TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (MONDAY 28th December 2020)
“This was the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:23-24 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 362ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
Welcome to a fresh day from the LORD!
Today is part of the final days of year 2020. Final days are very important. They are days of looking inward and considering things you will not normally consider. That is why our devotion today is unique.
Let’s begin with some questions of life!
Can a man really measure God’s goodness? Can we really fathom what His Mercies accomplishes even in the life of the worst terrorist on earth on daily bases?
Can our finite minds comprehend what an infinite God does to demonstrate His love towards us on daily bases? I think, the answer is no!
If you look at the Bible, the world around and even your own life, you will agree with me that there are things God does in man and for man on daily bases that we all know nothing about.
If you look at medical science and what practitioners in that field concludes about the anatomy of the human body, you will marvel at God’s goodness.
YOU WILL REALIZE HOW SMALL OUR MOUTHS IS IF IT WAS TO FULLY EXPRESS GRATITUDE TO GOD FOR ALL HE IS DOING IN OUR LIVES!
There was a day I stumbled into the writings of Dr. Caroline Leaf, one of the Daughters of the KING in the medical field. She blew my mind open when she said, “God gives us 300 million new cells every day” to renew our lives. She said, this happens every night.
Now, this is a medical officer with the Holy Spirit in her giving us accurate things that happens to men every night. That is even if you recognize Christ as LORD or not, it does not matter. God renews your cells each morning.
It must be part of the sun He allows to shine on both the righteous and the wicked, I thought. Remember in teaching us to love our enemies, Jesus said;
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:44-45 NKJV
Ordinarily God should not do that for the bad and the evil. But He does. The reason is for their repentance. That is why I say most times it is not God that punishes the wicked when they start suffering for their wrong doing. It is the harvest of what they may have done for years that speaks in their lives.
From this scripture it is clear that time has a way of bringing back the results of a man’s wickedness without God getting involved in it.
He renews the cells of everyone each morning; either good or evil. Everyone good or bad wakes up in the morning with new cells. It is part of the sun He allows to rise on all of us. That explains why the Bible says God’s mercies are new every morning.
Think of it! Last night you slept with a number of cells. But this morning you woke up with 300 million new cells in your body; without you praying or paying for it.
Should this God not be praised even if you have no food to eat?
THAT SHOULD EXPLAIN WHY THE PROPHET DECLARED;
“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet,And He will make me walk on my high hills.” Habakkuk 3:17-19 NKJV
It was a hymn he wrote from the prophetic fountain of what he knew about GOD’s mercies in a man’s life. If God gives me 300 million cells each morning, I should be hopeful that things that may not be okay with me will be okay. I should operate in the same faith the prophet expressed in this hymn.
You see, the Bible says the wicked will do more wickedly; it will get worse by the day. That is why you should not believe every prophecy from any spiritual person about a better next year. Things may get worse. But if we remain in the LORD we will see His goodness in the land of the living.
If we express the faith of Habakkuk in the midst of trying situations, we will receive grace to go through them and come out well.
No matter what may happen, the safest thing to do will be to remain with the LORD, and not turn our backs on Him. He is too gracious for us to do so.
Yes, He is too gracious than our mortal minds can fathom. That is why the devil deceive many to believe He either do not exist, or do not care about what they may be going through.
He makes sure we send Seeds of ingratitude to this gracious LORD every now and then! We forget that we are expected to yield gratitude and righteousness back for the expression of His love in our lives.
LET ME SHARE A SECRET WITH YOU!
There is a law that governs the release of God’s goodness and mercy in the Spirit realm. When that law is operational, it renders the activities of the devil ineffective in our lives. The law is seen in the parable of the vineyard in “Isaiah 5:1-7” and was reiterated by Jesus in one of His parables.
The law simply states that “God’s mercy is an investment that expects the fear of God as a proceed.” Meaning, if God show us mercy over time and pour His goodness on daily bases into our lives, it is primarily to exhume His fear from our lives. If that did not happen after a long time, things will become contrary.
If God creates fresh cells in me while asleep – 300 million of them – why should I wake and proceed to do wicked things in return? Why should I use His mercy as an incentive to live in sin and ungodliness?
