
13/09/2025
THE CRY OF THE SPIRIT DEVOTIONALS – BY RICHARD E. S. TAKIM
TODAY’S DEVOTION (Saturday 13th September 2025)
The priests did not say, 'Where is the Lord?' And those who handle the law did not know Me; the rulers also transgressed against Me; The prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. Jeremiah 2:8 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 256th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY
It’s been a great time with the LORD for us at the Cry of the Spirit Ministries here in Nairobi Kenya. It’s the September Edition of the Dominion Seminar. We bless the LORD our God for His mercies and marvelous insights, truths and grace, as He prepares us for the journey ahead of us.
If you are not part of this seminar, you are missing a lot. It is my prayer that you find time to be part of it even if it’s through our Online platform. Amen!!
Few years ago, we did a teaching on the sickle to reap the end time harvest. During the sessions, the LORD made us to understand that the harvest is the hearts of men held down by the spirit of wickedness. We also discovered that God Himself is the sickle for reaping the end time harvest.
It’s a mystery! Also, a relief for us. Yes, it frees one from all struggles and just stirs one to trust Him for the transformation of people.
It makes Him our message, Our back up power, our sanctifier and lethal sickle, all by His Holy Spirit. We understood that He alone can deal with the Spirit of wickedness and free the hearts of men from its grip or influence. We also understood the role of the sanctity and purity of those He desires to use, both preachers and lay believers in ministry.
When I was sharing the truths during the sessions, the LORD opened my eyes to what I had seen in my study, the revelation of How God manifest through His servants to reap the end time harvest into His kingdom, and something deep dropped in my spirit.
I discovered that ministry is more than what we have been taught in Bible schools and schools of ministry. A call to Ministry is a call to be a standard that people must follow, and if that standard is below God’s standard, your ministry has failed irrespective of what you may be doing.
PAUL SAID TO TIMOTHY BE AN EXAMPLE OF A BELIEVER IN WORDS, FAITH AND PURITY, AMONG OTHERS.
Ministry is a call to be an example of a believer to believers. It is a call to show them how to be holy, pure, righteous, powerful, faithful, a person of virtue and integrity, and all that. That is how God uses us to free others from moral decay and wickedness.
When I was sharing on how God use His servants to free people from the spirit of wickedness, especially through their lifestyles, the Holy Spirit hit me with the enormous responsibility on us, preachers. The reason why a preacher should not live in sin became stronger in me. The cost of living in sin while preaching on the harvest field hit me very strongly.
I began to see that being a man of God is not cheap, and it is not a title thing, and that if you are amusing yourself with the “Man of God” thing as a preacher, you are ignorant, and don’t really know the responsibility of being called “man of God.”
Friend, the job of delivering people from the spirit of wickedness through our lifestyles is why we are men of God. That is what should make us tremble whenever we are called man of God. But most of us preachers are rather examples of sexual perversion, moral decay, deception, lack of integrity, and all kinds of depravity.
We are not fit to lead God’s people because we are not a good example of a believer. People cannot look at us and see God’s standard of Holiness, purity, integrity, sanctity, etc. Let it sink deeper into any one with a divine call or anyone sensing a divine call on their lives, that being called “Man of God” place the responsibility to be an example of holiness, purity, righteousness etc.
TRULY, THIS IS SOMETHING THAT IS NOT EASY TO DO IN A WICKED WORLD LIKE OURS. BUT THAT IS WHAT GOD HAS CALLED US TO DO AND TO BE.
In fact, it dawned on me that it is easier for a preacher to slip back into his or her old ways and go to hell after declaring Jesus as LORD and savior, than for a Church member. In the kingdom of God, to whom much is given much is expected. It became clear to me why Paul asked for prayers repeatedly and declared these amazing and blessed words:
“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NKJV
Indeed, if we do not put our bodies under, we will be cast away after preaching to others. The responsibility is great, expectation high, and temptations many. To be a man of God who wants to make heaven and lead others there is the costliest life to live on the face of the earth! It will cost you so much than words can capture!
Yes, there are reckless and sinful men of God everywhere.
I guess most of them became that way because they never understood the call to be an example. They thought we are to live like the rest since we are human. They forgot that God said, “you are gods,” hence are expecting to yield to His grace to make us so even in moral behavior.
We have heard the gospel preached to us, but we have not seen it lived before us by many servants of God. The Christianity of the early church is absent in the present church because the so-called fathers of faith have not lived it before us.
Our generation need the true Gospel preached and lived before us by those preaching it. It needs to learn how to pray, fast, say no to sin, relate intimately with God, walk in the Spirit instead of the flesh by observation, and the only ones who can help are those of us God called.
WE ARE TO PREACH CHRIST AND LIVE CHRIST BEFORE THEM.
In our devotional text today is the rebuke of the LORD. It is a strong word to the priests or Men of God who do not seek or stir men to seek the true God. The word rebukes handlers of the law (word of God) who do not know Him, and the prophets who prophesy by Baal instead of God. It says:
The priests did not say, 'Where is the Lord?' And those who handle the law did not know Me; the rulers also transgressed against Me; The prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. Jeremiah 2:8 NKJV
To prophesy by Baal is to prophesy by another spirit – the false prophetic anointing. It is the root of divination and sorcery. This spirit comes on a preacher when the people’s money becomes his target instead of their hearts knowing God. It comes on a preacher when gold or materialism becomes his drive, and the belly becomes his god.
There is the god of the belly that makes your earthly need your drive in life. When this god enters a preacher or any other Christian, the false prophetic anointing may come upon them, leading to the practice of divination and sorcery.
Today, there is a lot of divination called revelation, and a lot of sorcery called prophecy. The need to listen to the right preacher is rising daily. The right preacher is not the most eloquent or knowledgeable. The right preacher is the one who preaches the right gospel and does what he preaches.
It is not the miracle worker or one with accurate prophecies, it is the preacher whose mouth and life preachers the gospel of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ!
As you pass through this day, may the LORD, cause His mercy to shine upon you in Jesus precious name. Amen
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!!
And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
"Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days," says the Lord, "that they will say no more, 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord.' It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore. Jeremiah 3:15-16 NKJV