TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 14TH MAY 2022)
“Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:8-12 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 134TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
What a great day to be alive and experience the mercies of the LORD in the land of the living. Indeed, if our God has not been mindful of us, it would have been terrible with us.
I will yet again align with David this morning to say;
“Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 124:6-8 NKJV
Personally, having escaped death severally, mostly as a Child, I do not take being alive, even for one hour, for granted. Our help has been in the name of the LORD who made heaven and earth. That is why the snares of the enemy has not neutralized us. That is why our souls have not sunk under the floods of corruption that are beating against it from the sea of humanity around us.
The LORD has not just helped us against outward and invisible enemies like wicked men and women or wicked spirits, He has also helped us against the power of the flesh and the carnal nature, that to me are the worst enemies of a child of GOD. The Bible says;
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1 NKJV
It is the flesh and our carnal nature that prevents us from walking after the Spirit not our visible or invisible enemies. If we crucify the flesh and walk after the Spirit, our visible or invisible enemies will have no power over us. Help against the flesh and our carnal nature is therefore the greatest help we need from the LORD as children of GOD.
By the way, someone may ask “how does GOD help us against the flesh and our carnal nature?” The Life of Christ and the early church holds the answer, and we begin with the foundation.
FOR CHRIST, HIS LIFE BEGAN PHYSICALLY AFTER BEING CONCEIVED OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Our spiritual lives must also begin by the conception of the Holy Spirit called born again. So, the LORD offers us help by first making sure our salvation starts on a true and strong note of being born again by the incorruptible word, not the false and weak note of psychological salvation.
In other words, He offers us help by making sure those who call upon His name for salvation with a sincere heart, are born again through the regeneration of their human spirits, not just an empty recitation of the sinner’s prayer that lack renunciation of the sinner’s life.
The second way He offer us this help is by making sure we put our flesh under subjection. It is those who are genuinely saved that can receive the help of putting their flesh under subjection, do not forget that. If one is unsaved, he or she is not yet in the realm of grace where the flesh can be put under subjection. The journey to putting the flesh under subjection begins with the regeneration of the human spirit.
To regenerate means to renew, rebirth or bring to life again. Until the human spirit is brought to life towards GOD no one will see the need to put their flesh under subjection, hence making it impossible to receive such help.
So, they must first receive the help of repentance, then that of putting the flesh under subjection can follow. The Bible says;
“ But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7 NKJV
Grace justifies us by making sure our human spirits are regenerated and renewed by the Holy Spirit to live righteous and Christ centered lives. That is how we are saved not by our works of righteousness but by this Work of grace within us.
If grace has not worked in anyone and regenerated their spirits, they are still unsaved despite any work of righteousness they may be doing. It is not the righteousness that we live before salvation that gets any saved, but the work of grace within us producing fruits of righteousness in our conduct; turning us from a life of sin to a life of righteousness.
IT IS THOSE WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED THIS FIRST HELP FROM THE LORD THAT ARE READY TO RECEIVE THE SECOND.
The first help gets us regenerated and renewed, making it possible for us to be led by the Spirit to discipline or crucify our flesh, especially through Spirit enabled fasting and prayer. You see this truth imprinted in the life of Christ also.
His standing before John the Baptist was like being born again through the regeneration of the Spirit, and the next thing you see is the Holy Spirit driving or leading Him to the wilderness for a season of putting the flesh under subjection through fasting.
The test that came after the fast proved all that. The Bible says;
“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit [a]into the wilderness, being [b]tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For itis written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.
For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ ”
Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. Luke 4:1-13 NKJV
IF YOU LOOK AT THIS SCRIPTURE CAREFULLY YOU WILL REALIZE THAT JESUS WAS TEMPTED IN THREE AREAS OF THE FLESH
He was tempted in the areas of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
God allowed Him to be tempted to see if His flesh had been truly put under subjection during the fast. That gives us something fresh to think about when we are tempted. It tells us why we are allowed by the LORD to be tempted of the devil, sometimes even after a fast.
Temptation exposes who we are. It is allowed so that we can be tested to see if we have put our flesh under subjection or not. In other words, we are expose to temptation, especially after a fast to check if the fast really did its job. That is why when we fall, we tell God, “The fast did nothing LORD! Our flesh still needs to be put under subjection.”
Then He will pass us through another circle of putting the flesh under subjection, if we are willing to engage Him again. In God, if we fail an exam we re-seat. We are not expelled from the school except we expel ourselves like Cain did.
Now, there is more to learn on this Bible doctrine on being tempted. Speaking about the spiritual concept of temptation, the Bible says;
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV
This scripture is clear on the help the LORD offers to us when we are tempted; capacity to say no! Now, if the fast helped us in taping into God’s power and putting the flesh under subjection, we will be able to find and follow the way of escape the LORD makes when we are tempted like Jesus did.
BUT IF IT DID NOT, WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO FIND AND FOLLOW IT, LEADING TO A FALL.
So, from the life of Christ, we can learn that God grant us help against the flesh by first getting us genuinely saved, and the second is by leading us to Spirit led fasting to bring our flesh under subjection like Jesus.
There is one other way GOD offer us help against our flesh that we can find in the life and times of the early church; the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We call it the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and subsequent infilling of the Spirit.
Our devotional text says;
“Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:8-12 NKJV
This scripture presented the need for signs of or fruits of repentance in the life of a believer. It went further to tell us what will happen if there are not signs that we are saved in our conduct; being hewn down and thrown into the fire.
It placed the solution to not bearing fruits of repentance at the door of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. That brings us to the subject of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The importance of the outpouring of the Spirit cannot be overemphasized, especially when it comes to bringing forth fruits of repentance. The reason is, we cannot walk in the Spirit without an outpouring of the Spirit and daily infilling of the same.
To bring forth fruits of repentance, therefore, a constant walk in the Spirit will be necessary.
WE BEGAN THIS DISCOURSE WITH THE AIM OF FINDING OUT HOW GOD HELPS US AGAINST THE FLESH AND OUR CARNAL NATURE.
From our devotional text, we found out that the LORD helps us through the outpouring or Baptism of the Holy Spirit. When we are Baptized, we can walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Walking in the Spirit is what will help us to put the flesh and our carnal nature under subjection and bring forth fruits of repentance.
The Bible says;
“But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).” Galatians 5:16 AMPC
You cannot live habitually in the Holy Spirit if you have not been baptized with the Holy Spirit. That is why we said the outpouring or baptism will be very important.
I believe the message of today has been passed.
As we bring this to a close, I want you to understand that practical Christianity is not by might or by power but by the Spirit. If you read the book of Acts and other books of the New Testament, you will realize that the early Church put the flesh and their carnal nature under subjection and brought forth fruits of repentance because of the power of the Holy Spirit that worked in them.
It is important to note that a walk in the flesh will never produce fruits of repentance. It is a walk in the Spirit that will.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“And the angel who talked with me came again and awakened me, like a man who is wakened out of his sleep.
And said to me, What do you see? I said, I see, and behold, a lamp-stand all of gold, with its bowl [for oil] on the top of it and its seven lamps on it, and [there are] seven pipes to each of the seven lamps which are upon the top of it.
And there are two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side of it [feeding it continuously with oil].
So I asked the angel who talked with me, What are these, my lord? Then the angel who talked with me answered me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
Then he said to me, This [addition of the bowl to the candlestick, causing it to yield a ceaseless supply of oil from the olive trees] is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit [of Whom the oil is a symbol], says the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 4:1-6 AMPC