TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Wednesday 6TH October 2021)
“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”
“Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God. Ezekiel 22:30-31 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 279TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
Glory be to the LORD GOD for another day. It is important to give Him thanks for keeping us alive, even when many of us do not deserve it. When God gives you a thing you do not deserve, it’s important to use it to give Him the praise He deserves. It is called gratitude!
I hope someone will be grateful to God this morning for all His marvelous deeds and glorious acts. Doing so many things in our lives that we do not deserve, calls for doing so any things for God that He deserves. This includes worshiping Him, submission to His will, declaring His praise, honoring Him with our purity, etc.
Today we want to look into two matters that are germane to our faith, especially these end times. We are going to spend eternity knowing GOD, but it all begins here; so let’s look at some important truths that many of us may be ignoring in our walk and talk with God.
To start with, let me submit to you that the most difficult job to do on earth is the job of being a man in the gap between God and men. Indeed, the Bible says
“there is no other mediator between a man and God except Jesus Christ.”
Sometimes, for Christ to mediate for you, He will call and prepare someone to be His vessel, as a man or woman in the gap.
Let me re-iterate again that the most difficult job to do on earth is the job of being use by the LORD to be a man in the gap. That is what also make true pastoral, genuine prophetic, or authentic apostolic ministry very difficult. The call to be any of these is a call to be God’s man in the gap. I tell you it can be very difficult.
When I look at the letters of Apostle Paul to the Church and specifically Timothy and Titus, against the background of what the LORD has granted me grace to do or be in His kingdom, I come to the conclusion that it is easier to fulfill a false calling than a true one. Though God will judge you for that, it’s easier to be one who is not called into ministry, doing ministry than to be one who is truly called doing ministry.
I HAVE COME TO DISCOVER THAT THOSE WHO ARE NOT CALLED SEEMS TO SUCCEED EASILY THAN THOSE WHO ARE.
God said;
“I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesy.”
Those who are not called has so much power to run than those who are, especially in the short term. They grow without process and succeed despite their sinful lives.
The rigors of carrying a true call of God in life are heavy. The truth remains, no human being will readily accept a call from God if they truly understanding what it is. For instance, Moses understood what his call was, hence rejected it at first. God had to convince him to respond using signs and wonders.
For Gideon, it was like “You miss it this time, LORD. I am the smallest and weakest in my family.” Jesus as man, got to a cross road between His will and God’s will and said to God, “if it is your will, LORD, let this cup pass me.” The weight of His heavenly calling was too much to carry at that time. That is what happens when you truly understand the call of God upon your life.
One day, Peter looked at Christ and said to Him; “LORD we have left all and follow you, what will be our reward?” That was a silent groan under the consequence of pursuing a divine calling. That is why the Bible says;
“And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron.” Hebrews 5:4 NKJV
You don’t take the honor upon yourself. You don’t ask God to call you into ministry or you go pursuing something on your own. A true calling comes from the LORD, and it is very weighty and costly. Yes, the Bible calls it an honor but it could fill your life with dishonor if you find yourself among the perverted.
You see, when God placed the honor of a divine call upon your life, you come under His yoke. That is why anyone you see, readily accepting a call from God and excitedly telling everyone he sees about it, is either not truly called, do not really understand what the call is, or is ignorant of the cost.
NO GENUINE CALLING IS WITHOUT BURDENS TO BEAR OR THINGS TO DIE TO ON DAILY BASES.
You may end up losing everything, even eternally, if you do not identify the things GOD’s call upon your life wants you to spend your days dying to, on daily bases, until destiny is fulfilled. The difference between those who ends badly and those who finishes well when it comes to the pursuit of God’s call upon our lives, is in what we do on daily bases.
The next truth I want to share with us today is a truth on the greatest blessing available in God’s kingdom; which is the Blessing so rest!
The blessing of rest was the very blessing most of the Israelites missed in their walk with God. They got miracles, economic and marital blessings; they got the blessings of Child bearing and many other blessings but missed this one.
Sadly, the blessing of rest is the very blessing many in the Church today are yet to come into. That is why they queue for deliverance, prayers, breakthroughs and all that. Consequently, we now go to Church basically to be free from enemies not really to know God and walk in His ways. But in the beginning it was not so.
