TODAY’S DEVOTION (FRIDAY 20TH MAY 2022)
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.”
And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:36-39 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 140TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
It was like yesterday that we stepped into this beautiful year and we have covered 140 days already. This is amazingly amazing, and there must be a hand behind it!
Yes, it’s been 140 days of peace, joy, progress, victory in warfare, help in time of trouble, forgiveness of sin, restoration to righteous paths, delivery of Heavenly wisdom for successful earthly living, and etc. Only the hand of the LORD can do all that.
I do not know the hand that is behind your life, for us who look unto Him daily, the hand of the LORD has been behind us. We are a testimony of what will happen in a man’s life if the hand of the LORD is behind his life. When the magicians saw what their ‘powerful’ gods could not do, they said “this is the finger of God.”
If only a finger parted the red seas, caused three days darkness, unleashed other plagues that broke the back bone of the gods of Egypt, then there are no words to accurately describe what His hand can do. Our lives have been blessed because of the great hand that is behind it.
One of our covenant scriptures says;
“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 33:27 NKJV
We have seen this word come to pass in our lives again and again, this year alone. It has been like that even in previous years because His banner over us is love. If the everlasting God had not been our refuge, prophecies spoken concerning us by wicked and ignorant hearts would have come to pass.
If the eternal God has not been our refuge, our sins and all we had done to disappoint God would have eaten us up by now. If the eternal God had not been our refuge the arrows that flies by day and terrors that walk by night would have caught us.
If the eternal God had not been our refuge, the tears the enemy put in our eyes in matters of place of worship, would have not been turned into joy by the LORD.
I can not forget that day I had to cut short a very important in-house apostolic summit because of the maltreatment of 680 Hotel management. I actually shed tears. But I learned a lesson during that season of tears. I learned that if God did not prevent you from shedding tears, it is because He wants to turn your tears into Joy.
COME TO THINK OF IT, HOW CAN HE TURN A MAN’S TEARS INTO JOY IF THERE ARE NO TEARS IN HIS EYES.
That is why we should not be scared of what the enemy may do to bring tears out of our eyes. We have an eternal God who has a History of turning tears into joy. He did it for us and we are now in one of the best places you can have for ministry at this stage. We know the best is yet to come.
Since we step our feet on this part of the world for ministry, the eternal God has always thrust out the enemy before us saying destroy!
May He do the same for you, your family, business, or ministry in Jesus precious name. May all your tears be turned in to joy. May the enemy not outwit you in battle. May the sons of wickedness not afflict you, in Jesus precious name! Amen
Practical Christianity involves celebrating victory over the enemy.
Because practical Christianity is something the world do not want to see. It is something that scares hell. It is a life of Godliness that is always fought by the highest forces of hell. It involves a life of carefully following the doctrine of Christ and going through hell for it. We see that in what Our father Paul wrote to his son in ministry, Timothy.
He wrote to him saying;
“But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 3:10-12 NKJV
You can see the underling truth here; all who will lead practical Christian lives will suffer persecutions. They will go through so much for it. But out of it all the LORD will deliver them the way He delivered Paul. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the LORD delivers them from they all.
Practical Christianity becomes as sweet as honey when it brings you into trouble and you experience the LORD’s deliverance in the midst of trouble. You will begin to rejoice in suffering like the early Church did, and fear no affliction because you know the LORD will deliver you.
YOU WILL ENJOY THE SWEETNESS OF TEARS TURNING INTO JOY LIKE JESUS PROMISED US!
It is important to note that Christianity without trouble will be boring, lukewarm, and even dead. That is why what happened in the first 100 years of the Church on earth remains unmatched till date.
It had no denominations, no divisions, no title seeking, no devils where enthroned and called church. It was exactly the way Jesus started it. It was on fire for the LORD, turning the ancient world upside down.
Simply put, it was a move of God! Scholars believe that the ultimate reason for all that was the persecution and trouble the believers faced.
