TODAY’S DEVOTION (Saturday 3rd May 2025)
“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 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 123RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY
Every now and then, I have sat down to think about God’s mercies. I have sat down to think through Jesus’ death burial and resurrection and what it means. I have always made one conclusion. “Thank God He came,” has always been it.
I have seen His love for us and His mercies as the reason we are alive. If God should mark iniquities, then there would have been no repentances that will be honored by Him in heaven. Our repentance is honored today because of His mercies.
I think God will not give us a standard of mercy that says, we should forgive people 77 times a day for their sin against us, so long as they repent, then the standard He set for Himself is very high. It must be higher than the heavens are to the earth.
It is my prayer that we find more of Him today as we meditate on His word for today. In God’s kingdom, schooling does not come to an end.
Learning, unlearning and relearning are constant manifestations and metamorphosis of the righteous. The reason is because learning, un-learning and re-learning create pathways for us to follow while living in this dark world.
THEY ALSO PREPARE US FOR BLESSINGS.
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 learning, re-learning and un-learning seriously.
The nation of Israel comes to mind at this point. If you read the book of Deuteronomy, Moses’ Valedictory speech, you will realize that they were 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. That thing was “not living by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” You will have your own thing to be schooled for like Job had his.
God’s schooling process could be painful like this one but His ultimate vision is to make you know. For Israel they were to know 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 or trained 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.
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.
Israel took a longer time because God had scheduled that they finished schooling in 40 days then enter the purpose of the schooling – which was the blessing of 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 course of very short years?
That was what happened to Israel, and I am afraid it is happening to many in the Church today. Some with a worse case than others because they do not even have proper spiritual leaders that Heaven may use to school them.
If you have not been enrolled in a school, you cannot say you will graduate so and so year. 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
Until God has given you a shepherd His spirit will use to feed you, you have not been enrolled in His school. 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.
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.
In the light of this, we can make this month a month of building a stronger spiritual capacity.
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 are still masturbating, gossiping, having sexual feelings towards anyone, or living in any sin, the problem is lack of strong spiritual capacity to live the way God wants.
LET US TAKE YOU THROUGH A RECIPE FOR HOLY LIVING.
If you want to live a Holy Life, it’s as simple as taking a bath each morning; wake up each day and spend quality time with God, sowing to please the Spirit before going out, and when you return do the same before you sleep.
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 dress codes, but moral uprightness made possible the indwelling Spirit of Christ) no eye shall see the LORD!
It’s my prayer that the LORD use this word to improve your walk and talk with Him. AMEN!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY;
“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
