TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Tuesday 15th December 2020)
“But life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus-the work of telling others the Good News about God’s mighty kindness and love.” Acts 20:24 TLB
WELCOME TO THE 349TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
It is another day that the LORD has made. We shall rejoice and be glad in it. The path of the just is like a shining light. That shines brighter and brighter unto a perfect day!
Indeed, life is a journey. How it ends is determined by the accumulated decisions of its owner. Sometimes, it is not the accumulated decisions of your life that determines how it ends, but the decisions of others. People around us can decide to do things that if we are not protected by the LORD, can destroy us in moments.
So this morning we will be looking at what to do when you come under the storms of life created in your life by the decisions of others! In my view, this is one of the major aspect of divine wisdom we need this end time.
A lot of things have happened to our personal lives and the world at large because of the decisions of others. This year alone, some people decided to create and release a virus from a lab in China.
Today the entire world is paying for it. Reports has it that what we now know as Covid-19, was a biological weapon of war that escaped from its dwelling place. The decision of one person was responsible for how the world has turned right now!
It is therefore important to know what to do when faced with the perils of the decisions of others.
God forbid that one day someone decides to release a set of nuclear weapons on planet. It will bring the world to its cataclysmic end. That is why one of the evils we need protection from, is the evil that is cooked against mankind by the decision of others.
Sometimes we are not destroyed by our personal decisions, we are destroyed by the decision of others.
Jesus said when we pray, we should not forget to tell our Heavenly Father to deliver us from all evil. Oh, how we need that today! That brings to mind a special man that lived in the days of the Bible; apostle Paul.
He taught us so many things including how to survive in a wicked and perverse generation. From his writings, our lives have been re-shaped, destinies redefined, and Christianity fine-tuned.
One other thing we can learn from this man of God is how to handle adverse circumstances created in our lives by the decision of others. In other words, what to do when we find ourselves in life threatening situations, not because of the decisions we made, but because of the decisions that others made.
BEFORE HE WE GET THERE, LET ME STATE CATEGORICALLY THAT THE WORST OF WORLD HISTORY IS STILL AHEAD OF US
Very bad things are going to happen to the human race. Very, very bad things are going to happen.
Bible prophecy tells us that things will get worse and worse and that many will find themselves in horrors that are beyond human control. Some will be by personal decisions, but majority will be by the decisions of those who are in charge of parts of our lives that we have no control over.
People like heads of governments, heads of institutions, leaders of militant groups, big tech companies, heads of religious organizations, security agencies, pilots, cooks, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, our parents, wives, husbands, children, and many other people who control or influence a part of our natural lives that we have no control over.
Sometimes, it is easier to come out of a problem that was created by your decision than to come out of a problem created by the decision of others. The Bible spoke of perilous times. But if you look at that scripture carefully, you will realize that the perils of those times will be created by the perilous people who will live in those times.
Paul described the people as;
“…. lovers of self [narcissistic, self-focused], lovers of money [impelled by greed], boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane,
[and they will be] unloving [devoid of natural human affection, calloused and inhumane], irreconcilable, malicious gossips, devoid of self-control [intemperate, immoral], brutal, haters of good,
traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of [sensual] pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of [outward] godliness (religion), although they have denied its power [for their conduct nullifies their claim of faith]. 2 Timothy 3:2-5 Amplified Version
You will never have a peaceful life if your life is yoked, directly or indirectly, to anyone who suits the description of people in this scripture. You will always come under trouble created by their decisions.
For instance, I have seen lovers of self, make decisions that got other people’s lives destroyed. They destroyed other people’s lives and shed tears of regrets after doing it but the people whose lives were destroyed could not be redeemed.
Jesus said,
“Woe to the world for such temptations to sin {and} influences to do wrong! It is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the person on whose account {or} by whom the temptation comes!” (Mathew 18:7 Amplified)
Our world is ruined today by people who love money more than human lives. Yes, we are ruined today by hearts impelled by greed, boastful souls, arrogant people, hearts that are unholy and profane.
MALICIOUS GOSSIPS HAVE MADE DECISIONS THAT DESTROYED PROMISING RELATIONSHIPS AND OTHER PEOPLE’S HAPPINESS.
It may shock you to know that my family and ministry was at the brink of ruin this year (2020), due to malicious gossips carried out by a network of very close persons who lacked self-control. The result led to a lot of things that only eternity will reveal.
It was a storm that would have brought our marriage, ministry and destinies to a ruin if not for the solid foundation of God’s mercies and love in our lives (my wife and I). I would never forget this year, not for corona virus; but for the virus of the bitter waters of malicious gossips that we drank this year as a family.
For the first time in our lives, peace elapsed our peaceful and happy family for weeks. Our marriage that was like an impenetrable fortress was finally penetrated. If the Holy Spirit was not there to supply breathe of life to us; if He was not there to rule our hearts, everything would have collapsed and come to ruin. He alone gave us the victory!
HE DID NOT ONLY GIVE US THE VICTORY; HE ALSO GAVE US THE LESSONS; LESSONS TO GUIDE US FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES!
I came to discover that if Satan finds you perfect in decision making; if he discover that you are following the ways of God and that you will never make a decision that will bring his destruction into your life, he will allow you to bring in someone who would.
Someone who will make a decision that will unleash his trouble into your life.
