TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 11TH May 2023)
“O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul,
The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war. Suddenly Destruction upon destruction is cried, For the whole land is plundered.
Suddenly my tents are plundered, And my curtains in a moment.
How long will I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?“For My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.” Jeremiah 4:19-22 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 131st DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS & WONDERS!
Sometimes, there are no accurate words to use in expressing appreciation to God, when it comes to the wonderful works of His mercies in our lives. For many of us, it is when we get back to eternity that people will realize how much God’s mercies helped us on earth.
It has been 131 days of God’s mercy, kindness, compassion and love. Yes, 131 days of His mercies, kindness, and compassion, expressed in glorious truths on this platform. The Bible says glorious things are spoken concerning us.
What is the importance of these glorious truths? The importance cannot be quantified. First of all, no one can step into any glorious thing spoken concerning him or her by Heaven, until he or she obey glorious truths spoken to him or her from Heaven. It does not matter what may have been your history, you still have a glorious destiny. But you cannot step into it, until you obey glorious truths.
The Bible thoughts we have been looking at on this platform on the faith, purity and patience of the saints, are some of the glorious truths one need to obey, in other to come into his or her glorious destiny, or retain their prosperity in their walk with God.
We have narrowed down to matters of Righteousness, purity and Holiness, because of the role they play in all these, and it has been an exciting journey. It has been glorious for those who are seeking to please God. He has been giving us all we need to do just that. All that is required now is adequate response.
Today we will pick up from where we stopped yesterday; the memory.
We have been looking at the sanctification of the soul. We have seen that the soul will never be sanctified if the five units that make up the soul are not brought to the spotlight. It is the corruption of the five units of the soul that makes a man’s soul corrupt. It is therefore the sanctification that will get the soul sanctified.
We have seen two aspects of the soul that need to be sanctified, the imagination and the memory. Today we will be looking at another aspect or unit – the intelligence. If a man’s intelligence is corrupt and sinful, he will be silly like our devotional text says. The truth remains, it is silly to live in sin after knowing the consequences.
There are times I will sit to reflect on the life of sin I lived, and see how stupid and silly I was, doing the things I did.
It takes stupidity to live in sin after knowing the truth. It is like knowing a trip will result in an accident, and still join in the ride. It’s like seeing how the water was poisoned, and still going ahead to drink it, because you are thirsty.
Jesus manifested as wisdom to stop us from being silly.
Samson knew the consequence of revealing the secret of his strength, and still went ahead revealing it. That was silly. David knew adultery has stoning as the consequence, and still went ahead to sleep with Beersheba. That was silly too. I had known from my childhood that sin will lead me to hell, but I still grew up committing it. That was silly.
WHEN OUR INTELLIGENCE BECOMES CORRUPT, WE ACT SILLY.
Our devotional text was a lamentation of the Almighty on the spiritual lives of the nation of Israel in the days of Jeremiah.
In those days, prophets where vessels for expression of divine emotions. Unlike today, you could only know how God felt about you then, when you stand before a prophet in Bible days. The reason was, the Holy Spirit was not yet given to help each individual know how God felt about them when they do what is good or bad. The prophets where the Heavenly thermometers or test tubes for such things.
Honestly, if GOD calls you to be a prophet in those days, you were in for something very unpleasant, especially if you are called to be a prophet to a rebellious people like Ezekiel was.
God emphatically told him, “I know they will not listen to you, but go.” That is painful.
Why are you sending me knowing that I will be terribly rejected, persecuted and dealt with? That was the burden those men and women carried in their days. Prophets were not known as titled men, money-spinning machines, “prophet-prophesy” men or woman, agents of divination and sorcery, or false deliverance negotiators. They were known as holy men who carried the burden of the LORD for their age and time.
So, on that day the LORD of host used the emotions of Jeremiah to show how he felt. The full text says;
“O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war.
Suddenly Destruction upon destruction is cried, For the whole land is plundered. Suddenly my tents are plundered, And my curtains in a moment. How long will I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
“For My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.” Jeremiah 4:19-22 NKJV
There is so much to glean from this scripture. But we will limit ourselves to the focus of this discourse.
If you think God does not go through pain when we go through the consequences of our sins and silliness, then you do not know how loving He is. God is so wired to us that, whatever pain we go through for anything, GOD goes through it a thousand time.
SOMETIMES HE SEES IT COMING AND BEGIN TO GROAN AND SEND US SIGNS BY HIS HOLY SPIRIT.
But our corrupt intelligence would not let us respond to His word positively. The pleasure and deceitfulness of sin, will make us to down play the negative effect of what is coming, saying mercy will speak for us, while mercy is already speaking through the warnings we are receiving, and we are ignoring it.
