TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Wednesday 27th January 2021)
“If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”
“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:12-15 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 27TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS
Irrespective of how difficult, impossible or costly what you know to be God’s will is, it is the safest thing to do in every season of Life. Jesus so limited Himself to doing God’s will that the Devil could not find a place in His life to sabotage.
Even when he thought he had eliminated Him when he took Him to the cross and got him buried, he and his host of demons were shocked when they saw that the same man they instigated men to kill and burry three days ago has resurrected.
The Bible made it clear that if Satan had known what the death of Jesus will do to him, he would have become Jesus greatest body guard on the face of the earth. Paul, in his first letter to the Church at Corinth, put it this way;
“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 NKJV
With these opening comments, I welcome you again to this glory day. In our devotional today the LORD will be speaking to us about some treasures we need to be in constant touch with in our walk with Him. One of it is the same apostolic power that the apostles walked in; it is also called the resurrection power.
A lot of things that makes life sweet and excited are powered by God’s apostolic or resurrection power.
This power is designed by the LORD to be flowing constantly in our spiritual lives the way blood flow constant in our body vessels. When blood cease flowing in our spiritual vessels, death will be the result.
In the same way, if this power is not flowing in our spiritual lives constantly, we will find ourselves living under the gates of death, hell and grave.
Hardship and all manner of evil works in the life of a Christian are always as a result of living under the power of these three gates. Jesus defeated these gates by His death, but it will take a constant flow of His resurrection or apostolic power in our lives for us to see the practical victory in our daily lives.
BEFORE HIS DEATH, THE POWER COULD NOT PERMANENTLY REST ON ANYONE, HENCE COULD NOT DEFEAT THE GATES.
But after His death, it can now rest on the redeemed to defeat the gates. Do not think His death on the cross automatically neutralized the gates in our lives. It automatically neutralized the gates in the realm of the spirit, but the victory need to be enforced in our lives.
The enforcement is done by the power of His resurrection. When it is in constant flow, it guarantees a constant victory over their activities. That was why the apostles walked in it all their lives and could look at death on the face and say “bring it one.” It takes apostolic power to do such kingdom feats.
God designed that the resurrection power activate and power our Christian lives. He designed that it keeps it burning.
That is why when apostolic power is restored to the life of a Christian, everything dead will come alive; starting from his or her spiritual life. It begins its restoration job from our spiritual lives by taking away corruption from our spirits and powering it to come back to life.
This power should be the greatest desire of that fallen soldier of the cross who wants to get back to GOD and his duty post. It has what it takes to bring our spiritual lives back to life.
Even if other aspects of your life are down, this power begins your permanent restoration by restoring your spiritual life first.
Our spiritual lives are the foundation of other aspects of our lives. That is why, when you see your spiritual life being restored after coming under God’s apostolic power, it is a sign that the restoration of other aspects of your life is on the way.
There are seven aspects of life. The spiritual aspect of life is the foundation of all other aspects. It is the death of a man’s spiritual life that usually results in problems in other aspects of his life.
So to fix a man’s life, God will begin to restore him from the spiritual aspect of his life, by unleashing the power of His resurrection upon him.
The power of God’s resurrection is what a Child of God of the presents day should not take lightly. It was what Paul sought daily in his walk with the LORD, and found daily because he sought it daily. The Bible says when we ask we shall receive. He asked and received.
HERE IS AN EXPRESSION OF HIS DESIRE FOR THIS POWER;
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain[b] to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:7-11 NKJV
If we adopt similar faith posture with this great man of God, we will walk in similar grace; the very resurrection power he walked in that got his spiritual life powered. The Bible said he suffered more than the rest of the apostles yet he delivered more than they all. The Heavenly juices of grace and truth in his life where literally squeezed out of him by what he went through, giving us things that none of the other apostles gave.
For warriors of righteousness who want to make it this end time, apostle Paul remains a standard.
