TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Tuesday 8th December 2020)
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,
Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound. For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
O Lord, how great are thy works! And thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. Psalms 92:1-6 KJV
WELCOME TO THE 341ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
The last month of a year is the crowning season of that year because the Bible says God crowns our years with His goodness. It is also a thanking season. Yes, it is a season of appreciating people who played one positive role or the other in our lives during the year.
The first person to thank in an outgoing year is God. A major highlight in our devotional text today says
“O Lord, how great are thy works! And thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.”
If we look deeply into our lives, and harness how things went with us this year, gratitude to GOD will just spring up from our hearts.
He fought our seen and unseen battles, He fed us with His faithfulness, He forgave our sins; both mild and terrible sins. He understood us more than the most loving people in our lives, hence not doing to us what men would have done to us when we fell into sin.
He surrounded us with His angels which was why invisible forces could not destroy our lives.
Not many people know that the earth is full of parading princes of darkness. These spirits are in charge of the terrors that walk by night and arrows of destruction that flies by day. Yes, they are in charge of the pestilence that walks in darkness, and the destruction that lays waste at noon day.
For instance, they used the hands of wicked men to bring the Corona Virus to the planet. And God protected some of us from it.
These wicked spirits coordinated the thousand that fell at our sides this year and the ten thousand that fell at our right hand, especially in the most vulnerable moments of our lives, to wipe us away this year. But because the LORD God surrounded us with His encamping angels, whatever they did never came near us.
ONLY WITH OUR EYES WE BEHELD AND SAW THE REWARD OF THE WICKED.
The encamping angels of the LORD fought many visible and invisible battles this year to deliver us from our fears. There were season we cried out to the LORD this year and He deployed them not just to see what was happening but to take care of it swiftly.
So, among the things to thank god for is the covering shelter of the angels God sent to encamp around us.
Many of us would have been no more if not for their activities. They moved in moments to cut off things that would have cut us off in seconds. They worked on the workers of iniquity and prevented them from fulfilling their wicked intentions in our lives. These things resulted in the miracles we saw this year!
The most amazing thing about this for some of us is, the Bible says,
“the angle of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him” (Psalm 34: 7),
Meaning it is the fear of GOD that boosts their activities around us. But these special beings, out of GOD’s mercies, still did their work in our lives in seasons when we sinned against God.
We must thank God for that!
Indeed, the merciful God does not deal with us according to our sins. He deals with us according to His mercies. He believes in our future more than even the most loving people in our lives.
If you see a glorious future ahead of your Child, you will forgive his or her sins in the present when he or she repents, or put up with them when they even refused to repent. People who do not understand will think you are been bias. That is the principle God operates with us.
He sees what will happen in our future, especially when we act like the worst sinners in the present, and then He applies what the Bible calls forbearance. That is when He will send His Holy Spirit and Holy word to rebuke and bring us to repentance. He will never allow the sin or the enemy of our souls to take advantage of wicked actions and destroy our lives.
THAT IS HOW MERCIFUL HE IS!
That is why His angels still ministered to us when we fell into sin. They ministered to us in hope of our repentance so that we can come into the manifestation of the glorious plans God has for us. We must indeed thank our God for His encamping angels, who never departed from us when we departed from the LORD!
There are a lot of other things to thank God for, my friend.
If you look deep into your life, you can count more than a thousand things to thank God for this year. The Bible says the LORD shall bless you a thousand times more. No matter what happened to us this year, there are at least a thousand things in our lives to thank God for. We should not allow the sad part of the year to blindfold us from them.
That is why, at this point, I want to share a secret on what I call THE PROTOCOL OF THANKSGIVING.
The first protocol of thanks giving is what I describe as A PUBLIC DECLARATION OF HIS FAITHFULNESS. I discover that this is one of the many things that brings glory to His name and sends a message to heaven that we are set for more.
We must be sensitive to Know from the LORD when and where He wants us to publicly tell what He did in our lives privately. It will bring glory to His name and set us up for more! I have come to realize that whenever God prompts us to declare publicly what He did in our lives privately, there is something Heaven is about bringing forth on earth.
The next in line in the protocol of thanks giving is SINGING AND BRINGING A SPECIAL SACRIFICE TO THE LORD to appreciate Him.
Sometimes it is very wrong to thank God without a grateful heart that expresses its gratitude through giving. For instance, if the LORD saved you from the enemy that was too strong for you, you are to bring an offering along in your hands to say “thank you LORD.” That is the protocol.
Though lying prophets and charlatans presenting themselves as God’s messengers have abused this protocol, it remains a standard to be lifted in our lives in a season like this. I want to encourage you therefore, to send some money right away to a minister of the gospel that the LORD used to immensely bless your life this year, in appreciation of His marvelous works in your life.
DO IT AS A PROPHETIC INSTRUCTION, LIFT UP A STANDARD OF GRATITUDE TODAY!
In our Churches in Nigeria, thanks-giving is like the food we eat. We know how to thank God for even the mosquitoes that could not bite us at night. We thank God for our salaries that are paid, for giving birth to Children, for getting and staying married, for waking up safe and sound, for even the air we breathe. And we do that with substance in our hands.
I remember someone in a particular Church who came out to thank God for helping him to go to the toilet without pain after seeing people in hospitals who could not excrete without using machines. He did that with a sacrificial offering in his hands and God replied with a blessing – He blessed him with a house.
You are the next on Heaven’s list.
There is someone reading this who have been suffering for not being truly grateful to the LORD. Time for Change!! Time to stop being brutal to ourselves and foolish in our walk with God by not showing gratitude to Him, or to those He may have used to bless us this year!!!
Let’s stop hindering our miracles by keeping our mouths shut instead of telling of God’s goodness. Let us stop seeing the bad things people did in our lives for a moment and appreciate those who did good things in our lives. Sometimes, Satan send people to do bad things in our lives so that we will not see the good things that others may have done and thank them for it.
Time to lift up your voice to appreciate God for His goodness in your life, even with substance in your hands. You may receive a reply from Him that will change your earthly life forever.
An ungrateful people will never come into greater glory.
Do not allow ungratefulness to keep following you about like a demon. It will oppress you like one, and make you miss great opportunities that the LORD may have created for you to become what he has called you to be.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. Psalm 103:1-8 NKJV