TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 7TH MARCH 2026)
“After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.
Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road.”
Luke 10:1-5 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 65TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF STRATEGIC VICTORY
We give God the glory for giving us another day and pray that His mercies be upon us today.
We are all not worthy, but He made us worthy by His blood, He gave me this day to be alive and serve our generation according to His will. Let us give Him the praise for not dealing with us according to our sins but according to His faithfulness. The Bible says,
“Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.”
Psalm 130:1-4 KJV
The ultimate purpose for showing us mercies lies in this scripture. Yes, the reason God forgives our sins lies in this scripture. The scripture made it clear that God do not mark our iniquities so that He may be feared.
God forgives our sins iniquities and trespasses so that we begin a walk of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. It is not for us to keep sinning. If we keep sinning, we will end up frustrating His grace and unleashing hell upon ourselves. It is important that we understand and fulfil the purpose of His mercies in our lives.
This morning, I will be taking us back to a devotional written 12 years ago. It was written to show us the purpose of our gathering in the LORD. At the point of His departure from the earth, Jacob placed blessings upon the tribes that came out of his loins.
Some got judgments for what their father did years back, while others received blessings because of the prophetic destinies they are to fulfill on earth. One of the tribes that got the blessing was the tribe of Judah, whose lion is our LORD and savior Jesus Christ.
HE BLESSED THAT TRIBE SAYING.
“Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” Genesis 49:8-9 KJV
These prophetic words gave us insight on why the body of Christ gather every now and then in corporate fellowship in our different churches. It tells us who we gather to. It made it clear that our gathering is unto the LORD not unto any god, lord or thing. But sadly, we have turned these gatherings into gatherings that gather unto everything but the LORD. That is why we will be visiting that well of truth.
I pray you find something for your soul this morning in Jesus precious name. Amen!
There are a lot of money-spinning philosophies on the matters of our gathering unto the LORD flying everywhere today. But there are three or four kinds of gatherings unto the LORD predetermined for every Child of GOD.
The first is our regular gathering here on earth where we all assemble every Sunday or weekday for corporate fellowship. It covers all our conferences, seminars, summits, and all kinds of fellowship meetings we run on this side of eternity as Children of God.
THIS KIND OF GATHERING, LIKE OTHERS, HAS ITS PURPOSE.
Its purpose is to prepare us for the remaining two or three kinds of gathering unto the LORD. The ultimate is to help us receive and secure our salvation from sin, Satan and the evil and corrupt system of this world.
This is the gathering that is most critical to every human being on earth, which is why it has come under intense attack in recent times. The image of jealousy has been built and placed in so many Churches so that the gathering will no longer yield its purpose in the lives of the people.
It has simply been monetized in over 90 percent of local churches. Yesterday someone asked me on the social media platform to enlighten her on what really make a service complete. You know there is this money-spinning Philosophy in Church today that says, “a service is not complete without taking an offering.”
This lie is one of the money-spinning philosophies that has defeated the purpose of gathering in corporate fellowship as Children of GOD in the lives of so many.
Even men of God one think should know better sale this lie to their audience. When good men are made to say bad things, the bad things they say will sound good in the ears of listeners who know them as good men. That is how lies are accepted as truth by victims.
She sincerely asked me if a service was not complete without asking people for offerings since I end our services on Radio and Tv and sometimes in Church without asking people for money. Maybe she felt, “Are people not being disconnected from blessings by what I was doing?” Well, that was an honest heart looking for honest answers, so I did not beat about the bush at all.
I told her the Bible truth. My answer was simple; what makes a service complete is the presence of the glory of God in that service not giving of offerings after the service.
ANY CHURCH THAT EMPHASISES TOO MUCH ON GIVING INSTEAD OF REDEMPTIVE TRUTHS IS A SHOP AND NOT A CHURCH.
Most pastors, prophets, apostles, prophetesses and men and women in God’s garment are simply shopkeepers not preachers. They like sell the word to you and you like pay for it in form of offerings and sacrificial giving. The truth remains, either we give or not, a service is incomplete if we gather and God did not gather with us.
Jesus indeed said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20 NKJV) But this scripture is not so in many gatherings.
What gathers with people who are said to have gathered at the name of the LORD, most times, are devils and all kinds of unclean spirits. That is why their pastors, prophets, apostles and prophetesses talk more of the devils than the God they claim to have gathered to!
A motive for gathering is usually what determines the presence that gathers along with a people, not really what they profess with their mouths. That is why at the Cry of the Spirit ministries we do not take it for granted when God gather with us each time we gather.
To Him belongs the glory in Jesus’ name!
Sadly, out of every 10 preachers today 8 of them or even more are driven by the love, craving, or need for money each time they stand before the church to preach. As we can see in our devotional text today, Jesus made sure His disciples never carried “money bags” into ministry when He sent them out; that was to prevent the “money virus” from infecting their hearts thereby soiling the execution of the great commission.
The greatest virus stopping the execution of the great commission is not a disease of the body but a disease of the spirit in the lives of many preachers called the money virus. The money-making virus is making most gatherings a gathering unto mammon!
You cannot gather unto mammon and experience the arm of the LORD’s glory upon the core of your being, delivering you from a life of sin and making you heaven worthy. When we gather unto mammon we cannot come into the rest that Jesus promised us.
I believe the word of the LORD has been passed to us today, His light has shone in our hearts, and our faith have been illuminated. Amen!!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!!
Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” Matthew 21:12-13 NKJV
