Devotional Details

THE CHILDREN’S BREAD

9^th. MAY 2022

“Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” So, He spoke this parable to them, saying:

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”

Luke 15:1-7, NKJV.

Shalom Child of God! In this week’s devotional, I would like us to ponder on the voice of God, not just while we are reading this, but most importantly, throughout this week. Let’s talk to God about His voice, and let us desire to hear from the Holy Spirit because He speaks to us all, if we hear Him or not.

Jesus came to search for His own; His lost sheep. Jesus is our Chief-Shepherd, who came into this world, to make a way for those of us, who, though belong to Him, yet, have lost our sense of purpose, identities, authority, and power to the evil one! He came to set the captives free, and mend the broken hearted (Isaiah 61:1). He came to repossess for us, the authority, and power, which rightly belongs to us; His sons, and daughters.

For our good, Jesus became everything in one, to us and for us, in order to leave behind, a blue-print for us to emulate; how we should live our lives, lead, teach, prophesy, obey, love, sacrifice, endure, serve, fight, etc. He is a Master-Repairer, the Master-Builder (Carpenter), Master-Fisher (Redeemer of our souls), Master-Teacher, Master-Apostle, Master-Prophet, Master- Evangelist, etc.

Jesus, was never trained in the fishing occupation, never took a lesson, or a class in fishing. He never even had fishing as a hobby, never had any degree in these areas, yet, He was able to tell professional fishermen, how, where, and when to perfectly fish, to catch net breaking, and boat sinking load of fish!

While He walked amongst us, Jesus was wealthier than king Solomon, and any billionaire, who was born in His days, as well as any, who is yet to be born here on earth, and even beyond. He was so wealthy, that He could have easily afforded to spray mint-money-notes like confetti in every party He attended if He wanted to, but because that was not the reason why He came, He only called forth money, when it was necessary, and not otherwise (John 2:1-11, Matt. 17:27, Matt. 14:15-21, Matt. 15: 32-39)! Jesus, because of His unmerited Grace to us, though wealth personified, He became poor, that we in, and through Him, might become rich (2 Cor. 8: 9).

From our foundational Bible verses, we see Jesus again in action, against the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law, on behalf of those, who He came for; His own, though sinners! These prodigal sons, and daughters, or stray-away-kids as I would love to reffer to them, who belong to the Kingdom of Heaven, heard Jesus’ preaching, and there was definitely something about the preaching of Jesus, which drew them to come to listen to His preaching. This of course, also drew the attention of those, who seemingly had the knowledge of the kingdom of God, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the law to Jesus Christ, but for a different reason from that, which drew the sinners to Christ. From their perspective, Jesus, was committing an egregious offense, such, that was unforgivable according to their tradition, by even allowing the sinners to come near to Him. Yet, they forgot what the Scriptures, which they used as a tool to condemn others, declares:

“Return to the One against whom you have so blatantly rebelled, O children of Israel.”

Isaiah 31:6, Berean Study Bible,

The Word of God, Jesus Christ, was drawing His run-away children to Himself, in order to deliver them from their bondage, but the Pharisees and teachers of the law, who should have done that, but did not, for reasons not acceptable unto God, were offended by Jesus’ audacity to overlook them and do that, which they neglected, or just refused to do. In my humble opinion as a human being, I do believe that the Pharisees did indeed take care of the people under their care, but the only problem was, that they did it according to their own ways, not the way that pleased God! For them, that Jesus dared to even show up, was a slap in their faces, as they feared to lose the respect they had with the people. They also feared to lose their positions, should people begin to accept Jesus, and His teaching. Therefore, they had to oppose Jesus Christ with everything and every trick, that they possibly could afford to deploy, and especially with something they felt, should taint His reputation, by calling Him a friend of sinners with the intention of making Him out, to become a chief-sinner before everyone, which still back-fired on them because it is better to be a chief- sinner like Apostle Paul, who indeed was, but whole heartedly repented from his foolishness and gave himself away to God for the service of the Kingdom of Heaven, than to be a chief-apostle in the eyes of men and women of the world, yet, the greatest, and unrepentant sinner in the eyes of God Almighty.

