recognize the seventh day as a day of rest and reflection on God’s goodness.
That was how it became a day of worship for them under the law. Do not forget, the bible calls them the church in the wilderness. Now, let us dig deeper into the prophetic reason, because when the Bible teaches that we must enter our sabbath before entering our assignments or ministry it was a reference to the prophetic application of the law. .
You see, God created the earth for six days and rested on the seventh day making seven several completions, maturity, and divine rest. The full prophetic message contained in the seventh day can only be written in a book not a devotion like this.
THE SABBATH ALSO SIGNIFY REST. WHEN YOU ENTERED YOUR SABBATH, YOU ENTER YOUR REST.
Jesus said:
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV.
The rest Jesus gives is what we call the sabbath. Until you secure it, you are not ready for release of destiny. When you entered your personal sabbath, you will cease from your own work. In other words, your carnal nature will no longer determine your decision, making it possible to be sold out to do God’s will irrespective of the cost.
A major highlight in our devotional text today says.
“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.”
It is dangerous for GOD to give a man over to his own stubborn heart. It is very risky for God to allow us to walk in our own counsels. That is exactly what people who do not know how to follow God sheepishly suffer. They do not follow the LORD sheepishly because they have not entered their sabbath.
If you enter your sabbath, obeying God will become easy. If you stop walking in the flesh and start walking in the Spirit, you have entered your sabbath. Your destiny will need your sabbath to be fulfilled.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY,
“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.
“The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.” Psalms 81:13-16 NKJV
