TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 5TH NOVEMBER 2022)
“Yet let no man strive, neither let any man reprove [another—do not waste your time in mutual recriminations], for with you is My contention, O priest.
And you shall stumble in the daytime, and the [false] prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother [the priestly nation].
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me; seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
The more they increased and multiplied [in prosperity and power], the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame.” Hosea 4:4-7 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 309TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
It was the Psalmist that said, “the heavens declare the glory of the LORD, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.”
I do not think one need to look far into the heavens to see how marvelous the works of our GOD can be. Our lives for 309 days testify to all that. The heavens can only compliment the revelation of the glory of the LORD after one has taken a deep look into his life.
I am persuaded that one may not need to look into the days that have been passing to hear the speeches of deep wisdom that the LORD can make available to mortal men. Following the devotionals on this platform is enough.
Today is the 5th day of our 30-days journey of faith on what the Spirit of the LORD says about practical wisdom. On this 5th day we want to begin an apostolic investigation on the things the Bible says can never happen in our lives if we do not know how to apply practical wisdom. In other words, if we are foolish. Do not forget, a fool is he who cannot apply practical wisdom when dealing with life situations.
Yes, there are things the Bible says can never happen to a fool. In other words, things that can never happen to one who is not operating in practical wisdom. I discovered that many of us do not know them, and we perish because we do not know them. It is important that we discover them.
A major portion of our devotional text says;
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me; seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children” Hosea 4:6 AMPC.
BY THE LAW OF PRIMARY REFERENCE, THIS SCRIPTURE WAS ABOUT THE PRIESTLY NATION OF ISRAEL.
Today it concerns all of us who are in Christ because we are God’s present priestly nation. We cannot afford to walk in foolishness or ignorance. The enemy will deal with us squarely if we do. There are very important things that will never happen in our lives if we are ignorant, no matter how prayerful we are.
We need to know the things God Himself admonished us that will never happen in our lives if we are not applying practical wisdom. I believe that will help us to sit up and turn things around in our lives.
The first thing that will never happen to us if we do not walk in practical wisdom is honor. This one troubled me when I first found it. It was in a season when I used to ascribe all my problems to some demons and witches out there. A season when my revelation was very poor. I never knew GOD delegated some problems to my wisdom.
Let me share this with you. By GOD’s grace, getting to the place of honor has not been a problem to me.
I remember being connected by the LORD to diplomats in my country at a very early age in ministry. I sat with them, ate with them, and even got to the presidency. Things continued well until I did something very foolish. I was a step away to meeting our then president when it happened.
I began to tell the stories of meeting those great men and women in my preaching, and priding myself in the openings like most immature preachers do today. I never knew I was being foolish. I never knew I needed to apply practical wisdom. It continued until it began to stir jealousy.
Friend, we are not being wise when we say things that make us feel good or superior, or favored of the LORD above others.
IT WILL STIR BITTERNESS AND JEALOUSY IN THE HEARTS OF THE CARNAL.
Believe it or not, God will never want us to say things that He did in our lives for His purpose only, in pride. But that is what our foolishness usually suggests to us.
Someone who is married, will be boasting about the love that exist between her and her husband to someone who is still single and searching. What are you asking for? Trouble of course! Someone who is well paid, will be sharing in pride how much money he or she just spent the other day, to someone who has no job. What are they asking for? Trouble of course.
Not knowing what not to say, and who not to say it to alone has killed many and brought the blessings of others to an abrupt end. We destroy our favor when we do not know how to apply practical wisdom in the use of our tongues.
Back to my story!
Now, after planting seeds of Jealousy all over in ignorance, I took one of the most closest persons to me to visit one of the diplomats. My aim was to connect him to the top. But after the meeting, he went behind me to say things that did not just bring that relationship to an end, it brought every other relationship I had to the presidency to an end.
When I began to wonder why, he was among those who joined me in prayer to bind the demons that may be responsible. It took years for me to discover that it was not a demon that shut the relationships down but lack of practical wisdom.
Indeed, honor is not fitting for a fool. One thing that will never happen to us if we keep walking in foolishness instead of applying practical wisdom is honor. We may get there, like I did, but not be able to stay there long enough. The Bible says;
“As snow in summer and rain in harvest, So honor is not fitting for a fool.” Proverbs 26:1 NKJV
That implies, anything honorable will never happen to anyone who has no practical wisdom, especially a self-confident fellow (with no practical wisdom). From honorable marriages, to honorable jobs, whatever is honorable or whatever brings honor will be missed by any who is not walking in practical wisdom.
