TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 2ND JANUARY 2025)
“For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you.
And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers.
Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.
You will also defile the covering of your images of silver, And the ornament of your molded images of gold. You will throw them away as an unclean thing; You will say to them, “Get away!”
Then He will give the rain for your seed With which you sow the ground, And bread of the increase of the earth; It will be fat and plentiful. In that day your cattle will feed In large pastures.
Isaiah 30:19-23 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 02ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF STRATEGIC VICTORY
Still in the spirit of gratitude to God!! We want to say, let our hearts be full of thanksgiving to the LORD for giving us another set of 365 days to live happily, do His blessed will, fulfill our days according to His redemption plans for our lives and prepare ourselves for the ages to come.
Today is the 2nd Day of this new set of days.
How one step into a year, and what guides his or her decision each day, is what determines how the year turn out for a person. I don’t know how you stepped into this set of days called year 2026, many of us across the nations, stepped into it calling upon the name of the LORD.
We rode on the wings of His word right in His presence to step into it because the words that the LORD speaks to us are Spirit and life. His Spirit and His life is all we need in 2026 to experience the strategic victories He promised.
In a nutshell, we stepped in standing in God’s presence, listening to Him and receiving from His Holy Spirit, and that is very significant.
I have come to discover that giving the first hours of a year to God is a blessing that can prepare one’s heart for the entire year. We at the apostolic Center of the Cry of the Spirit Ministry here in Nairobi handed over our lives and hearts to Him to influence us.
OUR VISION IS TO LIVE ACCORDING TO HIS WILL AND WAYS.
Our hope is to be sustained by His power because the horse is a vain thing for safety, though it is prepared for battle, but victory is of the LORD!! We know that the battle is not to the strong nor the race to the swift.
We also know that by human strength shall no man prevail hence handing over our lives to His great strength to carry us through the New Year. We know that if we will go through this year successfully and not be consumed by the perils of the year, we have to lose control of our lives and allow Him to be in full control, by His Holy Spirit.
Many drivers have lost control of very good vehicles and destroyed themselves or the lives of others. Many fathers have lost control of their Children and watched them perish in their rebellion. Political leaders have lost control of their nations and constituencies and bring the lives of many into social perils.
World History is full of very powerful people who eventually lost control of themselves and those under their influence and even open portals of hell over nations. Warriors have lost control, kings have lost control, even very wise and educated people have lost control and suffer unredeemable consequences, but there is only one person who has never lost control of anything placed under His control. That person is the Blessed Holy Spirit!
All under His control do well and become great sometimes in times and eternity, other times in eternity only, depending on the environment they lived on earth. We believe strongly that the best place that our lives can be in 2026 is in HIS HANDS not in our hands. He is the Spirit of God and will fill us with only what God wants if our lives are allowed to remain in His hands.
Sadly, there are people who prefer their lives under the control of greedy or ignorant prophets and prophetesses. But no genuine prophet allows people to put their lives under their control, they only teach people to put their lives under the control of the Holy Spirit, scriptural truths and divine precepts.
THEY KNOW PEOPLE WILL FAIL WOEFULLY IF THEY PUT THEIR LIVES UNDER THEIR CONTROL.
Child of God, this year is different. Put your life strictly under the Holy Spirit, the holy Scriptures and the sanctified truths and precepts it teaches. Make teachers of the word your prophetic hearing aids, not prophets or prayer warriors, as good as they may be.
Sadly, the lazy and gullible prefer prophets or prayer warriors, instead of apostolic preachers like Paul, who labor in the word and doctrine to form Christ in people. Our devotional text contains God’s will for us, when it comes to having spiritual leaders over our lives. It says:
“For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you.
And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.
You will also defile the covering of your images of silver, And the ornament of your molded images of gold. You will throw them away as an unclean thing; You will say to them, “Get away!”
Then He will give the rain for your seed With which you sow the ground, And bread of the increase of the earth; It will be fat and plentiful. In that day your cattle will feed In large pastures.
