TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 30TH AUGUST 2022)
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts and understanding, and engrave them upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
And it will nevermore be necessary for each one to teach his neighbour and his fellow citizen or each one his brother, saying, Know (perceive, have knowledge of, and get acquainted by experience with) the Lord, for all will know Me, from the smallest to the greatest of them.
For I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more.” Hebrew 8:10-12 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 242ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
The LORD our God is mighty! Glory to His great name for keeping us all through the days of this year. He has been awesome in His deeds and glorious in His ways.
It is in His glorious ways that we found eternal paths to plant our lives in. To Him belong all the glory.
Moses found the eternal paths when he experienced His glorious ways on mount Horeb. Remember when the LORD passed by Him proclaiming His mercies and how slow He is to anger; and how He shows mercies to a thousand generation.
The Bible says;
“He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.” Psalm 103:7-9 NKJV
This scripture, though found in the book of Psalms, contain some of the very words Moses heard from the glory of God, when he was on mount Horeb, seeking God to show him His glory.
Talking about God’s glory, its clear that there are people who get frightened when the phrase “God’s Glory” is mentioned.
Because of misunderstanding of certain scriptures, they feel if they see God’s glory they will die. But the Glory of the LORD has dimensions. There are dimensions that are for us on this side of eternity. And there are dimensions that are not for us and will never show up on this side.
The dimensions of God’s glory that are for man are redemptive in nature. Those ones can embrace even the worst sinner because the dimensions usually appear to transform the moral nature of man. It was those dimensions that shook the foundation of Moses when he saw them.
He came down with a face that was transformed completely. They had to put a veil on his face. But then Christ had not died, so they could still torch lives with GOD’s fury that usually accompanies that glory dimension. That was why there were amazing judgments, like the opening of the ground to swallow the rebels in those days.
But today, with the fulfillment of the sacrificial laws in the death of Christ, the dimension transforms when it touches any man or woman who seek the LORD. .
The Bible says;
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV
THE GLORY OF GOD TODAY TRANSFORMS THE MORAL NATURE OF MEN.
It gives us moral excellence and helps us to lead upright and just lives, in conformity to the will of our Heavenly Father. It is responsible for convictions of sin, righteousness and judgment.
In fact, without the glory of God, there can never be genuine salvation, because the anointing is not designed to change people. It is designed to teach and function as an ability to do things that cannot be done naturally. Only the glory facilitates genuine salvation of Souls.
Do not forget, Judas was so anointed by the LORD that he could raise the dead and cast out demons but her remained a son of perdition despite all that.
His life was a perfect example of the inability of the anointing to transform our moral nature. Even today we have anointed men and women who are immoral and filthy before GOD. They all attest to the fact that it is the glory that transforms our moral nature, not the anointing.
If the anointing has the capacity to transform our moral nation, there will be no preacher with a scandal on earth. But today we have many of us caught in all kinds of sinful and filthy things; despite our anointing. Most of us in ministry are some of the worst people still around because of our lack of repentance.
In fact, in most cases, the anointing has strengthened our hands in iniquity.
A lot of us preachers have developed hardness of heart because we live in sin and still find ourselves flowing in the anointing. We do not tremble at the word of the like the Sons of Eli. We are defiant when GOD confronts us for our sins.
WE REBUKE THOSE HE MAY BE USING AND WARN THEM NOT TO TOUCH US, THE LORD’S ANOINTED.
Sadly, we take the anointing that still flows through us despite our sins, wickedness and filthiness as a sign that our sins are no longer sins in GOD’s sight but permissive will of God or our weaknesses, which has become the delusions of many of us in ministry. But we forget that when God is pressed, He can use anything and anyone.
For instance, to arrest the senses of the prophet who became mad for money, he used a donkey. The donkey was forgotten after that day. To convict an apostle to be, and send him to the Threshing floor for repentance, He used a cock. To get the attention of Moses and send him to Egypt, He used a burning bush.
To manifest a prophecy that broke an economic siege that sat over Israel at one time, He used lepers. When God is pressed to seek and to save, He can use anyone or anything.
So, do not be proud if God is using you! Be humble! Even someone who is not heaven worthy can be used of GOD when Heaven is under pressure to save a soul or save souls, and that will not make the person Heaven worthy.
The anointing or being used of GOD are not a divine approval for making Heaven.