Jesus is such a Game-Changer, like no other, that I have ever read about, seen, come across, or even heard about as He defeated them all, by winning them in their own game! I want us to know that from the perspective of the world, king Herod was richer than Jesus Christ. In the days of Jesus here on earth, the Pharisees were perceived by people as richer, and more knowlegable than Jesus; many of them lived in luxury houses as opposed to Jesus. Some of them cruised around in chariots, Jesus did not, rather, he hopped around in little fishing boats, and donkeys! Obviously that would not have been possible today, if you get what I am driving at. These people had been around much longer than Jesus in the success business. Nonetheless, He began to lecture them, teaching them with one parable, after another, about how things should be, why He came, how it is in the Kingdom from whence He came, making it very distinct to them, that He was different from them, and that their assignments were equally different from His! At this juncture, I would love to caution us about comparison. I have seen and observed in multiple cases how comparison has become one of the traps, that the enemy loves to use to lure sons and daughters of God away from their God-given assignments and positions, into areas and assignments that they were never designated to, and as a result, they end up becoming tools in the hand of God’s arch-foe, the devil! If God has called you to do something and allows you to be in a situation that may not be conducive for you or pleasing to people, I want you to know child of God, that as long as God has called and chosen you, it does not matter how old you are; people who are attacking you with age, or because you are married, single, divorced, or separated, rich, poor, short, tall, slim, fat, black, or white are those who profess to know God, but in reality, they either have nothing to do with Him, or they do not have the level of relationship with God as they openly confess to have (2 Timothy 3:5). People who are hurling insults at you because you are not moving in the same speed as they are or because you are in a situation that God, and not Satan, has ALLOWED you to be in, for reasons He has either, fully or partially made known to you and not to them. Thus, such people do not know God as the Omni-potent and Omni-present God. Regardless of what they say, it is spiritually and physically made obvious to us, that such individuals do not have what it takes to keep to their own lane, rather, no matter how far they seem to be in life, they still keep looking back, very afraid that another king may arise, and overtake them ( king Herod, king Uzziah, king Saul, and Queen Jezebel). When people are no longer satisfied with who they are and all they have attained, achieved, acquired; money, fame, platform, wide-reach, titles, but rather, have evil eyes; pursuing that, which God has given to someone else, who is neither in competition with them, nor has attained the level of success that they have, it is the most dangerous terrain for them to be swimming in because they have foolishly trespassed the threshold, that God has clearly warned them not to, just like He, aforetime warned Adam, and Eve, through Adam, in the garden of Eden, where their limit was, but they did not adhere to His voice (Gen. 2:16-17) – THE VOICE OF GOD!

King David did the same thing but repented whole heartedly, and took responsibility for his foolishness. There is one thing that all those, who are power-drunk have in common, as they are blinded by hatred for the word of God, that exposes their true spiritual condition. Like Judas, they never recognize when the time of their foolishness has come to an end. Thus, they cannot refrain themselves from pursuing the word of God, which is given through His vessel. When you are pursuing someone, for speaking what God Almighty, not Satan, told them to say, then I want you to be fully aware of this hard to swallow truth, that is paradventure, you do not already know; You are not pursuing a human being, but God Himself! You cannot demand from a genuine Prophet of God to withdraw what they have been assigned by God Almighty to speak- No person, who knows God, or even has a little part with Him, will ever demand for such- that is sacrilege!

Jesus said,

“But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

John 10:5, NIV.

The reality of this truth as revealed by Jesus Christ is completely different in many cases as many children of God, contrary to His will for them, are now following strange voices a.k.a the stranger because many of them do not recognize the voice of God anymore. Too many people seem to be in a hurry to make it, prove something to someone, show something, go with the flow, that they begin to follow the stranger, who in most cases, has the right words that soothes their itchy ears, and has the right things to use as bait to lure them into his hidden dragnet! The enemy is not dumb like many people believe he is; he knows our desires; he knows what we are anticipating. He knows the bible more that 99,9999% of the believers, including those in the pulpit! For this very reason, he even dared to tempt our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, Who is the WORD OF GOD, with His own words! Imagine the way our LORD and Savior was tempted; He just got validated by His Heavenly Father, the Almighty God, and right afterwards, was led by the HOLY SPIRIT, not the devil, into the desert to be tempted by THE EVIL ONE! After a clear and resounding proof of Jesus’ authentication as the true Son of God, where God, openly confirmed by audible voice and sign, that He sent Jesus Christ, and that Jesus is indeed His true Son. The enemy, who is so dumb, and demonically smart, all in one, had nothing better to tempt Him with, than, “If you are the Son of God…?” I mean, like my coolest “LITTLE BRO.” would say, “Where they do that at, Hmmmmmm??, I just can’t make this up, DECEPTICONS!” Yeah, let’s speak the truth to wicked authorities, principalities, powers, and the devil! Those who have given themselves over to Satan, for peanuts, compared to what they had to give up- their souls (Mark 8:36), are nothing, but decepticons indeed! Jesus, got exonerated by God the Holy Father, consequently, we; His sons and daughters, who follow Him in spirit and truth are equally exonerated in Him! Shame on the devil in Jesus mighty name, amen!

