TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 21ST NOVEMBER 2022)
“Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap.
For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.” Galatians 6:7-9 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 325TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
We give God the glory for giving us another day and saving our lives one more time. Daily we have been seeing His benefits and benevolence.
The fountain of His love, compassion, kindness, goodness, and mercies cannot be exhausted by man’s sins or wickedness.
It is more powerful when you remember how you once sinned and how He responded in love. Personally, when I looked at my Christian life, I ponder on the moments when living sin and wickedness characterized my days.
I will always see how I have been unfair to GOD and His love for my life.
I remember the times I used the body He has given me to sin against Him instead of to serve Him in holiness and purity. If the fountain of God’s mercy could be exhausted by man’s sins, I would not be alive today.
I will not fail to regret all those times that I did all that. Now, I trust Him every day not to have those days repeated in my life again.
It is practical wisdom to always acknowledge the moments you sinned against the LORD, and how He forgave you. It is practical wisdom to know that sin lives in you so that you can walk in humility and total dependence on the Holy Spirit for holy living.
You know, it is okay for sin to live in us but not okay for us to live in sin. The Bible says,
“If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10 NKJV)
In other words, if we say we have never sinned against God, we are liars. I have sinned against God terribly, even worst that an unbeliever during those times. And if we say we are so sanctified and purified, that sin no longer lives in us, we lie and make God who said “sin is living in us” a liar, and His word is not in us.
MEANING IF HIS WORD LIVES IN YOU, THERE WILL BE NO HYPOCRISY IN YOUR WALK WITH GOD.
You will be able to acknowledge your moments of sin and feel so sorry that you ever did that to God. You will be able to acknowledged that sin lives in you and that you need help from God on daily bases not to live in the sin that is living in you.
I john 1:10 is one of the many scriptures in the Bible that tells us about the reality of the fallen life and its terrible impact on our lives. The fallen life brought all of mankind under sin and made sin to be living in everyone. But thank God for the redeeming death of Christ. It made it impossible for sin in man to be a ruin.
That is why living in sin is what ruins, not sin living in us. I call all these “practical wisdom for living a holy life.” It pleases the LORD and us that we look at that today.
We just had some days looking at the practical wisdom of having successful inter personal relationships.
Previously, we had seen things that will never happen without practical wisdom. Maybe we may add a life of purity to it, because wisdom remains the principal thing.
Yes, there is practical wisdom for living a holy life. That is what helps us to live a life of purity, and if we fall into sin and defile ourselves, it helps us to get back to God and continue with Him in purity.
If we do not have practical wisdom for holy living, we will kill ourselves with a life of sin and wickedness after confessing Jesus to be LORD, and may end up regretting in hell for ever despising His call for purity and holiness after salvation.
The application of practical wisdom for holy living was what saw Jesus through when He was in this fallen nature that made Him sin (not sinner) for us.
So far, we have received one definition of practical wisdom. We have seen it as the application of the knowledge of the Holy One to our everyday life.
What then is practical wisdom for holy living?
PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR HOLY LIVING IS THE APPLICATION OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY ONE IN OUR EVERY DAY BATTLE WITH SIN.
For instance, we have seen a part of His knowledge that says “if you say you have no sin, you make God a liar and the truth is not in you.” How do we apply that to our everyday battle with sin? That’s where practical wisdom comes in.
We have said you apply that by acknowledging that sin is living in you and walking in humility and total dependence on the Holy Spirit for help.
You also acknowledge that by not being arrogant and intolerant when dealing with those who fall into sin, and maybe come to you for help.
You are to feel their pain and humble yourself by seeing yourself as bad as them, only that God has helped you to over come, believing that He will help them to overcome also.
There is always the tendency of not letting people know that you are also vulnerable like they are and have committed even worst sins than they may have committed. Things that are sometimes, too shameful for you to talk about.
If you present yourself as a plastic saint who have done no wrong, looking down on those who may have done wrong and have come to you for confession of sin and repentance, you are shooting yourself on the leg, and God will not release grace to you to help them.
God’s grace is for the humble not the arrogant.
Practical wisdom for holy living teaches that every saint was once a sinner, and every sinner can become a saint; it is all by the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ and the enabling grace of the Holy Spirit.
It also teaches that every saints can still become sinners if they are not careful. So, do not look down on any who may have done wicked things because sin still lives in you. Do not make God a liar by presenting yourself like one who had never sinned.
Only God have never sinned and will never sin, not you or I.
