TODAY’S DEVOTION (Thursday 9th December 2021)
“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 343RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS.
Our devotion today will continue from where we stopped yesterday. Today we are going to look at how to get our spirits full of God, alive and fruitful so that we can reap the full blessings of the word of the LORD we hear.
What the womb of a woman is in the natural is what the spirit of man is in the spiritual. And what the seed of a man is in the natural is what the word of the LORD is in the spiritual. When a man’s seed is bad, he cannot get a woman pregnant. When a woman’s womb is unfruitful she cannot be pregnant.
In the same way if the word you hear from your pastor is bad it will not get your spirit pregnant with righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. And if your spirit is not fruitful, the word you hear from your pastor, no matter how sound, accurate, powerful, effective, or miracle producing it may be, cannot get you pregnant with the blessings it was intended to bring into your life.
It is therefore important that our spirits be fruitful and the word we hear be good or full of God, alive, and capable of getting our fruitful spirits pregnant with the blessing it was intended to bring into our lives. That brings us to a very important question!
How do we get our spirits full of God, alive and fruitful?
LET ME BEGIN WITH THE NATURAL. In the natural realm, Fruitfulness is something we are born with. Apart from genetic alteration that cause unfruitfulness in men and women sometimes, fruitfulness is a gift of nature. In other words, God designed that a man or woman be born fruitful.
Our devotional text explained it all. It says “and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply;”
GOD DID NOT SAY BE BARREN. HE SAID BE FRUITFUL. WE WERE ORIGINALLY DESIGNED TO BE BORN FRUITFUL.
However, some are barren. They are not barren because God created them to be barren; they are barren because genetic alteration, satanic hindrances, or what they did with themselves made them so. Bareness was never a plan of God for mankind. God designed that a man or woman be born fruitful.
The same word was spoken to all animals. I don’t know about you, but I have never seen a barren dog, goat, or fish. God created all living things to be fruitful and multiply.
Now, what is true of the natural is true of the spiritual. God designed that we are born again with a fruitful spirit. In other words, “salvation experience” is God’s way of getting our spirits alive and fruitful.
When we are born naturally our spirits are dead, unfruitful, and empty of God. But spiritual birth changes everything. It quickens our spirits, transmits life into it, and makes it unfruitful to the things of this world and fruitful in the things of God. Hallelujah!!
That is why when someone is genuinely saved; he will no longer be fruitful in the things of this world. If he was an active sinner, he will no longer be able to live that way any longer. If he were a night crawler, a drunk, a sexually pervert, a liar, a thief, a fraud, a greedy or covetous person, his encounter with Jesus will change everything.
Genuine salvation experience is the key to becoming fruitful in our spirit man; it is the key to developing the capacity to produce the life of God from the word we hear. It is the key to mixing the word with faith. It is the key to coming alive to the things of God and going dead to the things of this world. That is why it is dangerous to falsify your salvation.
Do not say you are born again when you cannot tell us an encounter you had with Jesus. Salvation is a fruit of divine encounter not religious confession. It makes your spirit alive to the things of God and dead to the things of this world.
IF YOU ARE RELIGIOUS BUT NOT SAVED, YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SHARING WITH YOU THIS MORNING.
You will never be able to mix the word with faith. Sadly, a lot of people in Church, even among preachers, have lost their salvation. They are just religious and very unsaved. They have a form of godliness but no moral excellence; full of religion and corruption all at the same time.
That brings me to why Christians are empty of God, dead in spirit, and unfruitful in the things of God. There are two basic reasons why this is so. The first is falsified salvation.
Many who claim born again are not really born again. They think being born again is joining a Church or making an empty confession. That is why they remain unfruitful in the things of God but fruitful in the things of this world. You find them living their lives the way the people of the world do.
Apart from being churchy wherever they find themselves, you cannot find any other godly virtue in them, especially when they come under pressure. You cannot find them walking in the Spirit. They all walk in the flesh! You cannot be walking in the flesh and expect things that only happens when we walk in the spirit to be happening in your life.
Being fruitful in spirit and alive to the things of God is a product of walking in the Spirit. You cannot have that when you walk in the flesh. The Bible says;
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:5-8 NKJV
WHEN YOU WALK IN THE FLESH, YOUR MIND IS SET ON THINGS OF THE FLESH.
The things of the flesh are things that are related to the compounded nature of evil within every fallen man. That sinful nature that we acquired from the devil when we all left the Garden in Adam.
They also involve the very things Jesus said spring from our sinful nature. For instance, the sins of the body such as fornication, uncleanness, and lasciviousness; sins of association with Satan and supernatural communications with him, such as idolatry and sorcery; sins of temper and the temperament, such as enmities, strife, jealousy, and outbursts of anger; sins of schisms or divisions, and envying; and sins of indulgence or intemperance, such as drunkenness and carousing; and many others we set our minds on and practice.
Setting our minds on things of the flesh is a sign that you are walking in the flesh and not the Spirit; you could be speaking in tongues, that does not matter. You will be carnally minded, producing death despite your spirituality, and leading a life that cannot please GOD.
You cannot be fruitful in the things of God walking in the flesh, or setting your mind on earthly things and leading a life that does not please God. Walking in the flesh, setting your minds on earthly things, or leading a life that does not please God is what happens when you are religious but unsaved. It is the first reason people are barren spiritually.
The second reason is lack of genuine commitment to God.
Those who genuinely got saved did not keep their spirits full of God, alive and fruitful by being committed to Holy living, corporate worship, personal devotion, and in-depth study of God’s word. Some committed for a while but threw it away; losing the substance they got when they first met Christ.
Paul wrote to the Church at Philippi saying “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” So many who get genuinely saved, did not follow it up with working it out. They got saved but refused to work it out, hence becoming empty of God, dead, and unfruitful in spiritual things.
If you fall into any of this category, there is hope for you!
What you need to do is this; revisit your salvation experience and check if you really met Christ. Then begin a fresh walk with Him on daily bases. Commit yourself to corporate worshiping in a spiritual life giving Church, Holy living through sound doctrine, and daily re enforcement of your relationship with GOD through personal devotion, and in-depth study of the word.
The early Church leaders led the Church to keep their spirits full of God, alive and fruitful in the things of God by committing themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. How long you spend with God and His word in personal prayer on daily bases will determine how full of God, alive, and fruitful you will be in the things of God.
People who have no private relationship with God will never have a life that is fruitful in the things of God. It will be impossible to be fruitful when you are not intimate with the LORD.
I believe the message of today have been passed. We all need the heritage of Joseph; He was fruitful in Egypt despite all odds. We can be fruitful as well. As you embrace this day, may these precious truths be your meditation in Jesus precious name. Amen
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; His branches run over the wall. Genesis 49:22 NKJV