TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 3RD NOVEMBER 2022)
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 307TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
It has been His grace galore these beautiful days. We have not just learned the theoretical part of God’s amazing grace, we have benefited immensely from the practical part.
To God be the glory for all we have seen and experienced.
Today is the second day of a fresh 30-day journey of faith with the Cry of the Holy Spirit. This time around we are looking at matters of practical wisdom.
As stated in the first two days, so many serious-minded believers are suffering, not because God do not care about their needs but because they lack practical wisdom.
Many are doing very well in the spirit realm but very poorly in the natural realm.
They are rich in spiritual truths and so forth but very poor in life. They make people mock the Jesus they profess. They are the first set of people God want to touch through this 30-day journey that started two days back.
Let me reiterate again that You will lead a very frustrated life if your spirituality has not translated into a blessed material life.
Yes, there are cases where we may live as destitute for the purpose of obtaining a better resurrection like our fathers did, but when it becomes a life time affair, there is something that may be amiss somewhere, and that thing could be lack of practical wisdom.
In this age and time, being a life time destitute will not let you serve GOD effectively.
Like I have always said, Lazarus was poor on this side of eternity but comfortable on the other side. That was a good eternal testimony on his part.
But if GOD were in need of some money to send missionaries to Africa, and Lazarus was in church that morning, and all in Church are like him, except He brings money from fishes one more time, the mission will fail.
The story of Lazarus was a pointer to the fact that poverty is not strong enough ti take one to hell. But on matters of living a blessed material life, the story also tells us that a true relationship with God will never automatically translate into a blessed material life.
Lazarus may have suffered according to God’s will or due to lack of practical wisdom. The Bible did not tell us why he was that legendarily poor. But all we know is you will not suffer that way and be productive in God’s kingdom today.
Suffering will always result in rich fulfillment if it is in God’s will. And its important we dwell a little on that, because many are suffering due to lack of practical wisdom but ascribing it to the will of God.
WE INCREASE IN ETERNAL WEIGHTS OF GLORY WHEN WE SUFFER ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD, AND DIMINISH IN LIFE WHEN WE SUFFER FOR LACK OF PRACTICAL WISDOM.
God spoke these truths through His servant Paul, when the apostle wrote to the Church at Corinth saying;
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NKJV
This also happens to be our devotional text.
There is the mystery of twisting the scripture which is all about interpreting it to fit our sinful nature, or carnal minds, or adjusting it to fit our tragedies.
That is one way to be practical stupid, because practical wisdom involves rightly dividing the word of truth so that it can produce the intended blessing in our lives.
I have found so many believers who are suffering for lack of practical wisdom using 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 to console themselves. They forget that that scripture is for those who are suffering according to the will of GOD not those who are suffering for lack of practical wisdom.
I have seen people who took very foolish decisions in life and suffering for it, yet saying to those who care to listen to them
“Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
I have seen believers who even fall under the anointing each time this scripture is quoted while it does not apply to their situations since they are suffering for lack of practical wisdom.
It is easy to fall in pretense under a supposed anointing, or in deep religiosity when you are not standing in truth. When we do such things, we deceive ourselves and prolong our sufferings.
THE BIBLE IS CLEAR ON SUFFERING ACCORDING TO GOD’S WILL AND SUFFERING FOR LACK OF PRACTICAL WISDOM.
When we are suffering according to the will of GOD, we increase in eternal weights of glory. When we are increasing in eternal weights of glory, we will be dispensing power and even adding spiritual and eternal value to lives around us.
Sometimes we will not be materially blessed, so people who see us may think we are a reproach. But when they begin to experience the power of GOD by our hands, when we begin to unleash the glory of GOD upon them, they will begin to call us another name.
In other words, they will change their minds. That was what happen to Apostle Paul on the Island of Malta. The Bible says;
“Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta.
And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold.
But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.”
But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.
However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. Acts 28:1-6 NKJV
At first, they called him a murderer and one who justice will not allow to escape, having escaped death on the high sea. But when the weights of glory He gathered from His suffering spoke, they changed their minds and called him a god.
That is a template of what happens when we are suffering according to the will of God. We will never diminish. No! Wonders will be breaking by our hands and changing the minds of those who thought we were wrong serving the LORD.
But when we suffer for lack of practical wisdom the case will be different.
THERE WILL BE NO WEIGHT OF GLORY TO MAKE THIS KIND OF DIFFERENCE IN OUR LIVES.
Lets us assume that it was lack of practical wisdom that got Paul in trouble with the snake, he would have died and be buried, and the people will call him a murderer while believers will say it was the will of God for that to happen.
All of them would have been wrong because it would have not been the will of God but the will of lack of foolishness, or the will of lack of practical wisdom.
How many people in church today are suffering according to the will of lack of practical wisdom, but ascribing it to the will of God and earning a bad reputation among their relatives and lost friends? So many!
If you are one, am here to tell you that God wants all that to stop.
If you look at some of those who seem to have potential callings from the LORD, you find some who can give all manner of advises and counsels to others, but seems not to know how to advise themselves.
I was there before.
People listened to us and became better in life, but our own lives were going down and down. The reason is partly because people listen to us but we do not listen to ourselves.
In other words, we are able to give them sound wisdom to come out of their situations but we have not been able to give to ourselves sound wisdom to change our own situation.
If you are so blessed as to have people listen to you and become great in life, while you get smaller and smaller, there is a problem. For most cases, it is the problem of lack of practical wisdom.
Sometimes, many do not know how to conceive wisdom to deal with their own cases, but can conceive wisdom for others.
IT HAS BECOME LIKE THE CASE OF THE WOMAN IN SONGS OF SOLOMON WHO SAID;
“Do not look upon me, because I am dark, Because the sun has tanned me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me the keeper of the vineyards, But my own vineyard I have not kept.” Songs of Solomon 1:6 NKJV
It is lack of practical wisdom that make people keepers of other’s people’s vineyard while their own they do not keep or cannot keep. You see men taking care of children they have no business taking care of, while their own are left with no one to care for them.
The Bible says we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves, not less then we love ourselves. It is lack of practical wisdom to do otherwise.
I believe enough have been shared for the day. It is my prayer that at the end of this journey, this missing ingredient called “Practical Wisdom” will be restored to any heart that lack it in Jesus precious name.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. Psalm 119:99-101 NKJV