TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER 2024)
“But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? Matthew 12:25-26 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 261ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Today we want to refresh our minds on the relationship between prayer and wisdom. Yes, it will take us to Bible truths on how practical wisdom helps man to improve his life on earth, especially after prayer.
To start with, let me state that one major thing that we need today is wisdom, not any other wisdom but the wisdom of God; that which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
The Bible says wisdom is the principal thing. That in all our getting, we should get wisdom and get understanding.
It is important to note that, prayer gets God working, but wisdom, knowledge and understanding will get what God may have worked in the spirit realm to work in our lives.
Righteous prayers create things in the invisible realm, but divine wisdom creates them in the natural realm. Yes, divine wisdom creates in the natural realm what effective prayer have created in the spirit realm.
The import here is this; if you pray effectively, it will make things happen. But without wisdom you will hinder what prayer has made happen in the Spirit from happening in your life. That is why most prayer-full people, are less than dust and afflicted.
I said prayer-full not prayerful. The two are not the same.
To be prayer-full, is to be praying without applying divine wisdom in what you might be praying for. To be prayerful, is to be one who lives his life from a prayer knee that fetches divine wisdom.
It’s therefore important that you add divine wisdom as one of your pursuit in life even as you pray. Sometimes, you might not need to ask God to do a thing. You only need to ask Him for divine wisdom to have that thing in your life.
Divine wisdom will eliminate all that is not God’s will for your life, neutralize evil forces up against you and help you move things that have never moved in your life.
YES, DIVINE WISDOM WITH AN EFFECTIVE PRAYER LIFE, WILL ELIMINATE STAGNANCY IN YOUR LIFE, AND HELP YOU TRAVEL FASTER.
In other words, the two will help you to get things done faster and more effectively. The greatest problem of mankind therefore, is not their problems but lack of divine wisdom, wrapped in an effective prayer life.
Let’s look at divine wisdom for a moment. There are two aspects of divine wisdom, due to the two shades of life.
The two shades of life are, the subjective shade, and the objective shade. The aspect of divine wisdom that deals with the subjective shade of life is spiritual wisdom. The one that deals with the objective shade is practical wisdom.
With practical wisdom from God, we deal with the objective shade or natural aspects of our lives objectively, and with spiritual wisdom from God, we deal with the subjective shade or spiritual aspect of our lives subjectively. I hope you understand me.
To be subjective in God’s kingdom, is to base a decision or action on an opinion that is derived from a revelation of scripture, or from a personal experience with God, or from a dealing of the Holy Spirit in your life, rather than some human facts, logic, or conclusions.
Knowing well that those facts will never help you, but what the Spirit leads you to do would.
David did this when he followed the movement of God’s presence on the tops of the mulberry trees to carry out an action against the enemy, and got a great victory in battle.
Being subjective is what we call faith. But being objective is reason. Yes, there are times you need to follow reason, and there are times you need to be subjective. God is the source of subjective wisdom, and also the source of very helpful objective or practical wisdom.
Now, there is an ancient wisdom in our devotional text today that will help us dearly in walking in divine wisdom this end time; I mean both shades of divine wisdom. Especially, the wisdom of dealing with spiritual problems effectively. It is important that we uncover it.
To start with, a major highlight from the text says, “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?”
Now, we all know that the kingdom of Satan is not divided against itself. The text is actually passing a message that simply says, “Satan cannot cast out Satan.”
GLEANING THE MESSAGE IN THE TEXT WILL HELP US UNDERSTAND HOW TO DEAL WITH SPIRITUAL PROBLEMS.
All spiritual problems are traceable to Satan himself. In most cases, even when the hand of a man is involved, he is actually the power behind that hand. That is why the Bible teaches that, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.
Satan is responsible for that marriage that is crumbling, but he is using what the couples involved are doing to crumble it. He is responsible for that health that is going down. But he is using something in the person’s life, maybe ignorance of how to manage a diet, to do it.
He is responsible for that ministry that is under attack. But he is using something the minister might be doing wrong to attack it. He is responsible for that poverty, that loss of job, that loss of peace and etc.
The Bible teaches that he is responsible for all evil. Jesus spoke to us saying;
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 NKJV
This scripture teaches that, except to execute correctional judgment, God is not usually the author of crisis. Satan is the source of all evil. So, in dealing with spiritual problems, you must learn to cast out Satan because when he leaves, all his works leaves with him.
The word “Satan” is not actually a name. It is a title. It means “opponent of God.” It was a title that the fallen angel Lucifer acquired after becoming the chief opponent of God. He acquired it by becoming the first opponent of God’s will, ways, and word.
That was why when Peter opposed Jesus, and tried to discourage him from going to the cross to die for us, which was the perfect will of God, (obviously because he was ignorant) Jesus called him “Satan” (or opponent of God).
The word again says, “Satan cannot cast out Satan.” In other words, “an opponent of God cannot cast out an opponent of God.”
THAT MEANS IF WE ARE OPPOSING GOD’S WILL, WORD, OR WAY IN ANY WAY, WE WILL LACK THE POWER TO DEAL WITH SATAN.
The most effective way to deal with the devil therefore is to be submissive and obedient to God’s will, ways, and word! We paralyze Satan and his work more, by submitting to God than by even praying. The Bible says,
“Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:7-8 NKJV
The ancient wisdom for dealing with all spiritual problems has been uncovered – just obey God! Do not oppose Him in any way. Be submissive to Him in every way. That is how not to be satanic.
Satan will prefer having prayer-full people than having prayerful people.
Apart from not walking in practical wisdom, Prayer-full people pray and practice charismatic witchcraft, but prayerful people do not. The Prayer-full go from mountain to mountain to pray, but the prayerful do not.
Prayer-full people believe in location dimension, while prayerful people believe in the Spirit dimension. Prayer-full people use soil, water, salt, mantle and all that came from African traditional religion in prayer. But prayerful people do not.
Prayerful people are present truth people, who are submissive to God and His ways. They pray standing on the substance, Christ, and not shadows.
They submit to God’s will, and God’s ways in scriptures. They submit to God’s way to get and stay married, God’s way of handling offenders, and hateful people, God’s way of dealing with sin, iniquity and trespass.
They do not cover their lives with prayer times that are not making them to walk humbly before God and lead a submissive life. From their prayer knees, they submit to God’s routes for their lives and everything God, even to the point of crucifying the flesh.
They do not profess to know God but deny Him by their works.
They do not have a form of Godliness without power. They lead very submissive and crucified lives, boosted by the hours they spend with God praying, meditating on the word and paying the price to carry His presence even to their places of work and wherever they go.
I believe the message of today’s devotional is clear.
God is calling on us to become prayerful not prayer-full, or even prayer-fools, because many have even moved from being prayer-full to becoming prayer-fools. They are now fooled by the demon of deliverance.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURAL PASSAGE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR TODAY;
“Come now, and let us reason together, “Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword”; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Isaiah 1:18-20 NKJV