TODAY’S DEVOTION (Thursday 26th June 2025)
“And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.” 1 Samuel 18:5 KJV
WELCOME TO THE 177th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY
God be glorified for giving us another day to be alive and not just exist but serve our generation according to the will of GOD. Yes, serve our generation according to God’s will. That was the testimony David earned before God.
By God’s grace and mercies, I have lived that way all my life and can tell you that life’s greater joy comes from serving people; not according to your motives, desires or will, not according to our needs or wants, not according to the amount of money we can make. But according to God’s will.
The earth as we know it is an accursed place. One of the best ways to live in an accursed place and not be influence by the curses is to do whatever you do according to God’s will and ways. Serving your generation according to God’s will is one way to live life down here.
It’s been a life I have lived and can tell you that though it’s not easy, however it’s been worth it. Some of the people who served their generation according to God’s will in Bible days lived lives that the Bible says the earth was not worthy of.
They lived that way because they were not concerned with securing their earthly lives at all costs. But rather were concerned with partnering with GOD to secure their divine destiny at all costs. They constituted the kingdom citizens that made up the early Church, who gave their backs to be beaten and their heads to be chopped off when they were confronted with the choice to deny Christ or die.
THE BIBLE IS CLEAR HOW WE ARE CALLED TO WALK ON THE SAME PATHS THEY WALKED.
To love the LORD like they did and serve Him like they served. Yes, we are called to be an extension of their works, faith, zeal, etc. If our hearts are filled with the revelation of our eternal destiny, there is nothing we will not endure to unleash it. The core of a divine destiny is to serve its generation according to God’s will.
Today we are continuing with the refreshment of the LORD on what our divine destiny needs to be executed. In previous devotionals we discovered that our divine destiny would need a living relationship with Jesus to be unleashed and countless hours in His presence to move from the declaration to the manifestation.
The next thing our divine destiny will need to be fulfilled is wise behavior.
Friend, sometimes one foolish behavior is all Satan needs to sink a life. He will let you to be churchy, prayerful, active in church and all that, but will never allow you to behave yourself wisely. Unwise behavior has been some of the costliest things on earth. That is why the Bible says wisdom is the principal thing.
At the base of most life crisis is an act of foolish behavior. At the base of every persistent spiritual or natural misery is an act of foolish behavior. Foolish behavior has killed more destinies than most things we can think of. If you read God lamenting through the Hebrew Prophets saying “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” you should know that there is no enemy anywhere.
For most of the times, every one’s foolish behavior is their enemy. One act of foolishness can destroy an entire destiny and get God plans for a life ruined. That is why Satan will first make people foolish before attacking them.
He will first cloth them with blindness, ignorance, and foolishness before moving against them. If you will ever fulfill your destiny, no matter how much backing you may be receiving from God, you must always learn to behave yourself wisely like David did.
A major highlight in Our Devotional Text said “And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war…”
WHEN A MAN OF DESTINY BEHAVES HIMSELF WISELY, GOD WILL CREATE MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR HIM TO UNLEASH HIS DESTINY.
In some instances, God will move men to lift him up above others. David was not set over the men of war until he behaved himself wisely in the conduct of the affairs of his destiny. Not behaving ourselves wisely is one reason many of us are backward in life. We are full of foolish conduct, consequently hampering the release of divine destiny.
For instance, like Samson did, many of us in Church today will foolishly get stuck to the seduction of a woman or a man, to take care of an emotional need, but ruin our spiritual life badly. Some will stick to the pleasure and forget the consequence until it shows up.
There are those who will foolishly speak a vulgar word to the face of people God has sent to lift them up – even holy men and women of God. Some others will foolishly get stuck to Churches, prophets and prophetesses who are doing nothing but shortchanging their divine destinies.
You cannot behave yourself foolishly and expect God to help you unleash a divine destiny. If it is a divine destiny that you want to unleash, you must always learn to behave yourself wisely.
David behaved himself wisely that was why even when his mentor became his tormentor, God sustained him. At one time he had the chance to kill the man, but he remembered that he was anointed of the LORD. Though he was disgusted with what the man was doing to him, he respected the fact that it was God that anointed him king over Israel and did not touch him just for that fact.
THE FOOLISH BEHAVIOR OF NOT HANDLING PEOPLE IN DIVINE AUTHORITY PROPERLY WILL RUIN.
