Tuesday, April 27, 2010

KEEPING ON KEEPING ON…

The Scripture tells us ,”blessed is he who perseveres,” James 1:12. I’m sure I am not the only one that at times has felt like giving up, just throwing my hands up in the air and quitting…am I? Probably not. Simply because trouble comes to all of we believers, trouble that is especially designed to smooth off rough edges, teach us some valuable lesson God knows we would not learn any other way, or something along that line. I’ve been a believer for 36 years and in full time ministry for 29, believe me when I tell you I have learned some hard lessons…all at God’s hand, and looking back, I would not have missed even one. I said, “looking back.” At the time the emotion was not always positive. I’ve noticed in myself, every time God wants to make a major change/shift in my ministering, I initially fight Him…not always consciously, but a battle goes on in my heart and mind. Possibly, it would be better said the battle is in my mind. I’ve learned over the years, my mind is not reliable and neither are my emotions. My spirit is because it is controlled by the Lord. Very early on He begins to teach us discernment, some people have the spiritual gift of discernment, don’t always recognize it and frequently don’t trust it until someone much older in the Lord teaches them how and why. They are truly blessed because that gift is badly needed today within the body of Christ. There are many, many false teachers and con men coming into our churches and taking advantage of the flock. People with the gift of discernment can “sense” they are not really what they say they are. God knows this kind of thing would come about which is why He provides the church with such gifted people. They need to trust their relationship with the Lord and exercise the gift and not “feel” as if they are judging. I used those quotation marks on purpose because many times that happens…we make judgments all the time, all of us. But spiritual discernment is another whole thing…when the Spirit of God speaks in that still small voice, that’s discernment and we need to listen. Discernment needs to be exercised…trained. To do that and discern correctly, you must meditate on the Word, memorizing passages that speak to you and your gift, always compare what God is saying to your spirit with what He says in His Word. We know He will never contradict Himself so knowledge of Scripture is important. Be willing to observe and obey the conditions that go with His promises.Hebrews 5:14 tells us that “who by constant use have trained themselves and their senses to discern.” Practice means you may make mistakes, so be willing to learn from them, and grow in this area. When your head doesn’t know which way to go, trust your spirit, your Spirit trained spirit will guide you correctly. It takes faith to operate in the spiritual area, not reason, and if you are going to go for reasonable answers and guidance, you  will not develop discernment and will make many wrong choices and decisions. These times are usually when we most want to give up…we feel like a failure and are ready to quit. Don’t, just cling to God and remember this: “reasoning is a product of your head, discernment is a product of  your spirit. Your head doesn’t comprehend/understand spiritual things, you cannot count on it leading you correctly. But…God in His mercy will, and He will never let you down or leave you all alone. he will be there, especially when you want to give up because for many of us that is a “bottoming out “ experience and God meets lots of people at the bottom, and then makes great saints out of them because they have learned they can’t do it….but He can…and will.

1 comment:

  1. Amen.......

    i am so tired of hearing the catholic/christians and athiests, and indeed all the religious, liken unto parrots continually sounding their rallying cry of "you can't judge me" ;-(

    Questions?

    When one declares a certain behavior or thing or ? to be wrong, not right; bad, not good; of 'd'evil, not The Creator; etc.......

    Is that a judgment? or discernment?

    Apart from The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL, there is only One with authority to judge and those who have a relationship with such a One have received of the "strong meat" that allows them "by reason of use to have their senses exercised in the discernment of that which is good and that which is evil."

    So what is it that causes one who is the receiver of such discernment, and disagrees, to immediately declare "you can't judge me!"?

    Most certainly not "a good conscience and Faith unfeigned".......

    So it is, that today the "i'm ok, you're ok" philosophy rules in that which calls itself 'christianity" ;-(

    Father Help! and HE does.......

    ReplyDelete