TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 29TH NOVEMBER 2022)
“Remind [the people] of these facts and [solemnly] charge them in the presence of the Lord to avoid petty controversy over words, which does no good but upsets and undermines the faith of the hearers.
Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.
But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.
And their teaching [will devour; it] will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene. So it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus,
Who have missed the mark and swerved from the truth by arguing that the resurrection has already taken place. They are undermining the faith of some. 2 Timothy 2:14-19 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 333RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE!
Glory be to God who has given us another day. For 333 days of this year alone He has shown us mercy and kept us alive.
If God was just full of judgement and vengeful, we would have all perished. But He is love, not full of love. He is love itself hence has no capacity to hate His own.
He may hate what we do and send strong warnings to us but do not hate us as a people. Yes, like that lady puts it, “We are the ones He has shown mercy, He looked beyond us.” God bless that beautiful voice for bringing this beautiful nature of God to our attention.
We have been looking at the Cry of the Spirit on practical wisdom and have seen so much about this beautiful life subject.
As you may have realized, a lot about our lives on earth depends on practical wisdom. That is why three of the gifts of the Spirit are for the improvement of our minds.
Actually, believers should not have anything to do with foolishness or ignorance because everything in the Kingdom of God focuses on mind improvement.
For instance, effective prayer and fasting will always send us to the realm of knowing the things that we do not know. Discipleship in the kingdom of God is all about learning at the feet of Christ and being disciplined. When the Holy Ghost comes, He comes to improve our mind by reminding us of things and revealing to us depths that make us wise.
Everything in God’s kingdom is about mind improvement or transformation.
If you are in a proper relationship with God, one of the things you will always get from Him is a sound mind. Everything in His kingdom revolves around our spirits and souls and reflect on our minds.
Mind improvement or transformation is a major activity in GOD’s kingdom.
There is no book of the Bible that you will read and not come out with a better or transformed mind. If your walk and talk with God is not improving your mind, then that walk and talk is not real. You are just involved in religion.
No walk and talk with God leave us stupid. Having God in your life should give you a mind full of practical wisdom.
YOU SHOULD BECOME SUPERNATURALLY INTELLIGENT AND WISE FOR WALKING AND TALKING WITH THE OMNISCIENCE GOD.
You should move from craftiness and deception to integrity and wisdom. Because craftiness and deception is the practical wisdom of the corrupt and those who are perishing.
It should take away all forms of foolishness from us, especially if we absorb the word day and night as the scriptures says we should do; even if it is one verse of the bible that we absorb in the morning, and one in the evening, we will always give GOD the opportunity to make us wise.
When He commissioned Joshua for ministry, God did not present any other standard to him as the key to His success but the standards of mind improvement, transformation or renewal. He gave Joshua an instruction that will help in keeping his mind renewed day and night.
When our minds are renewed day and night, we will not lack the common sense to apply on real life situations and succeed. He said to him;
“This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.” Joshua 1:8 AMPC
Dealing wisely is walking in practical wisdom. This brings us to another source of practical wisdom, which is being a friend of the Bible and avoiding whatever knowledge that will not add to your faith.
We have been looking at sources of practical wisdom of late.
Yesterday, we saw parenting as a source of practical wisdom. We were admonished to bear children only if we are ready to live with those we bore them with forever, and if we have the wisdom to raise them.
God designed parenting to be a source of practical wisdom, that is why some of us still consult our aged parents when taking critical decisions in life. For instance, the choice of a mate sometimes will require the impute of your aged parents who have seen life, not just a prayer time with God.
You could pray but then God can use them to give you the wisdom you asked Him for.
PEOPLE WHO IGNORE WISE AGED PEOPLE HAVE IGNORED GREAT WISDOM FROM MULTITUDE OF YEARS.
Now, there are two kinds of parenting; biological parenting and spiritual parenting.
Spiritual parenting is when you are being brought up by someone who is older than you in God’s kingdom matters. It is sometimes done by a couple, or one individual who is older than you in the faith.
If you have a pastor and his wife playing that role, you are blessed.
They could be younger than you in biological age, but if they are older in GOD and He has blessed them with the very wisdom and insights you need in life to succeed with GOD and man, they can be your parents.
Spiritual parenting has been a source of practical wisdom from generation to generation.
