TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Saturday 26th December 2020)
“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 360TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
Heaven has been God’s Throne and the earth His footstool, that is why we are here today. If His footstool presence has not been on earth, the wicked one would have turned this earth into hades for all of us. But thank God for the restrictions that His footstool presence is imposing on his activities.
It enables us to be alive and serve Him. It helps sinners like us to return to Him and become ex-sinners. It helps practicing sinners to be convicted of their sins and return to Him. His footstool presence is what is keeping us; and it will keep each and every one of us until we fulfil our days.
When we fulfill our days, it will help us to transit from this life to the next in the portals of His glory. It’s important that we be grateful to the LORD for Heaven been His Throne and the earth where He has given us to live, His footstool.
Yesterday, we marked the birth of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ with an amazing service where the LORD gave us our Christmas bells. We began the commemoration on Monday with a special program on the Morning Cloud TV called “The Apostolic Christmas Chat” which ran from Monday to yesterday.
This chat will be coming to us yearly, God willing.
Today is Boxing Day, as they call it. For a long time, I did not know what this meant. In fact, as kids we thought it was a day of throwing punches. So we will meet after Christmas and be attempting to do that. But years later I got to know what it really meant. It is a day of opening the boxes brought as Christmas presents.
Well, some may not have any box to open because they were not given any. Anyway permit me to say, “Happy Boxing Day” to you! If no one gave you a box of present to open today, there are boxes of truth to open in God’s word. Hallelujah!
In our devotional word today we will be looking at the seasons that make a man vulnerable to satanic assaults. That is the box of truth we are going to open this morning. It will be a prophetic boxing day for us as we look at these things.
TO START WITH, GOD NEVER CREATED US TO BE ATTACKED BY THE DEVIL
You must understand this simple truth. That was why we were hidden in a portal of glory at creation. Mankind was in His image, functioning in His likeness. And since God cannot be attacked by the enemy, man could not be attacked as well.
In fact, when the devil entered the snake to come into the garden, he could not even speak to man. He spoke to the woman. That was how heavily protected man was. He spoke to the woman so that she could do something that will bring mankind within a realm where he could attack them successfully. Sadly, it happened and here we are today, looking at how not to be vulnerable to his incessant attacks.
We have just five days to stepping into the new year according to the Gregorian calendar. And since many follow that calendar, it’s important that we meet us with a word that will help us.
Prophetically, some of us do not follow this calendar when it comes to spiritual transitions, we follow another calendar.
For us, transited into a new year between September and October. So we may not need a cross over night in five days time because we have already crossed. However, for the majority who follow the Gregorian calendar, we have just five days to go and it’s important we open this box because of what will happen in 2021.
Talking about the seasons that make one vulnerable to satanic assaults, it is important that we begin with some things that makes us vulnerable.
There are so many things that make us vulnerable to the attacks of the evil one. From sin, iniquity and trespass, to spiritual carelessness, and immaturity. The list is endless. But all these things are just results of one major thing; and that thing is spiritual ignorance. In other words, not knowing!
This explains why Paul the apostle made the having the knowledge of God his ultimate prayers for those the LORD committed into His hands. He said;
“Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,” Ephesians 1:15-19
WHY WOULD APOSTLE PAUL MAKE THIS HIS ULTIMATE PRAYER FOR HIS FLOCK?
If you look at this prayer closely, you will discover that everything centers around bringing them, not to great financial prosperity, or getting the single married, or achieving one earthly success or the other. It centered on the people receiving the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the KNOWLEDGE of GOD!
This man of GOD knew that was the only thing that will eliminate spiritual ignorance from his flock.
Sadly, in our age and time, not many people really know that our real problem is spiritual ignorance, that is why we do not go for its elimination. We pray, fast, and even fight to eliminate our enemies, but do not do same to eliminate spiritual ignorance. But that is what is really handing us over to the enemy.
