Devotional Details

THE CHILDREN’S BREAD

6^th. JUNE 2022

“And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

Matthew 10:22, KJB.

Child of God, why did Jesus have the need to tell us that we will be hated by many because of Him? (Matthew 10:22) Why was it so important for Him to drop that Piece of information to us as a must have, before His departure? I do believe that part of the reason is because He knew that it would have been a grave mistake, departing without letting us know what we would be up against, the moment He is no longer with us in the body! I have come to understand that many people would rather be comforted with lies than to be set free with the truth. Christ continually told the truth to his disciples, the Pharisees, Saducees, and people who cared to listen to Him, even when it hurts. Remember when He stood before Pilate, and Pilate even had to remind Him that he had the power to set him free, an indirect way of telling Jesus, “Please, comply by submitting to me, and let’s get you out of this impossible situation that you are in!” I would definitely be a spoiler if I should remind you of the answer our Savage Savior gave to him; Just read it yourself and ponder on it; Let it marinade in your mind for a long while (John 19:11). People, for real, our Lord Jesus Christ is very lucky that I was not alive in the days when He walked this earth; I would have been that shameless crazy fan, stalking Him all around town, and it would only have taken the strength of His mother, Mary to have made me back off- I kid you not, no one else!

I cannot remember when last I fell out with someone, or gotten into trouble because of something wrong that I did to them directly; It has always been because I told the truth which was meant to deliver them from something that they were grappling with, which they obviously did not want anyone to know about, or which they did not know about themselves, or for another reason best known to them! So, child of God, if you are called by God to be a “TRUTH-TELLER”, then, one of the things that you must learn to deal and cope with is rejection. It is a bitter-sweet feeling to be rejected for telling the truth; On one hand, you feel good about the rejection fully aware, that while people are having attitude about you, that you have been exonerate by God, and that He is very pleased with You, smiling over and within you. On the other hand, it is somewhat unfortunate because you would wish that they could just forget the messenger and accept the message for their good. It is always better for us to know the the truth, even if it tastes bitter in our mouths as not knowing, or sugar-coating it would eventually lead to unwarranted pain and situations that could have been anticipated, thus, prepared for, or averted (John 8:32). He gave us this powerful information without mincing words, yet, what we see amongst most of the modern-day disciples is that many people crave above all things, to be loved by all, and some of them who have forgotten this exhortation fall into the trap of craving for people’s consistent approval, rather than that of God. Thus, they get what their hearts have so desired, where they are indeed loved by many, which is completely opposite of what Jesus warned us against. Having said that, we do not have to go around provoking situations, that would ultimately lead to mass hatred for us as Jesus was indeed loved by His true followers, despite how bitter His truth sometimes tasted to them. I am advocating for living the life that God instructs us to live and how He wants us to live it, being mindful of our environments, and people around us as not to intentionally hurt them, yet, having done all, that we are expected to do as children of God, when trouble comes, despite our godly- wisdom, then, let it come; Que sera sera! But if you call yourself a follower of Christ, and everybody loves you all the time; Morning, afternoon, and night, throughout the year, and always, then, it is a clear indication that you are doing something wrong, thus, you need to take inventory of yourself. If we do not say the things that we must say, when we must say them and how we must say them, according to the directives of the Holy Spirit, it is obvious, that the world and its people would definitely love us and not oppose us in ways like they should. I understand that we have to apply wisdom in dealing with the world and with people generally, but it should be according to the leading of the Holy spirit. Wisdom is not when we refuse to say the obvious truth and when confronted for not saying what the Holy Spirit wants us to say, the common reply which is the excuse used by very many followers of Christ as I have often heard first-hand is this, “My sister, the bible says we have to be as wise as the serpent- We have to apply wisdom!” Yes, it is very true that in the age and time we are living in, we really have to apply wisdom in all that we do, but the issue here is that many of such people who use this phrase on a constant basis in their dealings, do apply wisdom indeed, but unfortunately for the kingdom of Heaven, it is what I understand as satanic-wisdom because the kind of wisom that they mostly talk about is embedded in deception! Jesus commanded us to be as wise as the serpent and as humble as the dove (Matthew 10:16) but He was not talking about being as wise as the serpent in a literal sense, rather, metaphorically as the serpent is indeed very wise, but subtle above all creatures (Gen. 3:1a). Jesus was not teaching them and us to have satanic-wisdom, which is what the serpent has. The wisdom of serpents is deceptive-wisdom and with that kind of wisdom, he deceived Eve in the garden of Eden, and through her, Adam as well! That is the wisdom of the serpent; Satan! Such is the serpentine or satanic wisdom in high resolution-display! To prevail over a crafty, subtle, or wise evil spirit as well as their human hosts, you have to be equally wise, and I do believe this to be what our Savior was conveying to us- To only use the wisdom of the kingdom of Heaven against Satan and his serpentine wisdom as you can never prevail over him in his own game using his tactics, it doesn’t happen! It is even then, when you think that you have won him, that he has fully roped you in! For record purposes, Satan is the champion in his field; The grand-master of deception and lies, which Jesus Who should know the truth more than us all, publicly acknowleged! (John 8:44). Consequently, we need to be wise like him, but with another kind of wisdom; One that is above his, as well as contrary to his-Tthat’s how victory can be attained! Just like we discussed in last week’s devotional about what Jesus was alluding to in the parable of the shrewd manager, when He demanded that we, who are his followers should equally be as shrewd as the shrewd manager. This is the same case in this scenario, where He is teaching us to observe how crafty, wise in its dealings, and how subtle the serpent is, when he wants to achieve something. I believe this to be so because Jesus understood that a kingdom divided against itself can never stand (Matthew 12:25), thus, it would have made no sense if He was alluding to us having the same wisdom, which the serpent has; Evil-wisdom, deceptive-wisdom, lying-wisdom, polluting-wisdom, wisdom that makes people no longer understand the voice of God, or obey His voice, etc. Jesus would never advocate for His sons and daughters to acquire such wisdom, but rather, Heaven’s wisdom! Godly wisdom is to stand for God, and not to be deceptive! I would give an analogy to express what I am trying to make us understand;

