TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 19th April 2022)
“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me”. Matthew 16:21-24 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 109TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
We bless the LORD for 109 days of sleeping and waking up. We bless Him for 109 of loading us daily with benefits. We bless Him for allowing our hearts to beat for 109 days, and still counting. He has been our God and immediate present help in times of trouble.
You cannot have GOD as your immediate present help in times of trouble and not live beyond the reach of your enemies. You cannot have Him as One to call to in the day of trouble and be consumed by the day of trouble. His Throne has been our refuge and place of divine settlement.
To Him be the Glory in Jesus precious name.
Talking about the Throne of God, it is important to note that God ‘s Throne has been the control station of His activities on the face of the earth, and that it controlled the life of Adam until he disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.
In putting the life of Adam under the control of His Throne God, God gave Him instructions to obey. We are instructed it is to either bring, keep or activate our lives under GOD’s Throne. God does that to establish things on earth as written or established in Heaven.
That was why when the Throne of GOD controlled Adam’s life, He had a crown on his head. He had the crown on his head because people who are controlled by God’s Throne are not ordinary. They are an extension of His royalty from Heaven to the earth. That was why when that crown fell through sin all that was lost. Jeremiah would later pick it and say;
“The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our heart is faint; Because of these things our eyes grow dim;” Lamentation 5:16-17 NKJV
A crown on one’s head is a symbol of kingdom authority. It is a seal of kingdom rule and reign. It can only be preserved through listening to the one who placed it on our heads. When Adam had it on His head, we all had it, so when he lost it, we all lost it until Christ came.
But the lessons on how it was lost are generational. We have to revisit one today as we look at the matters of doctrine.
It may interest you to know that the crown was lost through listening. That tells us that Crowns are either secured or lost through listening. In other words, who you listen to in life matters in life. It was because Adam listened to his wife, who had listened to the devil. He lost the crown and broke away from the control of God’s Throne and consequent power and blessing it bestowed upon him just because he listened. That is scary!
The small things we do not care about are responsible for the big things that happen to us.
LISTENING SEEMS A SMALL THING, BUT IT IS THE KEY TO EITHER GREATNESS OR SMALLNESS IN LIFE, DEPENDING ON WHO OR WHAT ONE IS LISTENING TO!
It is the key to either preservation or destruction. It is the key to either curses or blessings. It is the key to either eternal rest with Christ or eternal damnation in hell. It is the key to blissful living or accursed living. It is the key to the prosperity of the righteous or his poverty.
Whatever is happening in your life right now is happening because you listened to and followed something. Or because you have been listening to or following something. In other words, your heart has been following a leading you have been giving your ears to.
It is very important to understand that we are who we are because of what or who we have been listening to. Not because of the curses in our father’s houses, some altars somewhere, an evil pattern here or there, or anything whispered to your ears by certain deliverance gurus. You are what you are because of who or what you have been following and giving your life attention to.
For 18 days we have been looking at the Cry of the Holy Spirit on doctrine. God designed that our lives become better by listening to the doctrine of Christ.
Lately our focus has been on what the doctrine of Christ says on life, specifically spiritual life. It says we should be gods who worship the one and only true God, enjoying the best of Heaven on earth, and converting the kingdoms of this world into that of God and of His Christ. Anything short of that is not the spiritual life Heaven designed that you and I should live.
Now, our spiritual lives will never be what the doctrine of Christ teaches that it be except we check what or who we have been listening to, because the reason many of us in Church today are what we are is because of the wrong doctrines we have been listening to.
There are three things that every wrong doctrine will make us listen to. Those three things are responsible for all our foolish decisions and eventual destruction. The Bible says;
“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.” Psalm 107:17-18 NKJV
WHEN FOOLISH DECISIONS ARE MADE UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THOSE THREE THINGS, DESTRUCTION BECOMES INEVITABLE.
We will be living under the gates of death and remain drawn to it until that changes. It is therefore, very important that we identify those three things. Maybe it will help us improve our lives and eliminated destruction.
