I
think it is time we look inwardly. Is our relationship with the Holy Spirit of
such a nature that we will hear and learn from Him? Or are we so bound to the
doctrines we have
learnt
from men, that we are snugly following the deception of “just doing our religious
duty of going to church and God will do the rest”. The latter is the easier way
out. Why would we then dare out of our comfort zone and try something different that the
Holy Spirit might want to teach us?
Last
time we
stressed that, to be effective, one needs to be filled with the Holy Spirit. In
John 14:25, 26 we read: “All this I have spoken while still with you. “But the
Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach
you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
Jesus,
the tutor of His
disciples, also taught them methods, but in this passage He was
busy with the last teachings and was saying that, whilst they had heard all of His
teachings, it was important that they kept on listening to the Holy Spirit
because He would proceed to tell them what the Father wanted them to hear.
The Holy Spirit, in this context, has two purposes:
1)
To teach us new things.
2)
To remind us of Jesus’ teachings.
Immediately
I hear you saying: “Everything is written down. God does not give new revelation.”
You are 100% right. ‘New revelation’ by so called angels was the
cause of many false religions, but the Holy Spirit teaches us new applications
of old truths and new
approaches. He gives us tips on how to handle situations, how to be more
effective in ministry, to correctly understand the Bible, and show
us where needs are that we should meet. “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will
guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak;
and He will tell you things to come,” (John 16:13). Man, because
of his strong will and laziness, tends to traditionalize and
then the Holy Spirit needs to help us break those habits and think
differently.
He guides and directs our ways - He is in control.
Imagine
a police vehicle patrolling the city. With them they have a map of the city and
knowledge of the procedures of arrest and of general policing.
Happily they drive around town with their car marked “Police” with blue lights
on top. They, however, have switched
off the
two-way radio because they do not believe that central control will be of
any help, or
maybe they are just careless or lazy - not to be disturbed. How
effective will they be in their calling? How will they know if their help is
needed elsewhere? How will they get help if they confront a situation they cannot handle?
Imagine there are a number of patrol vehicles in the city believing like that.
What control will their authority have? For a police force, an army, or any organization
to be effective there must be constant central control.
How
can the Kingdom of God be effective if each of God’s people sits on their own
thrown, just doing what they think is right, guided only by teachings
of men, tradition and comfort? God’s Kingdom is centrally controlled by the
Holy Spirit, but most of the policemen or soldiers are not in the vicinity of
their two-way radios - they are out with the prostitutes. Through the prophets
God often mentioned that His people (bride) are prostituting with foreign gods.
Out with the
prostitutes.
Let’s
imagine a bit more. These patrolling officers drive around town finding nothing
to do, simply because they are only aware of their immediate surroundings due
to the fact that they have no contact with central control. They are therefore
unaware of what is going on in other areas of the police service’s division. How
long before they become bored? Then they drive past a night club and see a few
nice girls on the side walk. These girls love officers in
uniform. The officers decide that, since nothing is going on, they can just as
well have some fun. It will definitely break the boredom somewhat. Meanwhile
the central control operator has lots of exiting, productive tasks for these
officers and he is calling in vain into the microphone...
Many
Christians are following the ideas of men, not tuning into Central Control, and
definitely also become bored with Christianity. There is not much exiting about
the Christian’s life outside of a personal relationship with his Maker.
There are also pretty girls waiting for the bored Christian officer, ready to
keep him so busy that he will not be able to tune into his two-way radio into the
Holy Spirit
in order to find out what there is to do. Most Christians, unfortunately, are
already preoccupied with these girls. And these girls come in very subtle
forms.
Who
are these girls? Some of them have been the same used throughout all the
ages, starting with Adam and Eve:
·
The desire to satisfy his flesh.
·
The desire for power.
·
The desire for material riches.
There
are lots of girls in this night club/brothel. The main reason why these girls
are sent our way is to steal our resources - the time, energy, talents, abilities
and finance we could and should have used to facilitate God’s purpose for our
lives. (To be continued)
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