TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 8TH MAY 2022)
Then he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He said, “I am.”
He said, “Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, so that my soul may bless you.” So, he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.” And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said:
“Surely, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed. Therefore may God give you Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine.
Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!” Genesis 27:24-29 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 128TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
It is now 128 days of amazing acts of the LORD in our lives because of His amazing grace. The LORD GOD has been with us and doing what He has a history of doing – taking good care of His own and defeating the plans of the enemy against their lives.
The Bible says;
“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and loving-kindness. He will not always chide or be contending, neither will He keep His anger forever or hold a grudge.
He has not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great are His mercy and loving-kindness toward those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those who fear Him [with reverence, worship, and awe].
For He knows our frame, He [earnestly] remembers and imprints [on His heart] that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes.” Psalm 103:8-15 AMPC
This scripture is a chronicle of what the LORD has been to us all these years and what He will be in the years to God. The king James version rendering did not present it in contemporary language like we see in the classic edition of the amplified version.
SOMETIMES, IT WILL TAKE THE DICTIONS OF THE BOOK OF PSALMS TO BE ABLE TO TELL WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE FOR YOU.
The LORD has been merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and loving-kindness towards us all these years. He has not always chided or contended with us, neither has He kept His anger forever or held a grudge against us.
You will never understand the power of that until you understand what a grudge is. If God was keeping grudges against us, then none of us would have been alive.
People have killed those who did them wrong many years later, because of a grudge; they refused to let go even after the people have repented and turned a new leaf. The blindness of their grudge did not let them see their repentance. They still felt hurt even after many years; that is a grudge.
We have been looking at practical Christian living. We must understand that true Christianity has no place for grudges.
It is a life that is baptized in the love of God and has no place for grudges. For some of us, that is one area to work on in our relationship with GOD, because we are to do to others what the LORD has done or what the LORD does to us.
The LORD does not hold grudges against us. That is a message to us that we should not hold any grudge against anyone for what they may have done against us, especially after repentance.
In God’s court, repentance and sometimes unconditional love takes care of the consequence of any sin. That is what should happen in the court of our personal lives also. We should not be holding those who seek for our forgiveness liable for their sins against us.
Whatever do not happen in GOD’s court of justice, should not happen in the court of our personal lives.
A grudge does not happen in GOD’s court of justice or His loving heart, sadly it can easily happen in ours. It should not happen.
Many of us, sometimes, live with grudges ignorantly. For me, I never knew how a grudge feel like until I saw its definition. That was when I realized that I have harbor grudges sometimes.
THEN I BEGAN TO SEEK THE LORD FOR MERCIES; TO PURGE MY HEART AND CLEANSE MY SOUL OF ALL GRUDGES.
A grudge is the catalyst of bitterness. It is a persistent feeling of ill-will or resentment resulting from a past insult or injury. We feel that way most times as human, which is not good. But God has no capacity for such feelings, and he wants us to carry that image and likeness as well; fighting grudges and not letting them take root in our souls.
The Christian faith is best expressed when we walk in a holiness that is full of love, mercy, forgiveness, then power and might in the Holy Ghost. Not the holiness that is full of hate, unforgiveness and etc. That will be a holiness version of the antichrist.
The Christian faith is strengthened by love, mercy and forgiveness and weakened by unforgiveness, hate, bitterness and above all, that feeling of persistent ill-will and resentment resulting from a past insult of injury.
That is why for the crucified life, once it is past, it is past. If we want to leave practical Christian lives, it is therefore important that we learn how to keep past insults and hurts behind.
That is not something you hope will happen with time. That is something you make to happen through discipline. It is something you make to happen by reaching out to what the LORD might be doing in the present, and what He intends to do in the future and forgetting the past. The Bible says;
“Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19 NKJV
Scriptures like these do not just contain the direction of the Spirit each time we are stock to a bad past. It also tells us how to live our lives as children of God; it urged us to live lives that do not recall what may make us bitter towards others.
Making sure insults and injuries of the past are left in the past, and trusting God to wash our hearts of all past hurts and keep us on good spiritual health as a character to develop.
SOMEONE ONCE SAID “THE HEAVIEST THING TO CARRY IS A GRUDGE.”
It is so heavy that many do not realize it. That is why their lives are slow. They are not succeeding at all in life.
The weight of the grudges they carry make them do things that defeat the forces God set in motion to help them succeed.
You look at them and you see failed hopes and you find them trapped in efforts that are not yielding results. You see them bitter with you for trying to help them. The grudges make them treat every helping hand like an attacking hand, thereby driving favor away from their paths.
Even Esau did not keep his grudge against Jacob for too long. God would later bless him because of that.
He was so much blessed that when he met Jacob, Jacob bowed to him seven time to fulfilled the prophesy his father spoke over him when Jacob took his garment to Isaac for Blessing.
A portion of our devotional text said;
“Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, and let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!”
People have said that Jacob took Esau’s blessing. Actually, it was Isaac that thought so. But from what we see happen between them later, Jacob did not. The blessing landed on Esau whose garment Jacob took there.
You can steal someone’s money but you cannot steal anyone’s blessing because our blessings are in GOD’s hands.
In the same way, you cannot take another person’s blessing. Isaac was fooled by Jacob and his mother but not God who places blessings on people’s lives.
The only thing Jacob took form Esau was the birth right, not the blessing. That was why Esau walked away from the grudge when he saw that what Jacob did, never really affected him. He saw himself blessed and so blessed that he could provide security for entire nations. He even offered to provide security for suspicious Jacob, but he declined the offer because of fear.
SO, THE BLESSING UPON HIS LIFE MADE JACOB TO BOW TO HIM SEVEN TIMES WHEN THEY MET, FULFILLING THE PROPHECY.
The Bible says;
Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. Genesis 33:3 NKJV
Sadly, Jacob lived in the fear of Esau even years after every resentment or ill-will that Esau had for him had died. Jacob thought that way because he knew the power of a grudge. But our God does not keep grudges against us. He has no capacity for grudges despite how persistently unfaithful we can become.
You can now understand why Moses wrote saying;
“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to help you, and in His excellency on the clouds.
The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, ‘Destroy!’ Deuteronomy 33:26-27 NKJV
I believe the message of today has been passed. Do not keep grudges. They will destroy you, not even those you may be keeping them against.
Practical Christianity is being like Christ, Christ did not keep any grudge when He was here, else people like Peter would not have become part of the apostles for denying him thrice. Paul would have remained Saul for killing and persecuting the saints.
The Spirit of Christ is not one that keeps grudges. We must be like Him.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.” Ephesians 5:1-7 NKJV