TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 6TH JULY 2022)
“And what shall I say further? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,
Who by [the help of] faith subdued kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promised blessings, closed the mouths of lions,
Extinguished the power of raging fire, escaped the devouring of the sword, out of frailty and weakness won strength and became stalwart, even mighty and resistless in battle, routing alien hosts.
[Some] women received again their dead by a resurrection. Others were tortured [g]to death with clubs, refusing to accept release [offered on the terms of denying their faith], so that they might be resurrected to a better life.
Others had to suffer the trial of mocking and scourging and even chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned to death; they were lured with tempting offers [to renounce their faith]; they were sawn asunder; they were slaughtered by the sword; [while they were alive] they had to go about wrapped in the skins of sheep and goats, utterly destitute, oppressed, cruelly treated—
[Men] of whom the world was not worthy—roaming over the desolate places and the mountains, and [living] in caves and caverns and holes of the earth.” Hebrews 11:32-38 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 187TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
The LORD God has given us another day to be alive. A day to serve our generation according to His will.
We give Him glory who has seen it worthy to keep us alive, even when some of us do not deserve it, and others are even begging that He takes it away!
Yes, our lives are in His hands and He alone determine if they are to remain alive on this side of eternity or not. For kingdom citizens, there is nothing like long life by the definition of men. Our definition of long-life is different from the world’s.
Yes, God indeed said to His people who are in kingdom service and in the new covenant “with long live will I satisfy you” making long life part of the heritage of salvation.
Today is the 6th day of our 31-Day journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit on Miracles. We will be looking at the miracle of long life. As earlier stated, God said to us with long life will He satisfy us. That makes the miracle of long life the heritage of the saints.
A heritage is not something you pay for to get. It is something you reach out to take. You reach out by knowledge because if you do not know it is there you will never go for it. It is yours by birth not by paying the price for it. The price has already been paid.
Meaning, when it comes to the miracle of long life, you do not give some money or any material things as seed to any preacher or prophet for it.
You do not serve yourself holy communion for long life. You do not engage in any ritual for long life. Once you are saved and genuinely so, you come into the heritage of long life. However, by definition, it will be different from what the world calls long life.
There are so many people who have been exploited by prophets and other preachers and fellow Christians on this matter of long life. In their bid to enjoy the miracle of long life many have been exploited and even destroyed by so called prophets and prophetesses.
WE MUST UNDERSTAND GOD’S WAY OF BRINGING US INTO THE MIRACLE OF LONG LIFE.
Now, apart from getting saved and becoming part of the spiritual family of GOD on earth, I have come to understand that to enjoy the miracle of long life the first thing you must know is God’s definition of long life.
You see, God has His own definition and perspectives of things and the world has theirs. If you relate with God as a believer, using the world’s definition of things you will miss it big time! Do not forget, when praying to the Father (His source) for us, Jesus said;
“They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.
Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” John 17:16-18 AMPC
So, as you can see in this prayer of Christ for us, once you become saved you are no longer of this world hence should not relate with GOD in its definition of things.
In other words, our definition of long life as God’s kingdom citizens has to be different from the world’s definition because salvation makes a man not of this world but one sent to this world. That is why Jesus presented sanctification as a requirement for the believer to live successfully in this world because Sanctification by Truth aligns our hearts and paradigms with God’s. It helps us to relate with GOD based on His own definition of things.
Besides the Bible says this about God, our Heavenly Father;
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 AMPC
So, if you are relating with a GOD whose thoughts are not your thoughts and whose ways are not your ways, you must be sanctified by His truths until His thoughts becomes your thoughts and His ways your ways.
THAT IS THE SYNCHRONICITY EVERY BELIEVER MUST LOOK FORWARD TO.
Clearly Isaiah 55:8-9 and John 17:16-18 separated the world’s definitions of things from God’s definition of things. That is why if you look at God’s definition of long life, you will find out that it is all about a fulfilled life not just about the number of days one lived on earth.
To enjoy the miracle of long life that is the first truth you must be established in.
Talking about a fulfilled life, it is very important to note that a fulfilled life is a life that lived long enough to fulfill its purpose on earth. While it was alive, it was lived according to its prophetic and eternal purpose. It had its own rhythm. It was not lived according to the rhythm of the lost world.
Sometimes such lives go through a lot in the hands of the sick church and the lost world.