Why should I not lift up my voice to glorify Him as soon as I wake up, thanking Him for a new day?
May God plant thoughts of gratitude in our hearts this morning, even as we began the next set of days called 2021. May we come into the realm of High praise in this transitional season of life.
Men who are always grateful to God get great things from Him. But those who are ungrateful have a way of weakening His hands from doing greater things in their lives. That is why their lives are always on the average. There is no sufficient power to take them to high places without them doing one corrupt thing or the other.
Friend, Satan will not let you see God’s goodness and mercies in your life because He fears a grateful heart. He fears a heart lifted up to God in praise, especially in secret places, not just in Church. He fears it because such heart generates so much power in the Spirit realm, and that is the last thing he wants to see coming out of our lives – God’s ultimate power oozing out of us through our praise.
He has not forgotten what Paul and Silas did when there were in prison and how it changed everything for good and got some souls saved from his wicked plot to take them to hell.
In Judges 1:7, when the key leaders after Joshua where dead, the nation of Israel was left with no directive on how to invade the rest of the land and take possession of what the LORD had given them.
They went to God in prayer to seek directives. One of the things they inquired of the LORD about was strategy for successful invasion; they were concerned on who should go first against the enemy, and God replied “Judah should go first”.
JUDAH IN HEBREW MEANS PRAISE
When praise goes ahead it has a way of putting God ahead! It has a way of activating His power to break forth among a people, especially people in difficult situations. That is why Satan prefer us having an ungrateful heart and a complaining mouth in replacement.
But let’s go deeper into what the LORD said to the Israelites about praise going first.
You see, no one can praise God effectively when he or she is ungrateful; we can only do so when we are grateful at heart. In other words, only a grateful heart can praise God effectively.
So in effect, when God said let Praise go first, He was saying to the Israelites “Let grateful hearts go first, and you will generate so much power that will put the enemy to flight” Hallelujah!
A grateful heart makes God fearful in praises. It makes God do wonders on the face of the earth through its praise! That is how it generates power in the spirit realm.
Friend, we can carry a supernatural power house wherever we go by cultivating a grateful heart wherever we go. If we will not allow Seeds of ingratitude to breed in our hearts, we will be generating supernatural power wherever we go.
Let me show you one more mystery!
There is one major season Satan and men uses in planting seeds of ingratitude in us. It is called, “Season of pain”.That is why we must be very careful who we bring into our lives or allow to speak into our ears during those period.
The Bible says in everything we should rejoice and give God thanks because it is the will of God concerning us in Christ Jesus! That is how we can be protected from having our hearts taken over by ingratitude and our mouth soiled with complains in time of pain.
Thought it’s difficult, but one way to do this is by taking your focus off the pain or the bad things that may have happened or may be happening, and fixing it on what God may have done, may be doing or is about to do!
In my opinion, the early Church was kept powerful by keeping to this principle. That was why Paul and Silas praised God in the midst of very unpleasant circumstances. And their praise generated so much power in the Spirit realm that the natural realm gave way; the prison doors, chains, and etc. broke into pieces.
THE RESULT WAS THE SALVATION OF LOST SOULS AND THEIR FREEDOM.
No demon in hell or perverted man on earth can hold a grateful heart in any kind of prison for too long. It will unleash a kind of Praise to God that will generate power on earth, bringing change to his circumstances.
We can now understand why the prophet Habakkuk refused to allow his circumstances dictate his heart flow towards God. We can understand why He wrote those blessed words.
Again He said,
“Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls — Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:17-18 NKJV)”
As you pass through the last moments of year 2020, make this key one of your master keys for turning God loose in 2021 and you will be most blessed! Step into 2021 with High Praise to God right in your home. Ride on the wings of God’s power into the new set of days! Do not just walk into it.
Forget about what good you did not see this year and fix your eyes on the good you saw. If you multiply 300 Million cells by the 362 days you have already seen in 2020, you will be amazed at what the LORD did just to keep you alive (sometimes even while you are spending the night in sin).
If He has dealt with us according to our sins, then no cell will have been created in us; and that would have meant death
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
“He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.” Ps. 103:9-15 NKJV