THE CHILDREN’S BREAD
– Weekly Devotional –
14th. November 2022
SCRIPTURE:
“Why do you look with envy, O rugged mountains, at Mount Zion, where God has chosen to live, where the LORD himself will live forever?”
Psalm 68:16, NLT.
Child of God, I would like to continue this week’s devotional exactly where we stopped last week, ENVY! I have had too many experiences with people who are struggling with this very heart issue, as well as those who are literally possessed and oppressed by this spirit, that it makes me very sick in the stomach whenever I come across this situation. I have had the Holy Spirit on multiple occasions pointing at a human being, and saying to me: Susan, that person is very envious of you. To which I would mostly laugh out loud and reply, “Not even in a million years LORD, would such a person envy me. What is there in me to envy?” But I would come to realize much later, that the LORD God never lies as He forever remains the GOD of TRUTH! Each time I doubted HIM, based on whom the individuals were; People, whom I believed had it all. At the end of the day, the LORD GOD, had always proved to be right, thus, I have learned, that whenever He tells me that someone is envious, either of me or someone else, I no longer argue with HIM, or try to make sense of it, but what I rather do, is to begin to pray for that person and find ways to protect myself, till they are delivered from that spirit, or heart issue, or till the LORD finally parts our ways for good. Too many people are really struggling with this particular heart issue, and in some cases, rightly so, because we are living in an age and time, where evil is literally palpable, where the world system, along with the institutions within it, has been arranged in such a manner, that the true followers of Jesus Christ, are not welcome within it, at all. People are programmed by the enemy of their souls to be everything, all at once, and at all times. They are expected to be super-humans, thus, even when they are soaring high in their different careers or achievements, they are still not satisfied as they believe that they have to be better than everyone else, at all times! Consequently, the very moment they perceive anyone or anything that may seem in the slightest way, threatening to their achievements, or positions, or what they believe that they would love to have – Suddenly, the evil eyes, and the envy gaze, that no one ever knew was even there, is revealed! If you are a born again child of God, then, with regards to the world and life in this world, it is a thing of: Since you do not have what they have, or look, talk, dress, walk and act like them, then, you are not good enough for them! Child of God, what they expect from you, and also put you under pressure to do, that is, peradventure, you want to have a slice of their cake, is for you to conform to their ways, BUT – No, Child of God, that’s not who we are, we don’t conform to them, but rather, though we are in the world, nonetheless, we are not of the world. On the contrary, we are called out of it to be the world changers; Those who transform the world, by the renewing of our minds, from the mind of a world in darkness, to the mind of Christ: The only true source of Life and Light! Think about it child of God, everything in the world that we live in, is deliberately arranged in such a manner, to make sons and daughters of God to feel less than, worthless, and believe, that it is of no use, even trying to be Godly, remain Godly, or do godly things. Thus, too many people are so heart-broken, angry, bitter, vengeful, hateful, impatient, jealous, ungodly-competitive, covetous, and envious.
Now child of God, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of this ruthless beast, called, ENVY! You see, envy is not only directed at you when you are slim and beautiful, have athletic figure, very physically attractive, rich, or find yourself in the upper-class echelons of the society – Nope!
- Envy, if deep rooted, is so evil, that it neither has preference, nor boundary as it will come for you, even if you are as fat and lousy as Garfield, fully focused on your lasagna, but happy with your life (No “BODY” shaming here as I’m also found within this group of people – The fatties for JESUS, and for those of you who have fat cats, don’t come for me, as I am talking about Garfield and not your cats)!
- Envy will come for you, if you trip, but dare to get up with a smile on your face, while dusting yourself off!
- Envy will come for you, if you are suffering, but forget to wail with a megaphone!
- Envy will not spare you either, if you are mourning, but sympathizers dare to visit you, in order to pay you condolence for your loss!
- Envy will try all it possibly can to bully you into submission, if you have less than, but make the mistake to survive on a-meal-a-day regimen!
- Envy is not one of those your usual merciful heart issues as it tallies with gossip, hatred, jealousy, covetousness, and even murder.
Child of God, as you can see for yourself, this one doesn’t come to play – Stay far away from it!