We must also understand that purity is not just in body but also in spirit, because many of us who desire to live holy lives limit it to overcoming sexual sins and other outrageous sins but do not think about overcoming hate, bitterness, unforgiveness, jealousy, envy, malice, craftiness, strive, and other forms of the filthiness of the spirit.
It is part of practical wisdom for holy living not to exalt one sin above another but call each sin what it is and present it on the “Threshing floor” as something the LORD must take away from you.
There is what people call “small sins” that have really ensnared them and is making them unfit for any good work.
THEY SEE FORNICATION AND ADULTERY AS WHAT THEY MUST FIGHT BUT IGNORE THOSE ONES.
Child of God, every sin that may have ensnared, entangled or cling to us, either small or big, must be laid aside, else, we will not be able to run the race that is set before us and finish it well or get to the parley gates of Heaven. The Bible says;
“Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,
Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 AMPC
If you mediate on the scripture above, you will see more knowledge of the Holy One for living a holy life.
The next knowledge of the Holy One for holy living that I want to bring to our attention is in Galatians 5. There are so many who desire to lead pure and holy lives we do not know the practical wisdom contained in some verses of Galatians chapter 5.
ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL VERSES OF THAT CHAPTER SAYS;
“But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).
For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other [continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do.” Galatians 5:16-17 AMPC
For the saved and sanctified Child of God, there are two natures that resides in him; the sin nature called flesh and the sanctified nature of Christ or the Holy Spirit.
The sin nature is what we call “sin living in us” the sanctified nature is “Christ in us.” Both are living together in us like Esau and Jacob in the womb of Rebecca, and are antagonistic to each other so that we are not free but are prevented from doing what we desire to do.
In other words, they are continually withstanding and in conflict with each other. The one that wins over the other will determine if we will make Heaven or not. Our job, therefore, is to make sure the nature that makes us Heaven worthy wins over the one that does not.
For the purpose of understanding, we may call the sanctified or Christ un us nature Jacob, and the “sin-in-us” nature, Esau. The Jacob nature make us Heaven worthy but the Esau nature does not.
Holy living and making Heaven depend on which nature we feed. If we feed the Jacob nature it will result in a life of purity and holiness, but if we feed the Esau nature, it will result in a life of impurities and sin.
Practical wisdom for holy living demands that we feed the Jacob nature on daily bases, and starve the Esau nature to death. Those who feed their Jacob nature and starve their Esau nature will lead holy and pure lives. But those who feed their Esau nature and starve their Jacob nature will live sinful and impure lives, and may eventually lose their souls to hell.
So, if we are struggling with sin, we should stop feeding our Esau nature and start feeding or Jacob nature. If we do that over time, we will overcome that sin and be amazed at the pure and holy life that we will be living. That is the secret of the journey.
FEEDING EACH OF THIS NATURE IS WHAT OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT IS ALL ABOUT.
The text says;
“Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap.
For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.” Galatians 6:7-9 AMPC
Sowing to the flesh (or the lower nature and sensuality) is feeding the Esau nature in us. We do that by exposing it to information, visuals, sights, sounds, touch, experiences or associations that makes it to come fully alive in us, leading us to sinful living.
The Bible says it will result in decay (moral decay), ruin and destruction.
Sowing to the Spirit, or the Jacob nature in us will result in eternal life. To sow to the Jacob nature, we have to expose our souls to sanctified things. We have to make sure no content with unclean things enters our hearts.
We have to keep feeding our souls with things that edifies and keeps us clean and morally pure. Things like living truths, sanctifying music, grace enabling and faith building movies, Holy Spirit and power packed Church services, fellowship meetings where the strong meat of the word is taught, and fasting and praying regularly and etc.
All these things will feed the Jacob nature and starve the Esau nature to death; it will result in eternal life. Hallelujah!
Child of God, I consider practical wisdom for holy living one of the sweetest series in the practical wisdom series. There is so much we can still share but we believe enough have been shared for the day.
The message here is, if you want to see God, it will take holiness. And if you want to be holy, you must walk in practical wisdom for holy living.
Practical wisdom for holy living tells us that there are two natures in every child of God. The sanctified, divine, and Holy Spirit nature called Christ in you, (which we dubbed the Jacob nature), and the sinful nature called sin in you, (dubbed the Esau nature). If we feed the sanctified nature, it will lead to us living a pure and holy life. If we feed the sin nature, it will lead to living a sinful life.
It is my prayer that we all use these precious truths to keep building ourselves up in our most holy faith. Amen!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.
For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.” Romans 8:12-13 AMPC