Two days ago I mentioned something in my post about some of us
with a need to keep seeking for the truth as if it is lost out there. Because I
know people in my own circle with the same issue and because I can see it
though oodles of people like me with internet ministry, I felt that I needed to
give perhaps an example that could shed some lights on the reason why some of
us are stuck there.
Some of us have been Christians for decades, we are attached to
our Bibles, we do our best to understand the Word of God and we have reached a
place where we know more than a lot of people in our Church. If you belong to a
Church where the pastor himself has not been that far personally
with God, it makes sense that with his limited spiritual vision and
understanding, he sees you the member of his church, like some kind of apostles
or prophets materials. After all, you are able to take some verses of the Bible
and go wild with them. You are able to even impress some younger or lazier in
the faith, with your Bible knowledge and so on. When it's all said and done,
you are on fire for Him.
From the outside your life represents the picture perfect of what
a deacon or elder looks like. You have learned to suppress certain behavior in
a way that most people admire you for it. Soon, you find out you belong to the
group of people that are considered godly man or woman and that gives you so
much more encouragement. Why not? After all you have managed to achieve status
in the eyes of man.
But, someone who has been walking with God can see right through
all these hooplas, not because he or she wants to, but it is the nature of true
Christianity. As you go forward with God in obedience, He opens the eyes your
heart, He gives you wisdom and/or discernment to avoid those traps. What I described
in the above paragraphs is in reality, the religion of man. When we get caught
up in religion, years and years have passed, it feels as if you have reached a plateau
which feels like you have learned almost all there is to be learned. If you are
too caught up in religion and you need to have your ego stroke, you do not
realize you are no longer going forward with God but you are just moving
around. Yet, in true Christianity, no matter how far you have walked with God,
He keeps calling you higher and higher. (I discussed that more in depth in my
book Apprehended & Apprehending)
There is a trap there, while you go about putting on more shows
and conferences, in your mind it seems that you are helping others, and yes God
is able to use all that. If He uses Satan for His purposes, He used Pharaoh’s hard
heart, of course, He can use anyone. But, your trap comes from the fact that there
is no one spiritually wiser around you to tell you how easy it is to spot that
you are walking in the flesh and you are not aware of it. There is no one
around you to let you know that you have never been broken, no one to tell you that
you are stubborn with your head knowledge. How is this possible in a Church of
hundreds of Christians?
All who make up the leadership of your Church are in the same
boat. NO ONE IS SPIRITUALLY WISER. The Pharisees were there, they have done
that. Nothing is new under the sky. Like the Pharisees, when we get accustomed to
having our ego stroke, we get attached to our self proclaim titles, Satan is
having a fiesta, he gets us exactly where he wants us. What I am going to say
next might shock you, but I see self proclaimed prophetesses, prophets,
apostles, well respected, yet if they truly see what I see, they would know
they have not even received salvation for their own souls yet. It is so
pitiful, pathetic and gut wrenching.
What I am trying to say is that when we reach so many years of Christianity,
there is nothing else the Holy Spirit can do any more unless we make the choice
to offer the natural life to Him. We still have a much better chance to shape up when we
are undisciplined and everyone can see we are not mature yet. But, when we spend
years masquerading our lack of spiritual discipline and nobody knows that
inside we are like wild horses still, unless they have spiritual eyes, Satan is
the big winner. At the end of the day, we do not need one more event to uncover
the truth, but we need to make the decision to go with the truth. Mathew 23:15 says: “Woe to you, teachers of the law
and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single
convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as
you are.”
Please get my book, "Apprehended & Apprehending” the subtitle
is: Soaring In The Wilderness With God! You
can read it on your computer for only $5.95. Get one and may the spirit of
truth help you!
Please download the free book from Andrew Murray “The School Of
Obedience” at
OSWALD CHAMBERS IN:
The Offering of the Natural
Paul was not dealing with sin in this chapter of Galatians, but with the relation of the natural to the spiritual. The natural can be turned into the spiritual only through sacrifice. Without this a person will lead a divided life. Why did God demand that the natural must be sacrificed? God did not demand it. It is not God’s perfect will, but His permissive will. God’s perfect will was for the natural to be changed into the spiritual through obedience. Sin is what made it necessary for the natural to be sacrificed.
Abraham had to offer up Ishmael before he offered up Isaac (see Genesis 21:8-14). Some of us are trying to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God before we have sacrificed the natural. The only way we can offer a spiritual sacrifice to God is to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice . . .” (Romans 12:1). Sanctification means more than being freed from sin. It means the deliberate commitment of myself to the God of my salvation, and being willing to pay whatever it may cost.
If we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, the natural life will resist and defy the life of the Son of God in us and will produce continual turmoil. This is always the result of an undisciplined spiritual nature. We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse to discipline ourselves physically, morally, or mentally. We excuse ourselves by saying, “Well, I wasn’t taught to be disciplined when I was a child.” Then discipline yourself now! If you don’t, you will ruin your entire personal life for God.
God is not actively involved with our natural life as long as we continue to pamper and gratify it. But once we are willing to put it out in the desert and are determined to keep it under control, God will be with it. He will then provide wells and oases and fulfill all His promises for the natural (see Genesis 21:15-19).
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