|
Stace
|
May 11 2008, 09:29 PM
Post #1
|
- Posts:
- 3,673
- Group:
- Admin
- Member
- #1
- Joined:
- March 6, 2004
|
- Quote:
-
I've received a prophecy about 10 years ago of my calling to become a missionary. Five years ago, a different man of God prayed for myself and my wife (my girlfriend back then) and confirmed our calling to serve God. After so many years of waiting, we're feeling like "hope deferred makes the heart sick". What are the things we should be doing while waiting for the timing of God's commissioning?
My latest Fatherly Talk 2.22, obeying God in the general should open the door to more specific areas of leading - should be the way to go.
- Quote:
-
Fatherly Talk 2.2 The leading of the Spirit
Dearly Beloved
The Scriptures are explicitly clear as to the leading of the Spirit; that it is a requirement for the Christian life that wants to do God’s Will (Romans 8:14; 12:1-2). The Holy Spirit is to be our guide and Teacher on the earth in place of Jesus (John 14:16-18). He remains invisible to the world but His leading is there for all those who are born again (John 14:17; 3:8). There is a portion of the anointing of the Spirit within us that will help us to identify and know that His leading and teaching in our individual lives (1 John 2:27). The theological concept of the need for the leading of the Spirit is simple but most Christians do not know what is involved. We need to explore some Bible examples to understand there things.
1. The Holy Spirit may sometimes lead us into a place of testing (Matthew 4:1; Mark 1:12; Luke 4:1; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Genesis 22:1; Exodus 16:4; 20:20).
There are many tests for each life at different times sometimes in different areas and especially so when we keep failing the various tests (Numbers 14:22). The purpose of every test is that the Lord may know what is in our hearts – our motivations, our desires, the synchronization between heart, word and actions, etc. (Deuteronomy 8:2, 12). The sum of the tests is revealed in the last three temptations of Jesus: the tests of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (Luke 4:1-13; 1 John 2:15, 16). We might not lose our salvation when we fail a test but we lose the spiritual progress that we might have had and also our rewards from God (1 Corinthians 3:13-15; James 1:12). Every person tends to think more highly of themselves (and within themselves) than who they actually are. In an environment when the disciples of Jesus were arguing about greatness amongst themselves, Peter thought that he was willing to go to prison and even die for the Lord (Luke 22:24-34). Never trust people who do not keep their word. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Intentions do not put you on the path to heaven, only your actions do. Even demons believe and tremble. But the true believer and true Christian believes and takes action. Our true intentions are always revealed in our actions. Good intentions are simply what they are – just intentions. Although thoughts and words are important, the true test of ‘who we are and what we are’ is measured by our actions and deeds and not in words alone (1 John 3:18). In thirty-two years of ministry, I have seen and heard many Christians promise the sky but doing nothing when the opportunity to do something for the kingdom is presented to them. There will never be a time when everything is 100% the way we want it to be before we have to serve God and do His Will – we have to start serving God and doing His Will with what we have now. Far too many Christians live and die without carrying out what they intended to do. I have seen many of them in the Spiritual World regret their loss of earthly and heavenly rewards because of their lack of taking action – many of them have to serve out their time in the Intermediate realm before they can progress further and they also suffer eternal loss for the special progressions and crowns that can only be won by choosing and acting correctly while in the earthly bodies. There are some rewards and crowns that no heavenly progress can bestow – only a righteous, benevolent and giving life on earth can bring many of those heavenly rewards and glory. Every one of us is given limited opportunity and specific resources and talent to do God’s Will – if we fail to act on them; we are responsible for our own failure for eternity and no one else. Our good desires and intentions came from God – so there is nothing to boast about them. It is our actions that we are capable of which shows forth our true nature on this earth. We were placed on this earth with free choice and free will which no one but our own souls can make the decision to take action. We need to evaluate our own lives – not just what we intend to do but what we have actually done thus far. What have you actually done so far in the performance of God’s Will? Is your life just full of intentions and desires but zero actions? Are you failing the tests that God allows you to be in because you never took the right course of action? Are you in a repetitive cycle (an important clue that you are failing the tests given to you) and never moving forward? Do you want to lose your heavenly reward of glory and crowns by neglecting to take proper actions in your life while on earth? Remember that all lives are linked one to another, and your personal failure to obey the Holy Spirit will make the lives of others more difficult (those who depended on or will benefit from your obedience) and they may fail because of the added difficulty and their own weaknesses. You may be willing to face the consequences of your own failure; but do you want to be responsible for causing the lives of others to be more difficult by disobeying God? The difficulties and delays caused to other lives (because of your disobedience) will not be held against those who depended on you but it will be held against you in eternity – in terms of heavenly rewards and progress in glory.