The first is the flesh. Man-made doctrines will make one listen to the flesh. Doctrines of devils will make the voice of the flesh sound like the voice of the LORD to you. Deceiving spirits will use scriptures to convince anyone to follow the voice of the flesh.
For instance, the desire of the flesh to have sex outside marital boundaries, or sleep with any man or woman who twinkles one’s sexual desires is being made possible today in Church by wrong doctrines. There are those who have stood on false teachings drawn from scriptures they twisted to engage in adultery and fornication.
A woman once told me that there was nothing wrong with sleeping with a married man because the Bible says seven women will lay hold on one man and say, “we want to go with you, only let us be called by your name.” Others have said there is nothing wrong with a woman approaching a man for sex and marriage because Ruth approached Boaz.
Sexual rascality in Church today is been Perpetuated by many of us who are hiding under wrong doctrines to satisfy the desires of our flesh.
Child of GOD, wrong doctrines will make you listen to the voice of the flesh without even thinking you are doing anything wrong. Many of us are where we are today because of the voice of the flesh that we have been listening to through the influence of wrong doctrines or deceiving spirits.
Some have married the wrong people because they never married with an intention to live with those people till death do them part, they went to them consumed with the intention for sexual gratification when they entered into marriages with them. That is how many people who are ready to live with others till death do them part married those who are not ready for that.
Having satisfied their sexual desires, or disappointed that the people are not good in bed, they have now abandoned them in the cold. Most where induced by false doctrines on sex and marriage.
THESE ARE SOME OF THE REASONS FOR THE MANY FAILED MARRIAGES EVERYWHERE.
Wrong teachings will make us listen to the voice of the flesh. The voice of the flesh comes to us through carnal feelings, carnal passions, carnal desires, and stimulations. Most times it will transmit lust to us, other times it will transmit pride (a feeling to overestimate ourselves).
The only doctrine that will make you crucify your flesh and bring it under subjection until the glory of God break forth through you, is the doctrine of Christ. It has a way of taking one to the cross to nail the flesh there.
A portion of our devotional text says;
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me”. Matthew 16:24 NKJV
By tomorrow we will be looking at this aspect of the doctrine of Christ in helping us lead enviable spiritual lives on the face of the earth. But today, I want to submit to you that the voice of the flesh has destroyed more lives than the devil himself. That is why one of the major requirements of the faith is to put the flesh to death. The Bible says;
“For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Romans 8:13-14 NKJV
Wrong doctrines will put to death the deeds of the Spirit in our lives and kindle the deeds of the flesh. But the doctrine of Christ will put to death the deeds of the flesh in our lives, and kindle the works of the Spirit.
The doctrine of Christ will teach us to put the flesh under subjection, but wrong doctrines will bring us under, and make us subjects of our flesh. They will seduce and propel us to be living our Christian lives according to our carnal desires and wants, and see nothing wrong with it.
WE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO LIVE THE SPIRITUAL LIFE GOD DESIGNED FOR US OBEYING THE FLESH!
That is why we must cut off from wrong doctrines, no matter the miracles, signs and wonders they may be bringing our way. They are the broad way that leads to eternal death.
We must not forget, that no eternally glorious life can come out of a life that obeys the flesh. Solomon with all of his glory, ended up saying “vanity upon vanity, all is vanity.” His life remains a message that communicates to us about the destructive results we get in life if we follow the voice of our flesh.
The next voice that wrong doctrines make us follow is the voice of the devil.
No life will be hell free following the voice of the devil. You could be up there in glory, but one moment of following the voice of the devil can ruin everything in your life. The first voice Jesus met after fasting for 40 days was not the voice of GOD. It was the voice of the devil but He was armed with enough truth to detect and disarm it. Sadly, many today cannot because of the wrong doctrines in church.
The first voice you may hear after a fast may not be the voice of GOD. So, we must be careful. We need our hearts established in the doctrine of Christ to be able to escape such snares of the evil one. That brings us to the point of knowing when and how the voice of the devil comes.
Most times the voice of the devil will come to us when we are physically weak, other times when we are spiritual down and weak. Other times it will come when we are in adversity. Some other times it comes when we are in prosperity. There are times it comes when we are weary in spiritual battle or when we are asleep spiritually and naturally.
