TODAY’S DEVOTION (Thursday 6TH January 2022)
“One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” Psalm 27:4 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 6TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
We give God the praise for giving us another day. Indeed, this is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. Already, we have spent over 5 days: that is over 130 of the over 8000 hours designated for this year.
I want to reiterate again that the pattern and faithfulness of God that we have already seen will remain till the end of the year. We believe the God of the Bible will be with us as we walk with Him through the truths that are being uncovered to us by His Holy Spirit.
Talking about the Bible, there are certain verses and books of Psalms in it that are worth preaching or teaching every now and then. Psalm 27:4 is one of them. Part of my apostolic mandate is to get people established in the most Holy place, where the glory of the LORD can be beheld, that is why, if you notice, this Psalm has been featuring prominently in what we teach, write or pray.
One of the levels of Information humans need in their souls is the revelation of who God is. It is a critical information that mankind needs because that was what filled the human soul before the fall of man.
Your life will take a new turn if you allow your soul to be filled with the revelation of who He is. When we experience the power of His greatness, we will realize that it is simply beyond human comprehension. Creation itself speaks of how unsearchable His greatness is.
The endless Oceans and galaxies and all that man is calling the 7 wonders of the world speaks of His wonders. It is from the fountain of His greatness that the greater things prophecy that came to us in 2018 and every other one that has come, sprang from.
PERSONALLY, MY FAITH IN GOD’S WORD IS USUALLY ANCHORED ON THE REVELATION OF HIS GREATNESS.
I have come to realize that, the great God does not do small things. All that is required from us is faith in His capabilities. He does great things and greater things; making the paths of the uncompromising righteous to shine brighter and brighter unto a perfect day!
When you see a small people becoming great, know that they are experiencing the power of the great God; they are riding on the wings of His greatness. He said in Isaiah 60:22
“A little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation, I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.”
No small people remain small when they depend or ride on the wings of God’s greatness.
That reminds me of the story of a small David and a big giant
The Bible made it clear that whenever God want to demonstrate His greatness, He does it by not using great people. He does it by using small people. If He use great people no one will see His greatness. He will always use small people so that all will see how great He is. That was the story of David!
For 40 days a giant stood over a national army boasting and throwing out challenges at them. None could raise their heads against him. None could depend on a great God to confront him.
The entire armies of Israel shrank in fear and receded into their shells. Even the king could not depend on the anointing of God upon his life and take the risk. But one day a little 17-year-old came to the scene and changed everything.
He came to give food and supplies to his brother but met an opportunity to reveal the Greatness of the God of Israel. The rest, as they say is History. What is the revelation here? The revelation is simple. Whenever a big devil faces a small people, it is for God’s greatness to be revealed.
That is why we must remain strong in faith irrespective of what may have come against us! We must not treat opportunities God allows to come our ways for His greatness to be revealed as our death sentences.
When big things come against small people, they should not shrink in fear or run away. God allows big things to face His small people so that His greatness can be revealed through them. Hallelujah!
When God says it’s a year of Amazing Grace, He is also saying it’s a year of facing amazing things that will require His grace to some through for us.
THIS IS NOT TO SCARE YOU BUT TO PREPARE YOU!
Yes, we faced great giants in 2021 but saw God’s greatness beating them into small pieces. This year will not be different. Yes, the devils will be greater, but our God, who is greatest than them all will be there to saved; eventually, the world and the people around us will Him revealing His greatness through whatever may happen during the year!
You may be the smallest in your family and serving the LORD. You may be the smallest in your office, your city or business place and serving the LORD. There may be big devils and giants around, roaring at you and threatening fire and brim stone. Please do not panic. You are serving a great God.
The great God usually use small people to reveal His greatness to men. So, stand strong! He will reveal His greatness in your life. The requirement is to stand strong at all season of the year, no matter what you may face.
At this point, permit me to share with you a key to standing strong in the face of big devils and giants of life. To start with, let’s look at why Israel ran away from the giant, and why David stood.
