TODAY’S DEVOTION (Monday 13th April 2020)
“A wise woman builds her house, while a foolish woman tears hers down by her own efforts. To do right honors God; to sin is to despise him.” Proverbs 14:1-2 TLB
WELCOME TO THE 104th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
We give God the glory for our Just concluded Easter Retreat. It was a glorious time for everyone that participated. Though it was one of the most difficult tasks that I have ever carried out in all my ministry life because of the apostolic labor pains I went through before each session.
Some People will never understand this until we all return to eternity, but the visions I had during each session and the power of God kept me pushing for the nine sessions until the baby came out. It is my prayer that the people will participate will make use of what was gathered from each session release their destinies in Christ Jesus.
Today’s devotional will build up on yesterdays. You see, when a man persistently inflicts himself with wounds, it will be very difficult for him to live a life that is free of pains. Most of what we go through in life is self-inflicted. And when something is self-inflicted a lot of heavenly wisdom, humility, repentance, and brokenness will be required to come out.
Personal foolishness has many aspects. There us ab aspect we will be touching today! It is the aspect of living your earthly life without eternity in your heart. People do so many terrible things because of that and forgets that we will all stand before God to give account of our actions. This aspect of Personal foolishness is the root cause of all problems that men will face in the next life.
For instance, it is this aspect of personal foolishness that makes a man not to accept Jesus Christ as His LORD and savior, especially after being exposed to the true gospel most of his life. When he finally dies and goes to hell, who will he blame? Of course, himself, because we will individually be held accountable for our actions in the next life. It is not even the devil that will be blamed for our evil deeds as we do here on earth.
THIS ASPECT OF PERSONAL FOOLISHNESS MUST BE DEALT WITH.
It is this aspect of personal foolishness that makes a woman take over a man, who is having REDEEMABLE problems with his LEGALLY and PROPERLY WEDDED wife, and even go ahead to marry him. Even if she lives happily with him for many years after that (which is not always the case), everything will become vanity when she finally dies and stand before GOD to give account of her life on earth.
This aspect of personal foolishness is what makes humans exalt the temporal above the eternal, the mundane above the spiritual, and the legitimate above the ultimate. Speaking about these things, Jesus said,
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. Matthew 5:27-30 NKJV
This statement is not from any other person than GRACE Himself.
Grace is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. He will be the one we will all face in Judgment. What you just read is His standard – the very standard mankind will be judged. Plucking off your eye or cutting off your arm is figurative.
Jesus was not saying we do it literally. He was calling for strict discipline to be applied to any part of our lives that will not let us live a clean Christian life. It is divine wisdom to bring any aspect of your life that is unruly under control. It is foolishness not to do so.
For instance, the aspect of our life called the flesh basically craves for sex, food, and comfort. It does not know boundaries. It will destroy you if you make it your LORD. It will ask you to sleep with any man or women that twinkles its fancy – either you know her or not, either you are married to her or not. It will drive you to take another man’s husband or wife. To it, there is no problem. That is why true sons of God are led by the Spirit, not the flesh!
The flesh is not born again neither can it be born again. It is our human spirit that can be born again, and our souls renewed! The flesh cannot be renewed or born again. That is why you must bring it under subjection after coming under the LORDSHIP or Jesus Christ, if Heaven is your goal.
PAUL WOULD LATER WRITE TO THE CHURCH AT CORINTH SAYING:
“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 9:26-27 NKJV
It is because of the many battles the flesh plunge men into that Jesus said we must bring it under subjection strictly. A major highlight in our devotional text today further buttresses the point. It says:
“A wise woman builds her house, while a foolish woman tears hers down by her own efforts. To do right honors God; to sin is to despise him.”
If you look at this scripture on the surface, you will just conclude that it is just talking about marriage. But it transcends marriage!
However, many women have pulled down their marriages with their own hands blaming it on other people. They have disrespected, injured, betrayed, destroyed and insulted their husbands until there was no more remedy. The same is applicable to men. Some men have so mangled their wives that they only way to save the poor women is to ask them to leave.
God did not create man for marriage He created marriage for man. When marriage becomes a means of destruction, He pulls it down by Himself or allows devils to do so.
I believe that is why Jesus made it clear to us that “wedlock is not padlock.” If adultery set in and the spouse involved refused to repent, the marriage is cancelled. If you remain in it, you are on your own. You will bear the consequences of your personal foolishness.
But let’s look at things that are beyond marriage – let’s look at eternal things. To pull down your house by your own self is the highest display of personal foolishness. Your house is your life, your family, or your sanctified human spirit.
Born again makes our spirits God’s temples; if we pull it down by allowing defilement to set in and live in us, we are being foolish.
IF YOU ARE INVOLVED IN PORNOGRAPHY, YOU ARE PULLING YOUR HOUSE DOWN.
If you are involved in alcoholism you are pulling your house down. If you feed your flesh with all it needs outside God’s boundaries, you are pulling your house down with your own hands. If you take another man’s wife and sleep with, you are pulling your house down.
If you sleep with a man or woman you are not legally married to, you are pulling your life down. If you masturbate, you are pulling your house down with your own hands. Anything you so that is sinful is pulling your down the drains of darkness. And when you finally get there, you will become a casualty of demonic assaults.
The Bible admonishes that we build up our spirits and not pull them down. It says we build ourselves up in our most holy faith by exposing ourselves to preachers who are not just preachers but kingdom builders; God’s servants whose messages carries the capacity to build us up and establish us in the faith – implanting the grace to live godly in a perverse and crooked generation.
However, personal foolishness will not let us do this. It will rather push us to look and run after preachers with quick fixes; accurate but lying prophets who use magic to solve problems.
As we bring this to a close, I want to ask, is there any way you are pulling down your life with your own hands? Do you feed your flesh to the detriment of your spirit – the real house where God ought to dwell? Do you have a kingdom builder for a pastor or just an inspirational preacher who excites you with lofty messages that satisfy your carnal cravings?
Your life will never become glorious if there is no kingdom builder to submit to as a father in faith.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURAL PASSAGE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
“But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:1-5 NKJV