Now, let us look at seasons where we can be vulnerable to spiritual attacks. The first season is the season of “pain” and the next a season of “joy.” Now, you may be wondering, it’s ideal for someone to be vulnerable in a season of pain, but I find it difficult the accept a season of joy as a season of vulnerability to satanic attacks. Hold your breath! You will soon find out.
First, let’s begin with the season of pain.
Many years ago, the LORD said to me, “be careful when things are not okay with you.” It set me thinking. I remember teaching that in one of the meetings we held in a place called Kefi in Nasarawa state of Nigeria.
The LORD made us to understand that when things are not okay with us we must be careful, and when they are okay with us we must also be careful. Both seasons can be very destructive. People manage both glorious and inglorious moments very badly sometimes.
For instance, the rich fool did not die when he was busy cultivating his farm to raise crops. It was when he reaped the greatest harvest of his life that he lost his life.
ONE MUST BE REALLY CAREFUL WHEN THINGS ARE OKAY WITH HIM OR HER.
The glorious moments of a life that is not anchored daily on the rich and sustaining word of God, can usher one into inglorious moments. Thoughts that exalted themselves against the knowledge of God, sprang up from the soul of that man we all know today as the rich fool, in his season of prosperity and got him killed. The same can happen to anyone. That tells us Satan can make use of our glorious moments to destroy us!
As commonly known, he can also use our inglorious moments. Talking about our LORD and savior Jesus Christ, it was during his inglorious moments in the days of His flesh that Satan came to temp Him. Satan will come against you in your inglorious moments.
The Bible made it clear that Jesus had just finished a 40 day fast and was hungry when the enemy came. He did not come against Him blindly; he came against him in his season of vulnerability. But the word of God sustained Jesus all through. Hallelujah!
You see, God sustain everything by the power of His word. If we will not lose out to the devil in an hour of attack, we must be on guard through any season of life, giving the word of the LORD its ideal place in our hearts. The saints of Old sang to the LORD saying “I need thee every hour.” Any hour that God’s sustaining word is not given its place in our heart, will create a deficit in our spiritual lives.
Now, to the glorious moments of Christmas; what did the enemy use this festive season to do in your life? What successful enemy attack did you succumb to during the festive season? This is the time to deal with it! This is the time to bow your knee in prayer and ask the LORD to save you from it.
Our devotional text said,
“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad”
THIS IS A FORGOTTEN TRUTH IN THE CHURCH TODAY!
What did you do with your body during this festive period that is not well pleasing to the LORD? Accountability is part of the Christian faith. Can you be accountable enough to address it? Any Christianity that lacks accountability is insanity.
God said in His word that if we cover our sins, or go on as if nothing happened after coming a sin, we will not prosper. But if we confess and forsake them; if we sit down to address them, we will receive mercy. And God will send a grace to came out of them.
This is very important since we are going to appear before the judgement seat to give account of what we did with our bodies. But if we are accountable enough to address those things in this life, we will rejoice when we stand before the LORD in the next life to give account of ourselves.
Yes, a day is coming when we will all appear before God and give account of what we did with our body, either good or bad. That is why the book of Romans urged us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.
Only then will we be free from this coming Judgment; only then will we receive a glorious reward from the LORD when we step out of this body!
This is body and the bad things we do with it is the reason many will have it terrible in the next life. Sometimes these truths make me afraid, because we have done do many wicked things with our bodies. There is need to bring each part of it now to the cross and crucify its passions and lust.
There is need to stop pretending and thinking all is well while all is not well. There is need to put this body under so that after we have told everyone we are born again, they will not find us in hell with them, and begin to wonder “you also came here? Despite all your spiritual seriousness and activities? Your going to church and all that?”
May that not happen to us! But if it will not happen, we must do the right thing; we must spend our Christian lives presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God on daily bases, asking the LORD to help us in the process.
That is the box of truth the LORD gave us to open in this boxing day!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!
“Therefore, I urge you, [b]brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship.
And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be [c]transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].” Romans 12:1-2 Amplified Version