Moses, was another type of Jesus Christ. When I say, another type of Jesus Christ, don’t even try to misconstrue my statement as Moses is clearly not Jesus Christ, never was, and never will be. There is only one Messiah, and that is Jesus Christ, but we are His followers, and joint heirs with Him. Jesus is the Deliverer of our souls, and humanity. All others who came before and after Him are vessels; men (and women!), who God had used, is using, and will use to deliver His people from bondage through the authority and power in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and by the power of His Holy Spirit. Moses was a Deliverer-Prophet; a prophet, who was called, chosen, and commissioned by God alone, and not any physical, or spiritual daddy, or uncle! These kinds of Prophets are born for such purpose to deliver! Thus, worldly accolades, degrees, titles, qualifications, and so forth, could sometimes become hindrances to their divine purposes, and assignments, and in some cases which I am aware of, God Himself may stop them from acquiring such. These kinds of Prophets do not get this title conferred on them by people, or the church; they are concieved with the title and the position, which would be made known to them as they mature into it, and at the perfect timing and age God Himself has set, not any man or woman! Jethro, Moses’ father in-law had nothing to do with the calling of Moses, let’s be clear about this point! He could have given him good advice along the way as a loving father in-law, but with or without Jethro, God was with Moses! I did not read about Jethro, when Moses was made to float on the river as a baby, neither did he show up to save the lives of the multitudes of children, who were killed because of Moses! Moses, was alone, all by himself, when he heard the voice of God, calling him- He heard, he came, he saw, he believed, he submitted himself to God, and not to man! God Almighty, did it alone, through His voice- THE VOICE OF GOD!

Prophet Samuel heard the voice of God as a young boy, so did Jeremiah, Joseph, Elijah, and some others, whom God called, chose, and used mightily. Samuel, with or withouth the help of Priest Eli, would eventually have understood through the help of the Spirit of God, that it was the voice of God calling him- God is not stupid! It could have cost him some years, but it was of course much easier and faster with Priest Eli by his side, who despite his short-comings as it pertained to his weakness in restraining his hustler-sons from polluting the ways, and the sanctuary of God, did not allow jealousy and envy to stop him from helping the young prophet, when he realised that God was indeed calling Him! Many of todays Priest Eli’s would tell a Samuel exactly this,

“Go, sit down somewhere! Go, lay down, your time is over! God can not use you as you are too old and arrogant! It is the devil. It is a deceiving spirit, the spirit of self-deception. When you hear that voice one more time, curse Him, and tell him never to call you again. One more thing though, which is most important, don’t forget to tell him to call me, your spiritual dada-Eli, as I am in a better shape than you to answer that call. The anointing is too heavy for you because you do not have the perfect qualification and age to back it up! You can only be called if you are in a marriage, a man, or submit to authority, regardless who it is, etc.” Child of God, if you don’t seem to pick anything from this week’s devotional, then, trust your sister Susan to help you: Just take this truth along; the devil is real, he is not a fairy tale, and that is the reason, why we are all the more, very greatful for Jesus Christ, and the Voice of the Holy Spirit- THE VOICE OF GOD!

Many of such men and women, whom God used, suffered immensely for God. They sacrificed what others, even in their wildest imaginations, would never have sacrificed. They gave up what others could never have given up on. They were persecuted, insulted, rejected, mocked, ostracized, many were killed, all for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven. They were able to endure, and jump over the traps of the enemy, which others did not even know about because they heard the voice of God, and refused to allow Satan, through people, and not even through “so-called old-prophets“, to deceive them into rejecting the voice of God, and His assignments for them.

That is the reason why you should never fall into this particular trap of the enemy; to conclude, that someone is of God, only based on the fact that they are sliding scriptures after scriptures at you, like flying discs! Don’t be that naive Child of God, although, it is very important for us to know the Scriptures very well, yet, we must have it at the back of our minds that Satan and his cohorts are very vast with the Scriptures too! Jesus said to the Pharisees,

^“And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

John 5:37-40, NIV.

