TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 21ST February 2022)
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and whose spirit there is no deceit.
When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You In a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters They shall not come near him. You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah Psalm 32:1-7 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 52nd DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
It’s going to be a beautiful week for all of us by God’s amazing grace. No weapon formed against us shall prosper. The LORD will be with us as a mighty terrible one, and will answer all our enemies in His own ways, in Jesus precious name. Amen!
We want to appreciate the LORD for His mercies in our lives. It is indeed out of His compassion that we are not consumed. He has been a Father to us and a great GOD. Daily He has been loading us with benefits, and sharing great truths with us, using a human vessel.
As Our LORD and savior Jesus Christ said, “Men always ought to pray and not to faint.” Paul would later buttress it by saying we should be engaged in all kinds of prayers, and intercede for the saints also. Indeed, what breathing is to the Lungs is what prayer is to our spirit. We are as powerful as the time we spend in prayer.
The Bible says;
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:10-11 NKJV
We can’t be strong in the LORD without being strong on our prayer knee. It is those who are strong in prayer that will be strong in the LORD. It all begins and ends on the prayer knee.
Effective prayer is spending time with the LORD. It is the quality of time we spend with the LORD that determines how strong we will be in the LORD, especially to the point of putting on the whole armor of God and being able to stand against the wiles or schemes of the evil one.
These are days of intensive warfare. The prayer knee will be one of the sources of strength for all of us this season. The difference between those who will stand and those who will not will be on how each person treats their prayer lives. These are not days of surviving on another person’s faith or prayer life, as Child of God. These are days of surviving on your faith and your personal prayer life.
Another person’s faith may boost your faith and another person’s prayer life may help build yours but you cannot survive on another person’s prayer life or faith. You need to build yours!
OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT TODAY IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PSALMS IN THE BIBLE THAT IS FULL OF REDEMPTIVE TRUTHS.
It began with blessed words that have made meaning from age to age. Words that tells us of the impact of what Jesus did on the cross for us all. Yes, words that shows us what happens when we repent of our sins and turn to the LORD for mercy and forgiveness. It says;
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and whose spirit there is no deceit.” Psalm 32:1-2
From these words, we can see that when we repent of our sins, they will be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, and Satan will not be able to use them against us. In fact, we will be forgiven for ever. We can see the power of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and the blood that was shed for us; the forgiveness of transgressions and the covering of our sins.
We can also see the power of the finished works of the cross and how it made it impossible for us to have our iniquity not imputed upon us, especially when Heaven sees our repentance. This is one piece of News that makes the gospel of our LORD and savior Jesus Christ the best information on the face of the earth.
The devotional text also spoke of the consequences of covering (or not acknowledging) our sins and the blessing of acknowledging or confessing them. It made it clear that our vitality can be consumed and health badly affected if we do not handle the sin question properly; when we do nothing about the sins, trespass or iniquity in our lives, when we hide them from, instead of confess them to the right ear. It says;
“When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer…. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah”
THIS SCRIPTURE ESTABLISHED THE CENTRAL TRUTH THAT GOVERNS GOD’S MERCIES.
It made it clear that forgiveness is predicated upon our repentance, confession and forsaking of our sins. In other words, God forgives sins, iniquities or trespasses, when man confesses and forsakes them, not when we continue in rebellion, hoping nothing bad happens.
The text is also full of other things that happens in the life of the godly, so long as the prayer realm is concern. A major highlight of it says;
“For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You In a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters They shall not come near him.
You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.” Selah Psalm 32:6-7 NKJV
The Bible did not say, “for this cause everyone shall pray to you on another person’s behalf” or “for this cause everyone shall survive on another person’s prayer.” It says for this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to you. Meaning, everyone shall approach Him individually and survive on their personal prayer lives. That is how we will all make Him our hiding place.
God hides only those who walk in purity and truth, and have a personal prayer life. He hides godly people who know how to approach Him individually. He only hides godly people with healthy prayer lives.
I want to reiterate again that these are days of surviving the more on your personal faith and prayer life not that of another. If you do not have a healthy and effective personal prayer life, you will have a terrible hard life, because there can be no middle ground. This may be sad news for those with no prayer lives.
Yes, it could be sad news to those who depend on others for prayers. But truth must be told not matter how it hurts. If you do not have a prayer life these end times, you are in trouble; you will not be able to experience God as your hiding place in the days when the great waters of the troubles of life come near you.
TODAY IS THE 21ST DAY SINCE GOD HAVE BEEN SPEAKING TO US ABOUT PRAYER.
The essence is to help us build a healthy prayer life. Everyone who is godly must have found truths to use as building blocks for a strong, effective and healthy prayer life so far.
Lately, we have been looking at people Jesus said we should not be like when we come into the prayer realm. He said we should not be like the hypocrites or the heathen or idol worshiper.
One major truth we glean from these prayer warnings from the LORD is the truth that makes it clear that prayer is not a monopoly of the Church, or those who are in Christ. All religions of the world pray. In fact, there is more prayer going on in the temples of false gods than in the temple of the almighty God in most places and nations of the earth.
That tells how people tap into different spirits and realms of darkness on their prayer knees thinking the are tapping into the realm of God. We have said on this platform that it is dangerous to venture into the prayer realm if we do not have the word, Spirit or dealing of the true God in our hearts.
Prayer is an intricate spiritual phenomenon that requires a heart that is filled with the knowledge of the one and only true God to remain in the prayer realm of the one and only true God. People who do not consider the ways of GOD before venturing into prayer matters will come into the prayer realm of hypocrites of idol worshipers, realms that many believers live and thrive in today.
One major thing that is common in the prayer realm of Idol worshipers is the use of mediums in prayer. They will use water, salt, oil, pieces of clothes, calved images, coins, necklaces, rings, perfumes, incense, prayer wheels, amulets, slain animals, blood, ritual monies, magic rods, written words to be repeated over and over and etc. to pray. Their idea is to summon the supernatural to intervene in the natural.
There is no difference between these prayer practices and what we see in Church today. That is why we have many unclean spirits that parades themselves as Holy Spirit working in the lives of spiritual men and women. If you will cultivate and maintain a prayer life within the realm of the one and only true God, you must follow what Jesus said; you must not be like the Heathen or the hypocrites.
The Bible forbids us from interacting with people who use mediums in the release of prayer or prophecy. This dispensation forbids it totally. God may have used some of these things before the Cross. Whatever was done then was a shadow for the New. We are not to repeat them, else we key into the Nehustan spirit revealed in 2 Kings.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the LORD of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion.
And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there[o] is no light in them.
They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and curse [p]their king and their God, and look upward.
Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness. Isaiah 8:18-22 NKJV