TODAY’S DEVOTION (Tuesday 25TH August 2020)
“A wise woman builds her house, while a foolish woman tears hers down by her own efforts. To do right honors God; to sin is to despise him.” Proverbs 14:1-2 TLB
WELCOME TO THE 236TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
Day 24 of our 50 days of Wings of the Spirit is considered one of the best by some. It was about the gift of the Spirit called the word of wisdom. Some of us have heard about this gift from evangelistic mantles, but few on apostolic and prophetic mantles. That was the depth of the revelation that came.
The best was the definition of the term THE WORD OF WISDOM. Indeed, no word comes from the arena of the sovereign counsel of God and not cause changes in our lives. We suffer for not having such words in our lives.
Wisdom is what delivers us from inflicting ourselves with terrible wounds through foolish decisions. But when it comes from the arena of the sovereign counsel of GOD, it makes tremendous works of the LORD available.
When a man persistently inflicts himself with wounds, it will be exceedingly difficult for him to live a life that is free of pains. Most of what we go through in life is self-inflicted.
There is an aspect of personal foolishness that is absolute common today. – the aspect of not living an earthly life with the end at heart. This aspect of Personal foolishness is the root cause of all problem’s men will face in the next life.
For instance, it is this aspect of personal foolishness that makes a man not to accept Jesus Christ as His LORD and savior after being exposed to the true gospel most of his life. When he finally dies and goes to hell, who will he blame? Of course, himself, because we will be held responsible for our actions in the next life not even the devil.
It is this aspect of personal foolishness that makes a woman or man to take over a man or woman, who is having problems with his or her properly married wife or husband, and even go ahead marry him or her. Even if he or she lives happily with him or her for many years after that, everything will become vanity when they will finally die and stand before GOD to give account of themselves.
This aspect of personal foolishness is what makes men exalt the temporal above the eternal, the mundane above the spiritual, and the legitimate above the ultimate.
SPEAKING ABOUT THESE THINGS, JESUS SAID,
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. Matthew 5:27-30 NKJV
This statement is not from any other person than GRACE Himself.
Grace is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. He will be the one we will all face in Judgment. What you just read is His standard – the very standard mankind will be judged.
Plucking off your eye or cutting off your arm is figurative. Jesus was not saying we do it literally. He was calling for strict discipline to be applied to any part of our lives that will not let us live a clean Christian life. It is divine wisdom to bring any aspect of your life that is unruly under control. It is foolishness not to do so.
The flesh basically craves for sex, food, and comfort. It does not know boundaries. It will destroy you if you make it your LORD.
It will ask you to sleep with any women that twinkles its fancy; either you know her or not, either you are married to her or not. It will drive you to take another man’s husband or wife. To it, there is no problem. That is why true sons of God are led by the Spirit not the flesh!
The flesh is not born again neither can it be born again. It is our human spirit that can be born again, and our souls renewed! The flesh cannot be renewed or born again. That is why you must bring it under subjection.
PAUL WOULD LATER WRITE TO THE CHURCH AT CORINTH SAYING.
“Therefore, I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus, I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 NKJV
It is because of the many battles the flesh plunge men into that Jesus said, we bring it under subjection strictly.
A major highlight in our devotional text today further buttresses the point. It says,
“A wise woman builds her house, while a foolish woman tears hers down by her own efforts. To do right honors God; to sin is to despise him.”
If you look at this scripture on the surface, you will just conclude that it is just talking about marriage. But it transcends marriage!
However, many women have pulled down their marriages with their own hands blaming it on other people. They have disrespected, injured, betrayed, destroyed, and insulted their husbands until there was no more remedy. The same is applicable to men. Some men have so mangled their wives that they only way to save the poor women is to ask them to leave.
God did not create man for marriage He created marriage for man. When marriage becomes a means of destruction, He pulls it down by Himself or allows devils to do so. I believe that is why Jesus made it clear to us that “WEDLOCK IS NOT PADLOCK.”
If adultery set in, the marriage is cancelled. If the spouse involved repents, the marriage can continue at the discretion of those involved. That is God’s standard.
No marriage will ever stand if the purpose of God for creating marriage is not at its center. If you try to make it stand, you will end up standing alone one day in life, probably with not even a good life to call your own.
But let us look at things that are beyond marriage – let us look at eternal things.
To pull down your house by your own self is the highest display of personal foolishness. Your house is your life, your family, or your sanctified life or human spirit. Many of us take decisions that pulls down our lives, then blame it on witches.
WE DO NOT PROTECT GOD’S TEMPLE WHOSE WE ARE.
Born again makes our spirits God’s temples; if we pull it down by allowing defilement to set in and live in us, we are being foolish.
If you are involved in pornography, you are pulling your house down. If you are involved in alcoholism, you are pulling your house down. If you feed your flesh with all it needs, outside God’s boundaries, you are pulling your house down with your own hands. If you take another man’s wife and or sleep with anyone you are not married to, you are pulling your house down.
If you masturbate, you are pulling your house down with your own hands. Anything you do that is sinful is pulling your house down the drains of darkness. And when you finally get there, you will become a casualty of persistent demonic assaults.
The Bible admonishes that we build up our spirits and not pull them down.
It says we build ourselves up in our most holy faith, by exposing ourselves to preachers who are not just preachers but kingdom builders; God’s servants whose messages carries the capacity to build us up, and establish us in the faith – implanting the grace to live godly in a perverse and crooked generation.
However, personal foolishness will not let us do this. It will rather push us to look and run after preachers with quick fixes; accurate but lying prophets who use magic to solve problems.
As we bring this to a close, I want to ask, is there any way you are pulling down your life with your own hands? Do you feed your flesh to the detriment of your spirit – the real house where God ought to live? Do you have a kingdom builder for a pastor or just an inspirational preacher who excites you with lofty messages that satisfy your carnal cravings?
Your life will never become glorious if there is no kingdom builder to submit to as a father in faith.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURAL PASSAGE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching.”
“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.”
“But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:1-5 NKJV