TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 21ST AUGUST 2023)
“He who plans to do evil will be called a mischief-maker.
The plans of the foolish and the thought of foolishness are sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to men.
If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” Proverbs 24:8-10 AMP
WELCOME TO THE 233RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS
Welcome to another great day in our month of fresh beginnings. God has set this platform aside to bless and build us up; in other words, to edify us. Scriptural Revelations are the edifying or building blocks of the human spirit.
Whenever God want to bless a people, He will first school them in His things so that they can develop capacity for the blessing. Schooling in the things of God is therefore a prelude to significant and spectacular blessings.
God has never blessed a people significantly without first schooling them. That is why you must take these devotionals seriously.
THIS TRUTH IS BURRIED IN ALL THE LORD DID WITH THE ISRAELITES.
If you read the book of Deuteronomy – Moses’ Valedictory speech – you will realize that, Israel was first schooled in the things of God, before they inherited the promise land. The Bible made it clear that God schooled them in just one thing. And they qualified for the blessing. That thing was, “how not to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Moses said,
“So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:3 NKJV
God’s schooling process could be painful like this one, but His ultimate vision is to make you know. For Israel, God schooled them to feed from what comes out of His mouth, as a means of living, surviving, or thriving on earth. Moses said, He made them go through hunger so that they will learn that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed from the mouth of God.” That was the thing of God they learnt for forty years.
It is a thing of God “not to live by bread alone but by every word that proceed from the mouth of God.” It is not a thing of man or devils. And it took them forty years to learn that.
NOW, SOMEONE MAY ASK WHY IT TOOK THEM THAT LONG; THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE.
First, what was coming was big, hence they needed a longer time to be schooled for it. Secondly, their response to God was slow, hence it took a longer time than necessary for them to learn the lesson. The third reason is, their captivity in Egypt was long – 400 years of slavery completely damaged their lives. They needed a longer time to be internally reconstructed.
If you want to know how long you may need to stay in God’s training School, you have just known it. The things that will determine the lessons you will learn and how long you will stay learning them are;
The significance of the blessing God is preparing you for.
Your response to His dealings and How long you have been in spiritual degradation and ignorance.
In fact, some of us may need to remain in God’s school all our lives. The reason is simple; the enemy has damaged everything in our sanctuary (internal life) and because of our lack of proper response to God, it will take a longer time to recover fully. Besides, for many believers, the Churches they attend do not have sufficient revelation to help them, so it will really be like a mission impossible.
You will never graduate from God’s training school, until you find a church without dark doctrines to plant yourself in. If you are dealing with the true Jesus, and not the false one in so many Churches today, you will need His training to receive His blessings; not oil in your hands, water, salt in prayer, and all that the false Christ gives to people today.
Israel had a great pastor in Moses who was used by God to teach them that one lesson. Sadly, many have pastors who are rich in the knowledge of the things of men, and others in the things of devils, but poor in the knowledge of the things of God. Hence, they cannot help them properly.
In spite of having a Moses, Israel still took a longer time because they will not submit to him. If you do not even have a Moses – if you have an offering taking pastor, it will be terrible.
Your graduation into a blessing in God’s Kingdom will be near impossible, without sitting under and submitting to the word of the LORD by the hand of the right pastor – someone with the deep knowledge of God.
For Israel, God had scheduled that they finish schooling in 40 days, then enter into the purpose and blessing of the schooling; which was a life in the land of Canaan. But their slow response turned the 40 days God scheduled into 40 years!
Have you ever heard of undergraduates who took longer years to do a short time course? That was the case! I am afraid it is the case with many in the Church today. As earlier stated, some cases are worst because they do not have proper spiritual leaders that Heaven can use to school them.
The three determining factors outlined above are only applicable to those who have been blessed with Apostolic and prophetic Graces (in a preacher) from the LORD to school them in His things. They are not applicable to the lives of those who do not have such teachers of divine will or ways in their walk and talk with God!
The sad truth is, if you do not have a proper pastor, you are like a Child in a school without a teacher. You will do badly in the examinations of life, and end up not graduating into any significant blessing in Christ Jesus.
THAT IS WHY GOD SAID IN HIS WORD,
“And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Jeremiah 3:15 NKJV
Technically, until God has given you a shepherd that His Spirit will use to feed you, you have not been enrolled in His School. Don’t forget, Israel had a Moses that God used to school them.
Without Moses, they would not have even known the will and ways of the LORD. The early Church had people like Peter, James, John, and the rest of the apostles. Timothy had Apostle Paul for both a spiritual father and guide. Yours cannot be an exemption. You must have a God given shepherd for those determinants to come into force in your life.
Don’t forget what we began this devotional with – we said schooling is God’s way of helping us to build capacity for coming blessings. God will send men to you – spiritual guides He can use – to school you in His things basically to help you build spiritual capacity.
Understand that, most people fail in life not because of the problems they encounter in the journey of life, but because they have no capacity in the spirit to withstand things.
A major highlight in our devotional text today says, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” It did not say “if you faint in the day of adversity, your enemies are strong.” He said your strength is small. That is spiritual capacity being brought into focus. Lack of spiritual capacity is the reason for all kinds of collapse you see among men.
There are three basic enemies of man. These enemies are the flesh, the devil, and the world.
Now, people do not fail because of the presence of the flesh, the devil, or the evil and corrupt system of this world. No! People fail because of the absence of spiritual capacity or internal strength to withstand them. That is why God’s schooling system is for spiritual capacity building.
Blessings only come when capacity for them has been built.
As we bring this to a close, let’s consider the subject of building spiritual capacity to resist sin and overcome all sinful habits. In our devotional yesterday, we shared about the mysteries of sowing to please the flesh and sowing to please the Spirit. I want you to understand that if you do not spend your days sowing to please the Spirit as a Child of God, you will not have capacity to resist sin and break free from every sinful habit.
The difference between Joseph and Samson was not the anointing upon their lives but the spiritual capacity of each. Joseph had the capacity to resist sin, hence overcoming the temptation that stood before him, in the person of Potiphar’s wife. But Samson had no capacity to resist the same sin, hence hanging around with harlots and loose women.
IF YOU WANT TO LIVE A HOLY LIFE, IT’S AS SIMPLE AS TAKING A BATH EACH MORNING.
Wake up each day and spend time – quality time with God, sowing to please the Spirit before going out. And when you return, do the same before you sleep. Things will happen to stop you from continuing, but you are to resist them and stay on track.
If you resist them and remain on track, the Bible says you will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Whose leaves will not wither! Hallelujah!
A generation that sows to please the flesh, giving it all it wants (illegitimate sex, excessive food, and comfort – the basic needs of the flesh) will be ruined. It will never be holy as God is. And do not forget, without Holiness (not religious dress codes, but a purity of the flesh and spirit that reflects in our physical looks), no eye shall see the LORD!
It’s my prayer that the LORD uses this word to improve our walk and talk with Him. AMEN!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR USTODAY;
“How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word. With my whole heart I have sought you; oh, let me not wander from your commandments!
Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me your statutes.
With my lips I have declared all the judgments of your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts, and contemplate your ways. I will delight myself in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” Psalms 119:9-16 NKJV
God was pleased with what they were doing and put his stamp of approval on it — quite a number of the Greeks believed and turned to the Master. Acts 11:21