Our devotional text today revealed a part of David that the army of Israel and Saul never had. David had an intimacy with God; he was deeply intimate with Him, but King Saul and the rest of Israel were not.
David was a small man who spent His hours communing with a great God.
No small man commune with a great God and remain small. He will stand before great devils and unlock the greatness of God one day and change His story forever like David did. Generations will still come to read about him like we do about David today.
David’s passion for the presence of God is written all over the book of Psalms.
A major highlight in our devotional text says;
“One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.”
IF WE WILL SEE THE GREATNESS OF GOD MANIFESTING THROUGH US THIS YEAR, WE MUST BE DEEPLY INTIMATE WITH GOD.
If you are small in life, don’t complicate your problems by being far from God. Like we saw earlier, we will face greater giants this year but we have the GREAT GOD by our side. We must learn the principles of intimacy so that when what will come comes, it will leave no impact in our lives; in fact, we will not even know it came.
It may interest you to know that even Israel had God by their side; but they could not stand before the giant because they were not intimate with the GOD who was by their side. If God is by your side, and you refuse to be intimate with Him, you will not see His power and glory in the day of battle. You will do exactly what Saul and Israel did!
If God is by your side and you are not intimate with Him, you will never see Him rise against the enemy when he comes against you. That is why many Christians suffer defeat in spite of God being by their side.
In dreams and visions, they will see Him by their side. Through prophets and the Holy Spirit in their lives they will know He is by their side. But they do not celebrate victories when the enemy comes.
You cannot just depend on the revelation of God being by your side without being intimate with Him. If you depend just on that revelation without being intimate with Hi, you will lack divine intervention in your day of adversity; you will lack the strength to stand before giants and watch Him slay them before you.
Israel ran because they were not intimate. David stood because He was intimate. God is calling us to deep intimacy with Jesus Christ; because if we are not intimate carnality will hinder God’s greatness from breaking through us to slay the big devils confronting us.
The state of so many in Church today is pathetic. They are dry and noisy in their Christianity. There is no power as of Old in the lives of many.
INSTEAD OF BEING FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST MOST ARE FILLED WITH THE INFLUENCES OF RELIGIOUS DEMONS.
People get, but cannot stay married because there is no power to keep them married. Big devils bring their marriages down because they are not intimate enough for the Great God to bring the devils down with their sling stones (prayers).
Outright spiritual darkness is what you see in the life of those who profess to be sons of light. Sin and all sorts of deceitful living and sexual perversion now reigns from the pulpit to the pew. There is no power to live the Holy Life we are all called into. Big devils in charge of sin, iniquity and trespass defeat us easily because we are not intimate enough to see God do great things through us and neutralize them.
Financially, many are struggling despite tithing and sowing seeds.
The pastors who receive the money get richer and those who gave the money get poorer. There is no power to prosper the givers any longer. We see exploitation of the saints instead of equipping of the saints by almost every one of the fivefold ministry gifts. This is sad!
Physiologically, you see Christians move from illness to illness because there is no balm in Gilead again any longer.
The word “Gilead” means worship, and the word “Balm” means Healing. Our worship no longer generates Healing for the sick. It only generates “goose bumps” and noise. And make those who lead in songs more sexy than spiritual.
Consequently, many get sick and die prematurely and we foolishly explain our powerlessness away with the old funeral sermon that says
“the LORD gives and the LORD takes back, blessed be the name of the LORD”
making God look wicked in the eyes of those stricken with the grief of the loss of their loved one.
Friend, this is a new year! All these must stop.
Enough of the nonsense we call Christianity. The time to get deep with God is now. If we do not obey the call, we will always be answering the calls of our enemies. The spirits of hell, death, and grave will not cease being our companion.
A generation that will possess the gates of their enemies must not be carrying bottles of oil about. It must be deep in their walk with God.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDIATION FOR THE DAY
“And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
“Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—
blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.” Genesis 22:14-17 NKJV