TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Wednesday 21st April 2021)
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,”
“while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 111TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
Indeed, it is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassion fails not..
Sometimes, I look at myself and ask “where would I have been if not for God?” In Nigeria we say, “where I for bi, if no bi God?”
If His friendly counsel has not been upon my tabernacle like it was for Job; if He has not sealed His instruction into my spirit while I was fast asleep; if He has not been my guide and LIGHT where I for bi?
If He had not overlooked my momentary blindness and moved to expose the hidden to me, where I for bi? If He had dealt with me according to my sins instead of His plans for my life, where I for bi? That’s one major reason we walk in mercy.
I believe someone reading this can find something in this lines to relate with this morning. Yes, I believe you can find something to praise the LORD for.
Child of God, I advise that no matter what we may be going through, we should not forget to praise the LORD for His marvelous deeds.
When the Bible says in everything we should give God thanks, God knew there will be times and seasons when you may not be able to do that. That’s is when obeying that word becomes a command to be obeyed or a way of showing unconditional submission to His word.
But for me, all I have in Heaven and earth is Jesus Christ.
I guess that is all you have too. If we do not learn to put our trust in Him, especially in times like these, when else will we do that. There is need to have our minds in perfect peace in trouble times. And that does not happen by visiting a psychologist.
The Bible showed us how it happens through some gracious words on the lips of Isaiah. The ancient prophet of God spoke saying;
“He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord!” Isaiah 27:3 MSGB
So if we want our minds to be in perfect peace, we do not need a psychologist. We only need to trust in Christ Jesus and turn our thoughts OFTEN towards Him, at all times.
To trust the LORD simple means to firmly belief in His reliability, truth or ability. People who do thar will have their minds established in perfect peace. The process, as the Bible says, begins by we turning our thoughts often towards the LORD.
God’s Kingdom treasures like this devotionals, corporate fellowship, personal assimilation or mediation in God’s word and etc. are always very helpful if we engage them under the power of the Holy Spirit.
UNTIL OUR MINDS ARE ESTABLISHED IN PERFECT PEACE, OUR LIVES WILL KNOW NO PEACE. IT ALL BEGINS FROM THE MIND.
Among many other helpful things in His kingdom, God has placed the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and the Church and then given us a will to use in achieving this spiritual goal.
Our midweek Apostolic Communion Service will be held today on the Morning Cloud Television and all our online platforms. Do not forget to join us. The essence is to help us turn our thoughts towards the LORD.
Turning our thoughts towards the LORD often, especially in trouble times has always being a survival kit for God’s people from age to age and from time to time. When we put our minds on the LORD, there will be no other thing that will take preeminence in our lives.
The LORD will be speaking to us, even to the point of revealing very helpful things to us. It all begins from the place of having our thoughts turned to Him often.
Let me share this with you!
I almost got my divine destiny aborted by things that people who surrounded me in my beginning days injected into me! The environment you grow up can either make or mar you. It all depends on what it injects into you!
You see, I grew up in ministry among some of the worst spiritual relationships that one can ever have on earth.
What really saved me MOST OF THE TIMES was having my thoughts turned to the LORD as a young man. David said “thy word have I hid in my heart…” Turning our thoughts to the LORD will involve hiding the word of God in our hearts. Which will in turn make it easier to be led by the LORD!
So I spent most of my times doing just that.
I remember in 1997 while ministering to a set of people I thought were friends, the LORD said to me “you are among wolves.” It was scary and revolutionary at the same time. But it did not fulfill God’s intent for sending the word into my life.
The word of the LORD came expressly and truly but I was a child then and had the understanding of a child hence not making use of it. I remained stuck to them.
Child of God, It is very dangerous to receive a true word from the LORD with the understanding of a child. You will never be saved from what the LORD sent it to deliver you from.
WITHIN A SHORT TIME, THESE RELATIONSHIPS BEGAN TO INJECT ALL KINDS OF SPIRITUAL THINGS INTO ME THAT MADE MY JOURNEY IN LIFE VERY SLOW.
At another time, specifically in January 2004, I had a three dimensional vision of a huge dragon which details I cannot go into now. But the long and short of the revelation was to show me the spiritual identities of those I called Church members and mature believers; mothers, sisters and brothers in the LORD who were around me then..
I began to understand that if we do not relate with people based on their spiritual identities, we will not know when the devil has entered them to inject stuffs into our lives; we will remain with them until we are destroyed.
People who do not use God’s supernatural eyesight to relate with people, will not know when their relationship with God and spiritual strength have been neutralized. There are people who are suffering today because of one person in their lives! Not even because of thousands of demons, but because of just one person in their lives that they are passionately hooked up to.
For me, the people were used of the devil to inject terrible things into my life. These spiritual deposits made me to misunderstand my vision. They confused me on what my spiritual boundaries were, and made me to pursue marriage too early. It finally destroyed my life as I shared in the Warrior Queen.
