RANDOM GRACE, JULY 23-29, 2007
Monday, July 23
“After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”
Isaiah 53:11NIV
The knowledge of the Lord is not only a means to our sanctification, it is also essential for our justification. It is through the application of what we understand God has done for us in Christ Jesus that we are justified. The more the Holy Spirit reveals the atoning work of Christ to us, the more victory we have before the throne of God, principalities and in the courts of men. “By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many” implies that without his knowledge, we have no access to that justification which comes by faith. As Isaiah 53 puts it, that atonement is extensive and conclusive. Just before the Lord laid down His life, He instructed the disciples, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth…He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.”( John 16:13 NIV)
The guidance of the Holy Spirit comes as we daily sit at His feet with an eagerness to learn more about the Lord. As this takes place, we are justified and Jesus is glorified. Jesus has worked out the legal authority that will bail you out of whatever problems you face presently. The knowledge of that saving grace will be revealed by the Holy Spirit, if you seek Him.
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Tuesday, July 24
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
2 Peter 1:3 NIV
God does not lie, it is not in His nature to do so. Peter tells us that God’s divine power has already worked in our favor to give us everything we need to live and to remain godly. If we are not living the full life He promised or we are making ungodly compromises to get by, it means much of the power He has prepared for us is not at work in our lives.
How then can we tap into that power? The bible says “through our knowledge of Him.” The power in Christ is accessed as we daily soak ourselves in His word.
There is a lot Christians can learn from martial arts. Victory does not necessarily come from the potency of the weapon, but from the skill of the fighter. Godless people who understand the source of their power have continuously put Christians to shame, despite the massive power accessible in Christ. Many of us are unskilled in using the spiritual weapons at our disposal. We need to devote more time to knowing more about Christ at the personal and church level. How much time do you spend with the Lord on a daily basis?
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Wednesday, July 25
“For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.”
Romans 10:2 NIV
Proverbs 19:2 warns us that “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.” Those words came from an Israelite, but several years later, Romans records that the Israelites were zealous for God, but their zeal was not based on knowledge. They did not heed the words of king Solomon. We are equally guilty.
I have found that when I tell a lot of people about my plans, I am actually doing nothing about it. But the more I understand the task and gain depth of insight about the solution, I become silent. The more I know, the easier the task appears, the more confident I become, the less I need to tell people about it because my enthusiasm has been adequately channeled.
Up till today, the Israelites offer sacrifices daily, to appease God, who has provided the perfect sacrifice by Himself. They reject the knowledge of Christ and thereby waste their efforts to “re-invent the wheel. “Christianity is built on the priesthood, prophet-hood and brotherhood instituted and headed by Christ, its central truth is the Godhood of Jesus. As His followers, our ministration efforts must be anchored on the foundation He has laid. Without an understanding and acceptance of this foundational knowledge, our zeal will not yield much fruit. Granted, we can’t know it all, but we have access to a teacher who knows all things. The Holy Spirit is a willing teacher, talk to Him.
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Thursday, July 26
“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 1:8 NIV
Knowledge is good, but it is not enough. The way one type of nutrients in food are not sufficient to make us grow without others, our knowledge of God can become ineffective and unproductive unless some other “nutrients” are added. Faith, goodness, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love are some other things which Peter says must be added to knowledge. Thankfully, all this other essentials come from the same source. As we learn from God and respond in obedience, we will grow in them.
Men, by nature, will follow those who practice what they preach. The purpose of knowing God is that we may become more like Him, if we continually deny Him through our actions, our knowledge is ineffective. The ultimate knowledge communication tool is a triumphant Christian life, if others do not see Christ in us our knowledge is unproductive.
Pray that God may remove those things which hinder the transforming power of the knowledge of God in your life.
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Friday, July 27
“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:2 NIV
Without a right motive for acquiring and displaying knowledge, it can be a waste of time. I can spend time expounding the word of God for many reasons- perhaps I want to impress some people. Maybe I want to write a book and make money. It may even be out of a cruel plot to mislead and misinform. None of these come from love. I may also do it because I have been greatly blessed and transformed on the inside as I learn from the Lord and I think it will be prodigal of me to keep such knowledge to myself. Maybe I am doing it out of a genuine desire to see some other lives blessed through it. Thankfully God does not judge outwardly, he judges our motives.
Love is the only acceptable reason. All other motives are rewarded here and now. The only motive rewarded by heaven is love, it is only when we live by love that we are “something”, otherwise we are “nothing”. Any other motive does not register in heaven, the system is built to reward them automatically.
In God’s eyes, knowledge is best used as one of the means to express and comprehend love. It is not meant to be a means to brag and inflate our ego. I often find it amusing when I see men of God with their academic gowns and long titles. When we seek and display knowledge we must constantly check our motive. Don’t belittle your knowledge, use it in love.
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Saturday, July 28
“For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.”
Ecclesiastes 1:18 NIV
There is a downside to most knowledge. When we know what ought to be done and cannot effect it, it gives us much sorrow. When we see people making losses everyday, oblivious of the potential gains that could be theirs, it results in grief.
Someone wondered how many Africans who live on less than a dollar a day can be happy, and I was amused. It is not just poverty that makes people sad(as long as they have food), it is the knowledge of what they want but cannot have, as long as they don’t know what they are missing, they are happy. It was the knowledge of good and evil that signaled Adam’s fall.Those Africans don’t pay electricity bills, internet access bills, water bills, telephone bills, gas bills and they don’t miss those services. They have learnt to survive without them. But those of us who are not content knowing about the evils of our immediate society but must read about the plane crash in Russia, the war in Iraq, kidnapings in Nigeria, and famine in Ethiopia are the truly unhappy ones. Never slowing down to look at the beauty of the world God has made, we are busy learning how to make it better.
Don’t feel depressed, we have the Good News, that is one knowledge that will always cheer us up. Read the Bible more often.
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Sunday, July 29
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
Colossians 1:9 NIV
My Mum can predict my Dad, she knows him. After several years of living together, she knows when to make requests and when to refrain from so doing. She knows what he will tolerate and avoids what he won’t tolerate. When he is not around to speak for himself, she can speak his mind, she knows his will.
One knowledge that we always need is the knowledge of God’s will. Every day when we wake up, the question that ought to engage us is “What would God want me to do today.” When we know God, it gets to a point that we become prophetic- we can predict what He will do or won’t do.
Many pains that we go through are because we do not understand what God is doing. We can actually rejoice in sorrow if we know why God has allowed it. Paul was a matured Christian, he knew that it was not enough to pray for material provisions for the people of Colosse, they needed to know what God would have them become and have them do. It was not a prayer that will be answered overnight. It required a process of in-filling, overtime.
As we come to the end of this series, there is no better prayer to end with other than the one Paul prayed for the Colossians, may “God fill us with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
Amen.
