TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Thursday 25TH March 2021)
“Rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool.
An evil man seeks only rebellion; therefore, a cruel messenger will be sent against him. Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, rather than a fool in his folly.
Whoever rewards evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.” Proverbs 17:10-13 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 84TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS!
God has been faithful to us and to Him belong all the glory for keeping and watching over us these 84 days.
Today we are going to refresh our memory on matters of parasitic relationships. Relationship is the authentic currency of the earth. You can get more from a relationship than what money can give. It is on the power of relationship that the world moves. That is why the subject is very important.
I will be taking us to a well of truth that was dug on this subject some time back. It is still as fresh as it was dug then, and I am confident that you will find something to add to your wisdom bank this morning.
Foolishness can be very costly. The Bible says rebuke is more effective for a wise man. In other words, one rebuke is enough for the wise but when dealing with fools, rebukes are considered a taboo. They prefer blows, and even blows do not change anything about them. “Rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a fool.”
I pray that we apply our hearts unto the wisdom the LORD will be adding to us this morning on matters of relationship in Jesus precious name! Amen.
DEALING WITH PARASITIC RELATIONSHIPS
Mosquitoes are parasites. Bedbugs are parasites. Parasites do not live long. They live as long as their host allows or is yet to discover them. Parasites are things (living or non-living) that do not add economic value to a host.
One thing we do not know is that even people can be parasites. They will draw their sustenance from you and will be doing that without adding any value to your life. They kill you slowly while drawing their sustenance from you.
Friend, the worst parasites on earth are not insects but people-parasites. The reason is simple; parasites like mosquitoes and bedbugs cannot hinder you from fulfilling your destiny. You will kill them with some insecticide. But people-parasites can successfully hinder you from fulfilling the assignment of your prophetic destiny.
There is no place in the Bible where God started a parasitic relationship. Every relationship was symbiotic in nature. Each added value to the other until destiny was fulfilled.
If you see a relationship that is like a pest, you have seen a creation of the evil one; people who function like parasites in the lives of others are not planted in the lives of those people by GOD. That is why I believe God want to set someone free from such relationships this morning, before it finally takes down his or her life!
Let’s talk about pests; certain pests are dangerous to any crop because they function as crop killing Parasites. One thing about them is that they do not just destroy the crops that are developing in the field; some can destroy even those you have harvested and stored in a barn. That is why we have pesticides.
Whatever a crop killing parasite does to a developing crop is what a human parasite will do in the life of it host.
HUMAN PARASITES SOMETIMES FUNCTION LIKE PEST SOMETIMES.
When they camp in your life, they have a way of either transmitting a certain feeling into you or building a paradigm in your mind that will always be telling you, “These people are your responsibility. If you do not take care of them, especially when you are yet to take care of yourself, you are a failure.”
The sad thing is they will succeed. It will work for them and you will find yourself bending towards their welfare when money enters your hands, without even thinking about yourself. They are selfish, self-centered and greedy for yours but protective of theirs.
No parasite has ever asked its host if it was well, or grateful to it!
The same is applicable to human parasites. They do not care if you are well; all they want is money or some other kind of help from you in and out of season. They do not care what may be wrong with you. They don’t bother if you have eaten or not, they just want to keep eating you up.
A human parasite will be very faithful in drawing help from you but will never give you an opportunity to receive help from them even when they have what you need.
I know a young man who went away from Africa in poverty and after some years became economically prosperous. Everyone was drawing from him. In fact, they made him believe that he was their God sent helper and that if he does not fulfill that assignment that he may die. Prophets do this to people they may have prayed for to get one thing or the other.
This young man kept taking care of all people in his life, those he knew and those he does not know until everything ran dry. When it finally ran dry, everyone he had taken cared of abandoned him in his penury. In fact, they gave him a name and said God cursed him because his money was ill gotten wealth.
But when they were collecting it, none said it was ill gotten!
He became so miserable because no one was willing to offer help; everyone he lifted from penury to prosperity forgot him completely.
What he did not know was that he was feeding human parasites and not people who by nature could add value to him in return. So when they time came for them to pay back, they shut down their bowels of mercy giving him all kinds of excuses and cursing him behind his back.
Instead of them to see his time of need as an opportunity allowed by the LORD for them to minister back kindness for kindness. They rather saw it as a curse from the LORD to the young man.
