TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 29TH MARCH 2022)
“ Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you on their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. 1 Peter 4:12-16 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 88TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
It has indeed been His amazing grace provoking amazing acts in our lives. It has been running our lives like oil in the engine of a car.
To Him belong the glory in Jesus precious name.
When God spoke to us about His amazing grace, He indeed told us that unpleasant things are going to happen as well. We quickly understood that there will be battles with thorns in the flesh, that will require His amazing grace to deal with.
Yes, there will be messengers of Satan under our noses that his amazing grace will help us neutralize by exposing and expelling them. There will be stealth enemy operations that His grace will help us to overcome.
There will be close quarter battles with messengers of Satan, who have been sent to hinder us, because of the abundance of revelation committed to our hands to make known to our generation. The prophetic blessings God releases to a people, is always an indication of the kind of enemies they will face.
Our apostolic father, Paul, said;
“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NKJV
LET ME SHARE THIS WITH YOU!
It is easier to carry just the anointing than to carry the anointing of the Holy Ghost and abundance of revelations for your generation. The anointing may attract warfare to you, but the abundance of revelation you carry will attract more warfare to you. That was why Paul suffered more than the rest of the apostles.
For instance, where they never bothered Peter and the rest, the messengers of Satan could not let Paul rest. The man Paul is a message to us that any minister or ministry that God commits abundance of revelation to bring to a sick church, and a dying world, will have messengers of Satan planted in very close quarters to buffet them.
To buffet means to batter, to bang, to hit with malice, jealousy, envy, or hate. To buffet also means to blow with the hand or strike with a telling force until pain is inflicted and someone is stopped.
It also means to strike repeatedly, and we have been stricken repeatedly by the enemy; doing the same things but using different people in and outside the church we pastor, and in different times. But from the life of Paul, it’s clear that the only way of survival is to Cry unto God.
Yes, there are men and women of our age with rare apostolic truths for this generation; I mean the needed gospel. The Paul’s of the end time. The major attacks they will face will come from close quarters messengers of Satan planted in their lives, offices, marriages and etc. to buffet them.
Like earlier stated, the survival kits remain the same, bowing the knee to call upon the LORD!
From the life of Paul, it is clear that when we are buffeted, we should learn to cry unto God for more grace to keep running with the word until it prevails against darkness.
Yes, we should ask for grace to overcome and keep running with the torch light of truth, opening all blind eyes, turning them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that everyone may receive an inheritance among they that are sanctified.
THAT IS THE APOSTOLIC MANDATE HANGING ON EVERY GENERATION ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH.
Whenever we cry unto the LORD under the attack of the messengers of Satan, God’s response will always be to release more grace from His throne room to us! When His amazing grace is released, it will make the strength of the LORD perfect in our times and seasons of weakness.
It is important to note that the reason for our close quarters battles with the messengers of Satan, is to hinder the needed exaltation and stop the increase of the needed capacity to reach more people with the word. When spiritual capacity or exaltation increases, your coverage area grows, and you reach more people with the word. But when it is hindered successfully by a messenger of Satan, it will reduce your reach and hinder souls from coming to the knowledge of the LORD.
It is important to note that the attention of GOD on earth is still on the lost who are perishing both in the Church and in the world. God wants all the lost souls in a dying world and the sick church to be reached with living truths. He wants us all transformed and made Holy.
Now, if you say there are no lost souls in the Church, you are blind. Even among us preachers, there are lost souls.
Yes, there are sons of Eli who are gifted in sleeping with Church members heading to hell. There are sons of Aaron who are good at offering strange fires to the LORD heading to hell. There are those God has cursed for doing His work deceitfully who are heading to hell.
There are those who are prophesying in His name, doing miracle in His name, and casting out demons in His name heading to hell. They call Him “LORD, LORD” but do not know them.
In fact, in certain circles, there are more pastors going to hell than Church members. We hear a lot of things happening in large denominations that just keeps the heart filled with sorrows.
THERE ARE A LOT OF US WHO CALL HIM, “LORD, LORD” BUT DO NOT DO WHAT HE SAYS.
We are saved with our mouths but lost in our hearts; heading to the same eternal destination with the lost world.
I know someone will says “Judge not” quoting Matthew 7:1-5 but they will forget to quote what the later part of the same chapter said.
