TODAY’S DEVOTION (Friday 2ND October 2020)
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalms 23:1-4 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 274TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
The next set of days will be the most exciting and fulfilling in the name of Jesus Christ. When God is at the center of your life, the days have no choice but to make themselves exciting and fulfilling for you.
There is a generation that times and season serves. It is the generation of those who serve the LORD in Spirit and in truth.
This generation, is a generation of people whose tenacity in following the ways of the LORD, and uncompromising resolutions to live only for Him has placed on the chariots of God’s uncommon grace.
Yes, they know how to ride along with God even in the midst of storms steaming from the consequences of doing so in a crooked and perverse generation.
God literally places them in the chariot of His glory. That is the generation every believer in Christ this end time must strive to become. The flight of glory is about living with the redeemed of the LORD, but there is a work to be done – there are many who are yet to board this flight, and our job is to bring them in!
It is the last flight. The glorious departure of the saints. But it all begins with riding in the chariots of God’s glory in this side of eternity.
You may have flown in the best aircrafts in the world, or rode in the best cars in the world, if you have not flown or driven in the Chariots of God’s glory, you are missing something. Friend, these are days of horsemen – days of riding on horses in the glory by the instrumentality of faith.
These are no longer days of living by human strength. The Bible made it clear that by strength shall no man prevail. These are days of going back to the very strength Adam used in staying on the face of the earth before the fall – an uncommon strength drawn from the fullness of GOD that was on display in the garden of Eden.
IT MAY INTEREST YOU TO KNOW THAT THE FIRST MAN NEVER SURVIVED BY HIS OWN STRENGTH. HE SURVIVED BY THE STRENGTH OF JEHOVAH!!
In the same way, we were not designed to survive by our own strength. We were designed to survive by the strength of Jehovah. That is why only Christians who have learnt to depend on God in everything, riding on the wings of His cherub in the Spirit realm, that are surviving the seasons we live in.
For instance, look at what Covid-19 has done to the human race? There are lives that have been lost, and others reduced to rubles completely. I heard of private school owners who have been reduced to ashes economically and a lot of other things. These are very sad stories that pained the heart.
But do you know also that there are those who are enjoying the best of God during this same period? People who were riding on the wings of God’s cherub angles and making His footsteps their pathways before now, consequently enjoying the best of His peace in this same trouble times and season?
It pays to depend on God by submitting to His ways and will all the time. It pays to so depend on God that He places you on the wings of His cherub to ride with Him in glory while living physically on earth. When you depend on God that way, especially in time of peace, you will always see His hand on your life in time of war, especially if you keep depending on Him.
In a time like this, it is important that we understand what it means to depend on GOD, because I have seen people who claim to be depending on God failing woefully in life.
You see, there are casualties of spiritual ignorance everywhere. That is why you should not fail to be part of our Church in the House services on the Morning Cloud Television on Sundays 9am, Wednesdays 7pm, and Fridays 7pm; all at East African Time (EAT).
We usually stream them live on my YouTube channel and on the Facebook page of the morning cloud television. If you are not schooled in the things of GOD, you won’t know how to depend on Him.
You cannot depend on God and fail. If you are depending on God and failing, there is something that is missing in your revelation.
NO ONE WHO DEPENDED ON GOD IN SCRIPTURES FAILED.
Joshua was able to speak to the sun and the moon successfully because he depended on God. Moses was able to break the backbone of Pharaoh, bring judgment on the gods of Egypt and Israel out of their grip successfully because he depended on God.
Elijah was able to restore God to the national consciousness of Israel in the Mount Carmel showdown because he depended on God. Solomon became the wisest and Riches King of all times because he depended on God. When Samson was depending on God, he was a wonder to his enemies. He could carry gates of Cities and eliminate entire armies without using a bomb.
No one who depended on God in the days of the Bible failed in life. None became a reproach on earth. The glory of the LORD kindled upon them even in their death. Out of weakness all of them were made strong. They proved to us that it is better to die depending on God, than to live giving glory to men.
Now depending on God does not mean not accepting help from those God moved to bless you. That is foolishness. If fact, you prove that you depend on God by allowing Him move people to bless you, and not you moving them to bless you.
In humility learn to accept what God move people to give you and give them the honor they deserve in return and the glory to God who moved them to bless you. I have seen people who claim to be depending on God rejecting help from those God moved to give them help – People God used, either their innocent text messages, facial expressions, or other miracle agents to touch to give them help.
You cannot depend on God and fail in life. Depending on God, places a man in a realm where he runs the race of life using the feet of Jehovah. It is a major catalyst of God’s marvelous Helps.
WE NEED TO KNOW THE PRINCIPLES OR PRINCIPLE THAT SURROUND THE MYSTERY OF DEPENDING ON GOD.
