TODAY’S DEVOTION (Saturday 23rd October 2021)
“We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” 1 John 5:18-19 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 296TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS.
When the LORD spoke to us about the Higher Heights season He was bringing us into last year, we never thought it will be made of a season of greater depths of the revelation His word, more of His presence in our lives and preservation from all forms of evil.
Beautifully, we have seen all that and even much more. The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked indeed, but God has kept us.
The Society and the world system has program many to think that the greatest need of their lives is money. But the outbreak of Covid-19 and other destructive things that has happened this season alone, points out the obvious. Our greatest need is God and not money.
Money could be in your pocket but cannot heal you of any diseases. It cannot preserve any from the horrors of the last days. It cannot save or preserve any from witches, wizards, sin and its terrible consequences, spiritual attacks, and all that. Only the presence of God can.
That means most times God may never put money in your pocket, but will put enough of His presence in your life because that is your greatest need. The presence He puts in your life will then take care of what money cannot take care of, terminating lack and keeping you in a perfect peace that will make even those who have money envy you.
Sadly, when God gives us what we truly need (His presence), we sometimes do not appreciate. We rather complain about what we do not have; the money we do not have. Leading to the paralysis of His manifest presence in our lives, like it happened to the Israelites in the wilderness.
God gave them what they needed at the time; the presence of His glory. But they complained about what they never needed; what they just wanted, and the result was terrible. Many of them could not make it to the promise land.
We must understand that God will never withhold from His own what they truly need. Even under an attack, He will never withhold from us what we truly need. His presence will always be with us to preserve us. The only thing that will be required is that we do not do anything that will quench His Spirit and stop His presence from being active in our lives.
We will look at matters of His presence again, because if there is anytime the elects need the active presence of God, it is now. The days are dangerous.
WE NEED THE ACTIVE PRESENCE OF THE LORD NOW MORE THAN EVER.
In His active presence is fullness of Joy and at His right hand are pleasure for evermore. In His active presence, we can conceive the faith that is require to live in this wicked world. In his active presence, there is restoration, revival, renewal and the manifestation of divine promises.
Everything we need in this life is a child of God’s active presence.
If God has given you His active presence, do not complain about the other things that you may not have yet, lead a life that will not quench His Spirit and watch the active presence turn your life around over time.
The prosperity of the righteous does not come through any unclean way, no matter how small. It does not come through compromise, no matter how small. It comes in the fullness of time after the righteous has mastered life in His presence. The active presence of God is where all the good we need flow from without we compromising our faith or walk with God.
There is so much about the active presence of God that cannot be written in a devotional. Even in the times of trouble, God’s active presence remains the stronghold of the righteous. David said;
“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.” Psalm 18:2-3 NKJV
His active presence manifest as a fortress for the righteous, hiding him or her from all attacks of the enemy when he calls. In case the righteous found himself or herself in a situation that needs the active presence of God to manifest as a deliverer, it will.
When the righteous is weak, the active presence will manifest as a source of strength.
The Bible indeed said, if the righteous faint in the day of adversity, it is not because the enemy is strong, but because the strength of the righteous is small. In other words, the righteous has lost his place in the active presence of God where the LORD manifest as a source of strength or a horn of salvation to him or her.
So we need the active presence of God to come out well in the day if adversity.
WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT ALL WE WILL NEED IN THIS LIFE IS THE ACTIVE PRESENCE OF GOD, NOT JUST PEOPLE WE THINK ARE HELPFUL.
From the life of Job, it is clear that if the righteous face a health or an economic attack under God’s watch, they come out of the trouble with double of all the enemy may have taken from them, that is after a period of time. That is their heritage. However, there is a condition.
If the righteous did not make the active presence of God his dwelling place during the attack; if he withdraws from God’s presence, the heritage will never speak.
It is in God’s active presence that the Fatherhood of God is experienced and the heritage of the righteous made manifest to him.
When I was a poor little boy, I use to lament over our family’s economic situation and blame God for not making me a son of one of the rich men in our nation – especially preachers. I looked at the very rich but childless preachers with great ministries and wished I was born by them. I guess someone reading this must have done the same.
Circumstances of life can make us wish so many things. But soon, I grew up to understand that it does not matter who we are born by, what matters is who we are born of.
The Bible says whatever is born of God overcomes the world. You cannot manifest the life of those who are born of God if you do not spend quality time in His presence to experience His fatherhood. I was not spending quality time then.
So I began to spend more time with God to experience His Fatherhood and after some years, I began to overcome the situations of life that plunged me into such thoughts.
After those seasons in His presence, I found out that Life in the active presence of the LORD was making me a solution to the spiritual problems of people around me, and I began to spend more time and began to gain significance as well.
