There are many self-proclaimed (self called) preachers. You can find them everywhere, one on just about every street corner and some have public profiles on every social media there is and with many followers. God bless them, I pray their faith never fails. But I think it'll be a good idea to just sit quietly and watch 'em, to see if they’re ‘strutting their stuff’, or whether they walk with a spiritual limp. Are they walking in pride or have they been broken.
It’s not their ‘following’ or smooth silver tongued talk or flashy displays of success that should impress us. It’s their personal impotence, their inability to walk on their own and their leaning on Holy Spirit, the supernatural power of Christ, that determines whether they will bear fruit that will last. The Bible says that God does not delight in man’s strength or cleverness, but in those who fear Him and put their hope in His unfailing love. (Psalm 147:10-11) One is not to ‘lean on their own understanding’ but to trust God in all we say or do. It’s not by might or by power but by the Spirit of the Living God. I can do nothing on my own! He’s the crutch I lean on! He is the one who holds me up and keeps me walking! Thank You Jesus!
The patriarch Jacob, son of Abraham and Isaac, you remember him, he’s the man who God renamed Israel which I believe means “God rules.” Well, I’ve been told Jacob was a manipulator, his only concern was taking care of his own interests. Although Jacob knew God, and he was blessed by God, he was always scheming to his own ends...until God dealt with him. When Jacob was in great danger, the Bible says that he spent a night wrestling with God, and God wrenched his hip so that forever after he walked with a limp. (Genesis 32:22-32)
Even Jesus, according to Isaiah was broken, and the weight of the sins of the world caused Him to 'walk with a limp'..in fact, if one were to read the description of Him, you would understand He was not some ‘pretty boy’ preacher.
I believe for someone to be successfully used by God, they must first be “broken”. They must be made to 'walk with a limp', so to speak. This was true of all the heroes of faith in the Bible. For example, Moses had to spend 40 years in the wilderness. King David spent years in the desert running from his enemies. And the apostle Peter, who said that he would lay down his life for Jesus (John 13:36-38 ), ended up being humbled, broken. It’s said that the great man, Apostle Paul had a ‘thorn’ and asked God three times to remove it. God said no so Paul ‘walked with a limp’ was broken and thus ended up writing 2/3 of the New Testament. So I’ve learned to never really trust someone who doesn’t ‘walk with a limp’. Someone who first hasn't been broken.
Beloved, don't be ashamed of your 'limp' whatever it is, thinking God can't use you...honey He will use you because of your 'limp'.
In His love,
Elizabeth
In His love,
Elizabeth
This is very good. Thank you and God bless you.
ReplyDeleteThis is from my blog The Road:
“Jacob will remain Jacob until he is broken.”
–Brian Troxel
The above quote by Brian Troxel is from the blog A Word in Season. Bread cannot feed the multitude until it is broken. Our lives will never bring forth much fruit unless our lives are broken of self will. We need to take up our cross daily, die to self and let the Lord have His way with us. The Lord’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Not my will, but thine be done.
Matthew 16: 24: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
“The warrior of God is not the man of muscle and a strong jaw, but the man of un-utterable weakness, the man who knows he has not any power; Jacob is no longer strong in himself, he is strong only in God, his life is no longer marked by striving, but by reliance on God. You cannot imitate reliance on God.”
–Oswald Chambers
https://hitchhikeamerica.wordpress.com/2019/08/23/jacob-will-remain-jacob-until-he-is-broken/
Thank you so much for your comment, God bless you. I'll see if I can find the above mentioned blog.
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