2. We need to move in the general direction before the specific direction is given (1 Samuel 16:1-13; Acts 11:25-26; 13:1-3).
Samuel the prophet was told by God that one of the sons of Jesse is to be anointed king. He knew the town and the family to go to but did not specifically know which son of Jesse was to be anointed. In fact, when he saw the first born, he thought within himself that he might have been the one (1 Samuel 16:6). Paul would not have been able to moved into his apostleship if he had not followed the direction of Barnabas (and the Holy Spirit) in moving to Antioch and serving in the church there for about a year. We have to be in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing to be placed in a position of spiritual and earthly progress in God’s Will. This applies to being in the right church or fellowship, being with the right people and partners (ministry and business) and personal obedience (shown through actions) in our lives. Many people cannot and will not receive the specific direction because they are disobedient even to the general direction that God has given them. The wise men who sought for Jesus moved in the general direction of country and city before the Lord gave them specific revelation to the specific child that they were looking for. They saw the star from their own countries far away. They followed the star by leaving their country and entering the country of Judea, naturally enquiring in the capital city of Jerusalem (Matthew 2:2). The fact that they were enquiring showed that they only had general direction but no specific direction. They were willing to take a long precarious journey in a foreign land just to seek out Jesus whose star they had seen. It was the Bible that gave them the next clue to follow – that the King of the Jews would be born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:5). By following the Scriptural clue, they came to Bethlehem and the star appeared again, this time specifically over the child, Jesus (Matthew 2:9). Unless and until we are willing to take action and obey the general direction we have receive within our own hearts and from the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will not give the more specific directions. Philip the evangelist had to stand by the roadside (having received the general direction from the Holy Spirit to be there) before he received the specific direction as to which person to talk to (Acts 8:26-29). Far too many Christians kept waiting and waiting for the specific directions which they will never receive because they are not moving in the general direction of God’s Will that they have already received in their hearts and through the Scriptures. They might live and die without even fulfilling God’s specific will in their lives because they were never obedient to act on the general Will of God. God is watching us all the time, twenty-four hours, to see whether we are moving in the right direction (of course, this movement is measured by our actions and not by our intentions). While waiting on the Lord, every Christian should be actively doing something. There is, of course, the need to spend quality time and quantity time with the Lord but there is always an action (or continual actions) to be taken in the general direction that is open to each of us in fulfilling God’s Will. Remember that while you are thinking that you are the one waiting on God, God could be waiting for you to take the right action in the right direction. Don’t live and die still waiting. Seek out the right general direction (while waiting for specific directions) and start obeying now.
3. Specific directions involve specific motives, specific methods, specific timing and specific partnerships.
Jesus sent His disciples two by two (Luke 10:1) and Paul worked in teams (Acts 13:1-2; 15:40). Partnerships can also be between ministries and churches (Philippians 4:15). Many people because of pride (or wanting to take glory for their personal achievement) leave out the many partnerships and ministries which they have benefited from in their personal, ministry or church history of their testimonies of how they came to be (or how a church came to be) where they are today but eternity and the Spiritual realm records it differently. No one, no ministry, no business and no church can be where God wants it to be without the right teams and people in place. It is God who brings (from before the foundation of the earth) the right people in place for the works that He has prepared (Ephesians 2:10). Sometimes God may lead you to choose your team but at other times He chooses them for you (Acts 13:1-2; 15:40; 16:3). This means that for those you choose – it would be people whom your spirit can sync with; but for those whom God chooses – you would have to learn to accept them and work together with them. Iron sharpens iron and sometimes God’s choices would not have been your personal choices (you might not like them) but they are good for you (Proverbs 27:17). Paul and Barnabas were opposite types and their personalities clash before the second missionary journey (Acts 15:39). Paul and Barnabas would have been friends and partners for nearly 18 years. Although the Bible records only the sharp contention between them, the apocrypha gospel of the Acts of Barnabas records the following tender moments between them when they parted:
“Therefore bending their knees, they prayed to God. And Paul , groaning aloud, wept, and in like manner also Barnabas, saying to one another: It would have been good for us, as at first, so also at last, to work in common among men; but since it has thus seemed good to thee… And falling to his feet, he wept long. And Paul said to him: The Lord stood by me also this night, saying, Do not force Barnabas not to go to Cyprus, for there it has been prepared for him to enlightened many; and do thou also in the grace that has been given to thee, go to Jerusalem… “
Moreover, the source of their contention, Mark, became a blessing to Paul in his latter years (2 Timothy 4:11). Many people forsook Paul in his latter years when he stood on trial before the Roman emperor but Mark was one of those who stood by him with Luke (2 Timothy 4:11-16).
