TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Tuesday 10TH August 2021)
“Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held — to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut:
‘I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron.
I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the Lord, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel.” Isaiah 45:1-3 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 222ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
I believe strongly that we are among the privileged part of the end time Church because of what GOD is doing in our lives. If we should sit down to count His mercies and loving-kindness towards us this year alone, there will be no words to express them in full.
We trust Him for greater years ahead!
We are in the threshing floor of God’s grace and truth, reset for end time exploits. It’s important that a Child of God be established in seasons like this on truths from the Throne of Grace. It is also important that we do not depart from our prayer knees, no matter the cost.
Most times money matters come to pull us away from the prayer knees. If you ask me I will say they should rather keep us on the prayer knee. There is a way prayer bring financial sufficiency.
Many have been told, “Until you give to God, God will never give to you.” But the Spirit of Truth teaches differently.
You see, Prayer generates the wisdom to get money and the power that anoints the works of our hands to bring it to us.
You will never know money do not come just by giving, until you give and go sleep hungry for the next ten years. Greedy men and women may not like what I just stated, we must no longer allow ourselves to be fooled by the narrative of these charlatans.
There is nothing that will not answer to prayer except that which require practical wisdom. And when I say prayer, I mean righteous prayer not the fall-down-and-die type. We will therefore, be looking at some truths about prayer this morning.
THE FIRST GRACE THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL IMPART INTO YOUR LIFE WILL MANIFEST AS THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER.
He opens our hearts up to effective communication with God. That is why if He is not there, your prayer life will either be dead or alive to forms of prayers that do not bring kingdom results. God designed prayer to be a daily affair since it’s the only way that we can communicate with our Him, hence the Holy Spirit making that happen.
Sadly, many pray once a while, and that is not good. I said it sometimes back that people who pray once a while, will only see GOD once a while in their lives. And believe me, we do not need God once in a while. We need Him all the time.
That is why Jesus said in Luke 18:1
“that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,” (NKJV).
In other words, we are designed to pray always and not lose heart even when God seems far but sure. It means we are malfunctioning and living contrary to our original design if we do not pray always. And when a product malfunctions, it will become damaged.
That explains why the lives of many are damaged; so many a prayer less. Some pray, but they do not pray righteous prayers!
Let me show you something unique about prayer; prayer is a supernatural business transaction. It is not a religious act but a kingdom act. It is one-way GOD’s Kingdom citizens transact kingdom business with their Heavenly Father. That is why Jesus said,
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.
Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” Matthew 6:5-7 NKJV
If you look at this scripture carefully you will realize that what many do in church today is not prayer.
LET ME REFRESH OUR MEMORY ON FORMS OR TYPES OF PRAYERS!
There are four types of prayers, but in this scripture you find two; you find the prayer of the Hypocrite, (who love doing publicly what God wants done privately), then the prayer of the heathen or occult men and women, (a prayer type that involves vain repetitions, simply driven by the paradigm that says “you will be heard for your many words.”).
That is why we do not see successful supernatural business transaction take place by our many prayers. Many of us in church today have not been praying we have just been talking. Prayer as a Kingdom or supernatural business transaction, has to be understood.
To start with, we cannot influence earth without prayer. One way we cause the Spirit of God to rest on places is to participate with Him through righteous prayer. Everything God is and has is only available to mankind through righteous prayer.
A man of God once said, “more work is done through prayer than through work itself.” With prayer you can push your prosperity from Heaven to the earth. You can retain the settings that keeps you on mount Gerizim, where blessings are constantly authorized in our lives.
Personally, I have come to realize that what you have not laid hold on through prayer, you cannot lay hold on even through hard work. Again, when we say prayer, we are not referring “the fall down and die” or “enemy killing prayer.” We are talking about righteous prayers.
People fail in life because they try to get through work what they have not secured through righteous prayers.
Righteous Prayer is one way you put God ahead of you to go break the gates of brass and make the crooked places straight for you before you get there to do your work. That is why people who put God ahead of them through righteous prayer in the morning of their lives, return in the evening of their lives with amazing results they have receive over the years.
A MAJOR HIGHLIGHT IN OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT SAYS;
“I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the Lord, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel.”
This is a wonderful promise from the LORD to us as we prepare to enter a new month. I pray that someone catch the revelation and come into the performance in Jesus precious name! But there is a role we must play – the role of putting God ahead through righteous prayers. If we do not let Him go ahead through righteous prayers, He won’t go ahead.
And we go ahead without letting Him go ahead first, we will come head on collision with things only He can deal with – namely gates of bronze and bars of iron. The treasures we need and the hidden riches of secret places will remain a dream. But if we let Him go ahead through the prayer knee, things will be different.
What is the message this morning? The message is simple – put God ahead of you every day of your life before facing any day of your life. You can do it successfully through righteous prayers.
In the world we live in today, if we do not discipline ourselves spiritually enough to let GOD go ahead of us through righteous prayers on daily bases, all that the enemy planned or designed to happen to us may happen. It is not the will of God that we move into a day, week, or month without first shaping that day, week or month to agree with God’s will through righteous prayers.
With righteous prayer, we can shape our future to align with God’s righteous will for us. With righteous prayer can control what happens on earth.
It’s my desire that you submit your soul to the message of this devotional and begin a prayer walk immediately into the next phase of your life – the Gerizim face!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Romans 8:26-30 NKJV