TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Friday 5th February 2021)
“Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: “I will sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!
“The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”
“The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name.” Exodus 15:1-3 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 36TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS
Glory be to the Most High God for making it possible for us to see another day. He has not dealt with us according to our sins but according to His mercies that is why we are alive today. He did not give us to the teeth of our enemies, that is why we are alive today.
We will keep thanking Him each day for each day until we fulfill all the days He has appointed for us. Sufficient in each day is the evil thereof yet we are alive. Therefore, thanking God for a new day is not something you take for granted. Days are precious gifts that must be received with thanksgiving.
Sometimes you sleep in pains emanating from disappointments and wake up not feeling not to even go on with life. But God’s mercy has a way of seeing a man through. It has a way of forcing hope out of a man’s heart. The Bible spoke about Paul going through the perils of false brethren. That has been my territory for many years.
The kind of falsehood that thrive among Church members and wickedness that lives in their hearts is alarming. Not just church members but sometimes your family members and those you are loved and cared for. I get messages of what people go through in the hands of fellow church members and even blood relatives and marvel.
INDEED, SOME CHURCH OR FAMILY MEMBERS CAN BE TERRIBLE.
Most ministers of the gospel became what they are today because some wicked Church members killed what God gave them for their generation, and turned them into wicked men with no sexual discipline or compassion for the suffering.
Most people cannot find peace today because some family members have made themselves demons in their lives. Both family or Church members have a way of casting evil spirits on those they hate. They can submit to the devil to sway them to do things that are capable of knocking out love our neighbors from the heart or deep concern for people.
There are great believers who have withdrawn their commitment to God because of the heart coming out of fellow church members or even family members. It is really sad how the devil uses close ones to defeat God’s plans for His people.
While God does not expect us to withdraw our commitment to Him because of such domestic heats, but draw grace form Him and move on, you will not be spared by Heaven if you allow the enemy to use you to defeat God’s plans in other person’s life.
For instance, God’s plans for brethren is to dwell together in unity by walking in deep and genuine concern for others. But it is very difficult to be deeply and genuinely concerned for others after being betrayed and bitterly wounded for being deeply and genuinely concerned for people. Except the LORD comes to your rescue, the experience can take away the oil of love form your lamp.
The Bible is against anyone causing another to stumble. Those who allow the enemy to use them to defeat God’s plans and purposes in others will not have blessed end either in this life or the life to come. Sadly, people do not even care what awaits them in the life to come until they are on their dying bed. That is when the reality dawns on them.
It is important that every family or Church member reading this make up their minds not to be a weapon of love demolition in the hands of the enemy.
YOUR BROTHER OR SISTER IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY NOT YOUR TARGET TO BE DESTROYED BECAUSE OF DIFFERENCES.
We must decide not to be another Judas Iscariot in the lives of blood relatives or false followers in the ministries of our men of God or the local Churches the LORD may have placed us. We must not allow the enemy to use any of us to fulfill His destructive mission of killing, stealing and destroying.
Satan does not bless who he uses, especially after using them. He burns who he uses with the flames of hell after using them. When he used Judas to betray Jesus, the man ended up burnt by the flames of hell leading to suicide and eternal damnation. When he used the serpent in the Garden to deceive Eve, the serpent ended us receiving a terrible curse from the LORD.
Today, the serpent has become a symbol of evil just because of that.
We must learn from those two. If you allow the devil to use you to do a thing and nothing has happened to you, its juts a matter of time and mercy. If you do not meet those he used you to destroy and seek mercy and forgiveness, you will be burnt by the flame of hell in the season of reckoning. That is why you cannot find anyone who allowed the devil to use them living in Heavenly joy.
When the devil uses a man, a curse will come upon the person instantly, then manifest much latter. Apart form the curse, the enemy himself, as explained earlier, will get the life of that person consumed with the flames of hell.
Friend, you could be used by anyone, do not allow the enemy or his people use you. It pays not to be used of the devil or his agents. Your life will not end well if you allow the enemy to use you in any capacity to do anything either in the house of God or your family. Or even the family of those God may have used to bless you.
One major people you must not allow the enemy to use to attack are those who blessed your life. Sometimes he will stir you to become offended, forget what they did, and begin to launch attack against them.
You served a Church with your tithes, offerings and selfless services and decided to leave that Church, then they begin to launch terrible attacks against you, defaming and calling you all kinds of names. They are being used of the devil. When he is through using them, he will consume them with the flames of hell.