Our talking point on this text is the point that says,
“For My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
God was describing the level of intelligence His people had in those days. He called them foolish, and silly people with no understanding. These adjectives tell us how corrupt the intelligence can be and the kind of decisions that comes out of us when our intelligence is corrupt.
God still use His present-day apostles and prophets to describe how foolish we are. He still uses them to wake us up by calling us foolish, and silly people with no understanding.
If your intelligence is corrupt, you will be wise to do evil and ignorant when it comes to doing good. You will be able to engage in any sin without feeling bad about it, and come out to stand as if you just came out from an encounter with GOD. The Bible says you are a silly child.
There are many of us in Church today (I mean believers in Christ who are playing with their Christianity), who can plan any meeting for sexual intercourse, but cannot plan any meeting with the Almighty God. So many youths are really wise to do evil. They can do the unthinkable, and still put up a face, very intelligently, that suggest they can never do such a thing.
Some will pick up quarrels with you as a self-defence mechanism when you come close to finding out the sinful things they are doing behind your back. As one who leads people, I have encountered these things over and over.
When it comes to doing evil, we are all geniuses; we can be very clever. But when it comes to doing good, we are dummies.
THAT IS THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOMEONE WHOSE INTELLIGENCE IS CORRUPT.
It is really saddening when I sit to consider how terrible many of us, believers in Christ, are. Sometimes I am tempted to ask if many of us are really saved, and if we still believe that hell is real?
A lot of us in church can sleep with anyone, even if they are single or married, we do not care. So long as they can be there for us. That should worry us! It should worry us because, you cannot take a part that leads to hell and hope to get to Heaven. The Bible says God will judge sexual sins terribly.
Sadly, many of us do not care. Once our flesh wants it, we go for it; even praying in tongues.
Under the inspiration of the sex goddess, we can plan sexual relations with anyone in such a way that none will ever suspect that we are doing such a thing. We are wise, intelligent and discreet when it comes to covering our sexual sins, but when it comes to living right, we are not. We eat the sexual sin, and wipe away our mouths as if nothing sinful happened.
The Bible says;
This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, And says, “I have done no wickedness.” Proverbs 20:30 NKJV
This scripture, among other things, is about the use of sexual pills to control the evidence of sexual sins.
One way adulterous and sexually perverse women do this is by cleverly using birth control pills in their sexual encounters. Ordinarily, birth control pills should be under the usage of married people not the single. But now the single use them more because of sexual cravings.
The use of it is to enable us eat and wipe away our mouths and then appear as if we have done no wickedness. But if one who eats but did not wipe away her mouth, either through birth control pills or abortion is seen with the evidence called pregnancy, we call them worst sinners. We say they were not wise. Wise to do evil?
When our intelligence is corrupt, we will be wise to do evil and not good. This is a call for a private revolution. It is a call for the saving of the soul from the sinful ability to do evil, and not get caught by any eye.
WE MUST REALIZE THAT AND WAKE UP IN PRAYER AND FASTING.
We must wake up in prayer and fasting until the wisdom to do what is evil is replaced with the wisdom to do what is right.
Apart from having a corrupt imagination and memory, most of us live a life of sin because we can cleverly cover our sins and convince people that we are holy and righteous. But leading a consecrated life will require that we become foolish to do evil and wise to do good.
Personally, I discover that genuine salvation and daily times with the LORD can be very helpful in not having a corrupt mind or intelligence.
The fall of man planted the ability (boldness and cleverness) to do what is wrong in us. But when we give our lives to Christ, He takes away the ability; the boldness and cleverness. He makes us weak and unwise to do evil, and bold and wise to do good.
He gives us an immaturity that walks away from the sinful and a maturity that sticks to the holy. That is why the Bible says;
“Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.” 1 Corinthians 14:20 NKJV
This scripture is still urging us to have the ideal mind for holy living. Its urging us to operate a sanctified intelligence. It presented one of the characteristics of a sanctified intelligence – a mindset that is mature in thinking when it comes to holding on to what is good, but continue to be a babe in matters of evil.
I have said it repeatedly, the need for a sanctified intelligence cannot be over emphasized. Satan knows its power. That is why he will first give one a baptism of foolishness (wisdom to do what is evil) before planting the person’s feet on the parts that leads to hell. That is the baptism you overcome if you lead a sanctified life by making sure your intelligence is not corrupt.
To make your intelligence incorruptible, learn to do what David suggested in psalm 27. Actually, it was not a suggestion but a decision he took. If we take the same decision, it will be of help in our quest for a sanctified intelligence, the saving of our souls, and a consecrated living.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!
The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell.Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident.
One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. Psalm 27:1-4 NKJV