TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Monday 9TH August 2021)
“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. 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.” Psalms 23:1-4 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 221st DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
I don’t know how you were ushered into this month, but for us at “the Apostolic Family of the Cry of the Spirit Ministries” we were ushered on the Cloud of Glory, full of grace and truth through our special Schools of the Spirit, 7 Days 7 Mountains.
The season three that just ended was awesome.
We are having a nice time with our KING, this month and ridding on the flames of liberating truths. There are no words to describe what have been happening and especially what happened in our service yesterday. From the first hour to the last second, it was simply an outbreak of GOD!
The most amazing part in my view was what happened after the service closed. The power of GOD remained on my hands. I felt like I was wearing a supernatural hand gloves. I was looking for who to impart it into, and to the glory of God many came to meet me right where I sat.
Starting with one of my beautiful protégés or spiritual daughters who was celebrating her 30th birthday, to the ones I directly asked, “Can I pray for you? There is so much power on my hands?” child of God, only eternity can reveal accurately what God did in those moments.
We indeed rode on the chariots of God’s liberating truths last week, as evident in the service. You may have flown in the best aircraft in the world, or rode in the best cars , if you have not flown or driven in the Chariots of God’s LIBERATING TRUTHS as a Child of God, you are missing something.
Join us for season four which will start a week from today! Friend, these are days of horsemen. These are no longer days of living by human strength. The Bible made it clear that by strength shall no man prevail.
These are days of going back to the very strength Adam used in living on the face of the earth before the fall. However, it will not happen through Church as usual. It will happen through a divine reset using God’s reset buttons in a Church that operates as the ground and pillar of truth.
The first man that lived on this planet never survived by His own strength! He survived by the strength of Jehovah!
THROUGH A DIVINE RESET WE CAN BEGIN TO SURVIVE BY THE STRENGTH OF JEHOVAH.
You were not designed to survive by your strength. You were designed to survive by the strength of Jehovah. That is why only Christians who God has reset to depend on God in everything, will survive the seasons we live in.
Talking about depending on God, what does it mean to depend on God?
I have seen people who claim to be depending on God failing woefully in life. Friend, there are casualties of spiritual ignorance everywhere. That is why you should not fail to attend our weekly services or special schools of the Spirit this month where we are schooled as disciples of Jesus Christ.
If you are not schooled in the things of GOD, you won’t know how to depend on Him. You cannot depend on God you do not know. You will need to be schooled to be able to depend of Him. God want us to be schooled until we come to the place of knowing Him as we are known by Him. There and then can we depend of Him.
No one who depended on God in scriptures failed. They did not just succeed; they did exploits as well. You find them doing terrible things in righteousness to the amazement of their generation.
For instance, Joshua depended on Him and was able to speak to the sun and the moon successfully because of that. Moses depended on GOD, and was able to break the backbone of Pharaoh, bring judgment on the gods of Egypt, and Israel out of bondage successfully.
Elijah was able to restore God to the national consciousness of Israel in the Mount Carmel showdown because he depended on Him. Solomon became the wisest and Riches King of all times because he depended on God.
DEPENDING ON GOD IS WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE IN LIFE!
When Samson was depending on God, he was a wonder to his enemies. He could carry gates of Cities and eliminate entire armies without using a bomb. No one who depended on God failed in life. The subdued kingdoms, obtained promise, stopped the mouths of lions. Out of weakness were made strong. They turned to fight the armies of the alien because they depended on God.
So those of us who are claiming to be depending on God and yet failing in everything we may be doing, are not really depending on GOD. We may be sincere at heart but are not enlightened in our minds. Bad things do not perpetually prevail over people who depend on God.
It is therefore, very important to know what it means to depend of God. At this point, let me share some tips on how to depend on God.
To start with, there something we must know. Many in Church today bank on their sincerity of heart and expect God to act on that. But I have come to realize that A SINCERE HEART WITH AN IGNORANT MIND IS A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN. It will not save a man’s life from destruction. God lamented that His people are destroyed for lack of Knowledge, not lack of sincerity.
He did not even say we are destroyed because of evil altars and all that. He said we are destroyed for lack of knowledge. In other words, in not being schooled in the things of God.
I have said this repeatedly that many in Church today are schooled in the things of devils; they know the names of all kinds of evil spirits and what they do, but they do not know the 300 names of God and what they do.
OTHERS ARE SCHOOLED IN HUMANISTIC PHILOSOPHIES AND SECULAR HUMANISM.
They know every common way to solve problems without involving God, but cannot tell God’s way to solve problems. Hence when they face uncommon problems, they fall down flat and start contemplating suicide.
If we are not schooled in the things of God we will never make headway in life. Every virtue we may muster to succeed will not lead to a happy ending. The first way to depend on God, therefore is to sit down and be schooled in His things. Everyone who depended on GOD in scriptures, spent time with Him learning His ways and studying His paths; from Moses to Joshua, from Samson to David, and to all other men and women of exploits in Bible.
Let’s take Joshua for example. He was blankly told that he will not be able to fulfill his assignment without depending on God. And one way to depend on GOD, he was told, was to maintain a schooling posture all his life. The Bible says God said to him;
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8 NKJV
That was a command to maintain a schooling posture all his life.
Meaning, if we say we are depending on God and do not spend the better parts of our lives schooling ourselves in His ways and paths, we are deceiving ourselves. Like I said earlier, you cannot depend on a God whose ways you do not know! You must spend the better part of your life knowing His ways and paths to truly depend on Him.
A deeper look at what God told Joshua reveals a second way to depend on GOD. That way is to walk in obedience. God said to Joshua;
“…That you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
IF WE CLAIM TO BE DEPENDING ON GOD AND YET WE ARE NOT OBEYING HIM, WE ARE ACTUALLY DEPENDING ON OURSELVES.
I have said it before; rebellion is one way we tell God “I do not need you.” If you look at the life of everyone who truly depended on God in scriptures, you will see a life of implicit obedience to the will and ways of God, even at the cost of their lives.
I want to submit to you that obeying the LORD is the loudest way to tell GOD “I depend on you” not prayers. That is why the Bible says it is better than sacrifice.
That brings us to the last tip I want to share on depending on God. And that tip is “being led by the Spirit.” People who depend on GOD are not led by themselves. They are constantly led by the Spirit. The life of David comes to mind at this point. He demonstrated dependency on God by waiting for Him to speak before taking nay step in life. Even in the midst of battle and war with all kinds of weapons at his disposal, he will still step aside and waited on God to speak.
Do you know that it is easier to wait on God when you do not have what it takes to do a thing than when you have?
Most times we wait on God for direction when we are in need but when the supply comes, we cease waiting and start directing ourselves. That was the error of Saul. And we are still repeating the same error today!
But David knew that
“A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.”
So all his life he maintained that
“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalms 33:17, 20:7 NKJV).
Consequently, he never failed to seek GOD’s will and way in everything He did.
Friend, as we bring this to a close, I want you to understand that when it comes to making it in life, it is not really about WHAT you have but about WHO you have! Because if God is not by your side, even the best equipment or most trusted people will fail you!
Our devotional text this morning explained the kind of walk and talk David maintained with God when he was on this side of eternity. A major highlight of it 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.”
We can go on and on. But I believe God has spoken to us this morning.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Jacob defend you; May He send you help from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion;
May He remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah
May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your purpose. We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Psalms 20:1-5 NKJV