TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 1ST OCTOBER 2022)
Now, I open my mouth; My tongue speaks in my mouth. My words come from my upright heart; My lips utter pure knowledge.
The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:2-4 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 274TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
We bless the LORD our God for another month. I do not know how our lives would have turned out this year if HIS AMAZING GRACE had not been decreed upon us. I do not know how things would have been with us if not for Him being with us.
We have had so many enemies both within and without that would have sank us down.
Personally, I saw so many things that would have destroyed our lives and destinies happen this year.
You find yourself pastoring and taking care of people who you do not know mean you no good. You find people looking kind and volunteering to work for you, only to discover that they were planted in your office to look for non-existing scandals and send to those who sent them.
You find your Character being misrepresented by those you once fed and sustained, to those who do not know you, and you find them easily believing whatever they heard; things that do not really make sense. But you also find the LORD not handing you over to their will. Hallelujah!!
Indeed, God has been good to us.
One of the most lethal attacks you will ever face will come through those you entrusted a part of your life to, maybe through the critical responsibilities you assign to them.
I have been hearing of how foreign ministers have been brought down in Kenya by seemingly innocent and helpful members who may either be working in their offices, places of residence, or taking care of critical parts of their ministries.
Thank GOD we did not bring any to our home, it was just at the office and in church, but the experience have been lethal and bitter all at the same.
I don’t know how true, but I was told that the eminent Apostle Das, who we were told did a fantastic apostolic work that have now been polluted, lived in Kenya for only five years. The rest of the years He was coming from the United States to work here. Then I asked myself what will make such a great man to do that?
Now I know, Kenya is not a place you live in and do authentic ministry, except the LORD be with you. If you are here for games and stealing, you will have no problems because there are companions everywhere. But if you are here for real ministry, you will see hell.
THE MOST LETHAL WEAPON OF HELL AGAINST US IS ALWAYS SOME OF THOSE THE LORD USE US TO KEEP FROM HUNGER, SHAME, DESTRUCTION AND ETC.
Ordinarily you will not expect someone you took from ashes and sustained under God, ministered to, and assisted immensely to be against you for any reason. You will expect them to be loyal and faithful. But sadly, such expectations usually fail in Kenya.
Some of the people we have given our best to are the very ones who have done the worst things to us.
Indeed, like they had done to other foreign ministers who were in Kenya before us, the enemy would have indeed brought us down if not for the LORD. The seasons I faced those attacks were the worst seasons of my life. I have seen things that you will not see anywhere else in the world, as a minister of the gospel who is laying down his life for the course of the Kingdom.
But we have also been encouraged by the LORD using some good brethren among us.
Though what you experience in the hands of the bad ones has a way of making you suspicious of even such beautiful souls; God will always have a remnant that He can use to protect and fight for His servants in any nation of city under Heaven. .
HE WILL ALWAYS HAVE SONS OF PEACE TO HELP HIS SERVANTS DEAL WITH THE SONS OF BELIA.
We have seen such sons and daughters of peace speaking for us and fighting side by side us in the war.
We will, therefore, remain strong in battle with the strength of the LORD Host, believing Him for consistent deliverance from the sword of the stealth enemy operators, who in one moment will appear to be for you and in another will be reaching out for your throat.
However, for what He has already done, from the first day of this year to the first day of this tent month of the year, I will not be doing good if I did not join our Bible Father David, to say;
“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,” Let Israel now say— “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;
Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; Then the swollen waters Would have gone over our soul.”
Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 124:1-8 NKJV
This beautiful Psalm captures all the LORD has done for us this year. The greatest attacks came by the hands of men not demons. And trust me, that is usually worse than demonic attacks.
Men have the capacity to swallow you up even if you are full of the Holy Ghost to your teeth. But demons cannot come near you of you carry the fire of the LORD.
It may interest you to know that in the war to stop the work of GOD in any generation, men have always been the most lethal weapons. For instance, Paul was so anointed that devils could not withstand his prayer. But false brethren moved against him. A man called Alexander the copper smith did him so much evil that he had to ask the LORD to reward him. But no demon could do any of that to him.
It is very sad that most of the People who work around the anointed do not usually fear the anointing they carry, but devils fear it. That is the paradox.
MEN WILL ASSAULT AND SAY VERY EVIL THINGS ABOUT A PERSON THAT DEVILS WILL NOT DARE MENTION IN THEIR KINGDOM.
And you find God allowing it to happen in most cases, and not striking those doing so because He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. However, during those moments, He will make sure your remain strong despite the battles.
He make sure the strange people you took for spiritual protégé or children do not ruin your life. David said,
“Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:
That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:
That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousand in our streets:
That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.
Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.” Psalm 144:11-15 KJV
Indeed, happy are the people who are in such a state. A state where all humans that would have brought them down cannot bring them down. A state of deliverance from strange children.
A state where people who are anointed by the devil to speak lies against you in the language of truth (using the facts they may have gathered about your life), will watch their evil intentions defeated by the LORD.
Happy are a people who are in a state where those who speak vanity and have the heritage of the right hand of falsehood do not prevail against them.
Psalm 124 is a Psalm of victory over humans who have yielded to unjust grievances and wickedness to hurt us badly.
Sometimes we celebrate victories because demons could not ruin us, let us also celebrate victories because we were not given over to the teeth of our enemies; yes, victories over stealth enemy operators who could not ruin us because the LORD refused to give us over to their teeth when their floods rose against us.
I declare that if your life is sandwiched by humans who have stopped your progress, made you unfruitful, it killed your zeal for the LORD, may this month be a month of God’s marvelous helps against them.
May the LORD defeat every evil machination against your life, family, and future in Jesus precious name.
I PRAY THAT WHAT THE LORD DID FOR US WILL BE DONE FOR YOU ALSO IN JESUS PRECIOUS NAME.
That in this new month, God will deactivate all with a right hand of falsehood, and a tongue of vanity around your life. He will put you in a state where no weapon formed among men against you will prosper.
May you be celebrated wherever the enemy wants you relegated.
May the LORD put a song in your mouth wherever the enemy want to put a cry of pain in your mouth. May He wipe away any tear you may have in your eyes this month because of people who will not want you see the light of any day of the month.
May His Holy Spirit make you smile at your enemies. May He give you peace where any human wants to give you war.
May He raise His banner of love over you when the banner of false accusations, blackmail, evil report, slander or any other form of wickedness is being raised against you. May the LORD show Himself mighty on your behalf, and turn back floods rising against you this month.
May it be one of the best months of October for your life.
I do not know what you expect but I expect God’s marvelous helps as I do His will. Yes, as I serve my generation according to His will this month, I expect Him to be with me as a mighty terrible one; dealing with me based on His righteousness and faithfulness.
I expect Him to help me against the enemy that will be too strong for me this month. If you expect the same, then brace up for His outbreaks. The Bible says “the expectations of the righteous shall not be cut off.”
Our expectations shall not be cut off because they align with His plans and purposes for our lives. The Bible says blessed is she that believes for they shall be a performance of those things told her by the LORD. Let us believe, let us make sure His word for our lives be our focus this month.
The Bible also says;
“Search from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these shall fail; Not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them. Isaiah 34:16 NKJV
Like we shared yesterday during the Marriage Matters Bible Class, this scripture is not about getting a mate as in a life partner. This is about the inability of the word of the LORD to fail in our lives.
IT IS A SCRIPTURE THAT REVEALS HOW THINGS GOD SAY TO US ARE PERFORMED.
It says “whatever the LORD commands, His Holy Spirit gathers.” The essence is to bring it to pass. That is why the expectations of the righteous cannot be cut off. They are built on commanded things that the Spirit of the LORD is under mandate to gather, and then bring to pass in their lives.
That brings us to our focus for the next 30 days of this month.
Our devotional text today is the shortest we have ever had since we began writing devotionals in 2015. But it is full of truth, like every other one we have used.
It says;
Now, I open my mouth; My tongue speaks in my mouth. My words come from my upright heart; My lips utter pure knowledge.
The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:2-4 NKJV
The high point of this scripture is the part that says “the Spirit of the LORD has made me, and the Breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
We were made by the Spirit of the LORD, and can only be sustained by His breath. That is why when God commands a word of blessing to happen in our lives, like the ones we have already heard on this platform, wisdom demands that we develop and sustain a healthy relationship with the Holy Spirit, the one who will gather the words and brings them to pass in our lives.
Commanded blessings or decrees like the ones we have on this devotional today will fail, irrespective of how strong our expectations may be, except we develop, maintain, and make sure a healthy relationship exist between us and the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not a bird, an oil in a bottle, or a wind. Neither does he have a symbol today. He is a person who wants to be our best friend.
To this end therefore, we will be beginning a fresh journey with the LORD today; we will be looking at the Cry of the Holy Spirit on “The Holy Spirit.” Yes, only He can tell us about Himself.
In others words, we will be looking at what He says in the Holy Scriptures about Himself. Understand that we can never have a healthy relationship with the Holy Spirit until we discover what He said about Himself.
It is my prayer that as we embark on this fresh journey of Truth, you and I will come to fresh dimensions of the Spirit in Jesus precious name. Amen
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
And again, Isaiah says: “There shall be a root of Jesse; and He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in Him the Gentiles shall hope.”
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:12-13 NKJV