Personally, the things I learned from my spiritual parents are still helping me to run my life and ministry today. They have helped me to navigate through life and stand the hawks, vultures, bears and jackals of the battle field.
They do help me when am down, and help me when am up. They have served as light to me whenever am in darkness, and sight whenever am in light.
Either you agree with me or not, I want to submit to you that you may not have had biological parents who taught you wisdom, God has a way of curbing the problem by giving you spiritual parents to teach you wisdom.
While we have a lot of vultures as spiritual parents; manipulators, witches and wizards and all that, the system of spiritual parenting should not be demonized or ignored . Because mine helped me a lot.
So, if you are looking for a GOD ordained source of practical wisdom and common sense, you may as well ask the LORD for spiritual parents He has equipped for you.
Now, as earlier stated, the next source we want to take a look at is friendship with the Bible and avoiding whatever knowledge that will undermine your faith.
LET US BEGIN WITH FRIENDSHIP WITH THE BIBLE.
When the LORD told Joshua to be a friend of the Torah, which was the first part of the Bible that was written, it was a template for us who will now have the complete Bible. Though Joshua had less than five of the 66 books we have today, it was able to help him to deal wisely (walk in practical wisdom) and have good success in life.
With the complete Bible in our hands today, and all that the LORD want us to have within our disposal, we cannot afford not to be wise. The word again, says;
“This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.” Joshua 1:8 AMPC
We must create time with the Bible every day and night so that we can be handling our life issues wisely and having good success. We must learn to study the Bible because all friends of the Bible study the Bible.
A part of our devotional text says;
“Remind [the people] of these facts and [solemnly] charge them in the presence of the Lord to avoid petty controversy over words, which does no good but upsets and undermines the faith of the hearers.
Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.” 2 Timothy 2:14-15 AMPC
If you are a friend of the Bible, you will be eager to study it and handle it rightly. You will be using it to skillfully teach yourself the word of truth, nit just reading to preach.
Do not forget, when it comes to preaching or teaching, It is what we have preached to yourself and taught yourselves that you can effectively preach or teach to others.
Also, You will be able to build a lifestyle that avoid petty controversies over words which does no good but upset and undermines the faith of the hearers if you are a friend of the Bible.
FOR INSTANCE, THE WORD TITHING HAS BEEN USED TO GENERATE PETTY CONTROVERSIES AND UPSET THE FAITH OF OTHERS.
Some believe we should no longer give tithes, others say if we do not tithe, we go to hell. You hear all kinds of things that undermines our faith. The same is applicable to the fulfillment of the use of oil. People still use James 5:14 and Mark 6:12-13 to generate petty controversies to keep people using the oil, while the Holy Ghost has come.
They use those scriptures to create a controversy between them and God. That explains why the Bible says God has a controversy with His people.
The Bible says we should avoid such teachings that puts the oil in our hands instead of the Holy Ghost in our lives and Christ in our hearts.
The entire devotional text says;
“Remind [the people] of these facts and [solemnly] charge them in the presence of the Lord to avoid petty controversy over words, which does no good but upsets and undermines the faith of the hearers.
Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.
But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.
And their teaching [will devour; it] will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene. So it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus,
have missed the mark and swerved from the truth by arguing that the resurrection has already taken place. They are undermining the faith of some. 2 Timothy 2:14-19 AMPC
Oh yes, there are a lot of preachers today who have missed the mark.
You cannot walk in practical wisdom listening to preachers who have missed the mark. The only thing you will walk in is empty religion or sorcery in the name of prophecy, divination in the guise of revelation, and the foolishness of handing over your entire earnings or savings to them in the name of altars of sacrifice, first fruits, Isaac offerings, or redemption of first born.
It is my prayer that God will use this bit and add to the building block of our faith in Jesus precious name. Amen
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“And I will give you [spiritual] shepherds after My own heart [in the final time], who will feed you with knowledge and understanding and judgment.
And it shall be that when you have multiplied and increased in the land in those days, says the Lord, they shall no more say, The ark of the covenant of the Lord. It shall not come to mind, nor shall they [seriously] remember it, nor shall they miss or visit it, nor shall it be repaired or made again [for instead of the ark, which represented God’s presence, He will show Himself to be present throughout the city].” Jeremiah 3:15-16 AMPC