TODAY’S DEVOTION (Monday 27th April 2020)
“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.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 117th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
Today, we will begin with some warfare terminologies in apostolic warfare. First, we must all come to terms with this fact; the Christian faith is a call to battle. The Church is “an army” and those who are born again “soldiers.” Sadly, many do not even know this, hence living defeated Christian lives and calling the Church a hospital.
There is not place in the Bible where the Church is called a hospital, but there are places the Church is called an army, a soldier and cabinet. When Jesus addressed Himself as a physician, He was speaking to a sick religious world. He was not discussing about running church as a hospital.
What the Word calls a soldier, an army or a cabinet or an athlete, can be a hospital. Satan does not fight us as patients in a hospital but soldiers of the cross and armies of the LORD. He fights us as God’s army that is why spiritual warfare is tense.
If we do not know that we are called into battle instead of a hospital, and that the fight we are called into is a good fight of faith not medicine intake, we will not engage ourselves in what we are called to do; we will be fighting a bad fight of faith and coming our defeated.
NOW, THERE IS A BAD FIGHT OF FAITH!
When you use bottle of Oil instead of the power of the Holy Spirit in prayers, you are engaged in a bad fight of faith.
When you take drinking of Oil as receiving the Holy Spirit, you are engaged in a bad fight of faith. When you think you can use mustard seeds, brooms, mats, and pieces of clothes to defeat the devil permanently, you are engaged in a bad fight of faith.
The God of Heaven and Earth called us into a good fight of faith not a bad fight. Paul said, “Fight the good fight of faith; lay hold on eternal life.” It takes a good fight of faith to lay hold on things in the Spirit. And that fight can only be fought with divine wisdom. That is why God have been speaking to us on the application of divine wisdom to our daily lives.
Wisdom is indeed the principal thing, especially in spiritual warfare. In all your getting, get wisdom get understanding. Understanding is an ingredient of wisdom. When you understand, you can stand against your enemies. And when you are wise, you can win.
It is one thing to stand against your enemies and another to win. You could stand and not win. Understanding make you stand, and wisdom helps you to win. The two helps one to stand up to challenges of life and come our victories.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I see you not just standing up against your enemies or the battles raging against you, but wining all, and everything that life may have wrapped you into in Jesus precious name.
I SEE THE WISDOM OF GOD MAKING WAY FOR YOU IN JESUS PRECIOUS NAME.
In our devotional today, we will be looking at the next key that grants a man access to divine wisdom. I call it sound doctrine.
The wisdom of God is sound wisdom. It is not demonic or worldly, it is spiritually sound. That is why you will never be able to walk in it without encountering sound doctrine. Satan knows why he is sponsoring heretic teachers and false prophets to peddle false doctrines or duplicate true ones to neutralize its potency. He knows that sound doctrine is the key to sound wisdom.
That brings me to the three classed of Christians today.
We have the totally free Christians, whose salvation was based on sound doctrine. This breed is totally free from habitual sins, and do not take God’s mercy or grace for granted. They make use of it to live right before God man. They walk in divine wisdom and will not be found where unsound doctrines are taught!
Then we have the partially free Christians. These are the ones whose salvation is not total because of the kind of gospel that brought them into Christianity. They sing in the Choir and still go to club houses when they feel drawn. They are not free from the sins they lived in before joining the faith, hence are always found of explaining their sinful lifestyles away!
THEY WILL TAKE A CHURCH MAN OR WOMEN TO BED EVEN AFTER PRAYING LOUD PRAYERS IN CHURCH AND SAY IT DOES NOT MATTER.
It is foolish to feed the sin nature and say it does not matter! But this breed takes God’s mercy and grace for granted because their salvation is not based on sound doctrine.
They walk in human wisdom and spiritual foolishness calling it “grace.” You always find them where heresies and false doctrines are taught. They are the ones that devils are always with because they always have food for him in their lives. It was this class of Christians Apostle Paul rebuked in one of his letters when he wrote,
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NKJV
Sadly, so many preachers, church workers and members fall into one of the above descriptions. It contains the description of the spiritual state of those people who will not make Heaven.
Then we have the third class of Christians who are not free at all from sin or Satan. They are just traditional. The only difference between them and unbelievers is that they go to Church. This breed is yet to encounter the LORD.
They are not even aware of anything in the Bible apart from the stories told in Sunday school and what they hear from their dead spiritual leaders share. You put them off if you speak about sound doctrine or anything spiritual. They operated either the wisdom of men or that of devils.
When you tell them about Biblical position of things they will say “keep the Bible aside. This is not Church.” Like I sated earlier; they are not different from the lost sinners out there in spirit.
However, God wants all Christians to be sound on faith. God wants us to operate in sound wisdom. It takes sound doctrine to be sound in faith and operate in sound wisdom. A major highlight in our devotional text said ““For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,”
Sadly, we are in that time now. Most prefer following what is working not what is true. Joining Church or becoming a Christian is now determined by the financial gains and reward one will get for doing so. We forget that we go to church to be disciple and trained to do the work of God, touch the lives of other positively, live a holy life, and make Heaven. We detest Preachers who teaches sound doctrines and call them names. That is why we walk in foolishness and call God “Satan” and Satan “God.”
We can go on and on, but like I always state this is not a book. This is a devotional, and I believe the LORD has shared with you a few things that have added to your wisdom bank.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION.
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.”
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” Ephesians 5:8-11