Who has the final say? Jehovah has the final say! Father, we thank You for the gift of life, we praise Your Name for whom You Are. There is no one like You Lord. From everlasting to everlasting You remaineth God.
Hallow be Thy Name, Father let Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven… Forgive us our trespass …and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from all evil.
This is the first Friday of the year, we discussed early in the week “hitherto the Lord has lead us…” me think it will be good to say a big thank you to the Only One Who has remained Faithful to us all through the years, to appreciate Him the way He has lead us.
Though that “one thing” or “jackpot” you have planned to win has not happened, but “if not for God, who has keep you alive to still plan and think”. In one accord let us say- “THANK YOU, LORD”!
As we praisefully thank God from our heart, He will do that only Him will do for you.
In praising God also I want you to consider ways you have fallen short of his glory and begin to ask God for His mercy and forgiveness of Your sins against Him, especially in the area of ungratefulness.
A sister told me of a patient that underwent a surgical process to deliver her baby, she develop complication that lead her to their hospital she was under intensive care for a month which amounted her bill to #1m, being unable to pay the bill, she stay back after she was discharge but along the line she died.
Beloved, are you living on ventilator or need oxygen to breath? The Lord kept you, will you jump on your feet right now, stop telling the story of woes and start praising God. Begin to confess your ungrateful attitude to your Creator now.
In Lk 19:1-10, when Zacchaeus encountered Jesus, having realized his sinfulness, he resolved to return fourfold to the people he defrauded and also give to the poor. So he moved from being a taker to being a giver. He also had a change of heart that made him to restore all he dishonestly took from people.
What is the Lord pointing to you as you are reading this devotion, repent of it and as Jesus told him in verse 9 “ today salvation has come to his house. The Lord will say same to you.
The way to victory can only be done by God and God’s way. So after the confession of your short comings, ask God to lead the way and you follow Him. Like Moses resolve never to move until He leads you, that way, we will not miss our victory that is ahead of us
“Can the rush grow up without mire?” Job 8:11
The rush is spongy and hollow, and even so is a hypocrite; there is no substance or stability in him. It is shaken to and fro in every wind just as formalists yield to every influence; for this reason the rush is not broken by the tempest, neither are hypocrites troubled with persecution. I would not willingly be a deceiver or be deceived; perhaps the text for this day may help me to try myself whether I be a hypocrite or no.
The rush by nature lives in water, and owes its very existence to the mire and moisture wherein it has taken root; let the mire become dry, and the rush withers very quickly. Its greenness is absolutely dependent upon circumstances, a present abundance of water makes it flourish, and a drought destroys it at once.
Is this my case? Do I only serve God when I am in good company, or when religion is profitable and respectable? Do I love the Lord only when temporal comforts are received from His hands? If so I am a base hypocrite, and like the withering rush, I shall perish when death deprives me of outward joys.
But can I honestly assert that when bodily comforts have been few, and my surroundings have been rather adverse to grace than at all helpful to it, I have still held fast my integrity? then have I hope that there is genuine vital godliness in me. The rush cannot grow without mire, but plants of the Lord’s right hand planting can and do flourish even in the year of drought.
A godly man often grows best when his worldly circumstances decay. He who follows Christ for his bag is a Judas; they who follow for loaves and fishes are children of the devil; but they who attend Him out of love to Himself are His own beloved ones.
Lord, let me find my life in Thee, and not in the mire of this world’s favour or gain.
Beloved, you cannot afford to serve God only when all is well and moving smooth for you. In your trying period will you renounce Him? In your moments of trials, will you forsake His ways? Remember the Lord said, He will spit you out if you are neither hot nor cold. And if you refuse to worship Him or serve Him, He will command stones to praise Him (Lk 19:40). Beloved, inanimate objects will replace you, God forbid! That will never be our portion.
Never think you are doing God a favour by serving or worshiping Him. Staying near to Him or living close to him is for our own good, so stay very close. Him alone knows the way; allow Him to lead you:
“And the Lord shall guide thee continually.” Isaiah 58:11
“The Lord shall guide thee.” Not an angel, but JEHOVAH shall guide thee. He said He would not go through the wilderness before His people, an angel should go before them to lead them in the way; but Moses said, “If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.”
Christian, God has not left you in your earthly pilgrimage to an angel’s guidance: He Himself leads the van. You may not see the cloudy, fiery pillar, but Jehovah will never forsake you. Notice the word shall—”The Lord shall guide thee.” How certain this makes it! How sure it is that God will not forsake us! His precious “shalls” and “wills” are better than men’s oaths. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
Then observe the adverb continually. We are not merely to be guided sometimes, but we are to have a perpetual monitor; not occasionally to be left to our own understanding, and so to wander, but we are continually to hear the guiding voice of the Great Shepherd; and if we follow close at His heels, we shall not err, but be led by a right way to a city to dwell in.
If you have to change your position in life; if you have to emigrate to distant shores; if it should happen that you are cast into poverty, or uplifted suddenly into a more responsible position than the one you now occupy; if you are thrown among strangers, or cast among foes, yet tremble not, for “the Lord shall guide thee continually.” There are no dilemmas out of which you shall not be delivered if you live near to God, and your heart be kept warm with holy love.
He goes not amiss who goes in the company of God. Like Enoch, walk with God, and you cannot mistake your road. You have infallible wisdom to direct you, immutable love to comfort you, and eternal power to defend you. “Jehovah”—mark the word—”Jehovah shall guide thee continually.”
Will you decide to follow Jesus today despite all the challenges the devil is bring your way? Zacchaeus climb a sycamore tree just to see Jesus and he was save, what are you willing to do to receive Christ into your heart/ house today? or are you following Jesus for His bag like Judas did?
Beloved, resolve to walk with God like Enoch and when that’s done, the Lord will lead you continually to your victories.
Praise the Lord!
Remain blessed in the Lord.