HE LEARNT A SIMPLE LESSON IN A VERY SAD WAY!
Friend, that is how wicked our world is – a world infested with human parasites. I have experienced them personally. And sadly, I still sometimes get myself entangled in them. They are always asking after what you have for them without them remembering that you are also a human being and need support yourself!
There are people who do know how to hide what they have. I mean, they are not selfish. As soon as they have money you will know they have. But human parasites are not like that. They will have money but pretend as if they do not have.
Sometimes what they have will even be more than what you have but they will appear as if they have nothing and still transmit that feeling I stated earlier to coerce you to donate the little you have to them. It is like someone in need of blood being coerced to donate blood to someone who do not need but has successfully put on the appearance of someone in need of blood.
I hope you understand me!
Do you think when such things happen God gets happy and send angels to bless the parasites? No! He does not. Rather, He withdraws His goodness and allows the perils of life to punish them for their wickedness when they get to harvest time.
I have never seen God bless a human parasite. They are always in need!
At this point, I want us to get personal. Permit me to ask you an honest question!
Are you a pest or parasite to anyone? If you are married, are you a parasite wife, husband? And if you are in a family or a Church, are you a parasite Child to your parents or a parasite member to your spiritual leader? It’s important that you answer these questions.
ARE YOU ADDING VALUE TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ADDING VALUE TO YOUR LIFE?
If you are not, you are a parasite and God will never bless you. He created animals to be pest and parasite for reasons I cannot state now but He did not create men to be parasites in the lives of others.
If you look at Adam the first man God created, you do not see a parasite. You see one adding spiritual, economic, eternal and even environmental value to creation. He was not a parasite in anyway. That was why when he fell; everything that depended on him fell also.
You see, when a parasite dies people do not lose sleep about it but when one who is not a parasite departs, everyone who depends on him will be shaken. How do you know if a man is a parasite or not? Check what happens when he is away! He will be deeply missed!
People do not miss parasites. They see them as burdens. But people miss men and women who add any kind of value to them when they are gone.
Let me ask again; are you a pest or a parasite?
If you are any of these, God will never give you a “Right Relationship” because you will destroy it. In fact, He will warn them in dreams and visions to stay away from you the way He warned the wise men who brought gifts to Jesus to stay away from Herod.
Life is all about adding value to the lives of those who are adding value to you. God has not called anyone to be a parasite to anyone. We are all called to be symbiotic in our relations with others. A major highlight in our devotional text this morning is a curse the word placed on human parasites.
IT SAYS, “WHOEVER REWARDS EVIL FOR GOOD, EVIL WILL NOT DEPART FROM HIS HOUSE.”
Don’t forget they are specialist in rewarding evil for good. They will reward selfishness for selflessness, unkindness for kindness, adversity for peace, stinginess for generosity, and shrewdness for open-mindedness. They will say you were stupid in giving them while they were in need.
In fact, they will say whatever you did for them was an obligation and that they owe you no gratitude. I have faced this all my life especially from some of the closet people in my life. I tell you, it can be very painful. It is heart wrenching.
Symbiotic relationship is a kind of relationship where each dependent draws from his host something to survive on. One does not play the role of a host and the other a parasite. They are hosts to themselves, and life goes on peacefully.
So if you want to receive and retain “Right Relationships” from God, live a life that adds value to everyone who is adding value to your life – spiritually, economically, and etc. Do not see yourself as their responsibility. Be an asset to them as they are to you and you will be most blessed.
If you are a parasite, you will become a snare to someone and if someone is a parasite in your life, he or she will become a snare to you. The road to success does not really have a support base for parasites. The relationship between Joshua and the Gibeonites has a lot to teach us. People like them will always ruin your future! Be careful of the agreements you enter into with parasites. It will ensnare you!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY:
“And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them.
Then the children of Israel journeyed and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath Jearim. But the children of Israel did not attack them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation complained against the rulers.
Then all the rulers said to all the congregation,
“We have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel; now therefore, we may not touch them. This we will do to them: We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them.”
And the rulers said to them, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, as the rulers had promised them.”
Then Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you dwell near us? Now therefore, you are cursed, and none of you shall be freed from being slaves — woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.” Joshua 9:16-23 NKJV