IF YOU LOOK AT MARRIAGES FOR EXAMPLE, YOU CAN SCARCELY FIND SO MANY PEOPLE IN HONORABLE MARRIAGES.
Most of what people called marriages have no honor attached to them. They are either co habitations, or war zones. There is nothing honorable about them. And the reason is because most couples lack the practical wisdom to get or stay married. But we will come to that shortly.
The law remains, honor is not fitting for a fool; be it a prayer warrior, a preacher, a professor, or a famed person, if there is no practical wisdom in whatever we may be doing, honor will be one thing that we may never have.
We will be going from shame to shame, reproach to reproach, until our days are over. And if we are unlucky to be under an ignorant deliverance minister, prophet or prophetess, we will be kept busy pursuing things that are not the cause of our problems.
The Bible define honor as showing esteem for one desiring of respect, attention, or obedience. If you are one who is highly esteemed, respected, or one who commands attention, walk in practical wisdom so that you will not loose that honor.
I lost mine to the man I took to visit my high-level contacts in the 1990s. Be careful of those you bring on board your place of honor.
Apart from the foolishness of not obeying the laws that will keep one in the place of honor, there is also the foolishness of not honoring those who deserve honor. There are very insolent people who will never give honor to whom honor is due; there are people who will be too proud to show respect to those who deserve respect.
One practical wisdom to walk in when talking about honor is the wisdom of sowing the seeds of honor into the lives of others.
Everyone who GOD has destined to be great will be given an opportunity to sow seeds of honor in the lives of those GOD has blessed to be higher or above them. Abraham, for instance, was destined to be great, but he never entered that greatness until he met Melchizedek (a great man of His day) and sowed seeds of honor into His life.
TODAY, EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT ABRAHAM.
The Bible says;
“But this person who has not their Levitical ancestry received tithes from Abraham [himself] and blessed him who possessed the promises [of God].
Yet it is beyond all contradiction that it is the lesser person who is blessed by the greater one.” Hebrews 7:6-7 AMPC
There were two things that made Abraham honor Melchizedek. The first is He was king of Righteousness and Peace. The second is He was also an Old Testament template of Christ. He was by all standards, greater than Abraham. David followed the same suit in his days, He did not honor the wicked but the righteous. We are not to honor the wicked no matter how great, but the righteous.
They are the good grounds to sow seeds of honor into.
God gave Abraham Melchizedek to honor, God will give you someone to honor as well until your own greatness is unlocked. Abraham gave him tithes as a seed of honor, and there is so much message there. Our tithes can be used as seeds of honor. It all depends on our wisdom level.
You may remain small in life until GOD gives you a great man or woman to be sowing seeds of honor into their lives until you enter your own greatness.
We live in a generation that does not show respect for those God is honoring. We live in days where sowing seeds of honor have been demonized, and counted as foolishness. That is why there are only few people at the top. Many have chosen to remain at the bottom of life because they are not ready to sow seeds of honor that will create the pathways for their rising.
Sowing seeds of honor has nothing to do with giving money aimlessly to all you consider greater than you.
It is all about finding your Elijah as an Elisha, your Melchizedek as an Abraham, your Mordeciah if you are an Esther, your Samuel if you are a David, or your Solomon if you are the queen of Sheba, and keep sowing seeds of honor into their lives until you also become very great in life.
Yes, God will have to give you one or more persons in life, to keep honoring until you also become honorable. That is one practical wisdom many despise today! The Bible says the wisdom will be too lofty for fools, hence disqualifying themselves from being honored by time.
We will pick up from here tomorrow!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“After his [Abram’s] return from the defeat and slaying of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh, that is, the King’s Valley.
Melchizedek king of Salem [later called Jerusalem] brought out bread and wine [for their nourishment]; he was the priest of God Most High,
And he blessed him and said, Blessed (favored with blessings, made blissful, joyful) be Abram by God Most High, Possessor and Maker of heaven and earth,
And blessed, praised, and glorified be God Most High, Who has given your foes into your hand! And [Abram] gave him a tenth of all [he had taken].” Genesis 14:17-20 AMPC