Since there is a mountain of God, then, there is also a mountain of evil, where wickedness finds its lodging. We are the mountains, temples, and cities of God because we are His children in whom He either dwells, or desires to dwell (In a case, where you have not yet received HIM). The word of God tells us that we, who belong to HIM, individually, are a city built on a hill, thus, we cannot be hidden! That is exactly where the problem is; The will of Satan, for us, who are the cities of God, is to be hidden, or remain hidden, while lifting up and revealing his own children. He must hide us, in order to make sure, that our light does not shine out, as the contrary, would cause the light, and the Godly energy, which we exude, to help the children of God, who are in darkness, to finally see God’s light, which is mostly possible for them, through us. As a result, they look to God Almighty, through us as HIS lighthouses that we truly are. Subsequently, it helps them to come out of darkness into the light of God, where they are saved, which would ultimately jeopardize Satan’s plan to keep them forever in his domain of darkness!
Do not forget, that just as the Holy God loves to live in us as His temples, so also, the evil one who is our enemy, desires to reside in us, but not because he loves us, on the contrary, because he hates our holy Father to whom we belong. The enemy spirit only desires to dwell in us, for only one purpose; To steal, kill and destroy us. Child of God, one of the most important questions for today, is not who is living in you now, but rather, who would you love, and permit to fully and permanently occupy your life at the end of the day? Is it the One, Who truly loves you and desires to dwell in you, to give you abundant and eternal life, or the other, who only comes to pollute and destroy you, regardless of what he offers you? Our holy God has chosen you as His child, whom He dearly loves and in whom He desires to dwell, thus, the choice to make Him the Ruler over your personal mountain is now yours, and not HIS.
Child of God, this is what I have come to terms with:
- I have made my choice as I have chosen Him, being mindful of the fact, that my only perfection is in Christ Jesus.
- I have made my choice to choose Him, fully aware of what He told me, which is, that I should count the cost of following Him before I say: Yes, I do, to Him!
- I have made my choice to follow Him, also fully aware of what He told me, that to do so, I must carry my cross DAILY and follow Him.
- I have also made my choice fully aware that He explicitly told me, that to do so, I must lose my life in this world for His sake.
- I have also made my choice to follow HIM after reading the bold prints in the contract with Him, which states, that birds have their nests, and even foxes have their holes, but the Son of Man, had nowhere to lay His head!
What about you child of God Almighty? What saith thou? In case you haven’t made the right choice yet, don’t wait any longer; Decide for Him today, but understand before-hand, that following HIM, may not be peaches and roses, as you may turn down so many offers, that you otherwise, would never have – And Yes, it definitely would hurt your soul, and your flesh too, but your spirit will gain much more as it will grow from grace to grace, and from glory to glory in Christ. After you have made the choice to fully and truly follow HIM, you would come to realize what you would never have, had you not made that choice, which is, that those who have made their choice to go with the evil one, regardless of what they may have, are uncontrollably envious and jealous of us who have refused to go along with them, and this holds true, even when we feel that we have nothing to offer besides one thing; Our Holy God. Therefore, it should be to us an indication as well as a confirmation, that if you have God Almighty, you have everything, and if you do not have Him, you have nothing, at all!
Consequently, Child of God, do not live your life as a rugged mountain of Satan, but rather, as a mountain of glory, that God has chosen to dwell in; For you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and a mountain, that is holy unto the only Holy God, Whose Spirit dwells in you, or desires to dwell in you.
In the above Scripture, it talks about envious eyes, that are gazing at mount Zion. Mount Zion is the mountain of God. This mountain of God is indeed very special and stands uniquely different from all the other mountains, and for this reason, all the other mountains around her, that are rugged, stood, gazing at her with envy, in whom God has chosen to dwell. This is to re-iterate the fact, that one of the things that you must learn to accept and also come to terms with the very moment you have been chosen by God and not man, is that there will be many rugged mountains who would gaze at you in envy! The coolest part of this situation as narrated in the Scripture, is that, it was the LORD God Himself, Who caught these rugged mountains gazing at Mount Zion in envy, and not even the mountain herself, but rather, the LORD God, Who dwells over, and within her was the very One, Who caught them, gazing at her from the “wood-works” and had to expose them!
