Tuesday 1 July 2014

The Blessings of Knowing Him More - Part 3

Blessed Children of the Most High After talking about the sovereignty of God and understanding His awesome Power, His unlimited knowledge, I would like to focus on knowing Him more by understanding His awesome wisdom which we call "Omni-sapient" because what He wants to teach us will always result with the best results, far better than any advice man could ever give otherwise. Apart from any other Word or philosophy, it is His Word that only brings forth eternal life. Peter declared this to Jesus when He asked Peter and the Disciples if they were going to leave Him also (read John 6:68) after the 70 Disciples decided to leave Him because His teaching was too difficult. Because He knows all future events, He is able to provide us with direction we need to take that will lead us down the best path and many times and help us avoid un-necessary trouble. However, trouble often comes our way because we fail to acknowledge Him or simply do things that opposes to what He is trying to teach us. Sometimes trouble is inevitable and God only knows because He tells us that we will be persecuted regardless. But through persecution, when we put our trust in Him, we will see ourselves become stronger in Him then before. He tells that we will be persecuted, but tells us to fear NOT (be of good cheer) because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). No matter the circumstances, if we will only trust Him in His unmatched wisdom, we will ALWAYS be better off and stronger in developing that Christ-like character through any and all circumstances. If we are not growing stronger and more confident in the Lord through every circumstance, then we need to humble ourselves and ask Him to help and teach us to draw closer to Him and develop that God-confidence we all need. I must admit, all too often I had to learn the hard way and could have saved myself much trouble. For myself, Gods sovereign wisdom (His Omni-sapience) knew in advance what I needed to go through to break me from the bondages that I didn't realize I was a prisoner of. So the trials I had to endure, I most definitely did not welcome any of it during that time, but I only know from after the fact that I had learned so much and can truly say that I am far better off right now having gone through severe trials that I once dreaded. I would not have known the blessings of being bold in the Lord had I not had to come to the place where I had to take a stand and make a bold decision that with His help, He would help me use my past to be a blessing to many others in need throughout the world. God in His wisdom knows that when others hurt and those of us who have gone through similar trials, we can extend that arm to one another and develop richer relationships because of it. Through this, our love for one another grows through people going through trials. When people don't go through trials, no one would ever see the benefits of people comforting one another and be a richer blessing and develop closer relationships with each other. Had I not gone through trials, I would have failed to ever learn to take a bold stand for the Lord and would have otherwise remained complacent, which is what the enemy wants us as Gods Children to become, which is being lukewarm (read Rev 3:15,16). Without trials, I would not have the wonderful privilege of having so many faithful friends and prayer partners I have come to know and have a rich relationship with throughout this world. God in His wisdom taught me that being negative through trials I was going through gave the enemy more power in my life. I had to come to that place where I had to take a stand to be bold because I should have the confidence in Him that I didn't have before. When we are buffeted by the enemy, we have to come to that place to tell the enemy "enough is enough and by the Grace of God, I am going to be mightily used for His glory, His purposes and be used to forcefully advance His Kingdom" (Matt 11:12). Maybe He is telling many people to get tired of being where you are and for us to "Rise Up" (Deut 2:13) in the power of His might and learn to make that bold declaration that God is going to have His way in our lives and we would be mightily used by Him to His glory. His wisdom knows how much we need to go through before we will start taking a stand and be sick and tired of being sick and tired!! It was when I realized when I knew the Lord the way I should, His Power, His Presence, His Wisdom and His great love for me, I became much more bold and confident in Him as His adopted child. God in His wisdom knew beforehand what I needed to go through before I would come to that place. We just need to be humble enough to realize that He knows better than we ever will and surrender our stubborn wills to His loving plan for each of us. We fail to allow Him to do what He wants to do in our lives because we are often critical of His ways or just think "our ways" are better than His ways all because we do not know Him the way we should. We allow logic (our way of thinking) to exalt itself over having that childlike faith and trust in Him like we should. This is one major barrier called "pride" which He opposes. My life is a living testimony that His Word is true. When we don't humble ourselves, we will never benefit from the blessings He wants to do for us and through us. When we take the time to learn of His sovereignty and come to the place to have that AWE of HIM, His greatness in all His glory and know that His greatness is beyond our intellect, we will never know Him like we should and we will fail to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. We will often be under fear rather than having that strong confidence in Him if we only knew Him like we should. Even though we will never be away from encountering trouble, trouble should never make us weaker, but should make us stronger if we will be bold and confident in Him and learn to put our trust in Him. When we spend time to learn more of Him and His Greatness, every circumstances we go through will cause us to be stronger in Him, the boldness to walk in confidence and have that unshakable trust in Him all because we know who He is and what we mean to Him. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/ Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders? (Exod 15:11)