I literally entered into my season of significance.
WHEN GOD BRINGS YOU INTO A SEASON OF SIGNIFICANCE, YOU MAY NOT SEE ANY SPECTACULAR THING HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE.
So during those days I did not see anything spectacular. But I was relevant to all who met me. Life in the active presence of God makes one indispensable in the company of the wise. It makes one significant and relevant to all in need of a touch of God in their lives. I experienced all that.
There was nothing like rejection in those days, except by those who carried an unclean spirit, or who the devil blinded not to see the light of the gospel flowing out of my lips.
It continued that way for a while until spectacular things began to happen. It was the spectacular that brought the economy might to take care of my family and reach out to others with financial help.
I moved from one who needs help, to one who gives help because I found my place in the presence and ceased it with all my might. I knew without the presence of God in my life, I will be doomed, hence sacrificing all for it.
I found out that until we make God’s active presence our greatest pursuit in life, we will never experience certain dimensions of His grace and mercies. There are dimensions of His grace we will never find in time of need. The Bible says;
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV
You will never experience the power of Christ as the High Priest who is touched with our infirmities, to the point of helping us find grace in time of need, if your Christian life is limited to the outer court. You will never experience Him but you will be running after people to pray for you, or doing the nonsense of raising altars, breaking some or silencing others.
You will never experience those dimensions of His grace giving sacrificial offerings to any preacher. You will only experience it if you pursue the active presence of the LORD with all your strength, with all your might and with all your heart.
THAT IS HOW TO LOVE THE LORD. YOU WILL ALWAYS PURSUE THE PRESENCE OF WHO YOU LOVE!
Look at that word again, the Bible says,
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
For God’s sake, how can we have such a High Priest (Christ) who was tempted in all points like we are, one who can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, and be carrying all kinds of infirmities around us? No!
There must be something wrong with us and that thing is this; we are not living our lives in the active presence of this High Priest. Many live by His word but not in His active presence hence not seeing those dimension.
One day the LORD said to me, “You can have my word with you but if you lack the spiritual discipline to have my active presence in your life., you will never see my word speak in your life”
It blew my mind open because we grew up believing having His word was enough. We never knew we were with His word without His active presence, hence His word could not be performed in our lives. And that lack of spiritual discipline was responsible.
During those days of my transition from one who needs help, to one who gives help, I also discovered so much. I discovered that most of the great people in the Bible, men like David, were not born by rich Dads. They only had the word and the active presence of the LORD in their lives and became significant to their nations.
From the place of significance, spectacular things broke out in and through their lives and they became great.
The life of David, for example, spoke to my heart so well. When he killed the Lion and the bear, it did not give him any fame or fortune but it was significant.
I also discovered that he did not go publicizing it to even his family members. In fact, Eliab his elder brother never knew his younger brother was a giant killer until David mentioned it in his speech when he wanted to convince the king to let him go take down the giant.
When God is using you to do significant things, please do not publicize them. Our calling is not to publicize anything God may be using us to do. They will publicize themselves. Significant things are not to be publicized. They are to be kept in the inner chambers of our hearts until their appointed times.
THE APPOINTED TIME IS WHEN GOD IS ABOUT USING US TO DO SPECTACULAR THINGS.
That is when the significant may need to be told or rehearsed quietly in our minds as a fuel of faith. This is for the mature. David hid the significant until it was time to do the spectacular. You must hide the significant until it’s time to do the spectacular.
Killing the Giant at 17 and become king at 30 were all spectacular but killing the lion and the bear was significant. When he killed the giant it publicized itself. It shot him to lime light. He did not publicize anything God used him to do, they all came to limelight in their times and seasons. That is the Heavenly pattern for us.
You could be born by the greatest Dad on earth but if you are not born of the great God, your birth will remain a minus on the face of the earth. You will not be able to actualize both your prophetic and eternal destiny.
To be born of God is the greatest Birth on the face of the earth. Those who are born of God, who make His active presence their dwelling place, become great in life over time. Most times, even greater than those who were born by rich and famous Dads.
I believe God has spoken to us this morning.
Make the active presence of God your dwelling place and you will not need to fight the many battles of life you may be fighting in life right now. God’s presence is the antidote to all spiritual attacks, not oil, salt, water or any of those things given to us by preachers who are being used by the demon of deliverance.
Make God’s active presence your dwelling place, and you will gain the faith position you need to see the salvation of the LORD in your life! He will begin to fight for you, and you will begin to hold your peace.
It’s a new Day in Jesus precious name! AMEN!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”
“And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.”
“Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.”
“So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” 2 Chronicles 20:17-22 NKJV