TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (SUNDAY 3RD JANUARY 2021)
“After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel.
Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”
But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’
Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!’” So Elijah went.” 2 Kings 1:1-4 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 3RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS
One of the major blessings I saw in the lives of ancient Israelites was the favor to ride on the High Places of the Earth. It was more of an ancestral blessing. It sat upon them from generation to generation. It was a prophecy of Higher heights. Even today, there are Jews that are very blessed because of that ancestral blessing.
When God say to us, “2021 is your year of Higher Heights” it will be foolish to say we understand what He meant; even if all of us have PHD in Linguistics. It will be very foolish of us!
The reason is, God does not speak English when He speaks. God speaks God, then we all pick it in our different languages!
A PHD in linguistics can never give one access to hidden meanings of things Heaven speaks in God’s language. The Bible says these things were delivered to the learned and they said “we cannot read because they are sealed”
All prophecies are usually sealed. That is why if we define what GOD say to us based on our understanding of what we picked when He said those things, we may miss it. We can never understand God using the principles of human languages, no!
For instance, when He said to me in September last year, “2020 will be your year of rejoicing” I leaped for joy in the place of prayer and joyfully came out to declare it. But what later happened that year showed me that I never got it in His language. I picked it in my language and began to run with it.
When the battles of the year began to pour in, that was when my understanding opened. I quickly comprehended that the word was given to serve more as a weapon of war for me. Friend, the experience taught me to be careful this time.
When an accurate word comes from the LORD, it calls for minds that will migrate from the realm of human thinking to the realm of divine paradigms to unlock the meaning. It is in our perfect understanding of the meaning that we can align with the word accurately.
ACCURATE WORDS REQUIRE ACCURATE ALIGNMENT FOR THE INTENT OF THE WORD TO BE FULFILLED.
Because God does not give prophetic words to entertain us. He gives prophetic words to fulfill certain intentions in our lives. And most times those intentions are not known and cannot even be known, because the GOD we serve loves to hide Himself sometime.
Isaiah proved that every prophetic word from God has an intent for it when he said,
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud,that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11 NIV
Every word of GOD has a purpose for which He sends it. It is our understanding of the word that will uncover the purpose to us, because many times we are carried away by the beauty of the word without getting to know its purpose. That was what happened to me in 2020 with “the Year of rejoicing” word, and I don’t want that to repeat itself with this “Higher Heights” prophecy for 2021.
One of my major concern and prayer this year is, “LORD, show me the intent of the Higher Heights Prophecy.” If I understand the intent, I will ride on the power of it and see what GOD sent the word to accomplish in our lives, accomplished. I guess that should be your prayer too.
Which brings me to our devotional text for today! Don’t forget, it centers around the prophetic word God sent to King Ahaziah by the hand of Elijah. The text is full of insights to uncover, but we will stick to the few that we can receive some lights from.
The Bible says Ahaziah had a domestic accident right in his palace and it was terrible. But instead of seeking God for direction about the issue, he went to seek a demon that was then worshiped as the god of Ekron. This brought the wrath of God upon him.
GOD CAN TAKE ANYTHING FROM US BUT NOT WHEN WE REPLACE HIM WITH OTHER GODS.
This king incurred divine wrath just like that and got himself in more trouble. But the way the LORD reacted tells me something deeper. God must have allowed that accident to happen to get His attention, like He always does when dealing with a rebellious or stubborn heart. If that was not the case, why did He react so swiftly?
I believe the accident was a prophecy sent to get the attention of the king because lives were at stake. Yes, sometimes prophecies do not come in words, they come in deeds, occurrences or events.
But irrespective of how they come, they usually carry in them hidden intentions to be fulfilled in the lives of those God may be dealing with. For Ahaziah, it was just to get his attention. But instead of giving God the attention God sort, he went to seek the attention of other gods.
