SPIRITUAL EXAMINATION

TEXT: 2 CORINTHIANS 13:5

Spiritual self-examination is an on-going process in a believer’s life aimed at helping him/her to evaluate his/her current walk status with the Lord. It helps to know whether a believer is (still) ‘in His will’ or ‘out of His way’.

A spiritual examination is a time to ask and find answers to certain key questions that relate to destiny and eternity such as: “Am I still in God’s will?” “Am I doing it the way God said?” “Hope I am not leaving anything out?” “Is this relationship/association profitable to my life, destiny and eternity?” “Am I in the right place?” “Do I need to seek help from someone?”  

There are three (3) ways to carry out a spiritual examination;

i)                    EXAMINATION BY PEOPLE

There is nothing wrong if you ask your friends to honestly tell you about what they have noticed in your life; your strength, weaknesses and where they think you can work upon. The limitation with this type of evaluation is the potential for flattery and the tendency to refuse some observations which do not go done well with you.

ii)                  SELF – EXAMINATION (1 Corinthians 11:28; 2 Corinthians 13:5)

This entails stepping aside from people’s opinion about you and being honest to yourself about how well you are faring in the pursuit of divine destiny and Heaven. Sometimes I ask myself and also in the place of prayer if I am actually doing the things God asks me to do. Sometimes it is only you that can tell yourself the truth.

iii)                DIVINE EXAMINATION (Psalm 26:2; Psalm 139:23)

This is the most reliable form of spiritual assessment because God will never deceive you neither will he flatter you. When we pray to God to search and open us up, we are enlightened to areas of our lives we need to pay more close attention to and work on.

When a man constantly examines himself, it births prompt submission, repentance where necessary and absolute dependence on God’s grace for living. It leaves nothing for the devil who is constantly looking for something with which to use accuse God’s people. It is not good for the devil to be the one to spot an area of your life that you should have carried to God. This was what happened to Joshua the high priest; the devil spotted him out until mercy spoke for him (Zachariah 3:1-4).

Spiritual examination is foundation for spiritual growth. As you ask God for grace, grace in turn fertilizes spiritual growth.

Pray with me:

Lord, help me to constantly examine myself and to be humble to accept areas of weaknesses, and make your grace available for me to grow daily in Jesus’ name. Amen.

NOT BY NUMBER (2)

TEXT: PSALM 105: 11-15

We began yesterday by explaining that what moves God is not what ‘is the size’ but what is in the heart of what we do. It is clear that “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked” (Psalm 37:16; Proverbs 16:8), and “Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith” (Proverbs 15:16).

Your present situation may not be convenient but do not be discouraged. You may be a squatter, unemployed, or poor today; God can change things around tomorrow. Don’t let your present “littleness” make you think tomorrow cannot be blessed.

“Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance: When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it” (Psalm 105:11-12).

In their smallness they went on, living victoriously because they had God’s promise. What does this implies;

(i) Your present situation is neither an indication nor invitation for oppression in the journey of life. For the fact that you are where you presently are does not give any enemy, witch or devil to frustrate you.

(ii) Your situation is neither a limitation nor disadvantage to progress in life. You may appear small physically, but you are heavy spiritually. And what defines you is who you are in God not who they think you are.  

(iii) Your present situation is not a disqualification from your destination in life, God being the constant factor.

(iv) Your present situation now should never be a foundation for compromise or an invitation to iniquity.

You may not be where you desire to be, but you are not where you used to be. If God could take you from where you were to where you are, then He is able to take you from here to where He has promised and preserved for you. All you need to do is to stay faithful and live holy, always remembering “A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15).

As you trust the Lord, He is working out His word and counsel for your life. God has never failed and you cannot be His first failure. And He cannot fail. Peace.

NOT BY NUMBER (1)

TEXT: 1 SAMUEL 14:6

“And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few”

What counts in life is not the number of what you have but whether God is involved in what you have. Majority minus divinity is express failure.

There are people who think what moves God is number – the number of people who will attend a program; the number of people who attend a church; the number of people who wants to help them, etc. They have so much trusted in number that they directly/indirectly tell God they don’t need Him. But in the end it becomes clear that if God is not involved, nothing can work. If God is not at work, nothing will work.

The builders of the tower of Babel were so many that they trusted in their numeric capacity and mental ability. They embarked on a project and associated it with ‘Heaven’, but God was not involved (Genesis 11:4a). It ended as a failed project. This is the outcome of any vision, project, program without God at the centre. If the centre is not (in) God, that centre can never hold and things will surely fall apart.

Many people are blaming some non-existent enemies for their ills, but they do not realise that no matter how good it looks, if it is not God’s, it will not work. It may start colourful, but bigness and beauty cannot stand the devil, only “whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world” (1 John 5:4).

The devil is not troubled by your age but by your grace. Saul was older than David, but Goliath does not bow to age but to grace. What counts is not number but unction. You may have been “very old” in the Lord, but if your life (as a result of sin) is depleted of grace, the devil will have that person as a hand bag.

You must learn to involve God in your pursuit no matter how big or how little. There is nothing too small or too big to pray about. What you have may be little, but when God is involved, it receives the capacity to become large.

PRAYER:

Lord, I involve you in all my plans, decisions and all I live to do in Jesus’ name. Amen.

SECRETS TO THE TOP

TEXT: DEUTERONOMY 28:13

“And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them”

If you are born of God and live in God, the top is where you belong. But as sweet as it sounds, there are prices to pay. Today on SPIRIT SWORD DEVOTIONAL we consider ten (10) ways to a blessed and prosperous life in God.

1.      A LIFE OF HUMILITY (Isaiah 57:15; James 1:9)

2.      ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE TO DIVINE INSTRUCTIONS AND LEADING (Deut. 28:1)

3.      SERVICE TO GOD AND HUMANITY (Acts 13:36; Psalm 22:30)

4.      A LIFE OF VISION (Habakkuk 2:2)

5.      A SACRIFICED LIFE (1 Kings 3:4-5)

6.      THE ANOINTING (Psalm 45:7)

7.      INTEGRITY (1 Kings 9:4-5; Psalm 41:12)

8.      ABSOLUTE AND UNCOMPROMISING TRUST IN GOD (Proverbs 28:25b)

9.      REVELATION (Galatians 2:2a)

10.  A SANCTIFIED AND RAPTURE-READY LIFE (Hebrews 12:1; Ephesians 5:27)

I shall talk only about this last and most important one. If nothing will stop you from being rapturable (going up into the skiy to meet Christ), then nothing can stop you from rising up in life. There are two (2) heights you must aim to attain in your life; your destiny in God here and your eternity with God in the end. Don’t pursue earthly promotion and forget or forsake Heavenly celebration. The promotion that counts to your positive in life is that which has eternal lifeline and makes Heaven glad above. The most assured virtue for a great life is a holy life. Minus holiness, anything on earth is a raw material for hell. That will not be your portion in Jesus’ name.

Check your life to see if the virtues therein tally with the ones here. If you score less than ten, then there is work to do. If by grace you attain onto the ten, keep faith in God; He is working out His purpose for your life. At the time appointed, He shall glorify Himself in your life. Maranatha.