TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 31ST MARCH 2022)
“ Then [the guiding angel] showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at Joshua’s right hand to be his adversary and to accuse him.
And the Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! Even the Lord, Who [now and habitually] chooses Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this [returned captive Joshua] a brand plucked out of the fire?
Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and was standing before the Angel [of the Lord].
And He spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And He said to [Joshua], Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel.
And I [Zechariah] said, Let them put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with [rich] garments. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.
And the Angel of the Lord [solemnly and earnestly] protested and affirmed to Joshua, saying,
Thus, says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge, then also you shall rule My house and have charge of My courts, and I will give you access [to My presence] and places to walk among these who stand here.” Zechariah 3:1-7 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 90TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
God has been so faithful to us. The wings of His favor and mercies has carried us smoothly and safely to this day.
We just completed the third month of the year peacefully and gloriously. To Him belong the glory!
Today is the last day of our 31-day with the Cry of the Spirit on Righteousness, Purity and Holiness. When you stand right with God in all things, you will maintain purity in your daily affairs. A people who maintain purity in their daily affairs, will end up living a life of holiness. That is how the three connect.
A lot have been shared, now it is time for implementation.
It is time to run with the word and use the truths learned to fight the good fight of faith and come up victoriously in our battle against sin, iniquity and trespass.
There is so much happening today in the battle field; the rise in sin, iniquity and trespass shows that many are not putting up a fight against this terrible access to eternal damnation. For many of us in the church circle, we think we can still be living a life of sin and make Heaven since we have recited the sinner’s prayer.
We do not see the necessity of putting up a fight against sin. We just submit to it as soon as it launches an attack against us. In fact, we do not even see its assault on us as an assault or attack, since it presents its pleasure to us on a platter.
We have become spiritual warriors who are been served great pleasure that contain damnable things, by the enemy, and it is costing us do much without us realizing it.
Our blindness and ignorant is not letting us see that we are in battle, and that any pleasure we get from sin is an assault on our eternal life, hence preventing us from putting up a fight. The Bible says;
“Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself [reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds.
You have not yet struggled and fought agonizingly against sin, nor have you yet resisted and withstood to the point of pouring out your [own] blood.” Hebrews 12:3-4 AMPC
THIS IS ONE OF THE MANY SCRIPTURES THAT WE SHOULD NOT TAKE OUR EYES AWAY FROM WHEN IT COMES TO SIN MATTERS.
This scripture is a call to battle in our quest for holy living. It tells us that we must fight and put up resistance against sin whenever it shows up.
Yes, it calls for agonizing struggle and fight against the spiritual menace. And for these 31 days the LORD God of Heaven and Earth, who commanded that we should “be holy for His is holy” has spoken to our hearts and armed us for this battle. We now have truths and swords of the Spirit to use. The Bible says;
“Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O mighty One, in Your glory and Your majesty!
And in Your majesty ride on triumphantly for the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); and let Your right hand guide You to tremendous things.” Psalm 45:3-4 AMPC
This is the time to gird the sword of truth that has been submitted to us during these 31 days upon our thigh.
To gird means to tighten. When a warrior tightens the sword upon his thigh, he is ready for battle. In other words, he has been set in battle array waiting to launch out anytime the enemy shows up. He is not ready to drop the sword on the floor or keep it in a closet because it is battle time.
In the same way, we are not to drop these truths in a shelve or on the floor of spiritual inactivity.
The things we have learned these 31 days have set those who are serious with the LORD in battle array against sin. When carnal desires begin to spring and sin begin to knock at the door, they will reach out to the sword of truth fastened to the thigh of their spirits and pull it out for a fight.
The Bible made it clear that the fight could be agonizing or excruciating emotionally, but if we do not submit to the sin pleasure, if we will fight, our right hand will be guiding us into tremendous things of GOD’s kingdom; we will begin to experience the tremendous moves of the holy GOD.
TO THE PURE HE WILL BEGIN TO SHOW HIMSELF PURE! HALLELUJAH!!
You see, salvation is a call unto a life of righteousness, purity and holiness. Genuine salvation is a special vow made to the LORD; a vow to live His life of righteousness on earth and reject our lives of sin and wickedness. It is a vow like that of the consecration of the Nazarites in the days of the Bible.
In the vow of the Nazarite, men separated themselves unto the LORD. They consecrated an offering to separate themselves unto the LORD. In the light of the New Testament, we can say they consecrated their hearts as an offering unto the LORD, consequently, separating themselves unto the LORD.
Here is it in the Bible;
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When either a man or woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,
he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins.
All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.
‘All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.
All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body.
He shall not make himself unclean even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the LORD.” Numbers 6:1-8 NKJV
THIS SCRIPTURE CONTAINS WHAT BIBLE SCHOLARS CALL THE VOW OF THE NAZARITE.
