IMPORTANT NOTE:
Before I continue; I just want to remind that God is the revealer of secrets God is three in one. God the father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit."John 16: 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."
"1 John 5: 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one"
I recently joined a Christian Facebook group with is affiliated with the Church I started going to called "Influencers Church". This group focuses on bible verses/chapters and we are to discuss/reflect what the Holy Spirit teaches us from our readings.
Topic of discussion:
Today we are looking at 1 Samuel 17 and Matthew 20 in our devotions. What is Holy Spirit revealing to you today?
HOLY SPIRIT TEACHINGS:
MATTHEW 20
As I read Matthew 20; the message the Holy Spirit reveals to me is: That it doesn't matter whoever does his work when they are called we'll get the same reward for our work whether we were called early/first or later/last to show us that he sees us equally. Also how we shouldn't assume or allow pride into our hearts that we are better off than others who are after us (called later into ministry) as we read in verse 1 - 16.
It's amazing how Jesus tells his disciples about his death (many times in the book of Matthew), I see this as him (Jesus) preparing them for the day. I also learnt that in verses 20 - 23 how Zebedee's mother asked if her sons could take sits in his kingdom and Jesus didn't get angry at them but he rather explained how these seats were already assigned by God ...even though he answered an "indirect/gentle no". I also see that he answered the other half of the question with a "gentle yes" in my view they were going to drink from the same cup and be baptized with what he was baptized in (v.23)...it was the disciples who were displeased. This teaches me that it's not my place to get angry or displeased if anyone prays and ask God for something because in the end he will either say yes, no - with explanations to why he says no.
With the last part to Matthew 20. I read and hear from the Holy Spirit that sometimes when we are shouting for Jesus to help/heal us, sometimes he'll allow discouragement (by other people) to see if we'll preserve with our request/prayer as the two blind men shouted louder when the people told them to keep quiet. He'd even test us with questions to what our request is even though he knows what we need ...he likes to hear us say it ...since using words are powerful because Jesus was the word (and still is but in flesh) in the beginning as we read in Genesis.
The Holy Spirit also revealed to me last night that through PRAYER, we PASS through SLEEP, we STUMBLE. A good example is when Jesus was in the garden with the three disciples praying and asking God to remove the cup he was about to bear (being betrayed by Judas and dying on the cross). He prayed three times and because he was in connection with the spirit he passed his biggest trial. But Peter because he slept the three times Jesus prayed he stumbled by denying Jesus three times ...that's the lesson the Holy Spirit has taught me. SO PRAYER = PASS & SLEEP = STUMBLE. Praying is like putting on the helmet of Salvation when we deeply think about why God tells us to use it all the time with the other armour. Our helmet of Salvation covers the head (thoughts), nose(discernment of good and evil), mouth (using the words/prayer to speak truth and what we've been redeemed from) and not forgetting our ears(being careful with what we allow in our mind...like gossip and Satan's deceiving lies). I also wanted to add eyes, our eyes is light. Matthew 6: 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. Our helmet protects our eyes too and Jesus is light 1 John 1: 5 "...God is light..." Anything profane and isn't of God shouldn't be allowed in our eyes things like: Profane language, sexual immorality,...anything that isn't of God like violence (Ephesians 4). All these can be easily accessed through movies.
Personal application:
Organise a list of things that I allow into my soul with my eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hands, feet, heart and head and write what is Godly and what isn't.
TITLE: GODLY THINGS and UNGODLY THINGS
1 Samuel 17
I love reading 1 Samuel but chapter 17 is my favourite because that's when God teaches us a few lessons.
What the Holy Spirit revealed to me is: - Don't let other voices discourage us in our courage that we have in God. Those who believe in GOD FULL HEARTEDLY will always see from GOD's PERSPECTIVE (Everything is POSSIBLE).(v.28 - 31) not mans perspective (possibility of impossibilities).
- Know my personal armour/calling God has for me. There will always be people who think their calling or armour will fit others. However; to keep peace it's good to try the armour to show why it doesn't fit (v.38 - 40). Saul gave his armour to David to use but when David tried it on ...obviously he couldn't move. KEY LESSON: If we have tried/trying someone elses calling it is highly probable that we won't move forward.
- There's a time to be quiet and there's a time to use my voice and act. (v. 36 David telling Saul about how he protected his sheep twice from a Bear and Lion), because David used his voice to prove to Saul that he was the right "warrior" for the job. Saul gave him his armour and approved him to fight Goliath...he didn't even ask what tribe David was from until the end of the chapter).
- Our private battles determine our public battles. When we win our private battles (at home where no one can see), we are prepared for public battles (where everyone can see: work place, shopping centre, park...anywhere public).Listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit privately is key to winning public battles. Even if it means picking up an orange peel on the ground to put in the bin - learnt from John Paul Jackson.
- God's timing is best. We all have different stages of spiritual growth just like fruit from a tree. We need to know the first stage of the worker bees pollinating the flower, the second stage of pollination into a fruit, the third stage of small fruit to medium fruit, and fourthly, medium fruit to ripe fruit (time of harvesting). If we are in the "third stage" and think we are ready, we will obviously will die/burn out/fall/stumble because we are not ripe yet. That's why it's best to wait upon the Lord because he is the gardener who watches our stages and know when we are "ripe for the picking". Sometimes our "third stage" will or may take ages to grow ...but as everything has it's season...so do we in our spiritual growth.
- Knowing my armour functions. David went to the river and picked five stones that he would use on his sling (Six things - Sling and five stones...this sort of reflects the six things in our spiritual armour. 1. Helmet of Salvation, 2. Breastplate of righteousness, 3. Sword of the spirit, 4. Belt of truth, 5. Shield of faith, 6. Shoes of the Gospel of peace.) David (v.40) knew Goliath had four brothers... and he knew God knew how to defend Goliath...all David had to do was put one stone into the sling and shoot at the giant...guaranteed God directed David's stone to Goliath's weakness in his armour and that was his revealed head. Wack, boom, no more giant. PRAISE GOD...ALL GLORY TO HIM.
SO EXCITING TO SEE HOW GOD WORKS!!!!!
I originally wasn't going to say anything but a few days ago the Lord showed me this bible
verse which felt like a push to me.
Matthew 10: 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.
so here I go again ...with the "fruit stages", ...I think this is to answer someone's question to
why we suffer...God has heard you and this is the answer. Just as vegetables or fruit grow in their stages, vegetables and fruit have enemies like the snail, caterpillar, disease,
fungus...depending what fruit or vegetable it is. I love gardening however; there's a stage where I let my vegetables enemies show themselves so I can pick out which "insecticide" or "bait" or "trap" to use. Snails leave a silvery trail so I use snail bait. Weeds are outstanding so I use weed killer or weed and feed...weeds die and grass grow healthier.
God allows bad things to happen to us because he wants to see what enemy will be attracted to us and when they reveal themselves he will send us help just like how we help our lawn or vege patches/fruit trees. Some of my BokChoy when eaten by Caterpillars will grow two new leaves when one leaf is eaten...while others will take a bit longer to grow new leaves.
Those that take longer to grow obviously take extra TLC (tender love and care). The point is our enemies in the spirit realm don't know God knows what they are up too and in the end he will/already has won the war...even if they try harder in the "inbetween" stage. Just like Joseph becoming 2nd in command in Egypt ...metaphorically speaking he was bitten by the enemy so bad that "prison" was the TLC/ recovery stage for him. And when he was full green and ready for the picking...God harvested him. smile emoticon This would only take two minutes to say verbally but electronically...it seems so long! Hope this helps whoever has pondered this.