For that believer who want to walk where our fathers walked, apostle Paul remains the standard. For that believer who want to make Heaven big, this great man remains the standard. I wished someone had told me all that 25 years ago. It would have helped my decision making process, and brought me to a better place than where I am today in life and ministry.
Now to those who just want deliverance from the LORD, I have this to say; when you come to Christ in need of help, it is important to understand the protocol of divine help in His kingdom. He could touch your body with a miracle but all He wants to do even after touching your body is to resurrect your spiritual life, to bring in a permanent resurrection to other aspects of your life by bringing your spiritual life back.
I have never seen people in problems who met God for solution getting a permanent help until they become interested in submitting to Him to work on their spiritual lives. You need a church that can do that, not one pretending to be doing that, because so many are walking in error and deception.
IF YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE IS NOT WORKED ON, THERE WILL BE NO PERMANENT SOLUTION TO YOUR PREDICAMENTS.
It is people who know how to take their eyes off whatever they may be going through, for the purpose of strengthening their relationship with God and becoming strong in faith, that wakes up one morning looking for their problems and not finding them. Jesus said;
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 NKJV
The Kingdom of God is different from the kingdom of Heaven.
Many progressive theologians have described the kingdom of God as a method but the kingdom of Heaven as a place. I cannot agree less, because the kingdom of God is an extension or manifestation of the kingdom of Heaven on the face of the earth. It is the governing influence of God over a territory (especially a man’s heart), impacting it with His will, purposes, visions, plans, and intentions.
It impacts the hearts of men with its everlasting will, way of living and judicial decrees. That is why there is always an outbreak of power whenever it is announced. That is what the Bible says we should seek first. Seeking first the kingdom is seeking first the governing influence of God over your life. That governing influence is the Spirit of the LORD Himself.
In other words, whatever we may be going through, God wants us to first submit our hearts to be influenced by the revelation of His everlasting will, way of life, prophetic plans for our lives, visions, and purposes.
When that happens, we will find something to align ourselves with and begin to lead a life called “righteousness,” then all other things shall be added to us! That was the principle He taught the Church in the wilderness (the nation of Israel).
The Bible says they disobeyed God at one time and serpents came in to bite them, then he asked them to look at the brazen serpent on a pole made by Moses. They did and got healed.
In other word, their disobedience caused the protective edge of God’s glory to be lifted from the camp letting in the serpents. People began to cry unto Moses and die. But in His mercy, God responded with that principle of “divine rescue.”
HE SAID TO MOSES;
…”Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” Numbers 21:8 NKJV
The fiery or brazen serpent Moses made represents the cross of Jesus and the power thereof. The serpents that bit them represent sin, Satan and the evil systems of this world.
God was simply saying that whatever sin, Satan or the evil systems of this world has brought upon us, we can only be saved or permanently delivered from them when we take our eyes off the troubles and fix them on the cross. In other words, when we seek first the kingdom of GOD and His righteousness as explained, the divine rescue we need will be released to us. That is the gospel.
Therefore, no matter what you are going through, the only way to permanently come out of it is to take your eyes of it and fix on the kingdom of God. In other words, seek the establishment of governing influence of God over your life and allow Heaven to impact you with the revelation of God’s everlasting will, His predetermined ways to live by, His vision, plans and purposes, and prophetic intent.
Jesus would later reiterate this principle in the New Testament with these words from our devotional text for the day;
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
What is the message of our devotional this morning? The message is simple; learn to do God’s will in every situation you find yourself. Stop putting “you” first in your quest for divine help in any area of life. Put God first! Get a Church that can help you find the Kingdom of God not a church that can help you find the person killing you.
Get a Church that will help you put God first by pursuing His Governing Influence over your life, and submitting to His Spirit to impact your heart with the revelation of His everlasting will, pre determined ways of life, prophetic plans, visions, purposes, and intentions. If you do, your visitation could come slow but it will definitely come, and very big it will be.
May your heart be firmly established on the word of the LORD to us this morning, in Jesus precious name! AMEN!!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY;
“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