Isaiah 30:19-23 NKJV
I WILL TEACH THIS SCRIPTURE IN CHURCH ONE OF THESE DAYS!!
Historically, this scripture was about the restoration of Isreal, and the kind of spiritual leaders God decided to use in bringing that restoration to them. He did not decide to use prophets, because a prophet is just a warning and correcting finger.
A prophet is not a capacity building finger. It is a teaching apostle like Paul that is a capacity building finger.
However, for the end times, God will use Apostles with both the prophetic and Teaching mantle, wrapped in a pastoral grace, making them very effective in giving His people all they need to do His blessed will, live for Him, follow His ways, and survive the season. You will need such apostles in your life this year if you do not have one already!!
The people in Bible days needed teachers to be restored and come into pre-determined blessings.
The teachers where to give them the spiritual understanding they needed to do the will of God, and follow the ways prophesied to them in time past, granting them the spiritual capacity to defile the covering of their images of silver, and the ornament of their molded images of gold, and throw them away as an unclean thing, which implies deep repentance.
The teachers were also to perfect their walk with God, by giving them the spiritual ear to pick a word from the throne of God whenever they get to a crossroad in life. That is why God said in the text, “And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,”
Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.
UNDERSTAND THAT GOD WANTS US TO POSITION OURSELVES UNDER TEACHERS OF HIS WORD THIS YEAR AS NEVER BEFORE.
He wants us to be under the teaching guide of apostles with the prophetic and teaching mantles, wrapped in a pastoral grace for the end time. You will do yourself great good if you find one and become fully committed to their ministries or churches.
Friend, so long as these end times are concerned, I want to submit to you that it is better to be a regular church member under an apostle with the prophetic and teaching mantle that is wrapped with a pastoral grace, than to be an assistant pastor, deacon, treasurer, or whatever they call you, under a preacher who is not.
The reason for this is simple!! I have seen so many who were pastors, prayer leaders, etc. under preaches with no spiritual capacity building grace but just hype and spiritual noise, reduced to nothing after a reasonable time of serving there.
David said, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” (Psalm 84:10).
These precious people decided to dwell in church and ministries they never knew God called tent of wickedness, and served there as pastors, deacons, Evangelists, financers of God’s house, etc., today they are nothing. Some have been replaced with fresh members who are still fat but will soon be reduced as well.
Friend, you will be reduced to nothing over time even if you become a leader in places God calls tents of robbers. Many have been reduced and turned to ashes.
But if you sit with a humble, pure and teachable spirit, walking with the LORD Jesus Christ under an apostle by content not title, especially one with a prophetic teaching mantle, wrapped in a pastoral grace, over time, you will become a great warrior God can use to do things, from Jerusalem, to Judea and to Samaria and to uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).
TEACHERS OF THE WORD WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND GOD, HIS WAYS AND HIS WILL.
They will make your spiritual eyes sharp and give you the spiritual understanding you need to live through this year, putting your life under the control of the Holy Spirit.
The message of today is simple. You will destroy yourself dearly if you go through this year, putting your precious life in your hands as humanism teaches. We will all see hellish things happening to us if we put our precious lives under the control of our own understanding. Yes, it will not be well if we put our lives under the control of our emotions; like anger, sex drive, crave for comfort or the desire to please someone.
The simple truth is, 2026 will be a year of greater trouble for you IF YOU spend it putting your life in the hands of humans (your Godless mother, father, uncles, siblings, etc.). On the flip side, it will be one of the best years for you if you hand over your precious life to the Holy Spirit for keeps. A healthy spiritual head will help you do that.
Understand that it is for that purpose that God wants us to have healthy spiritual heads, not just spiritual heads.
He wants us under His apostles with prophetic and teaching mantles wrapped in pastoral grace. If God give you one, and you relate with him properly, it will help put your life under the control of the Holy Spirit, and the sanctified truths and precepts of the holy Scriptures, that will give you a great and productive year.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY
And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
1 Corinthians 12:28 NKJV