Our Bible fathers lived that kind of life. They were totally sold out to the plans and purposes of God for their lives. They laid down their lives and everything about them for what they were convinced was God’s will and ways for their lives.
They never pursued the earthly at the expense of the eternal. They pursued eternal relevance at the expense of earthly relevance.
If you want to live a fulfilled life, you must tailor your life according to the very rhythm our fathers tailored theirs. They tailored their lives according to Heavenly rhythms. Consequently, setting their minds on Heavenly things and making sure earthly things do not possess their souls.
They ran the race with patience looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of Jesus Christ. Though the LORD supplied their needs according to His riches in glory, making money was not their goal in life, making Heaven was.
Pleasing men was not their goal in life, pleasing God was. They indeed lived lives that were outside this world.
THEY WERE GOD’S SHINING LIGHT IN A DARK WORLD AND HIS UNCOMPROMISINGLY RIGHTEOUS TREES ON EARTH.
Because they led lives that were dancing to rhythms that was not of this world, many of them ended up standing against tyrants and anti-God systems of their age that wanted them to dance according to the rhythm of this world. They taught us how to live a fulfilled life instead of a long life by the world definition.
They demonstrated by their lives that once you have eternal life you should not worry about long life by the world’s standard. The Bible says they were men of whom the world was not worthy.
Indeed, it was not worthy of them because if you live a life with a rhythm that is not of this world, the world will not be worthy of you.
Our devotional text says;
“And what shall I say further? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,
Who by [the help of] faith subdued kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promised blessings, closed the mouths of lions,
Extinguished the power of raging fire, escaped the devouring of the sword, out of frailty and weakness won strength and became stalwart, even mighty and resistless in battle, routing alien hosts.
[Some] women received again their dead by a resurrection. Others were tortured to death with clubs, refusing to accept release [offered on the terms of denying their faith], so that they might be resurrected to a better life.
Others had to suffer the trial of mocking and scourging and even chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned to death; they were lured with tempting offers [to renounce their faith]; they were sawn asunder; they were slaughtered by the sword; [while they were alive] they had to go about wrapped in the skins of sheep and goats, utterly destitute, oppressed, cruelly treated—
[Men] of whom the world was not worthy—roaming over the desolate places and the mountains, and [living] in caves and caverns and holes of the earth.” Hebrews 11:32-38 AMPC
ARE YOU LIVING A LIFE THAT THE WORLD IS NOT WORTHY OF?
If we are not living lives that the world is not worthy of, it means we are not fulfilling our days. We are not living fulfilled lives.
The only alternative to not living a fulfilled life is living a wasted life. The miracle of long life is not possible until you seek to live a fulfilled life – a life that the world is not worthy of. Do not forget, the world was not worthy of our Bible fathers.
As we bring this to a close, I want to submit to you that the greatest challenge standing before the end time Church today is how to live the very lives that our Bible fathers lived, not the very live that our so-called present-day fathers of faith have lived or are living.
Our Bible fathers lived lives that the world was not worthy of. When the Bible says the world was not worthy of them it simply means the world was so wicked that it had no claim that such men should live in it.
They remained the standard for every generation.
I do not know about you, but my goal is to live a life that the world will not be worthy of. Yes, that is the life to live in a pervert and crooked generation. That is the only fulfilled life that is known in Heaven and feared in hell. It could end at 27 like that of John Knox, 33.5 like that of Christ, or even 187 like that of Abraham, let it be a fulfilled life not just a life.
“LORD, teach us to be like these men. Teach us to lead the kind of fulfilled lives they lived. Teach us to value the eternal above the earthly. Teach us to be a radical opposition to every works of darkness. Teach us to carry in our generation what our Bible fathers carried in their generation. Teach us how not to love our lives unto death.” Amen
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“From that time forth Jesus began [clearly] to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and the high priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised from death.
Then Peter took Him aside to speak to Him privately and began to reprove and charge Him sharply, saying, God forbid, Lord! This must never happen to You!
But Jesus turned away from Peter and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, if anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].
For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting].
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life [his blessed life in the kingdom of God]? Or what would a man give as an exchange for his [blessed] life [in the kingdom of God]?
For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory (majesty, splendor) of His Father with His angels, and then He will render account and reward every man in accordance with what he has done.
Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in (into) His kingdom.” Matthew 16:21-28