TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER 2022)
“For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD.
For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:8-13 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 244TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
Glory to God in the Highest and peace to men and women of good will.
It is not just a new day today, but a fresh and beautiful month from our LORD GOD. The 9th month of the year.
The number Nine in Biblical numbering represents some beautiful things which should shape what to expect from the LORD this month. Do not forget, God blesses us according to times and seasons. Meaning, according to the prophetic meanings of the times and season. Which in my opinion should be unlocked so that we can walk in the blessing.
The number nine represents harvest. It also talks of fruitfulness or promises brought to fruition. It is a number for the word fulfilment or delivery.
For example, Jesus healed ten lepers only one came back to say thanks. Nine disappeared. Why was Jesus troubled? The number nine and what it represents was the reason.
Obviously, from His reaction, it is clear that He never expected anything from the non-Jew but from the nine Jews. The Bible says;
“And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:15-19 NKJV
In other words, the harvest, the fulfilment, delivery and the fruition never returned. It was the Samaritan that returned. No one will be happy if their harvest did not return to them after the seed of kindness has been sown. That was the case.
It was a prophetic worry not just a worry for lack of gratitude. Because there were many Jesus healed that never even said “thank you” and He never troubled Himself about them. For instance the man that was at the pool and the one born blind.
The first thing to expect this month is the harvest of what we may have done from January to August. If it was good, we should praise the LORD for its going to be good, but if it was bad, it should worry us.
This is not a joke. Let the sons of Issachar understand. It is a season of Harvest; if we do not get the full harvest it will start to drop bit by bit from this month.
SO, DO NOT JOKE WITH THE SEASON.
I listened to a servant of God sometimes ago; a natural Jew saying it is at this time of the Year that life spans are determined.
I believed him because of the patterns in GOD’s moves that I have seen in scriptures that happened around this time of the year. The harvest of what we seeded either good or bad begins to come this month. If it is more life, it will begin to drop this month and if it is not, it will also begin to drop this month.
Due to this unique nature of the month, we will be starting another journey with the Cry of the Spirit; this time it will be on Biblical fasting. We just finished a journey on spiritual fathering. If you missed it go back to last month’s devotional.
There are two reasons for this journey.
The first is to help those of us who may not have seeded, in months past, good deeds so that we will not be judged. The second is to position those of us who may have seeded good deeds to receive the harvest the LORD has determined.
Like I said, we may not see the full and significant harvest this month, but something will begin to form this month.
I believe as we all embark on this journey of faith, the LORD our God, who created times and seasons will show us mercies and do in our lives even the things we do not deserve, as He has always done.
But this prayer runs contrary to the principles of Harvest because in harvest time, a man gets what he deserves.
Meaning, if God where to give us the mercies and blessings we do not deserve, it will be because of the seed Jesus sowed with His own life on the Cross. That seed, and what we may have done with similar seeds sown in our lives in time past, will determine the harvest we will get in the month. I hope you understand me.
He said in His word;
“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Romans 9:14-16 NKJV
GOD’S INTENTION IN THIS SCRIPTURE FOR SOMEONE WHO WILL BELIEVE IS CLEAR; TO SHOW MERCY TO THOSE HE WILLS.
It is a sovereign thing He does that cancels all evil seeds one may have sown that would have resulted in our ruin.
You see, God is a great King. He is the sovereign ruler who rules to overrule all evil realms, all ungodly thrones, all satanic dominions, all spiritual courts of affliction in the spirit realm, and even things that goes against us in His own court, the court of divine settlement.
Yes, sometimes in the court of divine settlement, things could go
against us for violating God’s own laws and rules. If His mercies are not deployed to speak for us, we might be ruined.
The consolation is, showing mercy is the glory of Kings, and our God is a great KING. It is part of His glory to show mercies by not giving us what we deserve.
But we also have a responsibility.
The Bible says “there is forgiveness with Him so that He may be feared.” So, if He forgives our sins and destroys all the evil seeds that we might have sown that would have given us unpleasant harvest this month, we are to pledge a life of repentance in return.
We are to decide not to go back to our sins again, and all that can only be effectively done on the faith position of Biblical fasting. Which brings us back to the Cry of the Holy Spirit on Biblical Fasting.
Biblical fasting is one way we secure, retain and activate God’s mercies in our lives. But let me share with you why looking at the Cry of the Holy Spirit on Biblical fasting this month is important.
As earlier stated, September is the month of Harvest, a season that ushers in the feasts of Tabernacle. Do not forget the seven feasts of the LORD that Israel celebrated – things that holds the revelation of the Calendar of God for the now. If you look at the feasts you will realize that before the feast of Tabernacle, there was the feast of Atonement.
The feast of Atonement is a season for afflicting the soul (an old testament way of putting the flesh under subjection) that preceded the feast of Tabernacle, the final of the seven. The Bible is clear on the many things Israel did during the feast.
THOSE THINGS WERE A SHADOW OF WHAT WAS TO COME, AND TODAY IT HAS COME.
Meaning, we no longer keep the feast the way it was kept then. In other words, the feast is to be kept today, not the way the Jews kept it in time past, but the way Christ fulfilled it.
