TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Thursday 8th July 2021)

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” ‘I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 NKJV

WELCOME TO THE 189TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!

We thank God for giving us another day. Day unto day we have seen His faithfulness and marvelous deeds. If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, we would not have been here today. As children of God, so much is against us that if God has not been for us, we would have been consumed.

Come to think of it, the entire hierarchy of darkness is against us. Every soul who not saved is a potential weapon of the devil against us. Every Christian who is a hypocrite is a potential weapon of the devil against us. Some who are against us do not know they are against us, because the battle is not just to kill, steal or destroy but to push us to sin against our GOD.

Indeed, if it had not been the LORD who was on our side, these actual and potential weapons of Satan against our eternal lives and earthly peace would have succeeded. Then they would have been swayed to swallow us up quick because of the constant wrath of the devil burning against us. Blessed be the LORD who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.

Many of us do not know that the attack of the devil against our souls is not just to make the earth hot for us by inflicting us with sicknesses, or attacking us with poverty, or sufferings. It is also to make sure we do not live a life that is worthy of our calling in Christ Jesus. This he does using those with capacity to be an actual or potential weapon of the enemy.

The rate of destruction today by the instrumentality of human weapons of the enemy is alarming. There are clear and immediate spiritual dangers right before so many of us in the faith. The chief being the desecration of the consecrated. That is why our devotional text today is very important.

BUT FIRST, LET US LOOK AT FEW THINGS ABOUT THE GLORY OF THE LORD.

Those who have been following the word of the LORD in our lips must have heard us speak about the glory of the LORD. The Bible tells us that the glory of God is the storehouse of God’s goodness, manifestations, gifts, callings, graces, and etc. That is where all we need comes from. That is why certain promises we receive from God do not come to pass until GOD unleash His glory upon us.

I don’t know if God has spoken to you of something He wants to do for you, in you, or through you that is yet to come to pass. May be some prophets may have told you to give some money to activate them to come to pass, and perhaps you have done so yet it has not come to pass. God sent this word this morning to tell you that His glory manifesting in and through you is the key to seeing that thing Come to pass.

It takes the manifestation of the glory of God in man for God’s will to be done in or through man as established in Heaven. That is why the ultimate vision of GOD for us is that He comes into our lives and tabernacle in us. He wants to tabernacle in us to unleash His glory on the earth.

When God comes into our lives, our friends and enemies will know He has come. He will begin to guide us with amazing lights and understanding on issues of life. Darkness will be driven away and we will have not war to fight about from the usually everyday challenges of life. People who were not originally designed to be part of our destiny will suddenly withdraw from us or become hostile.

When God comes into you and dwell in you, whatever and whoever is not of God in your life will begin to react against you; whoever carries and unclean spirit that is assigned to you by hell, will begin to react. Yes, there are people who carry unclean spirits assigned by hell to make sure others do not make it to Heaven.

There are not just individuals but even churches. Jesus called such churches gates of hell or synagogues of Satan. A lot are here on earth to make sure people do not make it to Heaven. It may surprise you, but that is the truth. There are also ministers of the gospel filled with the spirit of hell. They function as agents of darkness.

ALL THESE WILL WITHDRAW FROM YOU WHEN THE GLORY OF THE LORD SIT ON YOU!

Everything that is not of God that may have attached itself to your life has a way of reacting when God comes in to tabernacle in you. But all that is the burden attached to the blessing of having God unleash His glory upon you. Because it is better for God to dwell in me and man stay away from me than for man to stay with me and God stay away from me.

When man stays with you and God does not, your life will be full of problems. But when God lives in you (and maybe man refuse to live with you), your life will be full of peace. The Bible says,

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4 NKJV

If you look at this scripture carefully, you will discover that there are tears that cannot be wiped away from men until God own and tabernacle in them. If you try to wipe such tears away by sowing seed, fasting and prayer, running after and looking for prophets who should speak into your life, bringing anything they tell you to bring or using whatever they instructed you to use in prayer, they will never be wiped away.

Sadly, so many are trying to wipe away tears that can only be wiped away when God tabernacles or live in us. Tears like persistent poverty or spiritual attacks and the like. Whatever evil work in a man’s life that deliverance ministers may have blamed on what they call evil foundation or altars can only be when God comes into our lives to tabernacle in us.

That is why I tell people it’s not the presence of an evil foundation in their lives that is responsible for their problems but the absence of the foundation of the LORD in their lives. When God tabernacles your life, the Bible says no evil will befall you. Whatever cannot befall God will not befall you.

NOW HOW DO WE COME TO THE REALM WHERE GOD WILL TABERNACLE IN US?

Our devotional text today is full of the answers. Because to me there is no other answer that can be more accurate than the one God Himself gave through Apostle Paul as captured in our devotional text.

A major highlight in the text says;

As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” ‘I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”

The only thing to do to come into that realm where God tabernacles people is to use His saving grace upon our lives to come out of things that will not let Him dwell in us. We make use of that grace by fasting, praying, and separating from anything considered unclean by GOD (not by religion). It could be a church, a business that is defiling you, a friend or any other carnal relationship, or etc.

It could even be a paradigm to shift away from; a thought system or mindset to dissolve by the power of scriptural revelations. The point is, you can use God’s saving grace upon your life to discern the things, the places or people God wants you to come out from, and come out from them.

The word remains,

“Come out from among them and be separate … and I will receive you.”

Hallelujah!!

As we bring this to a close, I want to submit to you that there are dimensions of God you will never know until you come out of things that are spiritually unclean – marriages considered in Heaven as unclean, businesses considered in Heaven as unclean, Relationships considered in Heaven as unclean, Churches considered in Heaven as unclean, families considered in Heaven as unclean, and etc.

God will never unleash more of Himself into your life if you have not used His grace upon your life to walk away from things unclean.

My prayer for us today is that we stop shortchanging our destinies through illegal attachments and alliances.

MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY;

“O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. Now in return for the same(I speak as to children), you also be open.

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?”

“And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.”

‘I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 6:11-7:1 NKJV