TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Wednesday 9th June 2021)
“But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” Revelation 2:14-16 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 160TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. Let us give thanks to the LORD for His marvelous deeds. It is those deeds that have kept us alive and well. Some of the deeds cannot be put in human language. They are just glorious.
The scripture of our devotional text today is very prophetic and apostolic at the same time.
Prophetic because it has remained relevant from generation to generation. There have always been the second coming of Balaam in every generation. Apostolic because it reveals one thing that prevents order in the house of God or in the life of a Child of God and Christ’s way of dealing with it.
One major thing you see here is the desecration of the sons of God by the second coming of Balaam and by false doctrines. This time the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.
I remember speaking about the doctrine of the Nicolaitans last year during our church in the house sessions. We traced the root of this doctrine to one of the deacons that was chosen by the early Church by the name Nicolas.
We learned that whenever necessity is allowed to invent leadership in a local Church, it will not ultimately fulfill the will of God for that Church.
We saw how deacon Nicolas grew away from the LORD because of his roots and how he got ‘saved’ even. His salvation, obviously was psychological, the people only choose him to be part of the 7 deacons because he had those who loved him in the local church. It was an election, and he must have campaigned to be chosen.
From the Bible account of what happened, it is clear that when the church began to decay, the first thing it became was a political party. It moved from a ground and pillar of truth to a political party, where leaders were voted into positions of authority. But Jesus never started His church that way. He never called the 500 who were following Him to vote for 12 people who will serve as apostles. I guess even Peter forgot that.
NO WONDER HE WOULD LATER LEARN SO MANY THINGS ON HOW THE CHURCH OUGHT TO BE FROM PAUL.
The difference between Peter and Paul was this; Peter first met Jesus in the flesh while Paul first met Him in the Spirit. Meeting Jesus in the Spirit makes you more accurate in ministry than meeting Him in the flesh. That was why Peter made that mistake of bringing politics to Church but Paul never did.
Thank God for the humility of Peter; he would later sit with Paul to learn what he never knew and became as effective as Paul. If you read first and second Peter, you will understand what I mean. From Church History, he single-handed dealt with Simon the sorcery and brought his ministry to an end. May God give us People like him in our generation in Jesus precious name.
This morning we are going to pick up from where we left off yesterday.
We will be continuing with our discourse from excerpts from the book “OVERCOMING WITCHCRAFT BY THE GREATNESS OF GOD’S POWER.” The Spirit of the LORD has made the discourse to be very helpful and we thank God for that.
I pray that the LORD will again show us something we may have never seen before in His word about this subject today. I pray He impact our lives in fresh dimensions to lead Christian lives that overcome any form of witchcraft in Jesus precious name. Amen!
DEALING WITH THE WITCHCRAFT SOFTWARE!
“But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” Revelation 2:14-16 NKJV
In the previous devotionals we saw how impossible it was for Balak and Balaam to succeed in their witchcraft attacks against the nation of Israel. We discovered that we all run into the plains of Moab in one way or the other in our walk with God, and that we will be consumed if we dwell in those plains with the witchcraft software in our hearts.
In Revelation 2:14 we can see how Balaam used that software to prevail over the nation of Israel, leading to the death of 23,000 people – what his witchcraft attack could not achieve. The Bible says, he taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. The same strategy is being used against us today!
Sadly, the witchcraft software is in everyone born of a woman. That was what Balaam saw and activated in the lives of the Israelites and it brought them under the spiritual coverage area where they could be slain. He advised Balak to send his beautiful women into the camp of the Israelites and seduced them into sexual intercourse, and they did.
Don’t forget, when you touch sexual immorality you have touched one of the mildest forms of witchcraft. When you continue in it, you could become a charismatic witch, using sex to control the other persons. What do you think harlots do? They use sex to control people’s lives.
THAT IS A FORM OF WITCHCRAFT.
Even married couples do use sex to practice this form of witchcraft on themselves because everyone who is not totally filled with the Holy Spirit has the witchcraft software.
So Balaam, being a man who understood the spirit realms of the devil, knew that Sexual immorality can bring people into the witchcraft realm, hence giving that counsel to Balak. The Bible says,
Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab.
They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. Numbers 25:1-3 NKJV
The anger of the LORD that was directed against Balaam and his collaborators was now directed against his own people. That was the strategy that defeated the resistance that prevented Balaam from putting a curse on Israel or using witchcraft against them in the plains of Moab. The same strategy will be used against anyone in the plains of Moab. That is why we must understand what the witchcraft software is!
The truth is, you may be living in the plains of Moab, but if you do not have the witchcraft software, you will never come under any form of witchcraft attacks. It is the software that brings men under the spiritual coverage area of witchcraft.
