TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 25TH JUNE 2023)**
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” Galatians 6:7-8 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 176TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
In our devotional yesterday, we began a short wisdom walk on behaving ourselves wisely.
We shared that behaving ourselves wisely is one thing our divine destiny will need to be fulfilled. Foolish conduct has never been a blessing and will never be. The Bible says David behaved himself wisely in the affairs of his prophetic destiny and was promoted.
Even when his mentor became his tormentor, he behaved wisely, and God used that to preserve him from the sword of his mentor turned tormentor.
Understand that, sometimes, we are the ones to give God what to use in preserving us from the things the enemy throws at us to sabotage our divine destinies. We are to give Him good conduct, learn to make wise decisions in life and conduct ourselves wisely. Then He would use the result to deal with our enemies.
If we do not learn to behave ourselves wisely in a given circumstance of life, God will be handicapped in creating in, and through us, the glorious events He has predetermine to happen, in or through our lives.
For instance, imagine a woman whose home is at the verge of breaking down, taking her husband to her pastor for prayers and counselling, in hope of salvation for her marriage, and on getting there, she threw a slap at him because the man said something she did not like. That will be the end of that marriage!
Even if God wanted it saved, she has given the devil what to use to kill it finally, and at the same time rendered God handicapped.
When we do not behave ourselves wisely, we rendered the supernatural power of God useless in our lives. That is why you hear some people complained of hardship and hard life in spite of being prayed for.
Yes, there are prayers of greedy men and women of God, and ignorant and heretic preachers that God will never answer, but there are prayers of true men and women of GOD that God should answer. If such men or women pray for you, and yet there is no answer, check how you are behaving yourself.
WHATEVER EFFECTIVE PRAYER DID NOT TAKE CARE OF, GOD IS SAYING TO US, EFFECTIVE WISDOM WILL TAKE CARE OF IT.
If the best preachers, whose lives and graces are like Moses’, Elijah’s, Peter’s Paul’s and the rest of the ultimate men of God in the Bible, pray for you, and nothing seems to be working, it is a sign that you head is not working. You are not behaving yourself wisely in that aspect of life their prayers is covering.
In such circumstance, it is your head that will put you ahead in life. Behave yourself wisely, and you will win.
If we do not behave ourselves wisely in the matters of life, no matter how much or how effective we pray, our lives will still remain the same.
Few ways to behave ourselves wisely in matters of divine destiny, are highlighted in our devotional text today. But the one that caught my attention this morning says;
“…for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life”
To sow is much deeper than to give money to a preacher or in support of the work of God.
Like many other words in scriptures, we have diluted this one, and made it of no effect, through the commercialization of the gospel. If we truly understand what it means to sow, we will be careful how we behave because our actions are seeds. All of us spend our days sowing our actions, decisions, etc. into time, and time will process them and return the harvest to us, do not be deceived about that!
That is why, in the realm of man, if one does not like what life is giving to him or her, he or she should check what he or she is giving to life. Life is like a woman. Whatever you sow into its womb, it will receive and multiply it, and return it back to you.
Understand that the womb of time is very fertile. Only God’s mercy can stop it from bringing for certain things we sowed into it, or preventing them from consuming us.
LIFE IS BUILT IN SUCH A WAY THAT WHATEVER YOU GIVE TO IT IS WHAT COMES BACK TO YOU.
A dear man of God once said “life is an echo.” Meaning, whatever you cry out to it is what cries back to you!
Sadly, in a “kill my enemy” conscious Church generation, we have become blind to these facts of life. When things go wrong in our lives, we are quick to point out to some witches and wizards out there, or some uncles, mothers and fathers who our hearts tell us are responsible. We forget that it is when the enemy has something in us that he can attack us successfully.
I am not saying there are no witches and wizards. What I am saying is that if there is no dust in your life the devil will have nothing in you to feed on.
Behaving ourselves foolishly by sowing to please our flesh is the most powerful way we make ourselves preys to some predators in the spirit and natural realms. God is clear and emphatic about that; he that sows to please his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. It does not matter if he is anointed or not.
When Samson sowed to please his flesh in Judges 16, he reaped corruption or spiritual decay. That resulted in chains and imprisonment in the life of the most powerful and dreaded man of that age. But when he was sowing to please the Spirit in Chapters 13, 14, and 15, he was a man of exploits.
Wherever the enemy is attacking in your life successfully, or ruining despite your prayer is a harvest of certain seeds sown to please the flesh. If you check it thoroughly, you will realize that, the cause or origin of what may be happening, is traceable to the moments you spent your life sowing to please the flesh.
Any battle of our divine destiny that the enemy is successfully winning over us, originates during moments we spent sowing to please the flesh. Such battles will require the threshing floor for us to have victory over the enemy.
As citizens of God’s kingdom, we soar high in power, glory and Heavenly peace, when we sow to please the Spirit, and descend down in weakness, shame and crisis, when we sow to please the flesh. If you do not wake up to this spiritual reality, you will perish even in God’s presence.
ANGELS WILL SADLY WATCH YOU AS YOU SELF-DESTRUCT.
The Holy Spirit will be grieved because you took away the right He needs to stand on, in other to help you in your predicament.
If there is anything in your life that prayers (I mean powerful and effective prayers – not powerless and stupid prayers) has not taken care of, it means you are responsible for the problem. You are sowing to please your flesh! As a result, the supernatural power of God cannot work in your life.
In the spirit, whatever problem that came upon you because you sowed to please the flesh, could be taken care of by a miracle. However, it has a way of returning back if you go back to a life style of sowing to please your flesh. That was the spiritual code Jesus demonstrated when He counselled the man who was sick for 38 years, and then got Healed by His touch. He said to him;
…”See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” John 5:14 NKJV
If sowing to the flesh was what brought problems upon you, it will take both prayers and repentance to be free indeed from that problem. If you do not stop doing what you were doing that brought your problems, there will always be a reversal of healing, deliverance, etc.
For instance, if taking cigarettes or alcohol was the reason for the problem God healed you of, if you go back to it again what God took away will return. Jesus said it could be even worst.
If adultery, lust, pride, idleness, foolishness, lack of integrity, spiritual blindness, sexual perversion or any other seed of uncleanliness was what you sowed, resulting in what God took away by His power. What you were healed or delivered from, will return if you return to sowing to please your flesh again. Behaving yourself wisely, is not returning back to what brought the problem GOD took care of.
Behaving yourself wisely is a very powerful force in the kingdom of God; especially when you refuse to sow to please your flesh under any given circumstances.
Sowing to please the Spirit at all times is the key to unleashing a divine destiny even in the midst of the stiffest opposition. That is the only way we align with God to break forth through us, unleash His power, and take us from the declaration to the manifestation.
Moses sowed to please his flesh by the waters of contention, he lost the grace to bring Israel into the promise land, as a result.
The Bible says he pleaded with God to show him mercy and allow him to step into the land, but God said that would be unjust for Him to do. His mandate was to deliver and take them in. But one seed he sowed to please his flesh denied him the completion of his assignment. Joshua had to take over from there.
We can never move from the declaration to the manifestation of our divine destiny sowing to please our flesh! That is one major lesson to glean from the life and times of Moses, and the rest of those who were denied access to their promise land. May we not sabotage our destinies with bad decisions. May we learn to behave ourselves wisely at all times.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Matthew 16:24-27 NKJV