TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 9TH April 2026)
And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” Luke 22:31-32 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 99TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF STRATEGIC VICTORY
Today we will be looking at the need to keep the faith in all circumstances. The Bible teaches that we should not cast away our confidence which has a great reward or harvest. Meaning the confidence of the righteous is a seed, a seed with a great recompense or a beautiful harvest.
Sometimes the harvest comes to us in time, other times in eternity, some other times in both eternity and time, depending on the depth of confidence you are holding unto. Irrespective of when it comes, there is always a reward in holding on to our confidence.
I once cast away my confidence for years and I still have the scars to show. Friend, it is not a pleasant thing to do. I learned during those painful years that even if you fall into sin, do not cast away your confidence. Make sure your hands remains tight on the horns of the altar of God’s mercies, else you will begin to take decisions that will hurt you severely in the long run.
For example, when you cast away your confidence in God’s mercy, power, and goodness, you will begin to sink.
You will be building your faith in the wisdom of men, your righteousness and pride, and then sink terribly without even knowing it. When one’s confidence is in their pride or personal righteousness for example, they hurt carnally when they commit sin and condemn themselves. But if it is in God, you break down at His conviction and pray in repentance.
Seeing yourself as nothing. It is when you see yourself as something that you hurt carnally.
When you cast away your confidence, you will begin to think dark thoughts about God’s love for you, and even get to a place where the spirit of hell will begin to speak to you, telling you that you are condemned and can no longer be a child of God or be accepted by God, while the Bible teaches that we are in the dispensation called the year of the LORD’s favor and can never be in a position where God can not accept us or keep us as His children.
Sometimes we cast away our confidence when we face disappointment in life, other times when we fall into sin.
SOME OTHER TIMES WHEN WE ARE PERSECUTED.
For me, the first time I cast away my confidence was when I was denied a visa to the United States in 1999 and 2003. My world came down crumbling in both occasions, and I cast away my confidence. What happened after that was what I cannot state here.
But it took me over 10 years to be free from the snare that my decision created for me.
I tell you, once you have given your life to the LORD, holding on to your confidence, through thick and thin is the next thing you should spend your days doing. When life throws sad things at you; when expectations fail and disappointment creeps in, when people you thought should help you, withdraws their help, when those you are laboring to keep happy refuse to reciprocate, as a Child of God that is the time to lift your faith and hold on to your confidence.
Yes, when the news of the dead of a loved one demoralizes you and you cannot find the reason to live the next minute, when the enemy comes against you like a flood, the most important thing to keep alive is your faith. Yes, keeping the faith is the most essential thing to keep in a chaotic world because “the just shall live by faith.”
If you are not living by faith, you will regret what you are living by.
The Bible teaches that if you are part of the just, you are to live by faith. You are not to live by struggles, fear, pain, or anything negative.
You are not to live by prayer, fasting, giving, singing, or going to church, as important as all these things are, except they are products of a life of faith, and not the other way round.
He said they just shall live by faith. You see, prayer, fasting, giving, singing, or going to Church are only meaningful if they birth faith in us or if they are a product of a life of faith in God. Worship ought to be either a demonstration of faith in God or a source of faith in God.
ANYTHING OUTSIDE THAT, WILL NOT MINISTER LIFE TO A WORSHIPER OR MAKE HIS OR HER WORSHIP MEANINGFUL.
The Holy Spirit enables prayers, Biblical fasting, giving, and singing and encourages going to Church basically to help us live by faith. If doing any of these things, therefore, is not imparting faith in you, strengthening what is already there, or produced by faith, you are involved in forms of godliness that has no power. Friend that is where the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire comes in!
It is the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire that makes our prayers, fasting, giving, singing and even going to Church a product of faith in God or a source of faith in God. It becomes a faith building spiritual system or a spiritual system built by faith because of the power and influence of the Holy Ghost. The Bible says.
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Jude 20-21 NKJV
The most important thing to build in the world today is your faith. It is the faith you build that will help you not to cast away your confidence. Yes, it is the faith you build that will help you build other aspects of your life.
Sadly, many believers today do not prioritize building their faith.
They prefer building things that will need their faith to stand instead of building their faith as a top priority. They build their careers, businesses, fame, families, and all they desire without giving a thought to building their faith, thereby leaving what they have built with no ideal foundation for sustenance.
It is the faith of the just that will sustain his house, career, walk with God, the hope of making heaven, business, fame, family and all he desires in life. In simple terms, God designed that our lives be sustained by our faith. That is why Satan attacks it ferociously.
OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT TODAY SAYS IT ALL.
When Satan asked to shift Peter like wheat, his rising profile, business, or family were not the subject of the attack. Peter’s faith was. Now, when Jesus moved to provide a prayer cover for him, He did not pray for his business, fame or family not to fail. He prayed that his faith should not fail.
In other words, He prayed for him not to cast away his confidence even after denying Him. He prayed that Peter remain confident in His mercies and not truncate the decision he had made to follow him. Do you know what it means to deny someone who you have walked with and tasted his love, power and miracles for three and half years?
Jesus had to pray for him NOT TO CAST AWAY HIS confidence but keep his faith burning despite denying Him because there was a future his moment of sin and disloyalty should not truncate. A major highlight in the text says, “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
Until your faith fail, your business will not fail. Until your faith fails your marriage or family will not fail. Until your faith fails your ministry or calling will not fail. The life of the redeemed of the LORD is designed to be lived by faith. That is the word of the LORD.
The Bible defines faith as the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen. True faith has both substance and evidence. It is usually anchored on revelation that comes as the voice of the LORD, scriptural insight, divine vision, Spiritual illumination, etc.
In simple terms, it comes by hearing from God at an immediate present. I believe God has spoken to us this morning, may the light that came not depart from us forever, amen and amen!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!!
“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
“For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.” Hebrews 10:35-39 NKJV