Child of God, as a Christian woman who really loves God, you don’t go to places like Afghanistan, or Boko Haram hot-spots in Nigeria and begin to roam around in their streets wearing hot-pants, mini gowns, or skimpy outfits! Furthermore, to make matters worse, you do all these without wearing a Hijab, since that is their tradition, while at the same time, you are carrying the bible in one hand, screaming at the top of your lungs, “Jesus Christ is LORD!” and hurling insults at their prophet Muhammed! That is not wisdom, but rather, it is foolishness, or what I would term as a suicide mission; You might have as well stayed within the confines of your home to drink poison and leave a goodbye letter to your loved ones, instead of embarking on such a mission that you clearly know is not a wise one! Does that warrant anyone to kill such a Christian, or human being? Under normal circumstances, of course not! But in a case where it is not a normal circumstance, but rather, you find yourself in territories, places, institutions, associations, families, etc., wherein Jesus Christ is deeply hated and not welcome, you have to thread cautiously as you are not called to convert everyone, and everywhere (John 17:9). Don’t force people to believe in Jesus as Jesus Christ Himself being fully God, and fully man never forced anyone to believe in Him, but rather, He did what His Father commanded Him to do, as a result, whoever believed in Him was saved, but whoever did not believe, He simply ignored them, and moved on as them, not being receptive of Him is the justification for their destruction- They did it to themselves! (John 12:48). What did He do to Whomever or wherever rejected Him? He always departed from such people and places; He never forced any body, or place to accept Him! When His own city and people did not accept Him, what did He do? Force them, insult them, or fight with them? Absolutely not! He escaped their murderous clutches and went to somewhere else, where he was received. Some other times, He would just decide to go to a solitary place, away from everyone to pray; Connect with His Father- In order to always keep His focus on His Identity, and Assignment. Consequently, He also commands us to do as He had taught us, without any atom of guilt (Matthew 10:14).

The woman at Jacob’s well accepted Him, thus, He preached to her alone, and used her to convert the men of that particular city to Himself. I may be wrong with this, nonetheless, I do personally believe, that one of the reasons why He sought her out was not just for her deliverance, but also because He knew, that the men of that city would never have accepted Him, had He gone to them directly, thus, He used the vessel that He knew that they would easily have listened to, the beauty of Samaria, who in her time, would have been known to be the “la Chica” of the city, whom the men were lining up to say hi to. I would personally call her the Tyra Banks, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Tailor, Marylin Monroe, or Janet Jackson of Samaria! She might not have been the most beautiful woman in Samaria, but by all accounts, I do believe that she was a beautiful woman, nonetheless, I do also believe that the reason why men where drawn to her was not because of her beauty, but rather, because of the beauty of God’s promise hidden within her, which she obviously never knew about, thus, the enemy, who knew about her destiny, kept navigating her life in such a way as to make sure she never woke up to the reality of who she truly was- BUT JESUS! It is the biggest promise to meet the Messiah; Have a face to face conversation with the Messiah, and even a greater blessing it sure is, for Him to have need of you; Will you give Me a drink? (John 4:7)! We are not talking about a star pastor asking you for a drink. This discussion has nothing to do with your favorite celebrity. We are not talking about the president of the most powerful nation in the world, neither are we talking about Elon Musk, nor the president of world bank asking you for a drink, no baby, naaaa!!! We are talking about the One and only Savage Jesus Christ; The Messiah, the Redeemer of our souls, and humanity!