God just needed to come and resurrect me from the spiritual grave I was buried in. Whatever you see today, called Cry of the Spirit and all that would never have existed. Just as Dr. Myles Munroe of blessed memory will put it, I would have ended up adding to the wealth of the cemetery.
Friend it was terrible, though then I did not know it was!
You see, except God intervenes, your life will never be better than the things that have been injected into it. I can testify to that prophetic truth from Jesus Christ because I learnt it the hard way!
I called people who were snakes and scorpions by spirit nature my partners in ministry and others my fathers until I was no more.
Whenever I want to do a thing for God they will inject something into me that will never allow me do it. They will sting me with spiritual ideologies and persuasions that will cause so much pains in my small life as I follow them stupidly.
BUT I STUCK TO THEM THINKING THAT WAS THE IDEAL WAY TO GROW.
I have called people who were in Church operating with the cobra spirit my destiny partners. We have prayed together; they have seen visions for me. I walked in their visions and really followed what I now know to be divination and all that stuff, taking them to be GOD. They bit me terribly.
Growing up among these breed of ‘Christians’ slowed down my progress for 18 years and deposited things into my life that took over three years of countless hours in God’s presence to deal with!
I have learnt that, you cannot deal with the wrong things that were deposited in your life for one decade in one minute. You must spend countless hours with God for more than one year to deal with them. For Moses, it was one year for each year that he spent in Pharaoh’s house. For some it could be far less, and others far much. It all depends on the spiritual damage in your soul.
That is why we must be patient when walking with God. It will take time, as they say, for an egg to become a Chicken. You can never rush it. If you try rushing it, you will destroy something very important.
From where I am today, I can say if I had looked deeply into the meaning of a major highlight in our devotional text this morning, and related with people based on what men do not see about them, instead of what they see, I would have not been a victim of such satanic activities for that long.
It’s not just then, this also relates the recent happenings in my life and ministry where a Church member deceived me for almost five years. This one would have wiped away the entire ministry, in effect. The highlight in the text says;
“while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
I THINK THE TIME HAS COME FOR US TO BEGIN TO RELATE WITH SOME PEOPLE BASED ON WHAT WE DO NOT SEE ABOUT THEM.
In other words, based on their unseen life. Is that possible, yes it is. God will reveal it to us if our minds are stayed on Him; that is if we spend our days turning our thoughts towards Him without any distractions. It will build a gadget within us that will always help us to sense what is hidden about them.
Not only that, it will also give us the inner firmness and discipline we need to take proper actions when we get such prophetic alarms, and prevent us from being weaken by doubts from taking appropriate actions.
The truth remains, what you are not seeing about me, or your pastor wife, husband, business or prayer partners is more authentic than what you are seeing about us. What I am not seeing about you is more authentic than what I may be seeing about you.
Whatever people may be influencing your life to be is the natural expression of who they really are by spirit nature. Do not forget that and do not mix it up!
If Samson had looked at what was not seen about Delilah, he would not have ended the way he did. If Eve had looked at what was not seen about the serpent she was conversing with, we would all have not been where we are today. If King Saul had looked into what was not easily seen about God’s prophet Samuel, he would not have disobeyed any instruction that came out of his mouth and lost a kingdom.
Making judgments or relating with people based on what is seen about them instead of based on what is not seen about them is the reason we are destroyed by the evil one through them.
Yes, most times, the evil one will blindfold us from seeing the unseen about those God sent to bless us, so that we will not relate with them properly, and blindfold us from seeing the unseen about those he is using to destroy us, sometimes using our trust on them.
HE DOES THAT SO THAT THEY WOULD HELP HIM TO FULFILL HIS VISION IN OUR JOURNEY TOWARDS DESTINY!
The vision of either stopping or polluting us. But God want to deliver someone here today in Jesus precious name!
Let me tell you this; if a relationship is making you hate life and desire death, if you are always in the shadows of death, hell and grave each time she or he comes to mind or meets you, stop looking at what is seen about that relationship and start looking at what is not seen about it, because at that point you are no longer dealing with a human being!
If you allow the LORD to open your eyes, you will realize that you are dealing with an evil spirit wrapped in that person.
While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Today, God has spoken to us! He has armed us again with another word for the day. let us rise and run with it. Let us turn our thoughts toward Him always and let Him show us things that we know not about those people we think we know very well.
It is time for us to stop looking at what everyone is seeing concerning that employer or employee, that troubled marriage or ministry, that pastor or prophet, that Church member or business partner who have made us go through hard things in life.
It’s time for us to start looking at what is not seen about them, by the eye of the Holy Spirit, and start making proper judgments instead of just looking at what is seen about them. It is time for us to stop judging by appearance, false evidence, or hearsay.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
The royal line of David[a] will be cut off, chopped down like a tree; but from the stump will grow a Shoot—yes, a new Branch* from the old root.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and might; the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
His delight will be obedience to the Lord. He will not judge by appearance, false evidence, or hearsay, but will defend the poor and the exploited. He will rule against the wicked who oppress them.
For he will be clothed with fairness and with truth. Isaiah 11:1-5 TLB