To me personally, the funny and phony thing about these rugged mountains mentioned in the scripture for this week’s devotional, is that they too are indeed the mountains of God, just like the brothers of Joseph, and David, as well as the siblings of Moses, were also mountains or children of God, whom God loved, yet, because God specially favored their siblings over them, they became not just jealous, but also envious! Child of God, human beings are not God Almighty and will never attain to be HIM, thus, we are not to compare ourselves with God, or even compete with HIM! Therefore, regardless of how it makes us feel, HE, the LORD GOD Almighty, has the ultimate right, to say, “yes,” or “no” to us, without owing us any form of explanation, or apology! If your presidents and governors tell you, “no,” do you go and stand before them to question them and point your fingers at their faces? In most countries, if you dare, those fingers of yours would be chopped off immediately, thus, if you live in nations and in homes, where you have leaders, who are good to you, and they allow you the freedom of Godly expression, then, appreciate them, else, you might get what you wish for! What we have today is, even when God grants most people their heart’s desires, they still take HIM for granted, by feeling that it is a reason for them, to no longer revere HIM, but that is false! You see, I love all my children, but I must confess, that I love them all differently as they are all different individuals, who have different personality traits, as well as, different strengths and weaknesses, thus, I deal with them differently. What I Iove in one child, is not what I love in the other, but the common factor is that I love them all because God, gave them all to me to take care of for HIM, thus, I pray, suffer, labor and sacrifice for them all, and I know that at the end of the day, when my work is done as it relates to them, they will not all come out the same, because they were never made by God Almighty, Who is their Creator, and their Holy Father, to be clones, but rather, to be different individuals, according to HIS need of them!
To God Almighty, Mount Zion is as delicate as His sheep and lambs, regardless of which condition they may find themselves in, while the envious mountains are as rugged before Him as wolves are, and this too, is regardless of the type of clothing they may be masquerading themselves in. To other mountains, mount Zion was not all that, but rather, they considered themselves much more adequate and better looking than her, and going by the variables and factors they measured themselves, and mount Zion with, they were indeed right, that Mount Zion was the least to be favored or chosen by God, yet, God Almighty refused to seek their opinion, and also refused to honor their request to choose them as opposed to mount Zion, which God chose to dwell in – 😉
THIS WEEK’S LESSON
Child of God, the lesson of this week’s devotional is, that you are not who people say you are. You are not even who you think you are. You are not who your situation says you are. You are also not who the world and it’s system says you are. You are not who your academic qualification and degree says you are. You are also not what your social status says you are. You are not who the social media, the media, or their social media profiles says you are. You are not who your bank account says you are, neither are you what your cliques say you are because it is said: Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are, NO, child of God, that is not who you are, but rather, you are whom God says you are! The word of God said concerning Prophet Jeremiah, that before he was formed in the womb of his mother, that he was already known by God Almighty, and before he was even born, that He had sanctified and separated him, for Himself as a prophet unto the nation(s). If this is what God had said to this prophet and child of His, called Jeremiah, then, He also must have something that He had spoken about you, but you can only find it out, and hold unto it, if you stop being a rugged mountain, who is envious of another mountain, which God also spoke about, although it may not look as impressive to you, as your own mountain, yet, to God Who is the Creator, even that mountain that is less impressive to you, is the apple of HIS eyes.
Therefore, I would urge you, not to try poking your fingers in the eyes of God, in your quest to pull down His chosen mountain because the very one who was that foolish, along with those who rebelled with him against God, never survived the fall!
Finally, for those of us, who have chosen God Almighty by His grace, and have decided to follow Him all the way, regardless of what it costs us, through His Apostles, HE also promised us these: I will never forsake or leave you! I will be with you, even till the end of the age! I will also confess you before My Father in Heaven! And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be, also! All these and many more, HE promised us who have chosen Him, regardless of our situations, and circumstances here on earth.
Therefore, child of God, rejoice in all things, for our God, is the only ALMIGHTY ONE, Who lives and reigns for eternity, and Whose Kingdom has the final say!
Child of God Almighty, I plead with you, reject envy in every way that you possibly can!
PRAYER
Father God, I invite You to be the LORD over, and within my mountain. Help me to stand strong, and tall in Christ, Who strengthens me in Jesus’ mighty name, amen!
Child of God, be happy and stay blessed
Jesus Loves you!
Sister Susan!