When we are asleep spiritually and naturally, it comes to us as visions and dreams from God.
That is why the Bible admonished that we plant ourselves in good Churches and not forsake the assembling of ourselves, especially when we are weak physically, weak and down spiritually, or when we are in prosperity or adversity, or weary in battle, or asleep spiritually. We must locate vibrant ministers of the gospel who teaches the doctrine of Christ and sit under them so that the LORD can use their ministries to help us defeat the voice of the devil in our lives when it comes.
Being in fellowship with the Father, by fellowshipping in a vibrant Church that is established in the doctrine of Christ, will help us a lot when it comes to defeating the voice of the evil one that wrong doctrines make us follow.
NO ONE WILL LEAD A GLORIOUS LIFE FOLLOWING THE VOICE OF THE EVIL ONE.
Now, having known when it comes, it is important to know how it comes.
There are so many ways the voice of the evil one comes but we will limit this discourse to one subtle way it comes because of space and time. Let us look at the life of Adam and glean one beautiful truth from there.
The Bible called Adam, “Son of God.” He was a man that knew it all when it comes to staying under the glory and walking in submission to the will of GOD. Do not forget He was in the express Image and likeness of God. So, if the enemy had stood before him to speak through the serpent, he would not have given an ear to what it would have said.
He would have say to the serpent “get behind me Satan” like Jesus said to Peter. Satan also knew that, hence not bringing his voice to him through that communication channel! He brought his voice to him through a better channel – one he loved, cared for and listened to – his wife.
What is the lesson here?
Friend, some of the very channels the devil will use to make us carry out his instructions and break from the control of God’s Throne over our lives, will not look demonic or devilish in nature. Most will look divine and very good. That is why we find false doctrines coming to us through scriptures that have been twisted. And we find many listening to them because of the verses of the Bible that are quoted while instilling them into hearts.
In the story of Jesus and Peter in our devotional text, you will realize that Satan never used any other person other than Peter to convince Jesus not to die on the Cross. Sometimes, Satan will never use who you hate to speak to you. He will never use who you do not want to see to say anything to you. You must understand that.
The channels he uses to covey his voice to us are most times acceptable people, acceptable systems, cherished traditions, loving relationships, attractive stories, influences, and etc. We must learn to be at doctrinal alert and get our hearts established in the doctrine of Christ so that we can sense it as quickly as possible whenever he comes, the way Christ sensed it in the voice of Peter in our devotional text.
A MAJOR PORTION OF THE TEXT SAYS;
“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me”. Matthew 16:21-24 NKJV
Satan will never use what look like him to make the righteous carry out his instruction, he will always use what looks like God to do so. Adam fell because he listened to Eve but never knew she had listened to the devil, or was under his influenced.
We must learn to recognize when preachers who preach what we want to hear; marriage, money, fame, and etc. have keyed into the influence of the devil and are now misleading us because many today are right in his palms as we speak, and they command great Churches. I mean many preachers who we all love and long to hear them preach to help us prosper financially and etc. You will never know this until you absorb the doctrine of Christ.
As we bring this to a close, I want to submit to you that if we do not step up in our walk with the LORD in matters of doctrine, it will be bad with us. We must begin to learn how to recognize when the devil has taken over uncommon channels of spiritual communication around us and is now using them against us. We must learn to recognize when what is for us is now being used against us and do the necessary.
We will pick from here tomorrow because enough has been said for the day already; enough to hide in our hearts and use in improving our walk and talk with the LORD.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
I will praise and give thanks to You with uprightness of heart when I learn [by sanctified experiences] Your righteous judgments [Your decisions against and punishments for particular lines of thought and conduct].
I will keep Your statutes; O forsake me not utterly.
How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed and keeping watch [on himself] according to Your word [conforming his life to it].
With my whole heart have I sought You, inquiring for and of You and yearning for You; Oh, let me not wander or step aside [either in ignorance or willfully] from Your commandments.
Your word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:7-11 AMPC