Scripture: Ephesians 1 v 16 - 19: "Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power."
We all want to know how to reach the state of enlightenment when our eyes are opened by the Lord, to actually grasp through revelation knowledge what He wants us, as individuals, to do for Him.
I want to share the story of Vickie, my beloved American friend, and sister in Christ. The chances of us every knowing each other were below zero. Until my late friend Sandy decided to do rural work in the USA on a honey bee farm.
Sandy needed fellowship and drove up and down the streets of the nearest town until the Lord said, This Church. The first person she met as she entered the church was Vickie and they became friends. Sandy started sending her my blog and then gave her my e-mail address to correspond with me.
The big surprise was when she and Sandy knocked at my door one morning and we met face to face. We have cherished each other ever since. It led to me visiting Vickie for 3 weeks a few years ago and ministering to people in her community. Most of them needed to be baptized in water and in the dead of winter, it meant in a warm bath. I came away feeling like Bren the Baptist!
Vickie reads my blog daily and applies whatever she learns to be as free and clear in her spirit, soul and body as is possible. She is not tall, has a small frame but is such a hard worker in her very large garden. She has been blessed with boundless energy and zeal to get things done.
Yesterday was no exception. After reading that she needed to eliminate dead works, she prayed earnestly for all and any of these setbacks to be removed from her before she went outdoors to start moving some heavy items into her storage space for winter. She prayed that Jesus would fill her with His strength and ability to enable her to do it all in one day.
She very excitedly told me afterwards how amazing Jesus is when asked to help. He added His strength to Her weakness. She achieved more than expected, in a very short time, and hardly felt the weight of any of it. She just kept praising the Lord and giving Him glory.
2 Corinthians 12 v 9: "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
From this testimony we learn that to grow in spiritual things we must boldly apply the word of God to every situation. When we face big problems believe that our Father is bigger than all the problems of billions of people on this planet. And He is interested in every single one of them, simultaneously.
His thoughts are higher than our thoughts so His solutions to our needs will be real and workable. Just talk normally to Him. He doesn't need His child to speak in a holy church voice, just as we might not want our own children to adopt pretentious voices when talking to us.
Lay your need before Him and wait for Him to respond. Turn off all distractions and get quiet before Him. WAIT can mean Wisdom, Anointing, Instruction, Timing. So when these all connect the answer will be clear. The more we do these things the easier it becomes, practice makes perfect.
When the answer comes it may sound like the most impractical and impossible way of fixing anything. I am reminded of a photograph of Jesus that I have. You can't see His face but it's Him.
It was taken by a Christian lady in America from an aeroplane that had lost power in its engines and they were going to crash. Passengers were screaming but God told her to use her camera to take a photograph out of the window into the dark of night. She did so, and as the camera clicked so did the engines return to normal and the plane landed safely.
When she had the photo developed it was of Jesus with His arms stretched out towards the plane. Now taking a photo at that moment was not anywhere near a practical solution but our God just needs our obedience and He does the rest.
Now that lady must have had a strong growth in her faith after that miracle encounter with Jesus. It can happen to any one of us, at any time. We just need to hear His voice and obey whatever instruction is given. The rest is up to Him. The problem arises when we don't think the answer is appropriate, or fast enough. That's when we take it back into our own hands and miss His blessings.
We need to allow the Holy Spirit to develop patience and self-control. These are both tied up to our own will. Our self-will gets in the way of God's will and if we don't yield to Him, the miracle, or answer, may pass us by. The thing hoped for may never happen.
So to grow in Spirit we need to be able to hear God's voice clearly, yield to His will, be obedient, plus have patience and self-control. Even if the answer is a long time coming, wait for the Lord's perfect timing. It will be worth it!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, what a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. We can bring all our trials and temptations to You in prayer. You want us to be able to do whatever You need from us. Lord change us, prepare us, enable us to achieve Your goals in God's perfect will. In Jesus' name. Amen.