TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Tuesday 22ND December 2020)
“For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,
but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” Hebrew 3:4-6 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 356TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD! It is a good thing to sing praises to His Holy name; He has been our GOD and sustainer. In one of his psalms, David said a foolish man or simpleton do not know this.
His mercies have saved us from our mess, His power from our problems, His Spirit from unclean spirits. You can now see why Job said “the Spirit of the LORD has made me; and the breath of God has given me life.” It is the breath of the almighty that is responsible for the breath in our lungs.
Indeed, like our devotional said, “He who built all things is God.” We thank Him for building our lives this year. To Him belong all the glory, forever and ever! Amen.
This morning we shall be looking at some truths that will help us to think and bring us to the place of being for fruitful in our walk and talk with God.
Let me begin by asking this question; as we step into a fresh year and bid 2020 good bye, what will you be remembered for this year? Will you be remembered for the problems you solved or the ones you created? Will you be remembered for the people you killed, maybe not literally but with hate, or the ones you saved from death with love?
If God were to give a record of our lives for 2020, will the record be favorable in your ears or not. What will be God’s testimony of you?
The answers to this question most times are responsible for the kind of peace you will enjoy in the coming year. Because if people have not been fruitful in righteousness or helpful to God’s purposes during a particular year, they next year could be a year of reaping the results of what they did in the outgoing year.
There are people who caused so much problems to others this year. If they do not repent, next year will be hell to them. The rewards of what they did will begin to come upon them. There are those who rewarded evil for the good done to them this year, they tried to destroy homes and hearts; the caused deep pains to those who gave them the greatest joy this year.
IF THEY DO NOT GENUINELY REPENT AND SEEK MERCY FROM GOD AND THOSE THEY DID SUCH THINGS TO, NEXT YEAR COULD BE TERRIBLE FOR THEM.
The Bible says;
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap.
For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from the flesh ruin and destruction, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” Galatians 6:7-9 Amplified Version.
This scripture on amplified version seem deeper and clearer. It said God will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside. If we think we can scornfully set His precepts aside and go free, we are deluded.
If we think that we can sow to please our sinful capacities, worldliness and disgraceful impulses and go free, we are deluded.
Repentance and seeking mercy remains the only thing to do about any evil we may have done this year! Anything we may have done to destroy others, unleash hell on their paths and make them regret being born must be address with God or them. Time has come to look inward and know who to settle with, else there will be scores to settle next year.
Life is all about seed, time and harvest. Our actions are the most powerful seeds on earth not the money we give to a preacher.
There is a way our hearts deceive us about this powerful principle of life, and we begin to do or say things without thinking. Not knowing that the things we are doing or saying are undoing and soiling our own lives.
There are those who maltreated their employees; people who have no one to help them in life that are serving you. There are also those who maltreated their employers; people who picked them up from the nowhere, offered them jobs and blessed them abundantly with finances and other things this year.
Again I ask, what will you be remembered for? Will you be remembered for the pains you caused people or the joy you brought into their lives?
For so many it is the pains you caused people that you will be remembered for. The evil words that came out of their mouths and the evil deeds that came out of their lives. That is not a blessed memory to cherish about you, so long as 2020 is concerned.
WE MUST SEEK MERCY WHERE WE NEED IT SO THAT NEXT YEAR WILL NOT MESS UP OUR LIVES!
There is a sowing mixture in the life of some people. They spent this year sowing good things like fasting, prayer, giving towards the things of GOD, hearing the word, and etc. But the bad things they sowed alongside outweighs the good they have sowed. This is not good!
It is not good because it could result in a year full of a mixture of troubles that one may not be redeemed from and little good things to celebrate about. Friend, the last days of this year calls for sober reflection on this matters. God keeps records, years also keeps record. Time keeps record and brings the result of things people refuse to repent of to their lives.
If you sow financial seeds, fast and pray but live a life of rebellion; a life that is not in harmony with the word of the LORD for your life in a particular year, you must repent and restructure your life for a coming year if you do not want that year to be a ruin to you.
Foolishness is doing the same unhelpful things and expecting helpful results. There is power in what we did in an outgoing year. It tells a coming year or even coming years what to do in our lives. People must understand that mystery! It takes a doing to unleash glorious or gory things into our upcoming years. If we keep doing things that are not good in God’s sight, and expecting good things from Him, they will never come.
We must learn to spend our days doing the word. It is people who do the word that change their lives and the world at large. Moses was one, hence earning a good testimony before God.
One of the beautiful portions of our devotional text said; “And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,”
This formed some of the things the Moses was remembered for after living a will of God controlled life on earth. Again, what will we be remembered for? Will we be remembered for the will of God controlled lives we lived this year or the will of flesh controlled life we led?
Personally I have things I don’t want to be remembered for, hence making amends. It was a tumultuous year that produced things I hated with passion. I don’t want those things to repeat themselves in my life, hence restructuring my life strongly. I advise you to do the same!
MAKE AMENDS WHERE NECESSARY AND SEEK FORGIVENESS WHERE NECESSARY
Decide to spend next year walking in complete obedience to the will and ways of the LORD. People who walk in complete obedience to the voice or word of the LORD will be remembered for the great things God used them to do. Yes, they will be remembered by Heaven and sometimes earth for the light of God they used their lives to shine into the lives of others. They will have no evil to be remembered for.
I have come to discover that if we do not want to live painful and inglorious memories in the hearts of people in or around our lives, we must learn to walk in total obedience to the will, ways and word of the LORD. We must follow the Spirit of the LORD where He leads and do what is required from time to time.
This morning the Spirit of God has led us to consider our ways and make the coming year glorious by settling things with God and man so that there will be no score for 2021 to settle in our lives as we step into it.
I reiterate again that most people do not know that incoming years has a way of settling scores in our lives if we do not settle things with God and man in an outgoing year. There are so many destinies that will be sadly, wiped away next year because this. We should not be part of those destinies that is why God has brought this word to us!
Let us be like the Sons of Issachar who understood the times and knew what Israel ought to do. Let us do what the LORD is commanding us to do. Let us not short changed our destinies with lack pf improper response to this word like Israel did in their days.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
“But My people would not listen to My voice, And Israel did not [consent to] obey Me. So I gave them up to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in [the path of] their own counsel.
“Oh, that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways! “Then I would quickly subdue and humble their enemies and turn My hand against their adversaries;
Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him and cringe before Him, and their time of punishment would be forever.
“But I would feed Israel with the finest of the wheat; and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” Psalm 81:10-16 Amplified Version