I've been led of God to share with you a letter I wrote to an individual that I know and respect very much. This person is seeking the truth about God and His Word, but is challenged by what they already know about God and their willingness to change their thoughts and move on to higher ground with God. There are many who read this blog site that find themselves in the same situation and that is why God wants you to see this. So read on.............
My letter begins;
I've been thinking about last Thursday evening and also about our phone conversation last night and I have asked God to help me explain to you where you find yourself when you are hearing things from other believers (like ----, -----, myself and others) that you don't understand or personally believe. I know it can be an awkward situation for you, but also it's an opportunity for you to grow in the Lord. The devil will do all he can to discourage you from learning more about your Lord, because he knows you will become a tougher opponent the more you learn and grow. He would rather you argue and challenge the messengers God puts before you and keep you right where you are at.
So God has put something on my heart for you that I'm going to share with you and I am believing that you will receive it in the right spirit so that it will be a help to you instead of a stumbling block. Here what the voice of the Lord is saying. I'll be writing by the influence of the Holy Spirit so receive the content of it from Him and not from me. I am just the messenger that God is using to get this information to you. Be Blessed!
When I (Terry) speak while I'm ministering to someone, I am speaking from a position of revelation that I have received from the Lord. (Ex: 1 Pet 2:24 "by His stripes you were healed". What you believe about that scripture and what I believe about it maybe very different because of the revelation, the light of the word, that has been exposed to me verses how much light you have received about that word. It's not that God favors me more than you, it's that I have dug deeper and made myself available to whatever truth God would share with me about it and when He did I received it as truth and just accepted it without fighting it by trying to make it conform to what I thought about it. When God finds an open heart, He pours out His Truth into it.)
Now, the position I am speaking from may be different from the position of understanding that the person I am ministering to is at. This was always the case when Jesus ministered to people when He walked this earth as a Man. The people that heard Jesus said such things as Mark 1:22 states, "and they were astonished at His teaching for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes" (ministers of the word in a religious setting, what we call the church). Verse 27 says,"then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, what is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey Him".
Mark 4 gives another good example. This is when Jesus spoke to the wind and the waves in the middle of the storm. He first spoke to the storm (how does that make you feel?), then He spoke to His disciples in the boat with Him who were afraid they were going to die. Jesus says to them in Verse 40, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have NO faith? (would you be offended if Jesus asked you this same question? How about if Jesus asked you this same question through the mouth of another believer today. Jesus and the Father dwelling in the believer's heart, and that believer steps up and does and says what Jesus does and says, because Jesus is living His life through that believer who is submitted to Him and is directing his steps as well as his mouth, for Jesus is filling his mouth with His words and as the believer speaks he sounds just like Jesus, because that's who is doing the talking. Jesus is using the heart, the mouth and the voice of the believer who is standing there ministering in Jesus' Name, and now it's the Father and Jesus who dwells in the believer's heart that is doing the work.)
Now back to what Jesus said. "how is it that you have NO faith?" Verse 41 (of Mark 4), and they (the disciples, those who walked with Jesus and believed him to the level of their understanding) feared exceedingly and said to one another, "who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!".
When you fear something you don't understand you can become offended at what you see and hear, and you actually turn against it instead of receiving it. That for the most part is the condition of the church (the body of Christ) today. Jesus will be working in their midst through a believer that actually believes what Jesus has said to him through His Word and is willing to do it, willing to act just like Jesus, for he is doing nothing more than acting out the One who lives within him. And many are offended by the messenger, and therefore do not receive the Truth of the Word spoken, nor do they receive the promise of that word.
The man or women who is standing in the midst of Jesus, because they are standing in the presence of a believer who is declaring God's word by the leading of the Spirit that dwells within him, this man or woman has the same choice that every man or woman who has ever come into contact with God and His Glory has ever had and that choice is either to humble yourself and receive from the Lord by believing Him (which is "by faith") through the word that is being proclaimed before them through this believer, or be offended at the messenger and his message because it doesn't look and sound like the Jesus you have come to know through your previous religious training and understanding of Him. So you turn away from Jesus in anger and frustration by turning away and turning off from the believer who is standing before you speaking the very words of Jesus. And just as those same types of people kicked Jesus out of their midst because they were offended at Him, they will kick this believer out of their midst and will not receive what God was offering to them.
God will send His believing ones into the midst of His church (His body), to speak His Truth and to do His Word. Much of the Church responds the same way the Jews responded when Jesus was in their midst. Some believed and received, but many were offended and turned away from the very one who could save them (help them).
The question you must ask yourself today is, "which person do I choose to be?" Believe and receive, or be offended and not believe and therefore not receive.
Be careful not to strike out at the messenger when he says something that on the surface sounds offensive to you, for what you are feeling at that moment is that two edged sword, the word of God, cutting into you and doing what only the Word can do, and that is to make you a believer just like the believing one who brought the word to you.
I pray you hear the voice of God in this message and it's intended mission to penetrate your heart with the Truth. The choice is yours, that is always God's way. You are seeking for the Truth, and that is why God has used me this way and I'm glad He did.
Be Blessed,
Terry
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