The things that were practiced here literally will manifest as templates of spiritual realities in the life of the born-again Child of God of today. In other words, they will be seen as a life of holiness. That is why the vow of the Nazarite is one of the walks and talks with God in the Old Testament that foreshadowed how the life of a born-again child of God should be.
For instance, the aspect of touching the dead is no longer literal as it was in their days. Today It simply means touching things that will not minister the life of GOD to us, like pornography, masturbation, telling lies, keeping company with people who are unsaved, listening to things that will not minister grace to us, and etc. A born-again child of GOD will do none of that.
Yes, a born again child of God will not do it for anyone or for any reason, because it will tantamount to the Nazarite making himself unclean for anyone or for any reason; for father, mother, brother or sister. Also, he or she will not yield to strange cravings as depicted in the kind of drink he should not take and etc.
If you read the books of the Old Testament in the eyes of the new, you will realize that what genuine salvation should look like is concealed in this ancient practice of the vow of the Nazarite.
Simply put, the practice tells us that there will be Holiness or consecrated living in our salvation if we are truly saved. And that alone will protect us from our enemies because it will become a breastplate of righteousness that protects.
The life and times of the Nazarite Samson comes to mind here; It tells us that if our salvation lack holiness and consecration as depicted in the vow of the Nazarite, our enemies will always have the upper hand. That is why many believers are in need of deliverance.
Concerning Samson, the Bible says;
“Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.” Judges 16:21 NKJV
This tragic event that happened to Samson should always be a warning to us; a warning of what might happen to any of us if our salvation is not genuine; if our Christianity lacks consecration!
A CHRISTIANITY WITH CONSECRATION HAS BEEN THE VISION OF THIS 31-DAY JOURNEY!
The reason for the many deliverance cases among us today is a Christianity that is mixed with sin, iniquity and trespass.
Let it be clear to us that if there is no consecration to our version of Christianity, like there was in the Christianity of the early church, which had no masturbation, no fornication, no adultery or any other form of sexual impurity, no lying without instant judgment, no deception, no greed, no hate, no unforgiveness, no bitterness, and etc. in it, we will be having unending defeat in every battle with the enemy!
You may have started this journey with filthy garments, I believe God has given you clean garments. He has given you rich robes in the spirit realm. Our devotional text says,
“ Then [the guiding angel] showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at Joshua’s right hand to be his adversary and to accuse him.
And the Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! Even the Lord, Who [now and habitually] chooses Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this [returned captive Joshua] a brand plucked out of the fire?
Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and was standing before the Angel [of the Lord].
And He spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And He said to [Joshua], Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel.
And I [Zechariah] said, Let them put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with [rich] garments. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.
And the Angel of the Lord [solemnly and earnestly] protested and affirmed to Joshua, saying,
Thus, says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge, then also you shall rule My house and have charge of My courts, and I will give you access [to My presence] and places to walk among these who stand here.” Zechariah 3:1-7 AMPC
WE ARE LIKE JOSHUA THE HIGH PRIEST IN THIS PROPHETIC STORY.
At the start of this journey, the enemy had so many things in our lives that He was using to hinder our progress; we had filthy garments here and there that were hindering our advance in life. The Bible says “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and was standing before the Angel [of the Lord].”
We had this sin and that iniquity and that trespass that was like filthy garments on our lives. Then the LORD began to wash and to clean us with the word of truth as we began the journey. Each day had its own kind of washing and cleansing and after 31 days, and 31 kinds of washing and cleansing, here we are.
For those who took the journey seriously, what happened to Joshua in this scripture has happened to them. The Bible says,
“Let them put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with [rich] garments. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.”
I believe a clean turban and rich garments have been commanded into our lives through the truths we have encountered. And God is saying to us today
“If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge, then also you shall rule My house and have charge of My courts, and I will give you access [to My presence] and places to walk among these who stand here.”
We should take these prophetic words very personal. We should Integrate them into our hearts and let them rule our lives. Prophetic words that comes as spirit and life like these ones can shape our future gloriously. They can give us light and understanding into God’s immediate present will for our lives.
They can also reveal to us the kind of victory the LORD has given us and help us to lay hold of it.
So, I admonish us to say like Mary said, “be it unto me according to your words” by believing in them, praying with them, and dedicating our hearts to them, and it shall be unto us according to the content of the word.
It is my prayer that there be greater access to God’s presence in our walk and talk with God after today. That the life of a Nazarite depicted in the lives of our fathers in the early Church like Paul, will become the hallmark of our salvation. That consecrated living will never be removed from our Christian life in Jesus precious name! Amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR TODAY
Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Selah
Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, he LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah Psalm 24:3-10 NKJV