I want to submit to you that the persecuted Church is usually the strongest Church. What makes it the strongest is developed through the beautiful mixture of the affliction she goes through and the LORD’s deliverance released to her.
The beautiful combination is what makes practical Christianity bitter then sweet. It is like a content in a cup mixed with two ingredients. That is what makes practical Christianity a thing of tears-turning-into-joy from time to time, unleashing great kingdom power into the lost world, and in some cases the sick church.
Our devotional text is like a prophetic description of this cub of mixture.
Sometimes it comes from the lost world and our loving savior to us. While the lost world releases the side of afflictions to us, the loving savior releases the side of deliverance, making it a perfect cup to drink. You see this truth buried in the story of the redemptive death of Christ in our devotional text.
When you read the entire story in the scriptures, you will realize that the religious world killed Him, but the world of GOD raised Him from the dead.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE LOST WORLD GAVE HIM AFFLICTION BUT GOD GAVE HIM DELIVERANCE FROM IT.
Making it a perfect cup to drink. Though as man He was not willing to drink it. But when He saw the LORD’s deliverance that was also part of the cup, He said to the LORD “Not my will but your will be done.” All that happened in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Our devotional text says;
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.”
And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:36-39 NKJV
Let me reiterate again that practical Christianity has a cup for us all. It is a cup made of a beautiful brew or mixture of what the Bible calls “the affliction of the righteous” and what it calls “the LORD’s deliverance.” The part of the brew called the “LORD’s deliverance” is not always seen when the part of it called “the affliction of the righteous” comes into our lives. It will only take travailing prayers to see and step into it.
When we see the LORD’s deliverance with the eyes of faith, especially after prayer, we can walk by faith and not by natural sight. When we walk by faith and not by sight, we can face our afflictions with boldness and uncommon confidence. Then come into what we have seen with the eyes of our faith over time – the very deliverance the LORD brings.
Do not forget, Satan hates our tears turning into joy because the Bible is clear that when the tears of kingdom warriors are turned into joy, they unleash great grace upon a generation, neutralizing evil forces and bringing salvation to many.
It is important to note that there is a grace that will never rest on you or on any kingdom warrior until he or she go through the process of tears turning into joy.
IN OTHER WORDS, UNTIL HE OR SHE SUFFER FOR BEING A GENUINE CHILD OF GOD.
All through the scriptures you see it. When genuine believers are afflicted in any way for being faithful to the LORD, especially while we are in tune with His Holy Spirit, there is an uncommon grace to transform moral lives that comes upon them. It is part of the tears-turning-into-joy process of GOD for His own. Here is what our father Paul said;
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So, then death is working in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 NKJV
This scripture makes it clear that the reason for our going through affliction and receiving deliverance form the LORD is for life to be extended from God, through our dying, to others. In other words, it is for eternal life to work in the lives of the eternally damned.
The cup that contain the beautiful brew of the affliction of the righteous and the release of timely deliverance from the LORD must be upheld all the days of our lives on earth. There can be no practical Christianity without it. Jesus drank His and brought eternal life to the entire human race. You and I have ours to drink to extend what Jesus brought to others.
Are we ready?
However, let me bring a word of caution at this point as we close this!
Satan is still a master of counterfeits. He knows how to act GOD more than any creature on earth. He will bring his own cup to you in the language and system that you will take to be the LORD. It is therefore important to know which cup is not permitted by the LORD.
Now, There is suffering according to GOD’s will, there is suffering according to other wills. Only suffering according to God’s will is permitted. We must make sure that our sufferings are according to GOD’s will.
A cup permitted by the LORD will have the affliction of the righteous and timely deliverances of the LORD. It is not the presence of affliction that should make us take everything as a cup form the LORD. It is the presence of affliction and the presence of the deliverance from the affliction from the LORD that should.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDIATION FOR THE DAY!
“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.
For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.” 1 Peter 4:17-19 NKJV