TODAY’S DEVOTION (Sunday 23RD August 2020)
“Then someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Lord, I pray, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!” 2 Samuel 15:31 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 234TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
Today is also the 23rd day of or Wings of the Spirit SCHOOL OF FAT THINGS. I believe in my heart that God has set aside this month to launch us into the deep. Many of us have been in the shallow waters of spiritual understanding and revelation knowledge of the things of God.
So many people in Church have been wounded by lack of deep spiritual understanding of the things of GOD than anything else on planet. Yes, many do not have deep revelation knowledge of the things of GOD neither. The revelation of many in the church system is very shallow, so shallow that even the devil is amazed at us.
Another word for shallow revelation knowledge or acting without deep spiritual understanding is foolishness.
Jesus called two of His disciples who demonstrated a lack of spiritual understanding and revelation knowledge of the events that surrounded his resurrection, fools. It seems it was in frustration, because after sharing it with them for over three years, they out not to act the way they did. He said to them, “oh fools and slow at heart.”
When we are slow at heart, or shallow in our understanding of matters of the Kingdom, we are fools by spiritual nature. It is not to offend but to wake us up. I hope someone is not getting offended already.
You see, the Bible has no kind words for foolishness because it is the greatest tool being used against us by our enemy, the devil. When we walk in foolishness, Satan does not need a weapon to attack us because we have already given him one to use against us.
Yesterday we shared about the wisdom of men and that of the evil one. Foolishness is as dangerous as the wisdom of men and that of the devil put together. Though God sees these two classes of wisdom as foolishness, foolishness simply means an absent of wisdom. It has a more perfect defination.
IT HAS A WAY OF AGGRAVATING ONE’S PROBLEMS.
If your problem is just the devil, then an ounce of prayer can deal with it. But if it is coupled with foolishness, then you need more than prayer to deal with it. You need to find a preacher established in deep spiritual understanding of the word, and strong on the prayer knee to sit under.
The Bible gave us many things that foolishness can do in the life of a person. A passage in the book of Psalm reads,
“My wounds are loathsome and corrupt because of my foolishness. I am bent and bowed down greatly; I go about mourning all the day long.
“For my loins are filled with burning; and there is no soundness in my flesh.” Psalms 38:5-7 AMP
This scripture as about the consequences of Personal foolishness! You see, life can be full of wounds and hurts. Wherever your life is hurting, is a sign of the presence of a wound.
For instance, Poverty and lack are economic wounds. Ill-health is a physiological wound. There are emotional and spiritual wounds. This scriptural passage made it clear that personal foolishness can make the wounds of life loathsome and corrupt. It can make them unbearable.
When foolishness makes the wounds of life unbearable, you see people going about mourning all day long. You see a man’s life filled with burning and soundness taken away from his flesh. Personal foolishness is indeed a killer weapon of war in the spirit.
If your life is going down because of personal foolishness, no amount of deliverance prayer can pull you out. But many do not like churches where spiritual understanding in the word of GOD is released. The do not like places where personal foolishness is addressed head long.
They prefer going to prayer meetings other than word meetings. And that has not helped any of them. They still move from problem to problems, thinking they must move to more powerful men of GOD to receive prayer, not knowing that its not a prayer problem they have but a foolishness problem.
WE NEED TO GET THIS STRAIGHT
If personal foolishness is the reason for your marital crisis, until you start walking in divine wisdom, no prayer can save you. If personal foolishness is the reason for your being single, no prayer can get you married until you start walking in divine wisdom.
If personal foolishness is the reason for your financial crisis, you will need divine wisdom and not prayer to come out of it. Whatever is rooted in personal foolishness cannot be solved by even the most anointed or powerful prayer. That is why a combination of sound teachings and prayers is the greatest help we can find in the Kingdom of God.
Our devotional text today made it clear that when David was in crisis, he pleaded with the LORD to turn the counsel of one of the wisest men in Israel who was among those who conspired against him into foolishness, the LORD answered and that defeated the conspiracy and saved his life.
Foolishness can be used by the LORD to defeat your enemies; it can also be used by your enemies to defeat you.
Now, let us go deeper. Education is good, but Education is the not the ultimate. Revelation is. So many have spent so much to be educated but extraordinarily little to be deep in revelation knowledge and spiritual understanding. This is the sad situation with so many in our local churches today.
They have not paid the price for strong revelation knowledge in the word and deep spiritual understanding of the things of GOD. Hence, spending fortunes as seeds and sacrifices on the altars of greedy men and women of GOD.
It is noticeably clear that one could be very educated and intelligent, but foolish. Intelligence and education on their own cannot save any man. That is why most of those under oppression are highly educated and intelligent.
FOOLISHNESS HAS BEEN DEFINED AS LACK OF GOOD SENSE OF JUDGMENT.
It is the quality of being unwise or being stupid. Education can not always help in dealing with it. It takes revelation knowledge and deep spiritual understanding in the word and ways of GOD to deal with it and walk in wisdom.
For instance, there is an act of foolishness called jealousy. You find this in the life of both the illiterate and even the most Educated. This form of foolishness can ruin a marriage, a family, a ministry, a career, or an economic life unredeemable. I have seen very educated, intelligent, and knowledgeable people feeling very jealous, consequently bringing the wounds of personal foolishness upon their lives. The Bible says,
“The foolishness of man subverts his way [ruins his affairs]; then his heart is resentful and frets against the Lord.” Proverbs 19:3 AMP
I believe God is using these devotionals to urge us to carry out a Check on our lives. What is it that is ruining our affairs? Is it really the devil or our personal foolishness?
I believe the Spirit of wisdom will further speak to you on these things. For most of us, the foolishness in our lives today as adults, was the foolishness God designed proper upbringing to take away from us. But because there was none, we were left to grow with it. And now, it has become our personal destruction. The Bible says,
“Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.” Proverbs 22:15 AMP
I have come across many who are foolish as adults because the rod of discipline was not applied on their lives as kids to drive it away. It is sad, because such people will never be free from wounds inflicted on them by their personal foolishness.
What the rod of discipline ought to have driven out of you as a child will be exceedingly difficult to be driven out of you as an adult. God may have to allow sufferings to drive it out of you as an adult. But I have also seen people that suffering could not even drive their personal foolishness away. They kept living in it despite what they were going through until there was no remedy. The Bible indeed said,
“Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.” Proverbs 27:22 NKJV
My advice to parents at this point is this; do not over love your kids. Use the rod of correction to drive their foolishness away else, they will live to regret it. I pray that the peace and mercy of the LORD carry out a surgery within us using these words as a catalyst in Jesus precious name. Amen!
THESE SCRIPTURAL PASSAGES CAN BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy, God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching [salvation, procured by Christ and to be had through Him], to save those who believed (who clung to and trusted in and relied on Him).” 1 Corinthians 1:21 AMP