TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 7th November 2021)
And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.”‘” Exodus 4:21-23 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 311TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS.
We have been on a seven-day school of the prophets, driven by a passion to have our hearts established on the ways of the LORD. God said in His word that heaven and earth shall pass away but my way shall not pass away.
We understand that a people who build their hearts on the word of the LORD shall never pass away. We want to be that people hence the school. We want to be part of God’s end time army of prophets with the spirit of prophecy, neutralizing the prophets of Baal in the present church.
We want to stir every hearts to focus on doing only the will of God by getting them established in the ways of the LORD. The Bible made it clear that people they will do the will of GOD abides forever. That is why men like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still very much alive (though physically dead) today. We hear them speak to us each time we read the Bible.
They lived by the word of the LORD, and did the will of GOD and now they are alive forever more. Indeed, any people who build their lives on the word of the LORD do not pass away!
The word of the LORD is actually the manna that came down from Heaven which if we eat and respond to it positively we abide forever. It carries what it takes to keep us connected to the Life of GOD in this life and the life to come.
One thing many do not know is that whatever gets planted into a man’s soul remains with him even after death. Death does not erased memories from the spirit and soul of a man. It does not erase the truths buried in that soul.
Passing out of this world, therefore, cannot remove the word of the LORD the soul may have fed on before it dies. Dying in Christ only perfects the revelations because the spirit of he or she who dies in Christ goes to a realm where what He fed on is tangible.
SO IF YOU ARE SPENDING YOUR LIFE IN THE WORD OF THE LORD YOU ARE GETTING YOUR SOUL FILLED WITH THINGS THAT WILL LAST FOREVER.
It’s been our month of GOD’s Mercy, and Heaven has been faithful in unleashing one new truth or the other. Mercy is much more of a seed than a need! The way the prodigal son handled the mercy of his father tell us all that and we are going to refresh our memories with that.
First of all, it was the Father’s mercy that made Him not to deny the young man his request to have his own share of inheritance even while the father was still alive. Inheritance is shared after death not before.
So when he ran into trouble, he remembered what he usually sees in his father’s house, and decided to return (repent). He did not decide to return with the pride of the Pharisee or the “I deserve mercy” mentality. In fact, he was not even seeking the position of a son again. He knew he had lost it. He sought the position of a servant. The Bible says,
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”‘ Luke 15:17-19 NKJV
Hidden in this story is the very position to take if you want to recover from anything in life by the mercies of the LORD.
Don’t forget we crash-land in life and become victims of poverty, diseases, struggles, pain, disappointment, divorce, and etc. because of the Godless and Christ less decisions we do take in life. So if Life becomes unbearable, that is not the time to storm the gates of Heaven requesting for blessings. That is the time to take the posture of the prodigal son.
The prodigal Son took a “return position” that forced great mercy from the heart of the Father when his life crash-landed.
One of the golden things he did was not to request for what he lost. He lost his position as a son, and recognized it; hence requesting for the position of a servant. That was what made Mercy to flow out to Him.
DON’T FORGET, THE STORY OF THE PRODIGAL SON & THE OLDER SON IS THE STORY OF GOD AND US.
Jesus told that story to show us, among other things, how to approach God in need. But many of us are not learning! He also told that story to show us the two sides of one believer. The side of a fallen Believer and the side of a believer prodigal son, and the side of a believer in good standing with GOD; the side of a premature Christian in the younger son, and the side of a mature Christian in the older son.
You will force mercy from the heart of God if you do what the prodigal son did. Like I have always asked, do you think you deserve a Child after you have aborted the one that you conceived maybe out of wedlock to save yourself from shame? Do you think you deserve a husband after you have abused and destroyed the life of men through seduction?
Do you think you deserve a marriage after you have so abused women as a man or destroyed other people’s marriage as a woman? Do you think you deserve peace after rejecting the counsel of God for your life and going to establish yours? Whatever we may have lost to sin, ignorance and rebellion, is lost. We do not deserve another chance.
You must come to terms with that for GOD to show you mercy. That was the revelation that the prodigal Son had – the every faith position that drew great mercies from the heart of His father.
So he went back to GOD with a desire to get, not what he lost. But God gave Him much more than He lost! The Bible made it clear that he returned to serve but God gave him his position back! The Bible says,
“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.” Luke 15:20-24 NKJV
LET ME REPEAT THE STORY OF A CONTEMPORARY PRODIGAL SON THAT I HAVE ALWAYS SHARED ON DIFFERENT PLATFORMS.
Many years ago a preacher shared with us the story of a harlot that GOD transformed totally and gave a home. She was a professional harlot that had some complications during her harlotry days. The doctors had to remove her womb to save her life. Then one day she met the LORD through the preaching of a child of GOD; it was an encounter that took her away from the streets into the hands of Christ.
She later joined a Church and said to herself, “I don’t deserve marriage or children after all I have done. I will serve the LORD unconditionally and die and never join those seeking him for marriage.” Truly, she kept to her word.
She did what the prodigal son did.
“Father I am no longer worthy to be called your Son. Make me one of your servants.”
She served for some time, and then a young man showed up asking her hand in marriage. She declined. Then another came, and she declined. Then they started disturbing her from all over. Then in a bid to be sending them away she will always tell them “I have no womb.”
But one day a certain young came; this one refused to give up even after she had told him she had no womb. The man maintained that God said to him she was his wife.
QUICKLY, HE WENT TO THE PASTOR DRAGGING THE LADY ALONG.
To cut the long story short, they had a wedding and after one month the lady took in. That was when the man started his own ‘trouble’ – good trouble of course.
He said to her, “So you lied to me that you have no womb just to put me away?” The lady was weeping uncontrollably. The man thought she was weeping because of his rebukes. But he never knew she was weeping because it was impossible for her to conceive. She would later show him all the medical papers that validated her claim of having no womb.
What do you think God did to this lady? He gave her what she lost to sin and wickedness when she repented and requested to be a servant instead of a son. He gave her what she lost because she never made it her reason for coming to the LORD!
Many Christians will rather ask God for what they lost and make it their reason for coming to Him. That is why they remain without having it. They will be placing a demand through prayer fasting, giving, and etc. for marriages, money, peace, prosperity, deliverance, healing, and etc. instead of making SERVICE the reason for their repentance, but not this woman or the prodigal son.
If you look at our devotional text this morning, you will realize that Israel was in Egypt for over 400 years and God raised Moses to bring them out. But His primary vision for bringing Israel out of Egypt was not JUST to free them from Pharaoh but for them to serve Him.
A major highlight in the text says,
“Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.”
What can we glean from here? Israel in Egypt represents mankind in slavery to sin and Satan. God saves us from the slavery of sin and Satan for us to “serve” Him, not for Him to “save” us whatever.
In fact, wherever you see God saving people, it’s for them to serve Him. That is why when we make our needs the primary focus in our walk and talk with God, we loose. But when we make service the primary focus, we gain. I believe the message of this devotional has been passed.
May God use these truths to give you an inheritance among they that are sanctified!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more.
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children,
To such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them.” Psalm 103:11-18 NKJV