When you have the promise of God upon your life, people will be attracted to you because of it, thus, as human beings, we may be deceived to believe that it has to do with outer beauty, intelligence, power, etc., but nothing could be further from the truth as people are drawn to us because of the grace of God which we are fortunate to have upon our lives. So, if you are a woman, men will be attracted to you for that, even without knowing the reason why they are drawn to you, and if you are a man the same will be the case. Consequently, If you do not know who you are, you could live your life as a man, or woman giving yourself to anyone who you feel wants you. This could be anyone or everyone whom you think is attracted to you, or who you are attracted to. Child of God, the story of the woman at the well, should be encouraging to us all, that there is something in each and everyone of us that God is in need of, and able to use to do His work here on earth! In the bible, it was the little child’s bread and fish, which Jesus used to feed a multitude. In another instance, it was the boat that belonged to Peter, which He used to melt the stony heart of Peter, thereby, saving his soul, and those of many others, through him. In a particular city, it was their donkey. In a village, it was a girl named Mary, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, while in another place, it was a man who lived amongst the dead. Child of God, there is something in you, that the LORD is able to use, it could be your addiction to whatever it is that you are addicted to; Liquor, sex, gambling, stealing, telling lies, etc. I promise you, that as long as you are willing and committed to laying it at the feet of Jesus Christ; Praying to Him, and crying out to Him in prayer, doing the best you can to restrain yourself from such ungodly acts, He will definitely turn it into something that He will get the glory from, while using you as a vessel for Godly assignments.

Let’s briefly look at the transformation that happened with the woman at Jacob’s well. She did not allow the condition, which the whole city may have identified her with to deter her from going to the well, even if it meant, that she had to go at odd times; She came nonetheless, to the well of pure water, where she eventually met with the spring of eternal living waters (Jesus Christ), Who finally quenched her taste with His word and His everlasting love!!! Jesus loved her like none other had ever done and ever could. Subsequently, I do believe she no longer had any need for yet another man in her bed, like she was used to, as the Word of God was enough to keep her spirit and soul satisfied, but even at that, how to live with the flesh would have been a daily battle, which over the course of time, she would have had to learn to overcome, despite how tough the battle must have been! I believe, that she would have told the man, who she had been sharing a bed with, a man who was waiting for her to come back from the well, so as to continue from where they had stopped in their ungodliness, as well as the other ungodly men, who would have come to her after her deep encounter with Jesus Christ,

“I AM GRATEFUL FOR THE COMPLIMENTS AND THE HONOR, BUT IN ORDER NOT TO WASTE YOUR TIME, I DO BELIEVE THAT I AM NOT MADE FOR RELATIONSHIPS WHERE GOD ALMIGHTY THROUGH HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST, IS NOT THE HEAD. I AM NOT THE ONE, PLEASE, LOOK FOR ANOTHER.”

If I were to have been alive and her friend in those days, I would have encouraged her to quote Jesus Christ to the men who were seeking to be with her, but paraphrasing the Messiah’s words to sooth her situation as written in Matthew 11:1-6,

“Go and tell them what you hear and see:

Tell them all that you’ve seen and have witnessed, but most importantly, never forget to tell them, that blessed are they, who are not offended because of my controversy!“

Child of God, wisdom demands, for us to know that the kingdom of this world operates completely opposite to how our Holy kingdom operates. For you to fully please the world and its people, you would have displeased God first. On the contrary, for you to get to the position where God Almighty validates you as His precious child, in whom He is very well pleased, the world must become displeased with you, and must reject you! When I am talking about the world, I am talking about those who hate Christ and His ways. Nonetheless, the thing about rejection is this, not every rejection is rejection that comes as a result of you pleasing the LORD; There is satanic rejection, which is when the enemy releases the spirit of rejection to hunt you in order to destroy you. With satanic rejection, there is mostly a legal right that the enemy has, to do so, which the victim, has to try to find out through prayer and fasting in order to get rid of it. But with rejection as a result of you living how God Almighty requires from you, the enemy has no legal right against you, but as it is with him, he hates those whom God loves and loves those whom God hates, thus, as a true child of God, the enemy will do his best to hunt you, regardless of your innocence, but I pray for you child of God, that he will never succeed in hunting you down in Jesus’ most powerful name, amen!

Susan Ikeokwu

Child of God, as we apply Godly wisdom to navigate our ways here on earth, let’s bear in mind that without the wisdom from the only Omni-scient One, none of us would ever be in the position to out-smart the enemy’s demonic wisdom– Never forget this TRUTH!

Child of God, till next week monday… Let’s be wise 🙂

Jesus loves you!

Written by Susan Ikeokwu