TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Saturday 6th February 2021)
“The enemy shall not outwit him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague those who hate him.” Psalms 89:22-23 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 37TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS
We give GOD the glory for His marvelous deeds in our lives. Today is the end of another week in our years of Higher Heights. We have no one else to thank than the creator of Heaven and Earth, who stepped down and manifested as Jesus Christ, died on the cross and set us free from eternal damnation.
We give Him the praise for the breath in our nostrils, the air in our lungs, the blood in our veins and the life within us. To Him belong all the glory for all He has done for us, and all He will do for us.
We also thank Him for all He has been doing in us. It is very important for God to do something in us. What He do for us may make the earth for comfortable for us, but it is what He do in us that will take us to Heaven. That is what changes our moral lives and make us Heaven worthy.
In or devotional today, we will be looking at spiritual warfare!
You see, spiritual warfare is inevitable. It is a warfare that began before Mankind was created. It may interest you to know that we were created and placed on an earth that was already a battle field.
That was why God planted a garden called the garden of Eden to hide us there. He never wanted us to be bothered by the warfare going on, hence making His glory our dwelling place.
God’s will then, was for us not to be part of the war at all because we were not there when it all started. But after the fall of man, and our subsequent expulsion form the garden of Eden, we became part of the warfare on earth. Today you find people who are fighting either on the devil’s side or on God’s side.
God’s will then, was for us not to be part of the war, but his will now is for us not to be defeated by the enemy.
HIS WILL IS THAT THE ENEMY THAT WAS DEFEATED ON THE CROSS OF CALVARY REMAINS DEFEATED IN OUR LIVES.
However, if he outwits us in battle, this will not happen. We will be in trouble because spiritual warfare is a battle of wits, and many do not know that. They think it’s a matter of fasting and praying aimlessly. Wits has nothing to do with screaming in prayer to defeat the enemy.
When we say wits, we are referring to intelligence, common sense, understanding, and the use of the head or mind to make way.
Actually, in spiritual warfare, it is those who use their Holy Ghost filled head that goes ahead in life. Those whose heads are not filled with the Holy Ghost, or who may be filled with Him but do not engage their heads, will never be ahead of their enemies in life.
The enemy will outwit whoever does not have a Holy Ghost sense to put to use in spiritual warfare.
The dictionary defined the word “OUTWIT” to mean “to get the better of by superior intelligence.” In the context of our devotional today, when the enemy gets the better of you by superior intelligence, he has outwitted you. Believe it or not, that is what is happening to so many Christians today – the devil getting a better of them by superior intelligence.
For instance, he will use teachings of grace that allows sin to reign supreme in your life just to keep you filthy enough to be perpetually oppressed, sick, and depressed by his demons. He knows his activities only prevail where the glory of GOD does not dwell, and the glory and sin do not coexist. So he may even keep you anointed, but in sin so that he stays ever with you in spite of your anointing. That is superior intelligence.
Sadly, many do not know that one can be anointed and still live in sin, consequently, taking the presence of the anointing as divine approval of their sinful life styles.
In fact, the enemy will use Romans 8:1-2 to get a better of them by telling them “there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” without adding “who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit” to keep them moving from sin to sin.
HIS SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE WILL GET A BETTER OF THEM BY DECEIVING THEM TO QUOTE THAT SCRIPTURE HALFWAY.
Whenever you see a Christian or preacher quoting this scripture half way, you have seen a man or woman living in secret sins.
A pastor once used this half-quoted scripture to keep a lady he was not married to in sexual sin for a long time. It is common knowledge that all the perverted grace preachers who quote the portion of Romans 8:1-2 that suits them and leave the rest, are living in sin. The enemy has outwitted them in battle. But our devotional text this morning says
“The enemy shall not outwit him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague those who hate him.”
Hallelujah!
Historically, this was a prophetic blessing God placed on David because of the wars the young man was called to fight. It was placed on him the Day Samuel visited his home. God began by making sure that the enemy does not outwit David in battle, because if David is outwitted in battle, the sons of wickedness will afflict him.
What can we glean from this?
If we allow the enemy to outwit us in the battles of life, it will open the door for every son of wickedness to afflict us. Wherever a son of wickedness is successfully afflicting you, the enemy has outwitted you in the battle of that area of life. It’s a sign that you lack wits in the Spirit. You need to attend the “School of the Spirit” to gain wits in the Spirit.
That is why only those who know their God shall be strong and do exploits. But those who do not know him shall be weak and exploited. Those who are foolish shall be exploited. Faith is not foolishness. Faith is a product of divine wits that is why it comes by hearing and seeing from the all wise God, whose wisdom is foolishness to men.
If you therefore have no wit in the Spirit, but claim you are in faith, you are lying. Men of faith are men of wits. Abraham was a man of faith; he was a man of wits. With 318 men he defeated thousands of well-armed and well trained soldiers in the battle of five kings.
When his little nephew Lot became a thing of concern to him, he wisely parted from him without rancor. When the same was in trouble, he armed his trained men and went for his rescue. It takes wits to love even your enemies and those who rewarded you evil for God.
As you embrace this day, may this prayer become your prayer as well, in Jesus precious name! AMEN!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION TODAY;
“I have found My servant David; with My holy oil I have anointed him, with whom My hand shall be established; also My arm shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not outwit him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague those who hate him.
“But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, and in My name his horn shall be exalted. Also I will set his hand over the sea, and his right hand over the rivers.
He shall cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’ Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
My mercy I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David:” Psalms 89:20-29, 34-35 NKJV