TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 14TH March 2022)
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn nor weep.” For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.
Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:9-10 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 73RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE.
The steadfastness of our LORD never ceases. His faithfulness is from age to age. His mercies are everlasting. You miss a lot not serving this gracious GOD. He knows how to sustain us in sorrow and how to keep us useful in His hands.
I thank Him this morning for waking us up and enabling me to be able to pen these thoughts on consecrated living this morning, I never thought I will be able to do this after what happened.
These are not mere members, but Old stock that you thought will carry this message to the ends of the earth when time comes. I think God has a way of letting us have fragments of what Jesus went through with people so that we can appreciate the cost of our salvation.
We are on a 31-day journey with the Cry of the Spirit on Righteousness, Purity, and Holiness. Our God has been faithful imparting us with light and understanding. We have been looking at the salvation of the soul.
The salvation of the soul involves the sanctification of the five faculties of the soul. We have seen three of the five (the Imagination, the memory and the intelligence). Today we will be looking at the fourth, the emotions.
The first unit of the soul that comes alive when we give our lives to Christ is our emotions. The Bible calls the phenomenon, “the joy of salvation.”
The joy of salvation is a major gift we receive at salvation and it is responsible for all we do with joy in the kingdom. It takes care of our sad moments and helps us to pray, fast or give with joy instead of grieve. It is responsible for joyfully singing before the LORD, cheerfully giving to the LORD, and having a peace that passes understanding in crisis times.
THE JOY OF SALVATION IS THE STATE OUR EMOTIONS COME INTO WHEN WE ARE PURE, HOLY AND IN RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD.
It is a major manifestation of the sanctification of our spirits, and purity of our souls. For the saved and sanctified, that is the part of us that tells us if we are in good standing with GOD or not. If we are, it will be filled with joy unspeakable; especially when the presence of GOD rests on us or is stirred around us. It is the first part of us that reacts to the manifest presence of the LORD.
The unit of the soul called emotions is the realm of feelings. If the unit is holy and sanctified, it helps us sense the Heavenly and distinguish it from the demonic. The Heavenly usually feels glorious and peaceful, but the demonic, carnal or satanic, feels oppressive and irritative.
This is the part of the soul that works with our sanctified spirits to help us walk in the sensitivity of the spirit if sanctified and holy. In its sanctified states, it controls all we feel and sense when we study the word. It controls what we feel and sense when in fellowship with other brethren. It is like the thermometer of atmospheres.
In its sanctified state, it helps us feel what the Holy Spirit feels about us.
You know, it is impossible to please a GOD you do not see with your natural eyes. He is not visible but we are visible. So, to relate with such glorious being, who inhabits eternity while we are in time will require our regenerated human spirits working in consonant with the sanctified units of the soul like the emotions.
It is very important that we acknowledge the role of this unit of the soul in pour walk and talk with God. A man or woman without emotions will never fear God and walk with Him. Beautifully there is no one without emotions. We just express them differently, especially when in God’s manifest presence.
When we cry, when we shout, when we sing, when we jump, when we laugh, or rejoice in God’s presence, it is this unit of the soul, the emotion, in its sanctified state, that is charge. Everything manifests as the joy of the LORD.
You can now understand how the joy of the LORD functions as our strength according to our devotional text for the day. It functions as the strength of our prayer life, fasting life, giving life and the totality of our worship life. It is indeed the strength of the soul to relate with the regenerated spirit as the regenerated spirit fellowship or walk with GOD.
THERE CAN BE NO FRUITFUL WALK WITH THE LORD WITHOUT IT.
It may interest you to know that there are commands in scriptures that can not obeyed without this unit of the soul being in its sanctified form. For instance, the Bible says;
“See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” 1 Thessalonians 5:15-22 NKJV
If our emotions are not in order, we cannot do any of the things commanded or admonished in this scripture. That is why the enemy tries to fill that part of our souls with what will not let it be what God created it to be. He will fill us with sorrow of heart, and emotional pains through disappointment, betrayals and all he can muster against us.