In other words, it makes people vulnerable to witchcraft attacks.
WHAT IS THE WITCHCRAFT SOFTWARE?
The word software is not a Bible term. It is a scientific term. You may be wondering what it has to do with the gospel. Well, when God speak He does not speak French, English or any other earthly language. When God speak, God speaks God, and we pick it with our different languages and understanding.
I did sciences in my high school days. And I know a bit about software installations. I can say God spoke something into my heart about witchcraft and I picked it in the language of science.
The word software is a description of the entire set, program, procedure and related credentials associated with a system. Our computers and smart phones run on software. Our Airplanes and other forms of transport machines run on both software and hardware. The phrase witchcraft software therefore describes the spiritual program, procedure and related things associated with witchcraft in the Bible sense of it.
Like we shared earlier, we have not conquered witchcraft in Church because witches and wizards are the ones telling us about witchcraft – prophetic witches and wizards called prophets and prophetesses are the ones talking about witchcraft the most. If the saints will overcome witchcraft, we must deal with it from God’s perspective. We must engage it through the Bible sense of what it is and how to defeat it.
In the Bible sense of what witchcraft is, there is a software that is called the witchcraft software. That software is seen in three words that I will like to capture with an acronym I will call SIT.
By the acronym SIT, I mean SIN, INIQUITY and TRESSPASS. Believe it or not, that is the witchcraft software. Wherever there is Sin, Iniquity or Trespass people will never be able to overcome witchcraft no matter how long, strong, or deep they pray.
The Church must come to the revelation of this software else overcoming witchcraft will remain a wish! I am yet to see people in sin, iniquity or trespass overcoming witchcraft. It’s therefore important that we check what these three words are and how to deal with them.
The Bible says,
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue has muttered perversity. Isaiah 59:1-3 NKJV
This scripture makes more meaning if you look at the many spiritual activities we are engaging ourselves in to be saved from witchcraft as Christians and yet not saved from it. Many fast for over 70, 40, 21 and 7 days regularly with nothing to show. They fast more than the apostles did and sow all kinds of financial seeds yet there is no victory over witchcraft. The reason is clearly stated in Isaiah 59:1-3 that you just read.
You cannot fast, pray and give with the witchcraft software in your life and see or experience God’s marvelous helps.
DON’T FORGET, WHEN IT COMES TO WITCHCRAFT ACTIVITIES ONLY GOD’S MARVELOUS HELPS CAN SAVE US!
We have even seen people who sleep in Church and ignorantly engage another form of witchcraft to deal with the one attacking them when personal fasting and prayer fails. If you do not see the witchcraft software as your real problem, you will always see people as your real problem resulting in using witchcraft to deal with witchcraft.
A generation that does not know how to look inwardly to deal with what is betraying them to their enemies will spend their days looking outward and accusing people and creating disharmony. They will be playing the blame game. And I am yet to see someone defeat witchcraft by playing the blame game.
People have killed their parents and loved ones simple because some witch doctors or prophetic witches and wizards told them they were responsible for their problems.
Whenever witchcraft want to confuse you it will tell you people are responsible for your problem. It will never show you the witchcrafts software in you that is betraying you to it. It will point you to a different direction to ruin you! So many have died that way, it’s my prayer that you will not be the next.
That is why you see the apostolic being used by God to deal with witchcraft. Only the apostolic will point you to what is betraying you to witchcraft attacks. Only the apostolic will show you the software and how to deal with it.
THE WITCHCRAFT SOFTWARE (S-I-T) AND HOW TO DEAL WITH IT.
S – SIN: Sin is the first betrayer of men to witchcraft. The life of Samson testified that so loudly. When he did not touch Delilah he was in good shape. But after touching her he was left in a very bad shape.
The sin nature in man is the betrayer of men to witchcraft and all other devils. When not crucified, it will produce what the Bible calls “the works of the flesh.” In describing these works of the flesh, Apostle Paul wrote saying;
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
dolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21 KJV
If you look at the list carefully, you will see witchcraft as part of the list. That makes the sin nature part of the witchcraft software. If the sin nature of witchcraft (including other manifestations of it) is still in you after giving your life to Christ, the practice of witchcraft against you will be possible.
That is why giving your life to Christ should not be a religious act but a product of an encounter. And it should not stop at salvation experience; it should go further to sanctification and bring us to transfiguration experiences. It is salvation, sanctification and transfiguration that gives us constant dominion over the sin nature in our battle with the flesh.
A life that lacks dominion over the sin nature will lack dominion over Satan and his evil works, especially witchcraft.
…. TO BE CONTINUED….