Prayer: Father, it is all about You. May I stay humble before You! Amen.
Reading: Job 40 key: vs. 1-4a
Then Adonai answered Job, saying:
2 “Will the one who contends with Shaddai correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer!”
3 Then Job answered Adonai. He said:
4 “Indeed, I am unworthy—what can I reply to You?
Attention: Have you ever had a breakthrough spiritually? Have you ever had an epiphany? Ah-ha moments come more frequently the longer you endure in the word. Ask more questions of the text and you will receive more answers. Do more listening rather than talking about what you do not know or understand. Allow the Holy Spirit to transform your heart and mind. He will lead you into truth. The more you know, the more you understand you do not understand. There is so much more to be revealed and understood. The more you thought you knew; you discover was incorrect. We need to listen to the Holy Spirit and not the sources we typically run too. I encourage you to adopt a Berean approach (Acts 17:11). Search the scriptures daily to see whether the things you are hearing from our faith leaders are true. The Bereans studied not to refute what they were being taught by the apostles, but so that they could confirm what they were being taught was the truth. This they were doing with the teaching of the apostles. If they were proof texting the apostles, do you not think we should proof text our pastors and teachers?
I was pondering last night, what changed among faith groups that they over the generations have lost their identity. The Ivy schools originally were seminaries teaching theology. We have had some great denominations in past years, like Methodists of 18th century John Wesley; or, the Pentecostal movement centered around the Azusa Street Revival in the early 1900’s; or, the Foursquare movement in the 1920”s and Aimee Semple McPherson; or, the Quakers (or Shakers known for their characteristic shaking when filled with the Holy Spirit) founded in the mid-seventeen hundreds in England. We have had great humanitarian efforts like the Salvation Army with William Booth, begun in England as a strong faith evangelizing organization; or, the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association), begun in 1844 in London, by Sir George Williams.
The question I have and the answer I seek, “What changed?” How did they lose the fire of the Holy Spirit? Was it compromise? Was it that the organization lost the anointing once the founder passed? Why did these once great denominations lose the anointing of the Holy Spirit? Was it because no one was there to take the mantle like Elisha to Elijah?
There is no substitute for time spent with God. Let’s stop living our lives vicariously through the teachings and devotionals of other people of faith. The same Holy Spirit which indwells them, dwells in you.
Action: I am humbled by the studying of God’s Word.
Yield: I am submitted to God when I spend time with Him.
Engaged: I am engaged with God when I listen to Him via the Word or personal promptings.
Relationship: I am one with Him.
Prayer: Father, I pray for breakthrough, more serendipities, more discoveries of You within the Word and leading of the Holy Spirit. I desire to know You and the power of Your resurrection. Amen.
Memory Verse: Philippians 3:10
10 My aim is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death
Music Video: Artists unknown—It Matters to the Master
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”