TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (TUESDAY 19TH JANUARY 2021)
“THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.”
“For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” Romans 8:1-2 AMP
WELCOME TO THE 19TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS
The goodness of the LORD and the mercies from His throne has been the reason we have been alive for this 19 days of the year. There are many more days to go and we believe the same Heavenly treasures will keep us.
Today we will be looking at matters of our salvation. The Bible says that should occupy the very core of our being all the days that the LORD has given us.
To start with, I want us to understand that everyone of us on earth is on transit. The quicker we all come to terms with it the better. This transit has two destinations; eternity with Christ or eternity with the devil and his angels. While it is not the will of God that any of us transit to eternity with the devil and his fallen angels, the decision of where we transit to is in our hands.
Yes, God will never choose either you will go to hell or Heaven. We chose where to go after death. What God does is to strengthen us to make it to Heaven if that is our choice, and discourage us from going to hell if we make that our choice. To strengthen us for Heaven, He became man, dwelled among us and died on the cross.
Then He gave us His Holy Spirit and word to live in us and take us there. He also planted Churches and gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists pastors and teachers to enable us fulfill our dream of making Heaven.
That is why He places a curse on any preacher or Church that carried His name but does not help those who have decided for Heaven grow in Christ to fulfill their dream. God placed so much value on souls. I don’t think we are yet to fully comprehend the value He placed on the souls of men.
You will always find it in how He send His Holy Spirit to get us back to Him each time we fall away from Him. You see it in how He urges those who claim to have repented but have not fully committed themselves to Him to turn from their hypocritical ways and commit genuinely to Him.
THE DECISION TO MAKE HEAVEN IS USUALLY A WORTHY DECISION.
But it is not always without a price. The price sometimes could be permanent separation from love ones, churches groups, well paid jobs, marriages, ways of life, religious practices and all that connects us to the gates of hell. It usually requires a lot of discipline and consecration. That is why Jesus said;
“But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” Matthew 5:28-30 NKJV
The decision to make Heaven is a worthy decision but it is not always without a price. Jesus was so honest and transparent about it. He tells us point blank what will be required to make Heaven. It is this kind of Christianity we see today that will be required, but a Christian life that matches the standard set in His word.
I cannot remember the last time I heard a cutting edge preacher preach the very scripture we just read above. They do not preach about the consequences of lust, and the necessity of dealing with that eye (what takes our attention), and that hand (relationship) that causes us to sin.
In fact, if the eyes and the hands are causing us to sin but bringing money to us, they will preach to us about the mercies of the LORD and how impossible it is for us to be separated from the love of GOD. Paul said knowing the severity of God we persuade men. But our cutting edge preachers and spiritual fathers know just the goodness of the LORD.
They just decide not to know His severity. They refuse to know how sinners will feel like in the hands of an angry God on the final day. Living in denial of the truth does not help it hurts; it can hurt eternally.
They teach you to draw from the Benefits of a salvation that you have never experienced. And because no one can ever draw benefits from a salvation they have never experienced, it will become difficult for the people. Making it impossible for them to freely receive what Jesus freely gave by His blood.
You will find them employing other methods; asking them to sow this seed or that one, fast for this days or the other days, visit this or the other mountain and do all kinds of religious rituals possible. All in a bit to be free from the demonic and the destructive.
Friend I have always said that a lot of people who claim born again are merely psychologically saved. There is no real encounter with Jesus in their Christianity. That is why they find it difficult to get things freely from the LORD without doing one thing or the other. And if you need to sow that seed to get it, then you are no longer dealing with the LORD who shed His blood for you. You are dealing with another lord.
IN SPIRITUAL REALITY, YOU ARE STILL UNDER THE DOMAIN OF DARKNESS IN THE SPIRIT REALM, WHERE DELIVERANCE AND OTHER BENEFITS OF SALVATION ARE NOT POSSIBLE.
A lot of preachers who minister to others are unsaved. They are still in the domain of darkness; walking according to the dictates of the flesh. That is why they minister like witch doctors. If a salvation experience is not genuine, those certified saved will be found walking after the dictates of the flesh not the dictates of the Spirit. Which brings us to our devotional text.
The first verse has all the message we need this morning. It says;
“THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.”
This scripture is very clear on a very important matter of our salvation. A genuine salvation encounter will put you in Christ Jesus. If you are in Christ Jesus, we will not know it by loud tongues or prayers, neither will we know it by loud preaching and prophecies. We will not even know it by your songs, lingo, church attendance or positions. We will not even know it by your title. We will know it by your walk!
If we say we are in Christ Jesus but our walk says contrary, we are deluded. Those who are in Christ Jesus do not walk according to the flesh.
THEY WALK ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT.
Meaning if we find someone who claims to be saved walking after the dictates of the flesh, we have found a condemned sinner who parading himself or herself as saved! It is our walk that tell us about our GOD. It is our walk that tell us about our salvation.
If our walk is in the flesh, we are not saved. That is the truth! Don’t mix it up and don’t forget it. It is a serious salvation matter.
Genuine salvation experience is a byproduct of deep convictions of the Holy Ghost; deep enough to turn a harlot, an adulterer, a thief and liar, a murderer, an ardent criminal, a greedy and bloodletting politician and etc. into precious saints of the Most God, living a Holy life in place of the sinful and wicked lives they once lived.
When genuine salvation experience take place in the life of a man, it replaces his flesh led life with a Spirit led life; making it impossible for the person to be adjudged guilty before God irrespective of what he or she may have done in the past.
That is why the Bible says,
“There is therefore now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.”
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF OUR DEVOTIONAL THIS MORNING?
The message is simple and clear! Without genuine salvation experience, the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire, and regular intake of quality spiritual food, the full blessings of our redemption purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ will never speak in our lives.
There is still power in the blood of Jesus.
The Old Rugged Cross has not lost its power. It still washes from sin and makes it impossible for any form of satanic and demonic works to prosper in our lives. But it will take a salvation experience, founded in conviction of sin, conviction of righteousness, and conviction of judgment, reinforced by the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire, coupled with a regular intake of rich spiritual food and outpouring of the Holy Ghost; to experience the power of the blood and Cross of Jesus Christ.
Sadly, many do not know that there is a difference between a “salvation decision” and a “salvation encounter.” Salvation decisions are religious decisions we take to follow Christ or become Christians. So many are not based on convictions of the Spirit. They are circumstantial!
They are based on the desire to be free from demonic attack, get or stay married walk away from poverty, and obtain one miracle or the other from God. They are not based on the conviction of sin, judgment, and righteousness. That is why those we certify saved by their salvation decisions live a life that is no different from the ones lost and hell bound.
To make matters worse, certain grace preachers now say these breed of ‘born again’ will go to heaven irrespective of how they live their lives because their ‘active sins’ have been covered by the blood. They quote Romans 8:1 in half to buttress their point and teach that the second part was not originally.
But let God be true and all men liars.
No ‘active sin’ is covered by the blood. It is ‘repented sins’ that are covered by the blood of Jesus. If active sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, then there will be no one in hell. Even Satan stands forgiven because God will no longer be a just God.
A major highlight in our devotional text today says,
“For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.”
If you look carefully at this scripture, you will find two laws that were uncovered by God to us. The first is “the law of the Spirit of life” and the second “the law of sin and death.” Everyone on the face of the earth is hooked on to either of these laws.
The law of the Spirit of life is superior to the law of Sin and death. It is that law that you see at work in the life of those who are genuinely saved; Christians leading their lives according to the dictates of the Spirit of Holiness and not according to the dictates of the flesh.
When you see someone living in sin and calling himself ‘born again’ you have seen an impostor. The law of sin and death is at work in the person’s life. What makes us born again is the law of the Spirit of life working in us not that of sin and death.
If the law of sin and death is still at work in your life after a so called salvation decision, you are not born again; you are lost hence in need of genuine salvation experience. The quicker we come to terms with these Biblical truths the better for us.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION;
“For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.”
“Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].”
“[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.”
“So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him. Romans 8:5-8 AMP