Now, from the Bible light on how Christ fulfilled it, it is clear that the feast of Atonement is the sixth class of eternal life. In that class, Biblical fasting is required.
In other words, putting the flesh under subjection through Holy Ghost anointed fasting is a necessity. So, in a time like this, when we are expecting some harvest from the LORD, it is important that we re-enact the fulfilment of the feast in our lives so that the blessing of the month can come upon us. I hope you understand me!
There are seven ways we re-enact the fulfillment of the feast of Atonement of which Biblical fasting is one.
Now, fasting is not a monopoly of the Church. In fact, preachers and their congregants now pride themselves in fasting for 40 days and so forth.
Some wait till January to fast so they can use their fast to compel GOD to bless them in the year. Any fast that you go talking about, before, during, or after, or you go priding yourself in was a hunger strike.
Genuine fasting will humble you.
Fasting was not established by the LORD for compelling GOD to do something, priding ourselves, a public display or putting up a show of how spiritual or deep one is in GOD. We must understand what the Testimony of Jesus Christ in the Cry of the His Spirit say about Biblical fasting, so that we will not be engaging ourselves in the sacrifice of fools.
I believe the LORD is set to bless us this month with living truths on this platform like other months. We will discover that we do not fast to deal with Satan or make God do things. That is church fast cooked and baked in religion.
Do not forget, we have a lot in church today coming from a principality called “the spirit of religion” on parade. Many are caught up in it. They will engage on lengthy fast but get little or no result, becoming frustrated at the end.
We do not fast to compel God to do things or to deal with Satan. We fast because the LORD has dealt with Satan and the LORD want to do great things in our lives.
IT IS THEREFORE IMPORTANT THAT WE UNEARTH WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS ABOUT THE BEAUTIFUL ACT OF BIBLICAL FASTING.
Our devotional text today is full of living truths.
The text began with a warning not to listen to certain Prophets and ended up with an admonition to seek the LORD until He is found.
God is not against us listening to the voice of His prophets, but He is against us listening to the voice of prophets who counter prophesy His will. Most of them have brought in teachings and practices from the pits of hell that have ruined the lives of people.
I cannot forget the number of women who have told me how certain prophets they had in their lives come to sleep with them in dreams, and they wake up with the filthy experience. This is aside the number of those they have ruined through the deliverance inventions and fasting and prayer spree they institute for them.
When it comes to matters of the Spirit like this, it is very safe not to listen to the prophets. We must learn to listen to the more sure word of prophecy, the Bible.
The text says;
“For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD.
For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:8-13 NKJV
Israel had the experience we are having today. While God through Jeremiah had instructed them to stay in Babylon until the time appointed of their visitation, some prophets arose telling them to walk away even using valid things Moses wrote.
God had to speak through Jeremiah asking the people not to listen to such prophets.
IF IT WAS TODAY, THEY WOULD HAVE SAID JEREMIAH WAS ATTACKING OTHER PREACHERS BY ASKING PEOPLE NOT TO LISTEN TO THEM.
They would have accused him of hate the way we are being accused today, and say all manner of things, and cook all kinds of lies against him. They would have said he is creating division in the body of Christ.
But what he told them was later proven by time to be what the LORD wanted them to hear at that time. Time always vindicates the prophetic finger.
With all sense of humility I want to state this. I see so many famed preachers in Kenya copying what my wife and I do weekly, and some what we use to do on Tv, called Prophetic Insights.
Someone noted this and said it has never been seen in Kenya that pastors allow their wives to open prayers in Church like my wife and I do. Some had relegated their wives to the background and placed them under torment. Others killed them using sorcery and wickedness after finding other women in their congregations to be sleeping with.
But when we started, we knew what they said against us. But now they are copying us; doing exactly what some of them spoke against. Time will always prove what is right, right!
Believers must stop proving ignorance of the scriptures, and start reading the Bible so that they will not be fighting the voices God has raised in our generation to tell us what our famed and respected preachers are doing wrong.
The very things the Bible shows they are doing, which are harming our stake in God’s kingdom without we realizing it, are the very things these famed preachers are dishing out to many in the language of truth!
The text says “do not listen to them!”
It concluded with a beautiful Bible portion that demonstrates what Biblical fasting will accomplish in a man’s life. That portion says,
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. AND YOU WILL SEEK ME AND FIND ME, WHEN YOU SEARCH FOR ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART.”
Mark the condition to finding the LORD in this scripture; “seeking the LORD with the whole of your heart.” Biblical fasting will help us seek the LORD with the whole of our hearts. That is how it helps us to find the LORD more powerfully that we would have done ordinarily.
We continue from here tomorrow.
May the mercies of the LORD answer for us this month. May it deal with whatever we may have done that will turn into a harvest of unpleasant things in our lives this month.
As the harvest forces go into effect, may God’s great Mercies continue to say no to the unpleasant and yes to the pleasant that will be determined in Jesus precious name. Amen!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, That became my reproach. I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them.
Those who sit in the gate speak against me, And I am the song of the drunkards.
But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, Hear me in the truth of Your salvation.
Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.” Psalm 69:9-14 NKJV