The anointing itself is simply a perfume that the Holy Spirit places on our lives so that God can use us to do His will. So, if you are living in sin and still find yourself used of God, do not relax about it. Be troubled about it because that is the easiest way to go to hell, while believing you are going to make Heaven.
The Bible says;
“[But] he who commits sin [who practices evildoing] is of the devil [takes his character from the evil one], for the devil has sinned (violated the divine law) from the beginning. The reason the Son of God was made manifest (visible) was to undo (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works the devil [has done].” 1 John 3:8 AMPC
This scripture makes it clear that living in sin is acquired. It was not our original nature. It was acquired from the evil one. That means living right is also acquired. It is not in the nature of a sinner to live right. Even God knows we cannot, hence making His glory available.
IT IS HIS GLORY THAT WORKS ON OUR MORAL NATURE TO RECEIVE THE ABILITY TO LIVE RIGHTEOUS AND BLAMELESS LIVES BEFORE GOD.
Prophesying about the salvation that was to come in our days, God’s ancient Prophet, Ezekiel reveals one major thing that will be done in the lives of mankind to save us from eternal judgment. He said;
“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” Ezekiel 36:24-27 NKJV
This scripture presents one major miracle that the anointing cannot perform; it presents a miracle that only the glory can perform. And that miracle is the secrecy of genuine salvation.
The miracle is the creation of a new spirit and a new heart. When that happens, we begin to posses a heart and mind with the imprint of how God want us to live. Our devotional text captures the result of the manifestation of this promise as presented (after the cross) in the book of Hebrews.
It says;
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts and understanding, and engrave them upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
And it will nevermore be necessary for each one to teach his neighbour and his fellow citizen or each one his brother, saying, Know (perceive, have knowledge of, and get acquainted by experience with) the Lord, for all will know Me, from the smallest to the greatest of them.
For I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more.” Hebrew 8:10-12 AMPC
Most times when our generation of believers read this scripture, we easily zero into the last verse of this scripture.
IT IS A BEAUTIFUL SCRIPTURE THAT IS LIKE SOOTHING TO OUR SOULS.
Everyone wants their sins forgiven; sadly, for some of us, even when we are still living in them, God should spare us the consequences while we break His heart with our rebellion.
So, the best part of the scripture remains the part that says, “for I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more.”
But, many refuse to realize that no part of the scripture was written to encourage a life of sin. If any part appears that way to us, it is because we are sinful ourselves and are looking for a scripture to use in hardening our hearts instead of to repent.
If you read the entire scripture you will discover that for a man to come to the place where their lawless deeds will be remembered no more, they must be given a new heart and a new spirit by the LORD. It is when we do not purposely repeat our lawless deeds that they will not be remember.
Meaning, just as we are the ones who cause God to remember to do certain things He may have promised to do in our lives through prayer so are we the one who cause Him to remember our lawless deeds through the practice of evil doings.
To come to the place where our lawless deeds will not be remembered again, we must have a new heart and a new spirit through regeneration. When regeneration happens, it will result in God imprinting His laws upon our minds, even upon the innermost thoughts and understanding of our being, leading to the fear of the LORD.
In other words, during genuine salvation encounters and renewal encounters with the glory of the LORD, God will engrave His laws, ways, will, or principles to live by upon our new heart, leading to a lifestyle of holiness, purity or righteousness. That is when our sins and lawless deeds will no longer be remembered.
The Bible says whoever experiences this work of God’s glory will no longer need anyone to help them know or perceive the LORD. They will be able to do it by themselves without any help.
It has been a 31-Day journey of faith with the Cry of the Spirit on spiritual fathering. Yesterday we say that a spiritual father must make Christ the center of the life of his sons or daughters and nothing else. But it is important to also understand that it will take the Glory of God working in the heart of a man to have Christ at the center of his life.
A spiritual father, therefore, must know how to network with the glory so that his sons and daughters will be able to come to the place of 2 Corinthians 3:17 that spoke about being transformed into the image or spirit nature of Christ from glory to glory.
There is so much we can still glean from these scripture but this is a devotional. May the LORD use what we have already seen to help us out in Jesus precious name. Amen!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!
“In fact, their minds were grown hard and calloused [they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding]; for until this present day, when the Old Testament (the old covenant) is being read, that same veil still lies [on their hearts], not being lifted [to reveal] that in Christ it is made void and done away.
Yes, down to this [very] day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their minds and hearts.
But whenever a person turns [in repentance] to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).
And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:14-18 AMPC