TODAY’S DEVOTION (Thursday 21ST October 2021)
[How long shall this state of things continue?] How long yet shall it be in the minds of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even the prophets of the deceit of their own hearts,
Who think that they can cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which every man tells to his neighbor, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?
The prophet who has a dream, let him tell his dream; but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat [for nourishment]? says the Lord.
Is not My word like fire [that consumes all that cannot endure the test]? says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks in pieces the rock [of most stubborn resistance]? Jeremiah 23:26-29 AMP
WELCOME TO THE 294TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS.
Welcome to another glorious day for our LORD Jesus Christ! We thank God for His outpouring in our lives in our Solemn Assembly yesterday. It is my prayer that all that was taught and imparted will make our lives fruitful in all aspects in Jesus precious name.
One cannot be tire assembling daily to study the word. No wonder the early Church met daily. It was never a boring moment because you cannot be bored under the glory of the LORD. There was a time the Antioch Church met that way for two whole years; the result was Christ fully manifest in them. The unbelieving world saw it and called them “Christians.”
Christianity is Christ in us! When He lives in us, leading us through all truth by His Holy Spirit, we come into the fullness of the blessing of the gospel.
He makes Bible study life giving and meaningful. When you have Christ in you and you read certain scriptures, they just spark a fire within you. Especially scriptures that testifies of Him! When those scriptures enter into our heart they become a fire that consumes all us that does not align. It consumes everything fleshy in us.
That is how godly character is form and weight gained in the Spirit over time. That is how we grow in grace and the knowledge of our LORD and savior Jesus Christ. That is how we are transformed into His image, from glory to glory. That is how we move from faith to faith.
It takes the impartation of sound doctrine to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our LORD and savior Jesus Christ. It takes impartation of sound doctrine to move form faith to faith, or be transformed from glory to glory.
SADLY, MOST IN THE CHURCH ARE NOT MOVING FROM FAITH TO FAITH, NEITHER IS THERE ANY SPIRITUAL GROWTH.
Yes, that transformation that the Bible says takes place when we behold the LORD, as in a mirror in His word is not happening in the lives of even ministers of the gospel because so many are driven by the desire for fame, fortune and other carnal things. There is no moral excellence because we are not experiencing character transformation.
The activities of falsehood and the preaching of a gospel that does not transform is partly responsible for all these things.
Our devotional text today is one of the lamentations of the almighty in Scriptures. This lamentation was for the days of the Bible and our days also. The activities of most prophets today are bringing tears of pain from the heart of God. He said;
“[How long shall this state of things continue?] How long yet shall it be in the minds of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even the prophets of the deceit of their own hearts,
Ordinarily a prophet of God should not prophesy falsehood and flesh induced prophecies. He should not prophesy to you because you placed some money in his hands. He should speak truth to God’s people in scriptural frequencies.
There are prophets of God and there are prophets of the deceit of their own hearts. There are prophecies from God and there are prophecies of the deceit of our own heart. You can prophesy from the deceit of your own heart and think you are prophesying from God. I have come across many who were deceived by prophecies from prophets who prophesy from their own hearts. Others were carried away by prophecies from the deceit of their own heart.
Singles have been told who to marry and who not to marry, with many ending up with broken lives. Others have ended up deeply in a life of sexual sin and wickedness, which they do not see as a life of sin.
Today we have prophetesses who snatches husbands from women by the instrumentality of prophecies from the deceit of their own heart.
THERE IS A LOT OF DESTRUCTION IN THE LIVES OF PEOPLE BECAUSE OF THESE THINGS.
Most prophecies from the deceit of people’s hearts targets people’s monies. But it’s not just money that a prophecy from the deceit of a man’s heart takes from you. It could break your family and take even your life. God is saying “how long shall this state of things continue?”
A lot of people are under the spirit of hell, leading them astray. This spirit is responsible for those who go to hell. It promotes a life of sin and make people pick offense at those calling on them to lead holy lives. It is the spirit of hell that takes men and women to hell the place.
There are so many families whose parents or family members have been taken over by this spirit, to persecute even their own Children who were once wayward but now arrested by the LORD to abandon their sinful lives. I remember an incident where a teenage girl was accused by parents of joining a cult because she abandoned the ways of sin and sent all her sex mates away.
Sadly, these parents are Church goers. You now begin to wonder if the church they go belong to Christ.
There are whole churches and people ruled by the spirit of hell, making sure their relatives do not make it to Heaven. There are young women who the LORD rescued, who are abandoning the ways of the LORD because of the pressure of their parents as we speak. Some no longer pays their kids school fees just to force them back into a life of teenage sex and all that. The battle is really intense.
On one hand we have parents calling on us to pray for their kids to know the LORD, on the other we have parents who fight their kids for knowing the LORD, forcing them to abandon His ways.
Jesus reveals that there will be a constant battle with the spirit of hell when He said, “the gates of hell shall not prevail.” The battle is really intense but I believe this declaration will bring total victory to the end time Church.
Most of these parents who are snatching their wards from the LORD, are victims of deception and members of dead churches. Some prophecy out of the deceit of their hearts, while others are hooked up to prophets and prophetesses who prophesy out of the deceit of their own hearts.