Think about this, child of God, this is what Jesus was saying to the teachers of the law, and the Pharisees, who had been teaching, and taking care of the temple, and doing all that, which pertained to the house of God. These were people, who were representing God as they spoke on His behalf in their time. I would want us to remember that Nicodemus was also one of the Pharisees and a member of the Sanhedrin; one of the leaders of the temple in those days, yet, such teachers, and leaders, like the good old Nicodemus, were exempted from Jesus’ accusations– there must have been a good reason for that! Jesus accused the Pharisees of refusing to come to Him to have life; Jesus is the life, that gives light to the world and to each and everyone of us, who accept Him. In order words, they were proficient at using the Torah, yet, they lacked the life of God, which comes from the light of God’s word. But since they are in enmity with the light, they may study the bible all they want, memorize it all they want. They may quote it even in their sleep, but as long as they reject His light, the Giver of the only true light has absolutely nothing to do with them! The Pharisees were very comfortable opperating in darkness, and from darkness, but openly behaved as though they had anything to do with the light of God Almighty (2 Cor.11:14-15). These are the same kind of people today, who would be quick to accuse others of not having God manifest for them as long as their victims do not show cars, houses, diamonds, private jets, bank accounts full of money. It does not matter to them, how often, and how powerful God Almighty validates His sons and daughters, but according to the belief of such modern day Pharisees, God Almighty can only be present in the lives of His children, only based on acquisition of material things because to them, that is all what God is, but they are in error; Their god is marmon!

Let’s think about how what Jesus said to them, had to have cut deep through them as He is the Sword, and how hateful they must have been towards Him. They expected Jesus to receive, and be submissive to all their insults, yet, the very moment Jesus eventually snapped back, they would burn with anger like dare devils in Hell’s fire, and march off like Hitler’s and Putin’s soldiers, to seek, and take counsel on how to lure Jesus into their trap!

I tell you children of God, without the Help of the Holy Spirit, there is absolutely no way that any of us can out-smart Satan, and his cohorts- impossible! For this very reason, more people, than we are willing to accept to be the truth, are currently on the broad way, that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13), and many of them may not be pulled out as the cares for the things of this world has completely overtaken them, so much so, that even when the truth is being presented to them, the enemy, who is on the other end, is constantly showing them, what he can give to them in the next hour, if they come over to him, or hold on to him. Since that is where their treasure is, thus, they will either remain there, or they may go back after they have been pulled out. In such cases, such people can hardly hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, regardless of which tone He decides to use to speak to them; still small voice, or voice of thunder (Luke 7:33-35)– THE VOICE OF GOD!

Contrary to the belief of many, Jesus Christ did not come to deliver everyone! He did not come to call everyone, neither did He come to recover everyone. He did not come to stand in gap for everyone. He did not even come to preach, teach or speak to everyone; He came for those who belong to Him (John 17:9 and John 17:24). He knew, that when He spoke, everyone would eventually be drawn to Him; the good, the wonderful, the bad, the very bad, and the evil, will all be drawn to Him, because He is the Word, and all must come. Nonetheless, that all are drawn to His voice, does not mean, that all will love, respect, accept and submit to His voice. There are those within the crowd, who are bad, very bad, wicked, yet, came to Him by the drawing of His voice, and the moment they began to listen to the content of His message, their inner eyes were opened to see, while their inner ears were unstopped to hear. Their hardened hearts were softened, thus, they were able to obey the voice of the Chief-Shepherd. This could only be possible because this group of people are His sheep, but for different reasons, they wandered off into the camp of the enemy of their souls. On the other hand, there are those, who were also drawn to His voice, they came, but the more they listened, the angrier they became as they were enraged by the voice of the One, Whom, they recognized as the Messiah, the One whom they hated because He is from above and they were from beneath (John 8:23). He is light, and they were darkness- light and darkness, we all know, have never had anything in common, and never will (2 Corinthians 6:14). Thus, it is no wonder, that such must resent, and reject Him.

