TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 9TH AUGUST 2022)
“The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. Genesis 2:8-15 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 221ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
We give God the praise for giving us another day. It is general elections here in Kenya, and we encourage everyone to go out and vote having been told the Bible way to choose a leader.
God is great and as we have prayed, we believe He will make sure that there is great peace in the land during and after the elections in Jesus precious name. Amen!
Today we want to look at the blessing of having a righteous father in your life; spiritual and natural, maybe.
When we go astray and begin to follow our own ways, who are the people who were supposed to call us to order? Righteous fathers. When we want to take decisions that will shape our lives, who are the people that we were supposed to consult? Righteous fathers!
When we become of age, and fit to get married, who are the people we were supposed to meet for guidance, counselling and wisdom; especially the wisdom to get and stay married? Righteous fathers! When we are embarking on leadership journeys, and we want to be leaders over our community, who were we supposed to met first for consultation? Righteous fathers!
When we want to carry out great projects that will impact the lives of others, who were we supposed to meet for guide? Righteous fathers. When we are trying to raise our children and finding it difficult to raise them, who were we supposed to meet for help? Righteous fathers.
When our lives are invaded, and we want to mobilize ourselves to build a wall of peace to resist the invasion, who were we supposed to meet for counsel? Righteous fathers.
When we are caught in crisis, who are the people we were supposed to meet for wisdom to navigate our lives out of those crises? Righteous fathers!
When a woman is pregnant, especially for the first time, who was she supposed to be consulting from time to time? Off course, a righteous mother but the righteous mother will need the backbone of a righteous father.
What We are trying to say this morning is this; God created the earth and all the life in it to be sustained by righteous fathers. We see that in what He said to the first righteous father that was created and commanded to take care of life on earth.
OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT SAYS,
“The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush.
The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. Genesis 2:8-15 NKJV
Everything God created and planted in the Garden was put under the care of Adam, the first righteous father on earth. Meaning, from the original intent, God wanted the earth sustained by Him, the Righteous One, through Adam, a righteous father.
That tells us the importance of Righteous fathers to our lives.
We can see that they are the architect of life under God, and an earth without them will become void and formless. This is a major Cry of the Spirit on spiritual fathering. Do not forget, we are on a 31-Day journey of faith looking at the Cry of the Spirit on spiritual fathering. Only the Spirit of the LORD, who is the Spirit of the Heavenly father can tell us these things.
AN EARTH WITHOUT RIGHTEOUS FATHERS WILL BECOME DARKENED BY EVERYTHING EVIL AND WILL BE OUT OF COURSE.
A life without a righteous father in it, will be darkened by the forces of darkness and will be out of course. There are so many youths without bearing in life because they have no voices of righteous fathers in their lives.
Life without the voice of a righteous father can be very difficult. It makes me vulnerable to all forms of evil. I think, it is important to look at some Bible truths in the voice if righteous fathers.
To start with, I want to submit to you that Satan hates the voice of those God has raised to serve as righteous fathers or fathers of righteousness because of the power of God in their voices. His first attack has always been to make people not to listen to their voices, and when it fails he tries to silent them.
The reason why our Bible fathers were killed was actually to silent them. But what the enemy did not know is, sometimes it is the death of a righteous father that amplifies the voice of a righteous father. Hallelujah!
Today, the voices of Paul, Peter, and the rest of them that were killed are louder on earth than when they were when they were alive. It is impossible to silent the voice of a righteous father. The more you try, the louder it becomes.
Their voices are most times amplified by crisis. That is how God uses the devil’s worst to bring our His own best.
One thing about the voice of a righteous father is how eternal it can be in our lives. I have found the voice of a righteous father to always be with us even when he is no longer physically with us. That is a part of their voice that tells you having a righteous father is one of the best gifts you can get from the LORD.
If you have a righteous father in your life, you will discover that either he is with you or have gone to be with the LORD, his voice will still be in your heart guiding you. Sometimes, when he is alive but not physically with you, his voice will still be with you to either guide, guard or empower you. It will appear in your heart during very critical moments of life.
THESE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT MAKE ME TO CONSIDER IT FOOLISH TO SAY WE DO NOT NEED FATHERING.
Yes, we do not need the fathering of expired fathers, and those who have departed from the LORD and are now following their own ways, enthroning lawlessness in the Church, but we need the fathering of righteous fathers who are still standing with God and showing us the right way.
We need their voices in our lives to guide us through the darkness of this world. So, do not say we do not need fathers, say we do not need some fathers. Period!