As Paul moved into his apostleship, he was discovering more and more by experience that his gift lay in the ministry to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27; 15:3; 18:6; 21:19; Galatians 2:8). Paul’s discovery (or acceptance) that he was an apostle to the Gentiles was gradual through many years of ministry. The discovery of specific giftings and callings in the fivefold ministry takes time and many years of practical experience. All of us humans, including Paul, have a difficult time breaking the likes and dislikes of our natural culture, environment and tendencies in discovering the specifics of God’s Will. Paul struggled with his Jewish heritage and tendencies and Barnabas with Peter failed miserably (Acts 17:2; Galatians 2:11-20). It is no easy task overcoming years of cultural and racial indoctrination. Paul must have many big internal struggles in the eating of Gentile food and in making Gentile partners of ministry like Peter had (Acts 10:14). Some Jews and Jewish Christians made Paul their enemy because of his association with the Gentiles (Acts 15:1-2; 17:5, 13; 21:27-29; 22:22; Galatians 5:11-12).
There was also a specific time when Paul was to be release from Antioch to begin his missionary journeys (Acts 13:1-2). He had spent time in his home town of Tarsus, some time in Arabia and Damascus and some time teaching in Antioch before his missionary and apostolic calling came (Acts 9:30; 11:25, 26; Galatians 1:17, 18). All things take time because we need to first learn and acquire the character and transformation within us to be ready for the more specific tasks and Will that God has in store for us. God revealed His ultimate plan for Paul to Ananias when Paul was freshly born again (Acts 9:15). It took Paul many years (about thirty years) of waiting silently hidden from the public eye, three missionary journeys and many trials and persecutions before he finally stood before governors and kings to testify of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 23:1, 11; 24:10-22; 25:9, 10; 26:1, 19, 24-29, 32; 28:17, 29-31). Paul also discovered the methodological benefit of appealing to his Roman citizenship when he was being arrested for the preaching of the gospel during his second missionary journey and began to use this method of appeal more frequently (Acts 16:37-38; 21:39; 22:25-29; 23:27; 25:8-10, 25; 26:32). It was his appeal to his Roman citizenship that brought Paul for a trial before governors and kings. Methods are developed through experiential years of testing out principles and moving in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They do not come by sitting alone and praying but by the hard work of taking action in fulfilling whatever area of God’s Will that we have received. Many times it is in learning where we are not to go or not to do that we learn where we are to go and to do (Acts 16:6-9). No pain, no gain. It is better to have tried and learn than to have never tried. Many of the discoveries of specific methodologies that work for each ministry, specific timings to move into various ministry or business areas or specific ministry or business partnerships take place only when one has actually started doing rather than just dreaming.
The measure of who we really are is in what we are actually doing and not in anything else. Be people of words and deeds and not just words and thoughts alone. The only reason why the gospel is not being proclaimed powerfully in every nation is that many Christians know what they are to do but are disobedient in actually doing them. Actions speak louder than words both on this earth and in the Spiritual World. Obedience is better than any future sacrifice or future intended action that one is dreaming about. The only person that can change dreams into reality is the one you see every morning in the mirror. Don’t wait until it is easy or convenient to take action – that day will never come. Obey God now in the best way you know how. No matter how small or how little the action is in your own eyes, it will release the beginning of new revelations of the specific leadings of the Holy Spirit. God expects every one of us to walk and be led by the Spirit now and not tomorrow. Is there something that He has spoken that you are not doing yet? Are you still waiting for the big picture before you obey in the small picture? Do you have to be pushed and compelled by others and by circumstances before you obey? Are you a Saul who does things only when it is convenient to him or when circumstances compel him or are you a David who obeys God even in the smallest thing? The slingshot and the five stones may not look like much but they are enough to bring the beginnings of a national victory in war. The five loaves and the two fish might not look like much but they are the instruments to feed five thousand men and many more women and children. The trusted and well used wooden rod in your hand might not look like much but in the hands of Moses anointed by God, it became the key instrument and method for all of the mighty miracles over the land of Egypt and in the wilderness. Every child learns to walk by taking the first step. If the child keeps waiting it will never learn to walk. Every leading of the Spirit begins in us trusting in Him by taking the first little step in obeying God through our actions. Those who are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God; those who do not only have the potential to be. Let us BE the sons of God.
In Christ Jesus
Ps Peter Tan
|