If God is involved in your leaving that Church and they are launching such attacks against you, do not worry, you will feel sad at what will happen to them when the repercussions come; you will even pray the LORD to temper justice with mercy like Stephan did when he was stoned.
PASTORS, WE MUST LEARN TO BE CAREFUL WHAT WE DO AND SAY WHEN PEOPLE WHO SERVED US WITH THEIR ALL LEAVES OUR CHURCHES FOR GREENER SPIRITUAL PASTURES.
We are being used of the devil if we speak ill of them, attack their person and sent people to do or say one of two bad things to them just to bring them back or scare them to return. Any curse you place on them will come back to you and your church because people who rewards evil for good, evil will never depart from them.
The sheep of the LORD will keep moving from one pasture to another, until they find a pace they consider ideal for them. The place could be good or bad. I settled it my mind on this many years ago. I learned how to detach myself from one who leaves the Church I pastor in hours so that I will not feel bad that they left.
In fact, in some cases the LORD do reveal to me that they were going to another pasture so that I can start detaching my spirit from them. It is when we attach our spirits to them, especially after they have left that we end up doing things we should not do or saying what we should not say.
Also, if you leave a Church for any reason as a member, do not allow the enemy to use you to destroy the pastor or people you left especially because you had differences with him. You will be burnt by the fames of hell when your mouth services to the devil is complete.
Yes, the enemy love using the lips of the aggrieved people to destroy innocent pastors. I remember a lady who asked me for rent one time going about attacking me on Facebook because I refused to give her. My refusal was not burn out of hate but reason. Yet she went on an attacking spree and still does that now whenever she finds someone who have issues with me.
She is not even our member. I just draw her close because my wife loves her voice and she hosted me on a local radio station for some time. I even invited her to our own Tv station and one of our women conferences. She complained for clothes and I bought them for her.
There was no time I did not give her money to appear on any shows. I supported her when she was pregnant and send help whenever she asked for it. But this time I said no! She has a husband who should take care of her needs. That was my wrong.
WHEN OUR HEARTS BECOMES GRIEVED OUR LIPS CAN BE USED BY THE ENEMY TO SAY ALL KINDS OF LIES TO HARM PEOPLE
I am using this medium to set the record straight because of the things I hear and see she is still doing and saying. Sadly, some Church members are not aware of this, hence relating with her and receiving her poisonous substance.
In my show of compassion, I failed to follow the word of the LORD that says, “And on some have compassion, making a distinction;” When we do not make that distinction, we end up feeding people and growing them to become weapons in the hand of the devil against us.
But you must understand this; whenever you become aggrieved at heart, your lips can become available for the enemy to use as a tool. When he finishes using it, he will set your life on fire with the flames of hell. That is why the Bible says be angry but sin not. Getting angry is not a sin, it is what you do with it that really counts in the eyes of the LORD.
We leave in a generation that forgets so easily. We forget good deeds done to us when we become angry. But the LORD will always help those who are under any kind of unjust attacks. A major highlight in our devotional text this morning says;
“The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name.”
I do not think this man of war will ever lose a war, so if you are under an unjust attack cling to His warfare tactics and believe in His ability to fight your battles and defeat the wicked ones being used against you. He will defeat their words and acts not so that His plans and purposes for your life will not be defeated.
Trust the LORD to deliver you from the striving of the tongues of men. Trust Him to neutralize the hypocrisy of those who appear to be friends but are indeed enemies. Commit your life to Him to give every unknown enemy in your life a reason to walk away from my life and spare you the troubles of staying under cover. Trust Him to employ all His weapons of war to save you in your trying moments.
I know He will not give us over to the will of our enemies because He has never done so. I know the enemy will not outwit you in battle nor the sons of wickedness continue to afflict you without a Heavenly response, because God has never let that happen. He promised to plague those who hate us as we walk in love towards them. He will not fail in His promise. He will also beat down our foes before our face.
When all these will be over, when we will cross the river, in the sweet by and by, we will sit before fellow soldiers of the cross and tell the stories of how this Man of War enabled us to execute His assignments for our lives and do His blessed will.
Yes, we will tell how He granted us victories over the enemy and over those He swayed against us. We will also tell how we heeded to the voice of the LORD in this devotional and decided not to be used of the devil in any form.
Time to stop walking in the flesh and start building ourselves in our most Holy faith. Time to take our hearts from all distractions and face our relationship with the LORD, and the battles He is preparing us to fight along with Him. Time to walk in the fullness of His grace.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
“And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.” Jude 20-24 NKJV