The result was not good. Our lives will not always end well when we go seeking for attention when God needs our attention. Sadly, that has become the bane of present day believers. We go running after men and women of God while God is busy running after us. That is why we do not get what we run after them to get.
They promised you marriage, but you did not get it. Then they turn to blame your sins or something else, after collecting all kinds of seeds from you as a condition to breaking the yoke. Then they promised you this or that miracle, and made you run after them with great commitment to their so called ministries. But at the end of the day, no promise came to pass.
You cannot get from such people what God is running after you to give to you.
What you are looking for is with the one running after you – the almighty GOD. And when someone is running after you, to bless you, and you are running after people you think will help you, you will never be blessed; you will just be living an accursed life on the face of the earth.
SIGNIFICANT BLESSINGS DO NOT COME WHEN WE MEET TRUE MEN OF GOD, THEY COME WHEN WE MEET THE GOD OF THE TRUE MEN.
That is why true men will set us up to meet with the true God they represent. If you look at the life of Elijah, you will see how they do it.
They will turn while you are running after them (like Elijah did to Elisha), asking, “why are you running after me? What do you seek?” When they act that way, don’t get angry. What they meant is “Look, God is behind you, running after you with a blessing.”
If you humble yourself and not pick offense like Elisha did not, then they will sit you down and give you a place in their mantle to teach you how to turn and meet the GOD who have been running after you.
Friend, the time has come to stop wasting your time with wrong people and seek ministries that will help you find the God that have been running after you to bless your life. You can make this year a year of turning round to meet the God who have been running after you with the very things you are running after preachers to get.
This is not denting the need for sound preachers in our lives. It is rather establishing it. Because you will need at Elijah to teach you how to turn around and meet the God who have been running after you.
Yes, by the help of the Holy Spirit, if you will make this year, your year of turning around to find the GOD who have been running after you, definitely, you will find Him and receive all He have been running after you to give to you, in Jesus precious name!
Ancient men and women who walked with the LORD showed us by their lives that when God seek our attention, we should not go seeking for the attention of things or people we feel can help us. We should give GOD the attention He seek from us. Only then can we experience great outbreaks of His presence in our lives and come to significant blessings in His kingdom.
I believe the prophecy of Higher Heights has a hidden intention to make us people who will not go seeking the god of Ekron in time of trouble, but a people who will seek the God of Heaven and earth. Not just in time of trouble but in time of tranquility as well.
A portion of our devotional text asked, “‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’”
Child of God, there is God in Israel. We must not go to other gods to seek what our God can freely give to us, even if we fall into the most terrible sin. No demon can forgive our sins and bless us still. Only God can! So we should learn to stick with Him no matter what happens.
Come to think of it, is it not the one who died for our sins that we should stick to when we fall into sin? Why do we give up and go away with the devil? What foolishness! Did Satan die for our sins?
Most times we are made to believe that our walk with God is over during such moments then we turn away from Him and start living a sinful life. That should not be so! Even if you terminated your walk with God, walking away is not the solution. Walking to Him in repentance is. The prodigal Son knew better.
God hates sin and can chastise us severely for it, but I better stick to He who hates sin so that He can purge it away from my life than He who loves it, because he will compound my problems.
What are we sharing this day?
What we are saying is, no matter the circumstances, stick with the Almighty God. Do not go seeking the god of Ekron. Job said, “Though he slays me, yet I will trust in him;” (Job 13:15). That is the Spirit!
Hang on there; even if you think He is refusing to send help, stay with Him. Don’t walk away from the LORD. A sick person needs a doctor, not a lawyer. Doctors treat but lawyers argue.
Stop listening to the great arguments the enemy is putting into your mind. Listen to the healing words of Christ. No one has ever listened to Barrister Satan and made it. Ask Eve in Genesis 3. She listened to him, and enjoyed his sound arguments against God; and here we are today.
You will always loose if you listen to the ‘great’ arguments Satan usually put up against our GOD in your mind.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
“For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Hebrews 10:35-39 NKJV