TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 7TH JULY 2022)
“ Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.
When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people,
if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.
As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments,
then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’ 2 Chronicles 7:12-18 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 188TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. The faithfulness of our God is from everlasting to everlasting. His marvelous deeds make our lives shine, and His word gives us hope.
How great is His goodness stored up for those who fear Him! Indeed, no end to the compassion that comes from Him each day. His mercies are always higher than our sins, if there is repentance.
Yes, if there is repentance.
Today we have a lot of what is called Christianity without repentance. Hindering the manifestation of the greatness of God’s mercies in so many lives. Many are only surviving by the rain of mercies that falls on the righteous and the wicked. Nothing more, hence struggling in so many areas of life.
We are on a 31-Day journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit on miracles, signs and wonders. Today is the seventh day. Seven is the number of God; a number of maturity or perfection. It is also a number of amazing interventions of God, like in the case of the three Hebrew boys in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom.
Do not forget that the king requested that the fire be heated seven times before commanding that the boys be thrown into it. But by the time they got there, their God was there waiting for them. So, we can say, seven is also the number of genuine miracles from God.
Such miracles do not come by sowing seeds, fasting or praying. They come because one is in good standing with God. Our focus today will be miracles that come because we are in good standing with God. I hope you are ready?
To start with, I want to submit to us that there are miracles, signs and wonders from God that can only break out in our lives if we come to the realm of being in good standing with God, especially through repentance.
REPENTANCE IS TURNING AWAY FROM WICKED WAYS AND RETURNING TO GOD.
Yes, there are miracles that can only break out in our lives, without we even asking for them, when we turn away from wicked ways and return to God. We see a class of such miracles in the life of the prodigal son.
The Bible says, he became poor, wretched, and terribly in a bad shape after leaving His father’s house with his share of blessings and wasting all in riotous living.
“Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”
“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.” Luke 15:15-24 NKJV
If you look at this story, you will realize that the turnaround of this young man came when he returned to the father. That is what repentance is.
As soon as he returned to the father in repentance (not spiritual pride or sense of entitlement) the father unleashed miraculous moves in His life. By the time he was through with him, there was no trace of what he went through any where in his life.
THAT IS WHAT MIRACLES THAT REPENTANCE DOES BRING INTO OUR LIVES.
Genuine repentance will get you back into the Father’s arm and unleash miracles in your life. It will get you back in good standing with God and give you more than you ask for. It will bless you with a heritage that will wipe away any shame or reproach that was there before.
Satan knows the power of repentance hence not allowing many of us in the faith to lead lives of repentance.
There are a lot of teachings that are being peddled today that are not letting people live lives of repentance towards God. There are so many preachers (false teachers and prophets) who are busy promoting their own agenda in pretense of doing God’s work, hence peddling such nonsense.
Many of such preachers have become mentally unstable by what they teach. You hear some say there is no Heaven. You hear others say God is not in Heaven, and some others say we do not need repentance. They teach things that make God’s people err and live lives of faith towards our LORD Jesus Christ but no repentance towards God.
The gate of miracles that genuine repentance will open in your life will amaze you. The power it will unleash in your life is what the Bible calls the greatness of God’s power.
You see, the devils that repentance cannot neutralize are not yet born in hell.
Yes, there can be no repentance without prayers of repentance, but repentance is stronger than prayer, and Satan knows that. He will prefer us praying for deliverance and miracles rather than repenting from sin. He will prefer emphasis laid on prayer than on repentance.
Yes, Satan will prefer prayer caravans across the nation that strong preaching on repentance across the nation. He knows the prayer of a sinner is a waste of time but repentance will stop his work even without prayers.
Talking about national prayers, the Bible says the prayer of the wicked is an abomination in the sight of God. And in another place, as we can see in our devotional text, the scriptures conditioned answer to national prayers on the repentance of the entire nation not the prayer of the entire nation.
A PART OF THE TEXT SAYS;
“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV (Emphasis mine)
In this scripture, you see God conditioning answers to prayers for the healing of a nation on the repentance of the citizens of that nation; you see that depicted in the words “turn from their wicked ways.”
But the game that most prayer people play today is, “getting into large prayer-for-the-nation gatherings and asking God to do one thing or the other but living the nation in its wicked ways.” That is why I call such gatherings prayer madness!
The smarter ones, will kneel down corporately, standing on some misunderstood scriptures and claiming to be repenting on behalf of the nation. These things have a form of godliness in them but have no true results from God. That is why they have to be repeated.
Child of God, the LORD will never heal a nation that will never turn from its wicked ways even if you pray, fast or repent on its behalf for 100 years. I have seen God heal nations for turning to Him in repentance and forsaking their wicked ways instead of preachers asking for it in large prayer gatherings.
God will not heal any nation because preachers prayed for it, He will only heal nations if the entire people turn from their wicked ways through rebukes, reproves, corrections in righteousness or a systematic delivery of sound doctrine.
That is why part of the great commission is to disciple the nations. When we disciple the nations, God will heal the nations.
But instead of discipling nations preachers prefer doing large prayer gathering because of the easy relevance and quick revenue it builds for them. But Jesus never recommended that to be the solution to national problems.
HE PRESENTED DISCIPLING NATIONS TO BE THE SOLUTION TO NATIONAL PROBLEMS.
It is not part of God’s justice system to bless a people who will not turn from their wicked ways. In fact, if nations turn from their wicked ways, there will be no need of prayer caravans to ask God to do anything in those nations. The power of God will take over the nation and positive things will just be happening.
The Bible indeed said we should pray for our nations but did not say we should replace prayer for nations with repentance from its citizens. Instead of repenting from sin, we prefer praying for peace. But we forget that there can be no peace where there is no repentance or turning from wicked ways because crisis are products of men walking in their wicked ways.
From our individual lives to our national lives, repentance remains the only door that opens our lives to the goodness that we need from the LORD. It remains the only key to the times of refreshing that our families, nations, business and churches need.
The Bible says;
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,” Acts 3:19-20 NKJV
It is saddening that while Christ started and ended His earthly ministry with the Gospel of the kingdom that stir up repentance, many of us in ministry today are focusing on making money and getting relevance through the preaching of what we call the gospel.
Our messages do not stir repentance in people’s heart. At most it makes them to have faith in our LORD Jesus Christ but not repentance towards God. Repentance towards God is the only approved fruit of faith in Jesus Christ.
IF OUR FAITH IN CHRIST DO NOT HAVE FRUITS OF REPENTANCE AS A PROVE, WE ARE FAKE.
A lot of believers are living Christian lives with faith towards our LORD Jesus Christ but no repentance towards God. They have faith that God has forgiven them of their sins but have not repented from the very sins they say God has forgiven them of.
As a result, there are no constant flow of miracles from God. Most key into Charismatic witchcraft and Baal worship to get the miracles they need.
It is my prayer that we all wake up to the call of the LORD through this devotional today and make a life of repentance a standard to live by in Jesus precious name. Amen!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOUR LIFE TODAY!
“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,
Serving the LORD with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:
And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house,
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:17-21 NKJV