TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 10TH January 2020)
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Psalms 23:1-3 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 10TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
This is one major portion of the Bible that has helped so many over the years to see the glory of the LORD. It has kindled light in the hearts of those who bypass the flesh and connect the spirit of the word in the verses.
Our world is full of darkness. When I saw darkness, I mean spiritual darkness. The Bible says darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people. But the LORD shall rise upon us and His glory shall be seen in us.
However, it all that depends on how much we are sold out to Him. A lot of people do not know how spiritual darkness looks or feels like that is why they cannot tell if they are in darkness.
You see, darkness is light out in the natural but God out in the spirit. Spiritual darkness is GOD out – absence of the manifest presence or revelation of GOD. Don’t forget God is light in Him is no darkness at all.
The presence of spiritual darkness means there is an absence of GOD.
This always results in crimes and criminalities, atrocities and abominations, adultery and prostitution, false prophecies and prophets, man-made religion and all its cruelties, trespass, sin and iniquity, ignorance of who Jesus really is or a Christianity mixed with carnality. Darkness is the manifestation of Satan while light is the manifestation of GOD.
Darkness is the source of sickness, all forms of satanic attacks, evil thoughts, murders, deaths, vile imaginations and all evil works. That is why the ONLY solution to all that is GOD. God is light in Him is no darkness at all. When He comes in all of these goes out.
LET US TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT THIS MYSTERY.
You see, if GOD gets out of your life, everything devilish will begin to happen. Sadly, He is already out of the lives of many souls that is why all evil seems to be happening in the lives of many.
You see, if you claim to be serving GOD but living in darkness, you are not serving the true GOD. Living in darkness is very bad and dying in darkness is the worst. Many are not just living in darkness; they are dying in darkness. They do not want to come to light. Jesus Himself said men love darkness rather than light.
Sadly, even people in Church are living in darkness. So many have not made peace with the LORD. They are just playing religion and attempting to worship a GOD they do not know.
If you look at the lost world, things are worst. You see precious lives pursuing man-made religion and ascribing deity to mortal men, carved idols and certain religious leaders, it breaks my heart. When I watch them do terrible atrocities and abominations in the name of a loving and Holy God, I wonder what humanity has turned into.
Indeed, it’s terrible to live in darkness but more terrible to die in darkness because your soul will be banished forever in hell.
Sadly, so many are dying in the darkness of false religion. So many are serving people they attribute deity to, mere mortals they call messengers of GOD and kill for. That is the darkness many are dying in. If you die in the darkness of false religion, you will be sorry in the next life.
But in the church, we have a difference form of darkness. It is the darkness of spiritual deception. If you die in the darkness of spiritual you will wake up in the sorry side of eternal life.
THE DARKNESS OF FALSE RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL DECEPTION HAS TAKEN MORE PEOPLE TO HELL THAN ANY OTHER FORM OF DARKNESS
Any religion that does not present Jesus as the Son of GOD, the way of salvation and the Light of the world will take any soul to eternal damnation.
Any religion that does not get people filled with the Holy Spirit of GOD, is a darkness that you should never live or die in. Any religion that put hate in your heart for a fellow human being is darkness in disguise. Any religion to ask you to kill a fellow human being for a reward in Heaven is spiritual darkness.
Any religion that put money in your pocket instead of Christ in your heart is a spiritual darkness you should run away from. Sadly, billions are living and dying in this kind of darkness. Some of them are gaining the whole world and losing their souls to eternal fire!
God’s call this morning is that we walk out of any form of darkness and embrace Christ – the light of the world – in spirit and in truth. He is the way the Truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Him.
Darkness is not just an absence of Light; it is also an absent of truth. Where there is no truth there is darkness. Demons will be studied, and false freedom administered to poor and ignorant folks.
People will be told to give all kind of money to be free from problems. Many will be bound to sinful habits and taught to explain it away. They will forget that the wages of sin is death and the gift of GOD is eternal life through Jesus Christ our LORD!
THAT ETERNAL LIFE EMPOWERS US OVER SIN. IT GIVES US FREEDOM FROM SIN NOT FREEDOM TO SIN.
Any spiritual freedom that frees a man to sin (instead of from sin) is captivity redefined. It is a life full of darkness. Authentic freedom comes by an encounter with Christ as the way the truth and the Life, where He becomes the Shepherd of our souls. Our devotional text this morning says:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake”
The first truth we can glean from here is obvious. If the LORD is the one leading you in life you will never lack (want). That alone tells us why some Christians are poor; especially those who claim to be hearing from God. But that is not our focus this morning. The focus is on where many are living in the spirit realm – Light or Darkness.
One of the major things that happen to a man led by Jesus Christ is the peace; light and understanding that will fill his life. There is no way that the light of the world, the prince of peace, the way, the Truth and the Life will lead you and not fill your life with peace, understanding, truth and the Heavenly Life.
If you are led by anything but the Spirit of Christ (the Holy Ghost), your life will be full of darkness! You will never have peace, truth or light. The Only source of the true light that needs to lighten your life in a spiritually dark world is Jesus Christ – the Light of the world.
If He is your shepherd indeed you shall not want or walk in darkness. You will be full of light, revelation, illumination and all Heaven has to offer. Indeed, the lost do not know what they are missing for not making Jesus their LORD and savior. He made it clear that anyone who follows Him will never walk in darkness.
In the days of the Bible people followed Christ physically. They heard His voice, saw His miracles, and heard His teachings as He walked through the streets of Jerusalem and visited people in their houses. They followed Him to mountains and the bank of the sea of Galilee and saw Him with they natural eyes.
But today following Christ is no longer that way! He is no longer physically present. He is spiritually present with us. He said He is with us always. It is therefore important that we learn how to follow Him today.
HOW TO FOLLOW CHRIST TODAY!
One major statement Jesus made when He met most of His disciples was “Follow me.” He has not stopped saying the same words silently or verbally to even those He is meeting today to salvage from eternal damnation. I spent time to share this in one of our services close to the end of 2019.
Now, it was easy for the disciples to follow Him in the days of the BIBLE because He was physically among them. Today we follow Jesus in spirit. He left us ministers of the gospel who hear Him, the Holy Spirit and the Bible to help us sense and follow Him as our Shepherd.
If you have a pastor who hears from Him clearly, teaches you His word and administer the Holy Spirit to you, it will be very easy to sense Christ in your heart and follow Him wherever He leads so that you will not walk in spiritual or moral darkness.
In simple terms, if you want to follow Christ today, you will need a preacher who is following Him to imitate the way Timothy had Paul. You will need the Holy Spirit in your life, and you will need the Bible by your side. You will need to be taught the word of GOD sufficiently and not lean on your own understanding. You will need to be talking to Him by faith through prayer.
Above all, you will need a heart that has Him living in it.
The fruits of all these will show in your life as revealed by what David said in His beautiful psalm. He will be your Shepherd and lead you safely through a chaotic world like ours. You will see Him leading you beside still waters and restoring your soul. Yes, He will make you lie down in green pastures irrespective of where the devil wants you to lie down.
It’s a new day for someone this morning! 2020 will be your year of REJOICING indeed in Jesus precious name. Amen!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.”