The early Church had rest even in the midst of great trials of faith and intense persecutions.
Most departments of the end time Church today are not facing persecutions or trials of faith. Our nations are not telling us not to serve Jesus; neither are they putting us in prisons for serving Him. Yet there is no rest in our lives.
Israel could not enter God’s rest for their lives. Concerning that generation the Bible says;
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years.
Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.'” Hebrews 3:7-11 NKJV
From this scripture it’s clear that they could not come into God’s true rest because “they went astray in their hearts, and never knew God’s ways.”
THIS SCRIPTURE IS A PERFECT DESCRIPTION OF THE CHURCH OF OUR GENERATION.
It captures the true identity of many of us who profess to be born again. That is no rest in our lives. I have always said that in the spirit what goes on in our hearts, sounds louder in Heaven than what comes out of our mouths. And because in the natural, it is not so, we do not realize this Biblical truth.
In the natural what goes on in our mouth, sounds louder to the ears of men, and people do not have what it takes to pick what goes on in the heart of others, except they become supernatural. But God is not a man that operates that way. He is not natural but Spiritual.
He hears the utterances of our hearts first before the utterances of our mouth.
When you step into the God dimension as a Child of God, you can pick what goes on in people’s heart faster than what comes out of their mouths, and come out with a proper judgment of who they really are. That was what Isaiah meant by, “not judging according to what you hear with your ears or see with your eyes.” It is a beautiful life you come into whenever the need arises, if you are intimate with the LORD.
The Bible says;
“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”
“His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His Lips He shall slay the wicked.” Isaiah 11:1-4 NKJV
What are we saying this morning; people who do not know God, will go astray in their hearts.
IF YOU GO ASTRAY IN YOUR HEART, YOU WILL NEVER COME INTO GOD’S REST FOR YOUR LIFE.
God does not give rest to everyone who calls on the name of the LORD. He may give them relief, but He does not give them rest. God gives rest to all who call upon the name of the LORD WITH A HEART THAT IS PERFECT TOWARDS HIM. which brings us to the number seven.
The Bible says we should be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. Beautifully, grace has been supplied to us to help us achieve that in Christ Jesus. It’s just that people are not making use of it.
Only people whose hearts are perfect towards God will be given rest and made pillars in His kingdom. Only they can be counted upon by Heaven. And I want you to know that the need of the hour is men Heaven can count on to do things on earth. That is why our devotional text today is very vital.
A major highlight of it says;
“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”
There are very few people Heaven can actually count on today; very few who can be truly, selflessly and sacrificially committed to a move of God.
Sometimes we wonder why there is no move of God in our Churches today; why there are only MOVES OF MEN OF GOD and not MOVES OF GOD. The reason is simple; many can commit to men of God but cannot commit to God Himself.
“what are you talking about” You may be wondering! “Is committing to a man of God not committing to God?” Well, it is not always so because many preachers have lost touch with God. It is just that they do not appear so.
MOST PREACHERS SERVE MONEY AND FAME; OTHERS SERVE THE SEX GODDESS, BUT PUT ON THE APPEARANCE OF SERVING GOD.
The Bible says while they promise them liberty, they themselves are servants of corruption. And that is the breed most Christians love committing to, because they promise them blessings tailored around their carnal desires.
Even when the preachers make them foolish through their gullible nature and stand on that to scoop millions from them, they will not care. At most, if they did not see what the preachers promise them come to pass in their lives, they just will leave for other ministries and Churches, looking for another preacher who will turn them into zombies and scoop money from them.
I have come to discover that Christians who fall victims of false preachers and prophets; with huge sums of money taken from them, are not really people who are loyal towards God. They only seek His deeds not His ways. And Heaven cannot even count on them for anything significant in the kingdom.
Most of them are selfish and cannot lay down their money, unconditionally, to push the work of the kingdom forward.
When they get to where their money is truly needed, you find them no longer going out of their ways to push God’s move forward the way they did in assemblies of Satan.
The clarion call this morning is very clear. Can Heaven count on you to push God’s purposes forward? Are you really responding adequately to God’s needs, or you are serving Him based on your needs?
I leave the answers to these questions to your conscience.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY;
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
“He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”
“If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” John 12:24-26 KJV