Jesus never held back, when it came to how He felt about the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. He couldn’t just hold back whenever He came in contact with them, neither could the Pharisees, whom He called hypocrites (Matthew 23:13-39) comport themselves whenever they came in close proximity with Jesus Christ; the very moment they heard the voice of Jesus, or sniffed Him in the horizon, it sets their demons off; their demons couldn’t just manage to sit still! I do firmly believe that while other people were confused about the agitation that was ever present between these two groups; Jesus and the Pharisees – Jesus Himself, was fully aware of the spirits, that were at work within them. Thus, they could surprise others, but not our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ! Others could be prophesying one thing one day, and be in a state of shock the next day as it pertained to the changes that they witnessed in the Pharisees, but Jesus was not! Others would have encouraged Jesus to jump on board with the Pharisees, telling Jesus, “Oh, Jesus, they said something sweet about you today, did you also hear it? Go kiss their heads, and give them a big hug!” But Jesus, like we know Him to be, would’ve ignore them all together because He knew that the people were not discerning the spirits, that were at work in the Pharisees, which they shouldn’t be blamed for as the DECEPTICONS were exceptionally good with their gift; deception! The funny aspect of it for me, if we have the time to ponder on it a bit, is that Jesus never saw it fit, to cast out those spirits that were in them, but why not? The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, constantly exposed, and opposed the spirits that were at work and hiding within the Pharisees. Why did Jesus not cast them out, then? After all, He went about casting out devils, and healing the sick. He came for those who were sick, and lost. He came to set the captives free. He went around forgiving sins. This is the question we all have to spend sometime in our private prayers, and in our study time to ask the Holy Spirit, “Why did Jesus not set the Pharisees free from the spirits of hypocrisy?” I personally do believe, that it was partly because they did not belong to Jesus. Moreover, they completely refused to accept Him, although deep within them, they knew the truth about Him, that He was indeed the Messiah, the DELIVERER! They knew that He was a righteous man, innocent, not proud, not arrogant, not wicked! Even if His words came across as arrogant or disrespectful, His heart was not, and He was telling the truth, which God Almighty, His Holy Father told Him to say. I believe that Jesus constantly reminded them of their folly; of the ungodly condition of their souls, which to them was impossible to bear. Jesus was an affront to them, which they had to get rid of, in order to save faces! Not even Jesus Christ could save, or deliver those who reject HIM; They rejected Him, fully aware of who He was. Unlike those who rejected Him not knowing that He was innocent, righteous, compassionate, merciful, and the Messiah, the Pharisees rejected Him on the basis of this truth; He was innocent! On the Cross, Jesus pleaded with His Father to forgive them as they did not know what they were doing, but His prayer was indeed for those, whose eyes the god of this world had blindend, which made them to hate Jesus Christ, contrary to their God-given will! Therefore, the prayer was not for those who fully knew who He was, yet, went ahead to betray or crucify Him for it! The Pharisees were not willing to change from their evil ways of doing what they were used to doing, thus, Jesus became an obstacle to them, which made them to stumble all the way! Consequently, Jesus could not have delivered them, even if He had tried to, they would have rejected His help, hurled insults at Him, and tried to assissinate His Godly reputation! Thus, If they proudly did it to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, Who came to save them and us all who belong to Him, what makes us think that they will not do the same to us, and even worse, who are His followers, and not the SAVIOR?

In conclusion, the voice of God should be able to tell you, when you have over-stayed your welcome in a place or in a situation. The voice of God would tell you the right time, that God wants you to do something, and when He doesn’t want you to (Isaiah 30:21). The voice of God, would make us know, when we have made a mistake, or acted foolishly, and as we heed, it helps us to right our wrongs. The voice of God is also what makes us to stay on a less travelled route, when the whole world is going to the opposite direction. The voice of God is what makes you to keep your peace when the world around you seems to be plunging into the sea of insanity. The voice of God is what gives you the patience to wait on God, till you hear Him clearly, instead of running off like a wild horse to prove a point to anyone. The voice of God is that which makes you ignore someone, who you would rather have cursed out. The voice of God is greater than any other voice; it is priceless, and we all should pray to hear from the Holy Spirit! The voice of God was that which made Abraham to believe in God even when it seemed as though the odds were against Him; He truly heard God, regardless of what the Nay-sayers believed, it didn’t bother Abraham as he heard what they did not hear- the voice of God! Indeed, the world has changed. Yes, things have changed, and the world is moving on, but I must disappoint you, nonetheless; the voice of God has neither changed, nor will it ever change. We serve an unchangable God; a never changing God, Who remains the same; Yesterday, today and forevermore. I love – THE VOICE OF GOD!

Jesus loves you!

Written by Susan Ikeokwu