But before I share some, let me say this; many in Church today bank just on their sincerity expecting God to use it and bless them. They think sincerely following the LORD is enough in a man’s walk and talk with God. But I have come to realized that being sincere is great but not enough.
Here is it, a sincere heart with an ignorant mind is a disaster waiting to happen. It will not save a man’s life from destruction. Any virtue that lacks the accompanying force of revelation knowledge, will be counterproductive. It will not bring any change in our lives. That is why you see bad things happening to good people. Some are very good and very ignorant, all at the same time.
God lamented that His people are destroyed for lack of Knowledge, not for lack of sincerity or the presence of evil altars, evil foundations, curses, or demons. His people are always destroyed for not being schooled in the things of God.
Sadly, many in Church today are schooled in the things of devils! They know the names of all kinds of evil spirits and what they do, but do not know the 300 names of God and what they do.
Yes, God has 300 names revealed in His manifestation all through History. These are the things the so called deliverance ministers are supposed to teach and place on the fingertips of their members, instead of the names of demons. But how many of even know the mystery.
There are also those who are schooled in humanistic philosophies and secular humanism. They know every common way to solve problems but cannot tell God’s way to solve problems. Hence when they face uncommon problems, they fall down flat and start contemplating suicide, or run to mediums presenting themselves as prophets.
You see, if we are not schooled in the things of God we will never make headway in life. Every virtue we may muster to succeed will not lead to a happy ending. The first way to depend on God is actually to sit down and be schooled in His things.
Everyone who depended on GOD in scriptures, spent time with Him, learning His ways, and studying His paths and walking in them. From Moses to Joshua, from Samson to David, and to all other men and women of exploits in Bible, they all learned, unlearned, and re learned. That was why they became great in the Kingdom of GOD.
YOU CANNOT BE SCHOOLED IN THE THINGS OF GOD AND NOT BE GREAT IN HIS KINGDOM!
Let’s take Joshua for example. God told him without mincing words, that he will not be able to fulfill his assignment without depending on Him, and one way he was taught how to depend on GOD was in maintaining a schooling posture all his life. The Bible says God said to him;
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8 NKJV
That was a command to maintain a schooling posture in his walk and talk with God all his life.
Meaning, if we say we are depending on God, and do not spending the better parts of our lives schooling ourselves in His ways and paths, we are deceiving ourselves.
Like I said earlier, you cannot depend on a God whose ways you do not know! You must spend the better part of your life knowing His ways and walking in His paths to truly depend on Him.
A closer look at what God told Joshua reveals a second way to depend on GOD – Walking in obedience. He said to him
“..That you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
If we claim to be depending on God, and yet not obeying Him, or not respecting His ways, or doing His blessed will, we are in reality depending on ourselves. We are not depending on God.
REBELLION IS THE LOUDEST AND STRONGEST WAY TO TELL GOD “I DO NOT NEED YOU.”
If you look at the life of everyone who truly depended on God in scriptures, you will see a life of implicit obedience to the will and ways of God, even at the cost of their lives.
Rebellion is loudest way to tell God “I do not need you,” but Obedience is the loudest and firmest way we say unto GOD “without you I can do nothing.”
That tells me, loud prayers, strong tears, or very fat giving are not the loudest or firmest way we tell GOD, I need you. Whatever is not in order in GOD’s kingdom is telling GOD “we do not need you” even if it’s your marital or economic life.
That brings us to the last principle I want to share on depending on God – it is simple: being led by the Spirit. People who depend on GOD are not led by themselves. They are constantly led by the Spirit.
The life of David comes to mind at this point. He demonstrated dependency on God by waiting for Him to speak before taking any step in life. Even in the midst of battle and war, with all kinds of weapons at his disposal, he would still step aside and wait on the LORD God to speak.
Do you know that it is easier to wait on God when you do not have what it takes to do a thing than when you have?
Most times we wait on God for direction when we are in need but when the supply comes, we cease waiting and start directing ourselves. That was the error of Saul, and it is the same error that we have been using to destroy ourselves today. But David knew better.
He knew that
“A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.” So he maintained that “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalms 33:17, 20:7 NKJV).
Consequently, he never failed to seek GOD’s direction in everything he did.
Friend, as we bring this to a close, I want you to understand that when it comes to making it in life, it is not really about WHAT you have by your side but about WHO you have on your side! A major highlight in our devotional text says,
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.”
We can go on and on. But I believe God has spoken to us this morning. I pray that you walk in the light of this truths this month and the rest of your life, in Jesus precious name. AMEN!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION!
“May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Jacob defend you; May He send you help from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion;
May He remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah
May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your purpose. We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Psalms 20:1-5 NKJV