The blindness in their hearts and biblical illiteracy is not letting them know that as a part of the body of Christ, we are not judging anyone outside the body, we are judging ourselves. In other words, if you are part of the body and speak of the evil that is happening in the body, with the aim of making sure it stops, the body is judging itself, and the Bible says “if we do not judge ourselves, we shall be judged.”
So, in His mercies, God will use some He has washed and presented holy to Himself in the Church, to judge those in the church who are resisting Him, so that all will escape judgment if they listen. That is the secret, because the later part of that chapter said;
“Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:20-23 NKJV
The current emphasis of the Spirit for so many is salvation with sanctification, and for very few, sanctification with transfiguration. You may not understand these mysteries but they are truths that should be on the tip of the fingers of every child of God.
You see, in God’s redemptive plan, there is a Prophetic plan of progression that says, “in the outer court we are saved, in the holy place we are sanctified, in the most holy place we are transfigure or glorified.” In other words, in the outer court there is salvation, in the holy place there is salvation with sanctification and in the most holy place there is sanctification with transfiguration. And the true Church is in the holy place not the outer court.
SO MANY TODAY, NEED SALVATION WITH SANCTIFICATION BECAUSE THEY ARE IN THE OUTER COURT.
Salvation with sanctification is only possible through the ministries of holy apostles with a prophetic teaching grace. The vision of our 31-day journey is to bring us to the place of Salvation with Sanctification.
Yesterday we looked at the mystery of sanctification through the baptism of fire.
We shared that when we go through fire, we come to the rich fulfilment of consecrated living. However, it is not everyone who has ever gone through fire baptism that has come out with a consecrated living. Some even left the LORD and went back to Egypt like the Israelites who attempted to do so during the Baptism of fire GOD was passing them through in the wilderness.
Maybe Let me share this, because it will help you.
When Israel crossed the Reed Sea, they experienced water baptism; which was a good bye to Egypt. That was why Pharaoh and his chariot perished in the sea and got cut off from them completely when Moses stretch out the rod.
The message there is, Egypt will not be able to follow and hinder us from getting to the promise land, if we know how to stretch the rod of truth to the threat of a sinful life from Egypt. So, figuratively, at the crossing of the Reed Sea (not Red Sea), Israel experienced water baptism, but at the foot of mount Sinai they experienced Holy Ghost Baptism.
Then God’s final plan was for them to experience Fire Baptism in the wilderness. But most of them could not stand the fire part of the Baptism. Hence perishing in the wilderness.
Their story tells us that there is a fire part of our faith that we must endure. Paul Calls it hardness.
THAT PART TELLS US THAT THE BAPTISM OF FIRE IS NECESSARY FOR OUR EDIFICATION.
It brings forth from us, dimensions of faith that would have not come out of us if we had not spent those spiritual seasons of our Christian life in the furnace. So, when GOD allow fiery trials to come your way, do not count it strange.
The Bible says we should “count it all Joy” because it is working out for our good, and building our lives to become temples for GOD in the Spirit, especially, if we are planted in atmospheres of Grace and Truth.
Our devotional text says;
“ Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you on their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.” 1 Peter 4:12-16 NKJV
There is suffering as a true Christian and there is suffering as a false Christian. This scripture is clear about that. The Baptism of fire is not a retribution but a tribulation.
As we bring this to a close, it is important to address the issue of certain Christians who look like serious minded believers whose tribulation is not coming to an end.
You see, Fire Baptism is suffering or being reproached for the name of Christ. It is suffering because you are an uncompromising Christian by GOD’s standards not by your standards. It is not suffering because you are a murderer, hateful person, a wicked fellow, a stingy soul, a jealous or an envious one.
The baptism of fire is not suffering because you are a thief, an evildoer, busybody and etc. If we get a Baptism of fire from any of these vices, or impure state of life, it will be retribution and not tribulation and will consume us if we do not repent.
The truth is, if your tribulations as a Christian are not coming to an end, then you are going through retribution not tribulation. Stop going about fanning the sentiments of people with your stories of being persecuted. Repent of your evil heart and let God bless you; because even the real tribulation period that is coming after the rapture, will last only for seven years. So, yours should not last forever.
The Bible says God will shorten the days so that the elects will not be consumed. If therefore, the days of your own tribulation have remained long, you are going through retribution, not tribulation. Repent!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted.
Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.
He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” Psalm 107:17-20 NKJV