The only fathers we do not need are the likes or the breed of 1 Kings 13, who misled and got the young prophet killed. Those are ungodly, crafty, sinful, and evil men who tend not to understand justice; they are lawless spiritual fathers who have lost their spark against wickedness and now sleeps with it.
We do not need them because they will hinder the emergence of the glorious Church.
I decided to make sure none of such fathers have my ears, regard, or honor again because when they had it between 1993 and 2006, they almost ruined my life, and if I had died then I don’t know what my eternal destiny would have been. The Bible says;
“Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law contend with them.” Proverbs 28:5 NKJV
I will keep contending with anyone regarded as father who allows the spirit of wickedness to thrive in the church. If you call that disrespect it is because you have forsaken the law hence praising the wicked. The voice of the righteous fathers we sat under will not allow us to align with the wicked fathers we have in Church today.
Their voices follow us wherever we go and the LORD uses them to guide us in His ways because the voices taught us God’s ways.
For instance, my spiritual father is not with me here. In fact, he has not been with me as he use to be for over 19 years because circumstances both of us cannot control, but His voice has been with me. God have been using it to guide me in critical seasons of my life.
A generation without the voice of righteous fathers in their hearts will become derailed under wicked and lawless fathers.
Talking about the plague of having a spiritual father who you do not know has departed from the ways of the LORD, and has become lawless, there are no words. I have seen so many destinies slain by such fathers.
THEY HAVE SONS WHO COVER THEIR WICKEDNESS CALLING IT COVERING OF NAKEDNESS.
The Bible supports us covering a father’s nakedness but do not support us covering a father’s wickedness or lawlessness.
The two are not the same.
If you cover your father’s nakedness, like the two sons of Noah did, you will be blessed, but if you cover your father’s wickedness or lawlessness like Jonathan did, the sword of divine judgment will fall on you in the day of harvest or the day of rewards like it fell on both Jonathan and his father, Saul.
Present day spiritual fathers train their sons to cover their wickedness and lawlessness in the guise of covering their nakedness, that is why the sons are cut off by the wild beast.
They operate like accursed children in their generation, saying things they ought not to say and exposing themselves to the wild beats like Jonathan exposed himself to the sword.
You will die under the judgment of your lawless and wicked spiritual father if you cover his wickedness or lawlessness.
God sent this word to warn you.
There is so much we can share on these weighty matters of God’s kingdom, but this is a devotional not a book. Every Righteous father has nakedness that sons must cover, but they do not have wickedness or lawlessness. You must learn how to spot the difference and not cover what will destroy you in the long run.
If we cover our father’s nakedness, God will bless us but if we cover their wickedness or lawlessness, we will not be blessed. Let Jonathan remain a standard in that regards.
A SPIRITUAL FATHER MAY NOT BE WICKED TOWARDS YOU, HIS CHURCH OR ANY MAN, BUT CAN BE WICKED TOWARDS GOD.
Sadly, not everyone can recognize when a spiritual father has become lawless and wicked towards God, especially if he has an image and is very charismatic.
Personally, I came to discover that if you are a child of God indeed, the Spirit of God will make you know when a spiritual father have become wicked towards God and lawless; He will show you through dreams, visions, or other forms of divine encounters. Other times He will organised you to stumble into things that will reveal it to you like it happened to me in 1996 while under one of them.
Jonathan discovered that his father had become wicked towards the LORD, but still covered him. Yes, He knew his father was lawless and wicked towards the LORD, and still stuck with him.
His staying with him was what covered the father’s lawlessness and wickedness towards God. But Samuel withdrew from Saul when he found out the man had become wicked towards God.
Sometimes, We cover people by sticking to people, and uncover them by withdrawing from them.
When it comes to fathers, you cover either the wickedness or lawlessness of your father by sticking with them despite their wickedness and lawlessness. Sadly, People who do that will not live long enough to fulfill their destinies like Jonathan.
The young prophet from Judah was also someone who covers the lawlessness and wickedness of spiritual fathers that was why he followed the expired prophet home. If he had no such tendencies, he would not have followed him home and had himself killed.
It is my prayer that none of us will end either like the Young Prophet from Judah or like Jonathan in Jesus precious name. Amen!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“And David said to him, “Where have you come from?” So he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.”
Then David said to him, “How did the matter go? Please tell me.” And he answered, “The people have fled from the battle, many of the people are fallen and dead, and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.” 2 Samuel 1:3-4 NKJV