When we learn to walk one on one with God, then it will change our relationship with Him and what He can do through us. The Philistines and Goliath were battling with God's covenant people in 1Samuel17:34-37(Amp) when young David said, "There was a lion and bear that came to take the sheep; I slew them both with my hands." David got his confidence in the field while tending his father's sheep and while he was in fellowship one on one with God. How do we know this? Read Psalm 23. David got the Revelation that his Shepherd, God, also watched and cared for His sheep.
This gave David the courage to know God would fight for him, like he did his father's herd. This didn't mean that God wouldn't fight for Israel's army, but they hadn't spent time before God and weren't confident enough to be bold in their God. Do we get home from church and spend time in meditation and fellowship with God about what we just heard? Do we rightly divide the Word of Truth that we just heard? Do we allow God to show us His Truth?
Jesus said in John 10:1 (Amp), "My sheep know My Voice." Do we know His Voice enough to act upon it for ourselves or do we just follow the herd, like sheep? When in Israel year ago, I saw a man take his sheep and turn them into the sheep fold while he did his shopping. There must have been another one-hundred sheep in the pen, but when that man returned and called them his sheep separated themselves and followed him out of the fold. All of the sheep heard that man's voice, but only his sheep "knew" his voice.
Do you spend enough time with the Lord to "know" His Voice? Jesus told His followers in Mark 4:23-24(Amp), "If any man has ears to hear let him be listening and let him perceive and understand. Be careful what you hear, it will be measured back to you. The thought and study you give to the Truth you hear will be the measure of the virtue and knowledge that comes back to you, and more besides." Many heard Jesus' sermon that day, but didn't spend time meditating and fellowshiping with Him, in order to understand what He was saying.
We sometimes simply go to church, get encouraged or discouraged from the message, but do we spend time in God's Word or in fellowship with Him, to rightly divide what we heard? When I was first saved, I listened to many preachers and persons, eagerly seeking to know more about God. Some taught that God put sickness and calamities upon us, in order to teach us. Others told me that God was my Healer and Deliverer. They were all good Christians, but had very different messages. I desperately wanted to know the Truth, so I spent time in prayer, when God said very clearly to me, "This is as the waters of Noah to Me."
My immediate thought was, "What in the world does this have to do with what I asked Him?" I had to listen to the Holy Spirit in order to find the answer and He directed me to Isaiah 54:5-10(Amp),where God said that "His anger and His rebuke and His former way of dealing with us, (because of Jesus) would be like the waters of Noah. Just like God promised Noah that the waters would never again cover the earth with a flood, He would never again deal with us in the same manner He did when before we were born-again."
Those under the old covenant weren't born-again and God had to deal with only the flesh and blood men/women. Under the new covenant, God can deal with us one on One, spirit to Spirit and in Spirit and Truth. There is no longer need for physical chastisement, because we are one with Him in Spirit. Jesus taught us to pray in Matt. 6:13(Amp) saying, "Lead us not into temptation (trials, tests), but deliver us from the evil one." James 1:13(Amp) says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted from God,' for God is incapable of being tempted by what is evil and He Himself temps no man." God will always lead us in Truth, when we spend one on one time with Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment