Title: What I Have (Philippians 4:13)
Contents
♣ Introduction
This is the fourth time in a series of thoughts on Advent, to think deeply about Jesus. In this time, we want to hear the word of God as to where the source of Christian power comes from.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit in you? Perhaps if you ask children in the Children's Department, "Where is Jesus?", more than half will answer, "In my heart!" As we encountered Christianity, we have been told countless times that 'to believe in Jesus is to receive Jesus into my heart'. So, those who have lived a religious life to some extent will almost mechanically confess that 'God is in me'.
However, in reality, the fact that 'God is in me' is often confused with the feeling of 'I feel God in me'. For example, when people feel that worship is very gracious, people are often moved to say that 'it was worship with God'. Then, when you felt that the worship service was not gracious, it means that God was not with you during the worship service. Is that true? Or, 'I felt that God was with me in this church.' That said, where was God in normal times?
Does God exist only in places of gracious worship? Or are you just in a place where you cry out and pray? Then, isn't God present in the family worship held in humble and poor homes?
When I am alone, when there are many people, in a place of gracious worship, in a place of worship where I do not feel gracious, when I meet someone, when my heart is broken by sorrow, anytime and anywhere, God is with the saints. there is God even said that even the death of the saints is precious.
- Psalm 116:15, "The Lord cherishes the death of the saints."
In this way, we try to rely on our feelings of uncertainty, the actual situation that God is always with us. It is like being thirsty and lamenting in the middle of a clear river. The saints who have the spring of life that keep them from thirsting forever are always hungry for something.
In the parable of the prodigal son, there is a second son who is the prodigal son and an eldest son who is faithfully helping his father. When the prodigal son returned, his father slaughtered a fattened calf and made a grand feast for him. Just as the eldest son was returning from work, he heard the noise of people and songs coming from the house. I soon found out that the commotion was that my brother had returned and was throwing a feast. The eldest son was angry and did not even enter the house. When the father found out about it, he went out and comforted the eldest son. The eldest son said, "Father, I was with you all the time, but didn't you give me a goat for a feast with my friends? But do you hold a feast by slaughtering a fattened calf for that bastard who came back with all his inheritance and forgot it?" and complained. Then the father said, "Son, you have always been with me and everything that is mine is yours!" In other words, 'If you want to hold a feast, you can do it. Everything in this house is yours, isn't it?'
The eldest son had everything. And they were allowed to hold a feast or to do anything. I just couldn't use it. The God who allowed everything to the firstborn is also a Father to us. Then we have it all. All I have to do is use what I have.
1. Then how should I use what has been given to me?
Like people who lack something, we ask God over and over again. But within us there is a God who is the owner of everything. In other words, there is nothing lacking in those with whom God is with them. It's just a matter of how I will use what I have.
Let's recite the text together. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” Do you believe? Where is the one who gives me strength now? You are in me now. And I am in the Lord. Because I believe in the Word of God. Those who believe and receive the Word of God are already in the Lord. John 15:10, "Just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love, so if you keep my commandments you will abide in my love."
Therefore, we ask, 'How can I get a lot out of God!' It is not something to think about and pray about. What we really need to pray and learn is, 'How can I use what has been given to me!'
For example, let's say you pray, 'God, give me more love and money so that I can love and help others'. This prayer is not biblical. Because we already have enough love and material things. I don't know if anyone would like to raise the meaning of this statement. So let's go back to God's Word and think about it.
I have the Holy Spirit who is full of all things in me. In addition, the Holy Spirit is the one who creates and guides all circumstances and conditions.
- 1 Corinthians 10:26, "For the earth and its fulness are the Lord's" / Ephesians 1:23, "The church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all" / Col 2:10, "You also filled in him, who is the head of all principalities and powers."
Does this fact make any sense? That's right. We already have the fullness of love, and now we have the fullness of material things in God. The thing to note is that it's not the fullness I think it is. And now all we have to do is make full use of what is in us. If I wanted to do something, there would be nothing. This is something God did not allow me to do.
God doesn't ask for something I can't do. In other words, God does not require me to display powers that are not permitted to me. God did not allow everyone to do everything. There are many organs in our body, but each has a different role. In this way, God has given each of the saints talents and gifts. The saints build up the church by combining these gifts with each other. This is the charisma.
- Romans 12:6, "Each one has different gifts according to the grace given to us..." / 1 Corinthians 7:7, "I want all people to be like me. But each has his own gift from God, one like this and one." 1 Corinthians 12:11-12, "All these things are done by one and the same Spirit, distributing to each one according to his will. There is one body, and it has many members, and as the body has many members, it is one body. so is it"
So, try to make the most of what you have now. If I do not use what has been given to me as little, even that will be taken away. Do you know the result of the person who received one talent in the parable of the talents and the person who did not use the one mina given in the parable of the mina? Because they did not use what was given to them, even what they had was taken away, and eventually they were expelled.
Gentlemen, be faithful to what is given rather than trying to get what has not been given. It is God who fills us more abundantly.
2. Follow the best way to use what is given to you
The most effective way to use the things God has given me is to walk in the Holy Spirit. We have already talked about walking in the Holy Spirit last time. To summarize again, to walk in the Holy Spirit is to be constantly conscious of His presence. In other words, always remember that the Holy Spirit is with you.
The Holy Spirit comes into me the moment I repent of the sins of the past and accept Jesus as my Savior. And you are always with me. Nevertheless, we often ask God to be present in us. This is to commit the mistake of requesting the presence of God who is already present again. The reason we make this mistake is because we want to feel God's presence sensibly.
For this, God prepared the presence of the Holy Spirit in the early church. After the resurrected Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples and the saints gathered in Mark's upper room to receive the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus, and were immersed in prayer. Then the Holy Spirit came to the saints. The Bible describes the first presence of the Holy Spirit on people. The Holy Spirit came like the wind and appeared on people like tongues of fire. However, the tongue of fire is not the image of the Holy Spirit. It was God's consideration for people to understand and believe in the Holy Spirit, who came upon them for the first time. In other words, the appearance of tongues of fire on man's head was a sign that the Holy Spirit had come. Just as God showed His presence in the wilderness with a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud.
-Acts 2:2-4, "Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a rushing, strong wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting, and they saw them splitting tongues like fire, and it rested on each one, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” / Numbers 14:14, “I will tell the inhabitants of the land. They also heard that the Sovereign LORD was among this people, that the Sovereign LORD showed him face to face. , your cloud stands over them, and you walk before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night."
In the face of the certain fact that the Holy Spirit is present in the saints, there is a reason for not feeling or distrusting the fact.
After Jesus died on the cross, all the hopes they had hoped for were lost and the disciples were scattered in despair. Among them, the two disciples, whose hometown Emmaus was, were also on their way home in despair. They heard rumors that the Lord had risen, but they did not believe it. On their way, someone joined them. He was listening to the disappointment of his disciples. The disciples had no idea that it was the Lord. Jesus explained the Bible to the foolish disciples, but the disciples still did not know Jesus. God explains why the disciples did not feel the Lord in this way.
- Luke 24:15-16, "As they were talking and inquiring with one another, Jesus came near and went with them, but their eyes were blinded, so that they did not recognize him." / 24:21, "We believe that this man is from Israel. I hoped that he would be the one to redeem..."
The disciples had their spiritual eyes blinded by their own desires and expectations.
That's right. When a believer fails to put faith in God's Word and is faithful to his desires and expectations, his spiritual senses are paralyzed. To walk in the Holy Spirit is to be awake to the guidance of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you and accomplishes God's will.
The easiest way to always be awake and walk with the Holy Spirit is to talk like you would with the person next to you. This is the prayer in life. When you do this, the power of the Holy Spirit will be revealed. I pray that all of your lives will become a life of walking with the Holy Spirit, so that you can fully use what God has given you.