TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 11TH January 2020)
“Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.” Proverbs 24:3-4 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 11TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
God has been gracious to us in the ongoing New Year Prophetic Assembly. One great way to get our steps established in our walk with God this year is to sit down with the LORD in a New Year Prophetic Assembly. We had the second session yesterday the 10th day of the year and it was glorious looking at GOD’S FINANCIAL INTERVENTION TOOL.
The number ten is a unique prophetic number in Biblical numerology. When God wanted to chastise Israel for believing the report of the ten spies out of the 12 Moses sent, He said they have sinned against Him ten times.
That seems to me that God counts. But does He count our sins? Well even if He does, the Bible says if He marks iniquity we shall not stand. But there is forgiveness with Him so that He might be feared. I prefer living a life that fears God than a life that is full of sins to count.
When He counted the sins of the nation of Israel, every one of them, except Joshua and Caleb missed the Promised Land. The Bible says their lives were scattered in the wilderness. Instead of living a life with sins that God will be counting let’s live lives that please Him. But the number ten speaks much more than what happened to the nation of Israel in the wilderness.
It’s a number that speaks of a measure. So, when GOD said Israel sinned ten times, He was referring to the measure of their sins not the number of times they sinned. The number also represents trial, responsibility or testing of one’s faith. If we fail any test of faith, we will not come into the fullness of the blessing.
Let this devotional remind us of the necessity of passing the tests of life and the tests of your faith in Christ Jesus. Every testimony is rooted in a text or trial of faith. When we fail the test or trial, there will be no testimony. But when we pass it, there will be something to tell about the goodness and mercies of God in our lives.
One of the major things we get from God through the testing and trial of our faith is the Heavenly wisdom to build our lives or the lives of others with.
I HAVE COME TO REALIZE THAT EACH TEST OR TRIAL OF FAITH YOU GO THROUGH SUCCESSFULLY LIVES YOU BETTER AND WISER.
Some of the wisdom you will need to apply your heart unto will never come in a Church service, a time of personal devotion or prayer. It will come in a time of trial and testing of faith. The wisdom that will come to you through a trial or testing of faith is the Heavenly Wisdom.
Talking about Heavenly wisdom, I want you to understand that there are three kinds of wisdom; the wisdom from the earth (which is the wisdom of man), the wisdom from the dark world, (which is the wisdom of the evil one), and the wisdom from above, (which is the wisdom of God).
Each of this wisdom types produces different results in the lives of men. The Bible made it clear that the first two levels of wisdom mentioned here are not pure or peaceful. But the last one mentioned – the wisdom of God – is pure and peaceful. It is full of mercy and brings forth righteousness as its fruits. It is not human or demonic but divine. It is the very wisdom God used in creating the heavens and the earth.
The importance of divine wisdom therefore cannot be over emphasized. A major highlight in our devotional text this morning said, “Through it is a house built.”
The word house there means life. Many lives have been shattered by wrong decisions, outright satanic attacks and all that. It will take divine wisdom to rebuild them back.
There is a segment of the Church that believes prayer and fasting does everything. True it does every significant thing but not every small thing. The rebuilding of a broken-down life is not done by prayer and fasting alone (though many do not fast and pray at all). It is done by the wisdom of God.
EFFECTIVE PRAYER AND FASTING WILL MAKE YOUR SPIRIT RECEPTIVE TO GOD’S WISDOM AND GIVE YOU THE REQUIRED UNDERSTANDING TO APPLY IT TO YOUR DAILY LIFE AND REBUILD.
Let me state something more about Prayer and fasting. Apart from being the wisdom of God in itself, you cannot access other aspects of divine wisdom without prayer and fasting.
The clarity of spirit your need to get into the Holy Spirit – the very realm where God’s wisdom exist – is acquired through a consistent life of prayer and fasting; especially the one that is salted with hours that are spent in hearing or reading God’s word.
In fact, it is part of God’s wisdom to live a life of prayer and fasting salted with hours in God’s word. Praying and fasting is the tool that activates God’s word to open our hearts up to great insights, making the Heavenly available to us.
If your spirit is cramped with the earthly, you cannot access the Heavenly. And until you access the Heavenly, the demonic will keep consuming your life. That is why a life of prayer and fasting is necessary. It will clear away the cramps, connect you to the Heavenly and cause the demonic to cease.
Sadly, many are too comfortable to be free from the demonic. They are too gluttonous to come out of captivity.
Someone’s family, finances, or faith will be going down, and he or she will not stop everything and start seeking God in intense prayer and fasting; but will wake up at 5am to eat a bowl of food. Then at 10 am will eat another bowl. Then at 2pm he or she is on another stable of food and on and on and on but trusting God to change things.
Nothing gets changed that way, friend! You cannot be in crisis and see God helping you if you are living your life that way. You must deny yourself the legitimate to lay hold on the ultimate.
It is foolish to sit and watch your life go down, may be doing every other natural thing to salvage it, without personally seeking God through intense prayer and fasting for help.
Divine wisdom demands that when things are not okay with you, close down everything and seek the LORD for help. That was what Paul did when the ship he was traveling in had life threatening storms in the Mediterranean Sea.
If you read Acts 27, you will discover how he applied the wisdom of seeking God through intense prayer and fasting to the crisis. He did not just sit-down hoping God will save him being an apostle. No! He sought God to save him, and God responded after 14 days of intense fasting by sending an angel to execute his rescue.
You who is expecting God to move in your life, have you done enough to move Him into your life? Have you laid down your life on His altar, seeking Him to cause His light to shine upon you and salvage you for His name sake or you are just asking Him to kill your enemies?
GOD IS NOT A MURDERER!
If that is what you have been doing, then you have not been praying at all. Consider this devotional a wake-up call. Don’t watch your life go up in the flames of hell and wickedness in 2020. Seek the LORD to intervene whenever the devil knocks at your door in this YEAR OF REJOICING!
He parted the Red Sea and made Israel passed on dry land. You are the next to see His miraculous moves. He gave Israel angel’s food and used hail stones to kill their enemies. You are the next to experience supernatural supply and protection against the enemy that may be too strong for you.
His eyes are still moving everywhere today, looking for those whose hearts are perfect towards Him to show Himself mighty on their behalf. May He find you in Jesus precious name!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION;
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
“Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
“I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.” Jeremiah 29:11-14 NKJV