The Bible teaches that if our leaders were truly anointed of God but get derailed, it’s better to walk permanently away from them and go live in the wilderness, if that is the only way available to us, and spend the rest of our days there, than to sit under them fighting them, running them down in confidential whispers, and attacking them with the sword of our mouths.
Walking away and allowing God to be judge over whatever may have transpired between us, if there is any issue, is the wise way to behave under such circumstances. It is one wise way to behave ourselves under wicked spiritual leaders. David said to Saul.
…Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Indeed David seeks your harm’?
Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’
Moreover, my father, see! Yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the corner of your robe, and did not kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you hunt my life to take it.
Let the Lord judge between you and me, and let the Lord avenge me on you. But my hand shall not be against you. As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.’ But my hand shall not be against you.
After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea? Therefore, let the Lord be judge, and judge between you and me, and see and plead my case, and deliver me out of your hand.” 1 Samuel 24:9-15 NKJV
The position David took in this scripture is the same position to take if you are under a mentor who has become a tormentor. But let me make something clear at this point; Most destiny mentors become destiny tormentors because of what people say about people.
THAT IS WHY LEADERS MUST BE CAREFUL WHAT THEY HEAR ABOUT THOSE UNDER THEM.
Many have had their destinies almost truncated by what leaders believed about them, but God came through for them. I am one of them. People said so many bad things about me to my pastor during my beginning days, one of them was our church secretary. It hurt me so badly, but God came through for me.
Personally, there have been times I had also believed what people said about some people the LORD placed under me, like my pastor believed those who misled him on my character; I took decisions on those people that I still regret till date. It taught me that that is one of the things that happen to leaders.
It taught me to always depend on the Holy Spirit for verification.
If you are a leader reading this, the best way to behave wisely in helping those the LORD may have placed under you for NUTURING is to prove whatever you hear by the Spirit, and not just believe what you hear.
However, due to our humanity, there are times we will just believe misleading things on some proteges God place under us; things related to us by those we have trusted over time. But God has a way of judging those who mislead us that way!!!
What some proteges say about fellow proteges can be very misleading.
There was this incident that pained my heart till this moment. When we came to East Africa for missions, I was very naive about how church people behave here. I never believed that church people could tell a lie about someone in the language of truth until it happened.
Someone I trusted so much came to me one day and said something related to sexual purity about a young woman I was nurturing in the faith. It got me so furious that I withdrew my support for her. I had seen her one day holding tight to a young man when we close from church, so I believed the story and confronted her.
I REMEMBER HOW SHE CRIED BEFORE ME DENYING ALL I WAS TOLD SHE DID WHEN I CONFRONTED HER.
But my trust in the accuser was too blind for me to see her sincerity. She would eventually live the fellowship when she saw I was no longer interested in helping her like I usually do. Then a few years down the line, the person who told me the lie caught a life-threatening disease and came to me confessing.
He said he lied. At first, I thought I was dreaming. I was so shocked and angry at the same time at how people can be wicked, even in church. I would later reach out to the lady, but my call was not entertained or returned. I felt so stupid!!
I don’t know if she is still alive, but the disease that struck the person tells me “Jehovah Sees” and maybe something bad had happened to her. The Bible says a curse will fall on the life of the liar. The curse fell on this person and affected his health so badly.
Friend, you must be very careful of what you say to leaders who have the destiny of people in their hands. God will judge you terribly if you transmit lies about those people to them and cause them to take costly decisions like the one, I took.
I repeat, God will judge you severely if you mislead His servants. He will not judge His servants because they are humans. It is you He will judge for doing the work of the devil. So, understand that, if a spiritual leader builds a measure of trust in you, it is for a prophetic purpose, not a carnal one. Use it well.
Do not use it to ruin the lives of others. You will bear the cost if you do, sometimes for a lifetime.
As we bring this to a close, I want us to spend this day asking the LORD to show us something we are doing foolishly that is killing us. Yes, ask the Holy Ghost to speak to you personally about you. Ask Him to reveal to you what you are doing unwisely that may be responsible for your backwardness and suffering, or that may ruin your life in the future?
Are you the type that loves meddling in other people’s matters? Are you living with another man’s wife or husband and expecting God to perfect the relationship and bless it with peace? God does not legalize or bless iniquity!
If you are doing any of these things, you are not behaving yourself wisely before the LORD!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
Show me your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.
Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and your loving kindnesses, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to your mercy remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord.
Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way. Psalms 25:4-9 NKJV
Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalms 139:23-24 NKJV
