Christians go through a painful learning process in order to learn absolute reliance on God. When God humbled them and fed them with manna, which they knew not, neither did their fathers know that He might make you know that Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live (Deut 8:3).
When an individual does not draw that conclusion, he prolongs the duration of that process within his life. This process is meant to be educative but its whole essence could be wasted if you refuse to learn the lessons embedded in it. Without successfully passing through this stage, a lifestyle of labour and striving sets in.
This was the mindset that Paul was trying to address in the Galatian church (Gal 3:1-8). The Christians in this church had been trying to match up to the standard. They had the desire to do God’s will but lacked the knowledge on how to perform. They found their faith to be dead due to their lack of knowledge (James 2:26).
When they met with this brick wall, they discovered that there was a right way of doing things which produces what they believed God for. This right method is communicated by God when an individual trusts in Him for the manifestation of their desires. In Gal 3:6, Abraham believed God and that belief was turned into a life of rightness.
As Abraham started living in that righteousness, he got the results promised. This spiritual principle is accessible to anyone who fulfils its demand of belief. If a person exercises genuine faith in God for financial prosperity, God communicates the righteousness of the expressed faith to such an individual i.e. He communicates the right way of going about it to the person. When the individual lives out that righteousness, results are produced.The Christian life is lived by the Spirit of God in us.
As Christians, we can only do the dictates of the Father by relying on the Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit longs to produce God’s excellent life in us. For instance, it is a good thing for an individual to envision and make some desirable confessions about his family life. However, he needs to rely on the Spirit’s guidance for wisdom on how to achieve the results he wants.
The future of a believer is hinged on obedience to such Spirit-inspired promptings. It is not based on any organisational code of conduct, but on the Holy Spirit’s dealings. These dealings are very personal they are based on the faith that the person has exercised in God that no one else knows about.
God’s work in you does not start until you lay hold on His will for you. The starting point is that every Christian in a vital walk with God embraces God’s will for their life. God started His work in Abraham when He declared His will unto him (Gen 17:4). When this work was initiated, Abraham started making decisions as the Holy Spirit revealed.
At that stage in his relationship with God, the Holy Spirit started regulating his decisions and actions. It was a father/son relationship because even when Abraham missed God’s will at some points, God lovingly corrected him. He then created opportunities for him to get things right all these took place without condemnation because God is always primarily interested in the relationship.
His only desire is that we approach Him by faith in order to obtain wisdom from Him, wisdom on how to inherit the promise (Gal 4: 1-2).
From the Desk of Pastor Poju
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