God know that if this unit of the soul (the emotion) is wounded and not sustained immediately by the word of that LORD absorbed previously, we will break the rule of love and begin to render evil for evil. It is impossible to walk in love if our emotions are not sanctified. Clearly, we will not be able to rejoice always, give thanks to God in everything, or keep the Spirit aflame as commanded by the LORD, when things are not pleasant.
We must recognize that some of the greatest battles against our souls will be launched to keep us down emotionally, like am feeling this morning. Then put up a fight of faith to get the unit of the soul sanctified by the word of God and prayer so that it will go back to its supper state of helping us serve the LORD with joy.
It is important to note that a consecrated life involves serving the LORD with love, joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. It involves walking in mercy and forgiving those who err, no matter the deed, but also talking precautionary measures so that their wickedness does not cause more harm. It involves expelling what or who causes defilement around you or yours.
YES, THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE GREAT IN DEFILING THIS UNIT OF THE SOUL.
The Bible says they shoot arrows of bitterness and cause people to become sad and put them in sorrow. Satan has a lot of people he uses in attacking this unit of the soul. We must watch against them and make sure we surround ourselves with people who can create the joy of the LORD around us.
There are times also that it is not the what people do to us that make us sad and sorrowful but what they do to God, His servant, His work, and His Spirit on the face of the earth. There are things that indeed make the heart of the righteous sad. They strike this unit of the soul with righteous sadness and godly sorrow. That was the state that a generation that lived in Bible times found itself, which bring us to our devotional text.
It says;
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn nor weep.” For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.
Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:9-10 NKJV
This was a unique generation of Old Testament saints. The wept when they heard the word of the LORD read because they saw how far they had fallen from His ways and understood the consequences.
Genuine Christians will weep and sorrow, when they see people desecrating the ways of the LORD, teaching the wrong things, promoting false preachers, establishing churches that are bound to function as gates of hell, harming God’s holy apostle and prophets, wounding the spirits of just men, and persecuting God’s holy people on the face of the earth, and etc.
THEY WILL DISPLAY RIGHTEOUS EMOTIONS AND GODLY SORROWS.
This is the kind of emotional display (the sadness and sorrow of a righteous heart Heart) that make one rise with zeal to defend the purposes of the LORD and make sure they do not die. We need this kind of sorrow of heart and spiritual grieve now more than ever. Because it is always the seed for revival and reformation.
All these tells us the power of this unit of the soul (the emotion) when sanctified. It can be a catalyst of revival fire and all that can bring the Church back to its feet.
Now, apart from what those men did that day (beautiful display of emotions that holds the truth of the power of righteous and sanctified emotions), there is also something that Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites who were there that day said. The Bible says they said;
“This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn nor weep.”… Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
This is heavy. We cannot download it on this platform. It tells us how to hand the sorrow of heart, even it is a righteous sorrow. We should direct it towards productive activities of the kingdom.
Like the LORD said to me this morning. He said, “keep running with the word do not stop….” That was when I was tempted not to write this devotional, but just sleep and forget about ministry for a while. It is not the money that was lost that caused me the pain, but the person who was involved in the whole scamming saga.
I was wondering what kind of a soul she has and why? It filled me with Sadness. But the LORD sent that word urging me to wake up and keep running and not allow any to slow me down.
Thank God for His grace, at least we have something to feed on today.
The message of today is clear. There can be no fruitful walk with the LORD without sanctified and godly emotions. I will like to call them, “Holy Spirit and Holy Word enabled” emotions. We must learn to channel our energy towards productive activities of the kingdom of GOD whenever we are down emotionally. That is how to maintain a life of consecration in our walk and talk with God.
We must not allow the stirring of our emotions to lead us to sin, iniquity or trespass.
We will pick up from here tomorrow.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore, my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.
The LORD is their strength, and He is the saving refuge of His anointed. Save Your people, and bless Your inheritance; Shepherd them also, and bear them up forever. Psalm 28:7-9 NKJV