THERE ARE THINGS WE MUST UNDERSTAND ABOUT PROPHETIC MINISTRY AND AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY!
We must understand that when a prophet prophesy from the deceit of his own heart, it may sound well to your ears but will never shrink the activities of the flesh in your life – you will not be free from sin because only truth sets someone free from sin.
Authentic prophetic ministry will unlock holiness on people because they cry the voice of a holy God to people – the very voice of Christ Himself, and authentic Christianity will not condone any life of sin and wickedness.
Jesus said;
“Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.” John 5:25 NKJV
You don’t hear the true voice of God and remain comfortable living in sin. The voice of Christ is capable of evoking convictions and neutralizing death – which is a prophetic description of sin, moral corruption and the consequences of sin.
So, if a prophet truly speaks from God his prophecies will destroy the power of sin over the lives of people! If the power of sin is not being destroyed in your life, or you are not even aware that you are living in sin when you are allowed to have sex mates around or lead a life that is impure under a prophetic ministry, you are in trouble.
True prophetic flow delivers from sin and aligns us with righteousness.
SADLY, IF CHECK THE PROPHETIC FLOW OF TODAY, YOU FIND SO MANY WHO ARE COMFORTABLE WITH A LIFE OF SIN.
God is saying;
“Who think that they can cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which every man tells to his neighbor, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?
The prophet who has a dream, let him tell his dream; but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat [for nourishment]? says the Lord.”
To forget the name of the LORD today simple means to make your carnal needs and earthly desire the center of your Christianity instead of God Himself. That is what most prophetic ministries has accomplished in the lives of people.
You see people who follow prophet not mindful eternal things. They are only mindful of earthly things. They know nothing of the power of the ages to come. They know nothing about dwelling in the place of God’s glory basically to enquire at His temple and behold His glory. They know nothing about making Christ the center of their lives.
The mission of the false prophetic anointing is to make people forget the name of the LORD. It is to push people away from the ways of the LORD. Sadly, it has been fulfilled in the lives of many people in Church, putting them in eternal danger.
On daily bases, the spirit of Baal induces prophets to speak things that cannot make people live Christ centered lives.
It makes prophets speak things that make the people who follow them mindful of the earthly only; things like getting or staying married, snatching this woman’s husband, winning the heart of that rich lady to marry a poor man in Church, having this enemy killed, getting this job, having this money, winning this contract, and etc.
They prophesy things that make people not to care about living a Holy and God centered life. They make people live need centered lives by filling the minds of people with the things of men instead of the things of God through their prophecies.
JESUS EXPOSED THE KIND OF SPIRIT BEHIND THESE BREED OF PROPHETS WHEN HE SAID TO PETER;
….”Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Matthew 16:23 NKJV
When the prophecies of a prophet or prophetess, or the teachings and preaching of any preacher are not making you mindful of the things of God but mindful of the things of men, Satan is the one speaking through him or her. Period! We cannot add or take anything from that.
When Satan speaks through prophets (preachers) you will find them using prophecies to make money out of the stupidity and calamity of people. When Satan speak through prophets or any other preacher they will be teaching and doing things that will make them not to see anything wrong with a pastor having sex with them. The list is endless!
When Satan speaks through prophets they will be majoring in stars and dream interpretation instead of scripture interpretation. When you see a prophet who major in dream interpretation instead of scripture interpretation you have just found a sorcerer in Church.
Our devotional text says;
Who think that they can cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which every man tells to his neighbor, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?
The prophet who has a dream, let him tell his dream; but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat [for nourishment]? says the Lord.
Is not My word like fire [that consumes all that cannot endure the test]? says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks in pieces the rock [of most stubborn resistance]? Jeremiah 23:26-29 AMP
DREAM INTERPRETATION IS NOT THE ULTIMATE OF AUTHENTIC PROPHETIC MINISTRY.
You see, the essence of the prophetic Grace in the dispensation we find ourselves, is to reveal Christ to people not to interpret dreams of people! Don’t forget, the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. Dream interpretation is not the testimony of Jesus. Scripture interpretation is!
So if you are running after prophets to interpret your dream, you are few minutes away from deception and hours away from the spirit of hell itself.
Run after prophets who can activate you to run after the word of the LORD. People who can form Christ in you. Look for preachers who can sit you down with the flames of truth burning from the pages of scriptures, until you become free from sin, Satan and the evil and corrupt systems of this world. Hallelujah!
God said in our devotional text today;
Is not My word like fire [that consumes all that cannot endure the test]? says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks in pieces the rock [of most stubborn resistance]?
That is what you need! God’s word in the bones of your spirit-man, burning with the flames of His glory to make you what He wants you to be. Do not forget, God made the perfect WORLD with His word. So He cannot give you a perfect life without His word. His word is the material He will use to make you what he wants you to be. Go for His word!
With His Word He can restore back your health, your wealth, your faith, your walk and talk with Him, and all that will make Heaven your home when your time will be over. We can go on and on. But this is just a devotional.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
“Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!” Psalms 107:17-21 NKJV