CAC LIVING WATER DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR JULY 9, 2022 : TOPIC – ARE YOU STANDING IN THE LORD’S COUNCIL?
CHRIST APOSTOLIC CHURCH
THE LIVING WATER DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
DATE: Saturday, July 9, 2022.
TOPIC: ARE YOU STANDING IN THE LORD’S COUNCIL?
READ: Jeremiah 23:16-24
[16] Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
[17] They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
[18] For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
[19] Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
[20] The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
[21]. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
[22] But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
[23] Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
[24] Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
MEMORISE:
For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, and has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? (Jeremiah 23:18)
EXPOSITION
Standing in the Lord’s council means that one sees and hears His Word (messages) directly. Jer. 23:18 asks, …who has…perceived and heard His word? Perceiving, i.e. seeing and hearing are two important aspects of being in God’s council. Unfortunately, there are prophets who get their supposed messages from Baal (v. 13), i.e. from demons. Such prophets are rampant in churches, deceiving people, today. Some others get theirs from their own minds (v. 16). When claiming to deliver God’s Word to people, they are actually giving them pieces of their own minds. Hence, we need to be more careful in the Church, today. Such fake prophets have led many astray (v. 17).
Why would men/women supposedly stoop so low as to be communing with the accursed devil and his demons? V. 18 implies that they have not been standing in the council of the LORD. If you are not in any council meeting, you cannot be privy to the agreements therein. Dear minister of God or church leader, can you honestly say you have been frequent in the council of God? Who is the source of your messages and prophetic oracles?
Prophet Micaiah is a challenge to us. In 1 Kings 22:5ff, we see him clearly pitched against 400 fake palace prophets who were only good at standing in king Ahab’s council, but not of the King of kings. Hope you are not another Ahab’s prophet? Micaiah was different, in that, despite the sincere palace messenger’s counsel (v. 13) and the fact that he was going to be a lone-ranger in standing for the Lord, he chose to say only what he heard from God’s council (vv. 14-18). He had stood in God’s council (vv. 19ff), and so, damned the risk of saying the truth (vv. 24ff). Who laughed last? Are you standing in God’s council, such that you are qualified to speak for Him?
HYMN FOR TODAY:
CAC GHB 795
PRAYER POINTS
1. Ask God for forgiveness at those junctures you have claimed to speak for Him when you have actually not been with Him.
2. Pray for the grace never to speak for Him until you have undeniably been with, and clearly heard from Him.
3. Pray that God should decisively silent unrepentant ministers deceiving people with demonic words and words from their own minds while claiming to have been sent by God.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY:
Proverbs 1-3
AUTHOR
C. A. C. Worldwide
Remain blessed