OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL by Pastor E.A Adeboye (DATE: FRIDAY 22ND JULY 2016) THEME: NOT A VIRTUE!

Memorise:
As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. Proverbs 26:11

Read: Proverbs 15:20-21
15:20 A wise son maketh a glad
father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother.

15:21 Folly is joy to him that is
destitute of wisdom: but a man
of understanding walketh uprightly.

Message
Foolishness is not a virtue; rather it is a vice that costs its victim
eternity in hell fire. The Bible says
that the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom (Proverbs
9:10).

In other words, lack of the fear of God is the beginning of foolishness. So, when someone decides to live without the fear of God, he does whatever he pleases without consideration for the Word of God, he feels he is free to do whatever he likes with his life, he behaves as if he owns his life, but in actual sense,
his life is borrowed and the owner may ask for it anytime.

Our Lord Jesus told a parable of a
prosperous farmer who did not reckon with God in all his
dealings. Considering the wealth
he had possessed he said:

"And I will say to my soul, Soul,
thou hast much goods laid up for
many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.But God said
unto him, Thou fool, this night
thy soul shall be required of thee:
then whose shall those things be,
which thou hast provided?" Luke
12:19-20

Some people who claim to be
children of God behave foolishly
sometimes. Our memory verse
for today says: "As a dog
returneth to his vomit, so a fool
returneth to his folly." Some brethren who had been modest
and holy are now regretting their
past pure Christian life! Those
vanities they forsook in the past
are now back in full force.
This scripture is now fulfilled in their lives. Jesus said when a demon is
cast out of a man, he goes away
but after sometime he comes
back to check whether that life is
still empty. If he finds the life
empty he goes back to take seven more powerful demons to
take possession of the life (Luke
11:24-26).

It is foolishness to go back to
your old lifestyle after you have
been cleansed from your former sins and impurities. The Bible
says:

"For if after they have escaped
the pollutions of the world
through the knowledge of the
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein,
and overcome, the latter end is
worse with them than the
beginning." 2 Peter 2:20

In the past, you could identify a
child of God from afar off (with few exceptions of those who were pretenders). Many things that are now being celebrated were abominations in those days. It is unfortunate that a wholesale return to those vanities is now in vogue. Some Christian scholars were brought to me in my office by their
leaders many years ago and I
saw assorted wild paintings- red,
green, silver, brown, pink etc on their faces and lips. I could not
help but tell them that that was
the first time I would see Bible
scholars in such a wild exhibition
of vanities.

Their leader then promised that he would do something about it
and that when Lazarus came out
from the dead he was gradually
striped of the grave clothes he
had on. Theologians know how
to explain things away. Beloved, going back from your first love is
not a virtue; it is rather a vice.
Repent today, tomorrow may be
too late.

Action Point :
Check your life and see if there is any foolish act of sin, unrighteousness or backsliding.
Repent.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Ephesians 1:1-4:16 and Psalms
18:20-28

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE