Are we making cookies or Christians --In His Word 5-10-2021
What we do know.
All scripture is God breathed or inspired by Him.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: 2 Timothy 3:16
We are all at different levels and Spiritual growth .
For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Romans 12:4-8
Think about it for a moment, not everyone saw what Moses saw.
Not everyone wrestled with the Lord, as Jacob did,
Not everyone was given a new name from Adonai as was Abram
and Sarai.
Then let me show you Saul who was trained as a Roman and a Hebrew young man. He was zealous to do what he thought was the Father’s will to the point of killing off those following the Son. Then he was blinded so that he could see Spiritually. Then Saul also ended up getting a new name from Jesus, and as Paul he spoke to leaders of the day and countrymen, as well as Jailors and prisoners bringing them to the saving knowledge of Jesus the Christ.
Let’s not think women will be left out of this equation
because there was the Samaritan woman at the well who was one of the first Evangelists
mentioned while Jesus was still walking on the earth. When she told everyone
that she met that they should come to see Jesus the one who told her everything
she had ever done! She did not walk the
same path as these men but look what the Lord did through her! Later on, and I
do not think it a coincidence, God moved on the Samaritan people even more!
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts 8:14-16
Not even all of the disciples or even the Apostles saw Jesus
in the same way. They knew He was the Son of God eventually, but Peter James
and John were there when there was a transfiguration which not all of them were
allowed to see and hear God’s voice telling them He was His beloved Son! Not
all of them were there when Jesus prayed asking to be released from the death
He had to endure if there were any other way. Now we know of it because of the
translations and the inspiration of God to write it out in a book so the World
may know.
We are not all the same on the path. There is one path, and
many people walking on it so it only makes sence that some will see peaks while
others are in the valleys. That does not mean they are lesser people just at
the place they need to be in their walk. If we are to believe God is in control,
then we need to realize we all will ‘experience God’ in His way for us. Is it
too much to think that He can reveal many
things from one scripture verse? To some salvation may be obviously saving them
from near death, physically, while others are depth of despair in mental or
emotional salvation need. It may not be as evident on the outside the changes
that God does, but He is still working through His Word on each of our lives.
Maybe you prayed and asked God to help you understand what
He is saying in the Word. Maybe you never really got it for years until someone
explained it clearly to you, but that does not mean that prayer was wrong to
pray, that does not mean that thinking on it for a while trying to figure what
God was talking about or why God did something is wrong as some would think. Whenever we think on the Word of God, what
happened when that was written, whatever we study out in it, that is the right
thing that God wanted as long as it is aligned with His attributes and His Word
through and through. You cannot take a portion and twist it to meet your needs.
You can use the Word of God to meet your needs when you take the full meal of
the Word, not in parts and study it through. Read it bit by bit but accept it
as a full portion. God had it written to
be read not just heard.
So, yes you should remember that we are not all on the same
spot on the narrow path, and we should give grace to those who have not yet
gained the understanding from the Holy Spirit within us at salvation that they
too have been given a gift or two from God to use for His glory. They will
learn as they are supposed to as long as they stay connected to Jesus, via
prayer and the Word of God. He will guide their steps, that is not for us to
do. Our job is sometimes just to show them where the path is and allow them to
follow it, no matter how fast or slow He leads them to go.
That was a lot to think on today… Trust Him to grow you
through your walk with Him, in His time. In Jesus’ name.
… to be continued in another day…