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You don’t need book smarts

You don’t need book smarts

1 Corinthians 2:1-5    And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

When I look back at my life, well what I can remember of it, I was never studious. I usually did only what it took to get by, and my mind always seemed to be elsewhere. I now look back and wonder if the recognized problem that haunts me today, haunted me in childhood; I can never retain what I read. I can understand complexities, but I cannot recount them after the fact. I now find myself in school again, loving the learning, but deeply struggling with the requirements. I have somewhat jokingly said that I live in the “present tense”. It does keep a hunger in me now for God in a childlike way; seemingly finding what I am looking for in God’s Word brings great joy. When I need it most, and the Holy Spirit brings it to remembrance, most do not understand the inner joy I receive in that blessing.

Paul was a highly educated man. He likely knew how to persuade a crowd with his speech down any path he might want. He could have easily impressed with eloquent words and the proof of the wisdom he had gained in his earlier years. He chose to draw glory to God, and not himself, in the simplifying of his preaching. He preached only Christ and Him crucified alone. It is in that power of the gospel that Salvation is found. It is in that simplicity that Grace is found. We have continued to put our works into our faith, and works does not save us; faith produces works, but works to not produce faith. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

You can do this; you can share your faith with anyone and everyone. You can share the peace, hope, and love, that you have found in the security of your Salvation. You can share the bad news that everyone will have to stand before God one day and give an answer for their lives. We all are sinners and fall short of the requirements of a Holy God. UNLESS, we have been covered by the blood of the Atonement that Christ gave us at the Cross. All one must do is to repent of their sins to be saved. It is answering that tug on their heart that God places there. It is not becoming a better person first; it is coming to Him to become a better person. That Gospel is available to all, and preach-able by all without any necessary edjumication.

 
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Posted by on August 18, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Edjumikashun

Edjumikashun

Proverbs 2:1-5     My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, 2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; 3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, 4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.

It is pretty much a standard of living that you will spend at least 12 years of your life in school. Therefore you will spend the first 18-20 years of your life seeking the minimum education required to “do life”. I stopped there with my diploma many years ago, only seeking the bare minimums to collect it and move on. I did not see the value in a further education, and I have paid for the mistakes of my youth. An education is a tool upon which the mind has doors opened to further the capabilities of it, and all those affected by it. This understanding has come from a lifetime of realizing mostly by error, the mistakes of things lost without knowledge found in that education.

Have you come to know Christ and desire to know more of Him? Have you answered that call He placed upon your soul in an act you still struggle to explain? So many times we come to know Christ, and feel that tug of desire to know what is next. We have felt that change that He brings, but we sometimes wonder how we are to get more understanding Him. It is all found in the heart that pursues him in prayer and his Word. The key to unlock to mysteries of God are found in the pages of God; through the power of the Holy Spirit he has given you. 1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

A high school diploma will get you just over 86,000 hours of education in that 12 years. You will have invested a good percentage of your early life in the pursuit of knowledge, and the hope and understanding of how it may be applied in your life. In Christ you have opened the door to eternity and all the endless possibilities that lie in it. For the remainder of your life here, the wisdom of God is given in the guidebook of life, the Bible. A heat that is genuinely seeking God every day will live a life in the rewards of the wisdom He reveals through His Word. Proverbs 2:10 When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul, 11 Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you. Spend the rest of your life in the pursuit of a heavenly wisdom and understanding of God and the things of God found in His Word every day. The rewards for your time here are greater than any diploma recognized by man.

 
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Posted by on March 22, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Do you have a heart to hear?

Such an awesome morning with God, wishing I did not have to stop. Ohhhh how I hope you will respond to that instant when He knocks at your door. It is never too late, until it is.

 

 

 

Do you have a heart to hear?

1 Corinthians 1:18  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Do you have an ear to hear? When you hear things of God, do you immediately put up a wall, or does something first stir inside you before put up your fight, or your reasoning for dismissal? That instant, that second of stirring before your pride steps in, is God knocking at your door. If you never have that second of curiosity, then my prayer is that one day you will.  We are told in 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. God must first seek you, and you must respond, as an act of free will to His invitation by humbling yourself before Him. These things are the first things to changing your life for an eternity.

The revelation of that stirring inside you, that the Creator of the universe is pursuing you, should provoke humility and acceptance on it alone. How could you deny the one whom breathed the stars into existence, and life into your lungs? How could pride step in and deny that stirring you feel is greater than Him? 1 John 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us. With the understanding of Whom is knocking at the door of our souls, comes an eternal gift of spiritual wisdom from the Holy Spirit that will reside in you, and reveal God to you for eternity. Your ears will be opened through the ability to hear the voice of God in your heart, not entering as all the static this world brings to our ears. Do you have a heart to hear?

 
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Posted by on March 6, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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