TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Wednesday 28th July 2021)
“But life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus-the work of telling others the Good News about God’s mighty kindness and love.” Acts 20:24 TLB
WELCOME TO THE 209TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
Yesterday God reminded us about the reality of final days. We should not forget that today is part of the days God set aside as final days in His calendar for the earth as we know it.
Like we shared yesterday, we may have 200 more years to live or even more, but final days are final days. These are days to determine how you will be remembered if Christ tarries and you fulfill your days within the final days for our earth.
If you ask me, I will say if Jesus tarries and I finish my course and die, I will like to be remembered, not as an apostle, prophet, author, teacher or spiritual father. Such blessed memories are good, but the best memory I want to leave behind is simple; I want to be remembered as A MAN WHO SPENT HIS DAYS HANGING AROUND GOD and everything that inhabits Him.
Yes, I want to be remembered as such and as one who spent His days doing all that was assigned to Him by the LORD; a man whom the world was not worthy. That is the memory I want to leave behind. The Bible says,
“The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.” Proverbs 10:7 NKJV
One of the most important messages I heard from my Spiritual father as told over and over again is the message; “WHAT WILL YOU BE REMEMBERED FOR?”
IN SIMPLE WORDS, WHAT MEMORY WILL YOU LEAVE BEHIND AS A CHRISTIAN IF JESUS TARRIES AND YOU ARE CALLED HOME?
Let me share a secret with you. We do not create blessed memories through prayer and fasting, as good as that may help. Neither do we do so through faithful church membership, as good as that may be, depending on the Church and its vision.
We create blessed memories through actions.
You see, how you treat each day from the LORD, each word from His throne, each prompting of His Spirit, each desire of your flesh, trial of faith, temptation or pressure from the lost world will create the stories that will form the memory of how you will be remembered.
If we govern our carnal passions well, or our days of pressure or leisure according to the promptings of the Spirits, or according to the light of the word of the LORD, we will leave a blessed memory behind. There would be no need for anyone to tell anyone not to speak evil of the dead when they are frank about the evil we may have done.
Again, I say I do not want to be remembered as an apostle, a teacher, a mentor, a spiritual father, an author, a pastor, a travelling Evangelist or whatever the LORD may have accomplished through me. I just want to be remembered as a man who hanged around God, doing all that He assigned him to do, of whom the world was not worthy.
If I can achieve this, I will be very fulfilled at death if Christ tarries. It is my goal every day to achieve, and since it agrees with the scriptures, we can all make that our life goals.
God is looking for friends who will hang around Him and do all He has assigned to them to do daily; He is not looking for apostles, prophets, Evangelists, Pastors or Teachers. He is looking for friends who will hang around His person, Word, and Spirit, and carry out His assignment for their lives with precision.
The Bible says; “Friendship with the world is enmity against God.” Jesus Himself said to His disciples, “I call you friends.” We provoke God dangerously to Jealousy when we make anything that is not Him our friend, or carry out man-made assignments calling them the LORD’s. No one enjoys the true presence of the LORD making exalted things or personalities their friends in place of God.
IF THEY DO, HE WILL WITHDRAW FROM THEM INSTANTLY.
If God withdraws from you, it does not matter who is with you. Things will just be falling apart in your life, ministry, career, family, or business. Hanging around God is the first requirement for followers of Jesus Christ. That is where the revelation of what God may have called them to do spring from. That is where the accuracy and potency to tell others about the redemption Jesus comes from.
It is those who hang around God that gets the full revelation of what His assignment for their lives is not really those who hang around other things. God’s primary expectation of us is that we HANG AROUND Him, not people.
Our devotional text made it clear that our lives will worth nothing except we spend it doing the things assigned to us by the LORD Jesus. But you will never find the things assigned to you by the LORD Jesus, except you hang around Him.
If you cannot find God directly find someone who will help you find Him. Find anyone or anything that God’s presence inhabits. Surround yourself with Godly people and Godly things. The presence of the LORD inhabits anything Godly.
Sadly, most people today hang around things that do not inhabit God. They hang around ungodly friends, drinking spots, night clubs, alcohol, and hell invoking music. They hang around people, places, and things that inhabit hell. Samson was one man who hanged around a woman who had an agreement with hell to ruin him. He ended his life as a result. He could not stand the consequences.
Solomon was another Old Testament saint who hanged around people, places and things that inhabits hell and lost out with God. Friendship with the world involves hanging around things that DO NOT inhabit hell. While friendship with God involves hanging around things or people His presence inhabits.
YOU SEE, ANYTHING THAT INHABITS HELL INSTEAD OF GOD WILL DESTROY YOU. STAY AWAY FORM IT!
What you hang around physically is what determines what hangs around you spiritually because every physical thing has a root in the spiritual. The Bible also made it clear that what we hang around in life is what actually determine what hangs around us in death.
The story of Elisha comes to mind here! The man hanged around God all his life, both as a farmer and a prophet of God. That was why when he died, God hanged around Him. The Bible says one day a dead body was dropped in haste in his grave, and the man came back to life (2 Kings 13:20-21).
This is a message about the rapture. It is not a validation for going to the tombs of some preachers or perceived holy men or women to pray! The message tells us that if we spend our days around God, His presence will remain with us in death to raise us up in the resurrection morning. Hallelujah!
Elisha raised the dead in death because He hanged around the living God in his life time. Truly, it is what you hang around in life that hangs around you in death.
The world hates people who hang around God and love those who hang around anything but the true God.
Sadly, the same spiritual plague has hit the present Church. When men carry the true word and the true God, we shut our doors against them, labeling them with every unprintable name we can find and casting them out of our sights. But there is a remnant that has not ceased praying these precious words to the ears of Jesus;
“LORD, teach us to desire you above riches and treasures of this world. Teach us to hang around you and not around what men promote and exalt.”
“Re-arrange our passions, refine our motives, and kill our carnal desires. Help us to hunger and thirst after you and not after things.”
“Please, do not allow the enemy to steal our hearts and keep us connected to hell. Seal our hearts with the seals of your Holy Spirit in Jesus precious name. AMEN!!”
Paul the apostle passed through the 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 rigors successfully because He hanged around God in the midst of those fiery trails. Friend, hang around God no matter what the devil may be doing in your life, and no matter what sin you may have committed. Hang around God in repentance and do not allow anything take you away from Him.
YES, HANG AROUND GOD IN YOUR BAD TIMES AND GOOD TIMES.
Serve Him in deep and true fellowship, no matter what may be going on in your life. The life of David taught us that if we hang around God over time, especially in seasons described as “the hour of the power of satan,” any evil hanging around us will be forced to depart.
May the LORD use these words to give you an inheritance among they that are sanctified. AMEN!!
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” Psalm 42:1-3 NKJV