TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Sunday 29th November 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 332nd DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
Today is the last Sunday of the month, and it is important that we give God thanks for keeping us for 11 months of this year, and bringing us to the last Sunday of the month.
As the word says “it is out of His mercies that we are not consumed for His compassion fails not.” We are alive and well because He loaded us with benefits daily. It is His daily benefits that brought us to where we are today. Indeed, like I have always resounded from the Holy Scriptures, He does not deal with us according to our sins but according to His mercies and plans for our lives.
That does not mean we go living in sin, no! It only calls for a life of righteousness because God does that so that we may fear Him. The Bible says if He mark iniquity no one can stand. But there is forgiveness with Him so that He may be feared. The essence of dealing with us according to His mercies is to promote His fear in our lives, not a life of sin.
Paul calls it the goodness of the LORD that leads to repentance. Today in the CHURCH IN THE HOUSE School of Spiritual Warfare, I will be bringing to us three sets of fresh teachings. We will be looking at THE BATTLES IN THE HEAVENLIES, BATTLES OF THE LAST DAYS, and THE ANOINTING FOR BATTLE. You cannot afford to miss these three teachings in our Church in the House today.
Endeavor to join us for this special school on the Morning Cloud Television or on our You Tube channel (Richard E. S. TAKIM) and Facebook page (Morning Cloud TV Ke).
The glory of God today has a way of manifesting as grace and truth because of its redemptive nature. When you ride along with it, you find the Spirit of God bringing timeless truths and amazing grace your way. That is what we have been experiencing in the Cry of the Spirit ministry.
I consider ridding along with God on the chariots of His glory the best ride on this side of eternity.
You may have flown in the best aircraft 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 as a Child of God you are missing something.
LIKE I HAVE ALWAYS SAID, THESE ARE THE DAYS OF HORSEMEN.
These are no longer days of living by human strength. You will understand this more in the last teaching of today in our School of Spiritual warfare. 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.
The first man never survived by His own strength. He survived by the strength of Jehovah!! You were not designed to survive by your strength. You were designed to survive by the strength of Jehovah. That is why only Christians who have learnt to depend on God in everything are surviving the seasons we live in.
Talking about depending on God, what does it mean to depend on God? We need to truly understand what it means because I have seen so many who claim to be depending on God failing in life woefully. No body fails in life if he or she depends on God. We must understand what it means.
No one who depended on God in the days of the Bible failed. Their stories are there to help us understand and tap into the same blessing they enjoyed in their days. Most of those who depended on God in those ancient days turned out to be men and women of exploits.
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 deliver an entire nation from the slavery of a nation with the best military might of that era without shooting a gun because he depended on God.
Elijah was able to restore God to the national consciousness of Israel in the Mount Carmel showdown; one man faced over 850 false prophets of terrible gods and a cruel woman 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 FAILED IN LIFE. OUT OF WEAKNESS ALL OF THEM WERE MADE STRONG.
So those of us who are claiming to be depending on God and yet are sick, backward in life, oppressed, depressed, sad, poor, begging to survive, failing in everything we do, are not really depending on GOD. We may be sincere at heart in our claims but are obviously, not enlightened in our minds.
Bad things do not perpetually prevail over people who depend on God. Curses do not speak in their lives. Sorcerers do not prevail against them. Demons do not come near their dwelling. No evil befalls them. The glory of God will surround them and fight all their battles.
In fact, you see people who depend on God getting things they did not work for by the favor of the LORD. You see them owning treasures, coming into elevations and becoming great just by the finger of GOD. If you say you are depending on God and none of these is happening in your life, there is a problem in your understanding of what it means to depend on GOD.
And before I share some tips on how to depend on God let me say this; many in Church today bank on their sincerity and expect God to act on that. But I have come to realize that a sincere heart with an ignorant mind is a disaster waiting to happen. It will not save a man’s life from destruction.
God lamented that His people are destroyed for lack of Knowledge, not for lack of sincerity of heart. We are not destroyed even because of the presence of evil altars, evil foundations, curses, or demons. We 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 can do, but do not know the 300 names of God and what they do.
Others 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 called prophets.
IF WE ARE NOT SCHOOLED IN THE THINGS OF GOD WE WILL NEVER MAKE HEADWAY IN LIFE.
And thank God this year has really been a year of schooling in the things of God.
We must understand that every time, treasure of talents that we may muster to succeed will not lead to a happy ending if we are not schooled in the things of GOD before taking the first step. To be schooled is to be empowered to unleash one’s God given glory.
Amazingly, 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; from Moses to Joshua, from Samson to David and to all other men and women of exploits in Bible.
Let’s take Joshua for example. He was blankly told that he will not be able to fulfill his assignment without depending on God. And one way he must take to get to that path of depending on GOD was the way of a schooling posture. He was told to do that all his life. That tells me it is impossible to depend on God without maintaining a learning posture all our lives.
Concerning this man of God, the Bible says that 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
This is very revealing! This man of God was commanded to maintain a schooling posture in his walk and talk with God. And that, it was the only way he would succeed by the arm of the LORD against the obstacles he was called to surmount. Meaning, if we say we are depending on God and do not spend the better parts of our lives schooling ourselves in His ways and paths, we are deceiving ourselves.
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 paths to truly depend on Him. So the first way to depend on God is to sit at His feet learning His ways with a willingness to walk in His paths. The second is the walk in obedience.
A DEEPER LOOK AT WHAT GOD TOLD JOSHUA WILL REVEAL THE SECRET TO YOU
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 we are not obeying Him implicitly, respecting His ways and walking in His will, we are in reality depending on ourselves. We are in rebellion, and rebellion is one way we tell God “we 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. Obedience is the loudest way to tell God “I depend on you” not prayers. That is why the Bible says it is better than sacrifice.
That brings us to the last tip I want to share on depending on God – “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 will still step aside and wait for 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 to wait when you have?
Most times we wait on God for direction when we are in need but when our lives change and supply comes, we cease walking in the lifestyle of waiting for His directions before doing a thing, and start directing ourselves. That was the error of Saul. And we are still repeating the same error today! But David knew better.
He said
“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 will and way 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! Because if God is not involved or leading you, even the best equipment’s will fail!
Our devotional text this morning explained the kind of walk and talk David maintained with God. A major highlight of it 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 light of the truth you have just found in this devotional in Jesus precious name. AMEN!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“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