Child of God, except for divine intervention, what we go through because of the decision of others, can destroy our happiness, our peaceful lives, our marriages, our spiritual lives, and a lot of other good things that God may have given us.
If by any accident or incident you find yourself among malicious gossips, especially those who mean no harm; or calloused and inhumane people, get ready for trouble. Those who mean no harm are even more dangerous than those who do. The reason is simple; you will not have the nerve to deal with them once and for all. Compassion will not let that happen!
Child of God, if irreconcilable people or malicious gossips, especially those who are devoid of self-control, becomes part of you by any means, there will be perils in your life. If you bring into your network of relationship intemperate and immoral people, you will go through spiritual decay, not by your decision but their decision.
You may lose your salvation!
The Bible made it clear that if we find ourselves yoked to people who are brutal, haters of good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of sensual pleasure rather than lovers of God, we should get ready for trouble because we are going to go through adversities that may end up consuming our lives.
Yes, if we take in folks who hold to a form of outward godliness, but with conducts that nullifies their claim of faith, our lives will be filled with sorrow. This year thought me that our peaceful lives can be turned into trouble zones in minutes by the decisions of people our families or individual lives are yoked to!
The worst we may ever face in life will come from the decisions that other people made, not the one we made. Do not forget that! That is why we must always ask the LORD to deliver us from all evil as Jesus counselled.
Paul found himself severally in situations created by the decisions of others. That is why he remains our perfect example in this matter. He found himself in the perils of false brethren, the perils of robbers, the perils that were unleashed upon him by the decisions of others.
In fact, I looked at the life of this man and all he went through, and could not find one evil that came upon him by his personal decision. All came upon him by the decisions of others. But what he did during those moments is what we must always do during our own moments.
One of the life threatening situations he faced by the decision of others, was the shipwreck in Acts 27. It was not his decision to travel after seeing in the realm of the Spirit what was lying ahead of the voyage. It was the decision of those who controlled a part of his life he had no control over.
THE BIBLE SAYS HE SPOKE TO THOSE IN-CHARGE SAYING;
“… “Men, I sense [after careful thought and observation] that this voyage will certainly be a disaster and with great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”
However, the centurion [Julius, ranking officer on board] was persuaded by the pilot and the owner of the ship rather than by what Paul said. Acts 27:10-11 Amplified Version
The rest as they say, is history!
Within a short while, this man of God found himself between life and death. Not because of his decision but because of the decision of others. He got to a point that he could do nothing else but spend the rest of the days hanging around the God who created him. That was what saved him from perishing by the decision of others.
The Bible says;
“Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm kept raging about us, from then on all hope of our being saved was [growing worse and worse and] gradually abandoned.
After [f]they had gone a long time without food [because of seasickness and stress], Paul stood up before them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice and should not have set sail from Crete, and brought on this damage and loss.
But even now I urge you to keep up your courage and be in good spirits, because there will be no loss of life among you, but only loss of the ship.
For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, and said, ‘Stop being afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has given you [the lives of] all those who are sailing with you.’
So keep up your courage, men, for I believe God and have complete confidence in Him that it will turn out exactly as I have been told; but we must run [the ship] aground on some island.” Acts 27:20-25 Amplified Version
ONE WAY TO BE SAVED FROM THE PERILS OF THE DECISIONS OF OTHERS, IS TO SPEND YOUR DAYS HANGING AROUND GOD
Paul was a man who hanged around God, so when the ship came under attack, he immediate became himself; a man who hang around God. He was with Him for 14 days, neither eating no drinking. To hang around God will involve abstinence from food and everything you consider essential for living.
While others were with the storm, Paul was with God in the storm. Hallelujah! That was what saved everyone’s life.
But there is a point here; it did not save the ship and all the treasure in it. It saved the lives in the ship. Lives are more important to God than material things. We will not always recover from everything whenever we face crisis that are created by other people’s decisions, no matter how strong we stay with GOD!
We may not recover any material things lost. But that does not matter. Life is more important. God will make sure our lives are not lost in the midst of the storm.
As we bring this beautiful word to a close, I want you to understand that there is what to do in the midst of any storm to be saved; especially storms created by other people’s decisions – hanging around God is what to do. We must learn to hang around Him in the midst of any storm if we do not want the storm to take us out.
Hanging around God will involve serving Him in deep and true fellowship. Remaining submissive and obedient.
We must therefore keep serving Him in deep and true fellowship no matter what may be going on in our lives; we must remain submissive and obedient. If we hang around God that way, especially in the kind of seasons described in the life of Paul, any evil hanging around us will be forced to depart from us.
No evil defeats people who hang around God in the midst of a storm. All through the Bible you will find men and women who came out of the sword of the decisions of others by spending time with the LORD, serving Him in deep and true fellowship during their days of trouble, remaining submissive and obedient no matter the cost.
God said in His word that we should call upon Him in our days of trouble that He will answer us. We should not just jump and start calling upon people. In other words, we should hang around Him not around the arm of flesh. The arm of flesh will fail us in such moments.
For instance, what would have the arm of flesh done to save Paul and others on that ship tossed by terrible tempest?
Friend, the things you will go through sometimes by the decisions of others will be bigger than what the arm of the flesh can deal with. Hanging around God during those moments remain the only way to come out well from such storms.
I believe the message of today have been passed. I pray that God use these words to build us up and give us an inheritance among they that are sanctified!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” Psalm 42:1-3 NKJV