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Friday, October 30, 2020

Men God Chooses


It is instructive to look at the origen of men God called in the Bible.
In so many of them there was a total lack of things which would seem basic for the fulfillment of their appointed task.

Moses, for example, outstanding among the Old Testament prophets,
    was born in Egypt, raised in the pagan household of Pharoah
        and then found himself cast away in the desert for forty years herding  sheep.

After entering Pharoah's household we read of none of the influences of God's people in his upbringing,
    and yet this was the man God chose to lead all the rest of His people,
        the man trusted to lead them through the wilderness to a land of promise.

Paul, in the New Testament, a leader among the apostles, and yet:
    he was born outside of Israel, in Asia Minor, in the city of Tarsus,
        he was born a Roman citizen, familiar with Roman ways.
            His spiritual birth was not in the church at Jerusalem,
                but was the result of God's sovereign intervention
                    outside of Israel, on  the road to Damascus.
After his conversion and early witness he was forced to flee,
    and then spent three years in the Arabia
        before he even met the saints in Jerusalem.

What does all this mean?
    It means that God is not limited to the ones who men would have chosen.
In a day when there is so much emphasis on "correct" interpretation,
    and correct forms in our worship,
        we need to consider hard the fact that spiritual truth comes
            not through the mind but through the heart.
Like Lydia by the riverside,
    it is those whose heart God opens  (Acts 16.14)
        that form the human foundation of His church.

It is so easy to get it all wrong.
    It is so easy to rely on human qualifications,
        but God is Spirit and only that which is imparted by Him has any value in life.
His church is a Spirit born church,
    and His true ministers minister by the Spirit of God.

How is it for all God's children?
    "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."  (Rom. 8.14)

    There is a way for man to rise
    To That sublime Abode;
    An Offering and a Sacrifice,
    A Holy Spirit’s energies,
    An Advocate with God:
    
                  Again, for all of us, in all our life:
                  "As many as are led by the Spirit of God,
                  they are the sons of God." 

9 comments:

  1. "but God is Spirit and only that which is imparted by Him has any value in life."

    This was encouraging. A great reminder to pray that we are daily led by the Spirit of God and trusting not in might, nor power, but by His Spirit alone. Thanks for this Paul!

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  2. I often think about how God had prepared these men intellectually and culturally, and over a long period of time, to discern, face and confront His enemies, His people, and His plan, first through freedom of the Hebrews from Pharaoh by Moses, and later through Paul as he wrested the true Church back from legalists and traditionalists who would have thwarted God's plan for the expansion of the Church to the gentile nations. One has to have a deep appreciation for what these men did, but also for God's supernatural hand in all of it, from beginning to end.
    As I see it, legalism and traditionalism continue to be the main stumbling block and hindrance to the expansion of and freedom in the Body of Christ, including, in my view, the paid pastorate, and that is why we so desperately need to stay in touch with the Holy Spirit who will take us deeper and deeper into God's truths and ways as He enables us to receive them.

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  3. Do I have the pleasure to read the son of Leonard Ravenhill ?

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  4. Here is a clue!
    https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/4660898699718687261/7612103903801822570

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. The link does not work, but yes I believe you are his son. I am from Spain, I do not speak quite well English, but yesterday night I heard a video from your father. I've started to read some books from him a month ago. And I have never heard a man speaking like him. I discover I do not know God as your father explained in that video, I know about God but I have never look for God himself as you father explained. I long for it. So I have been searching in the web and this is how I´ve come to your blog. It is an honor for me and a pleasure to get a word from you. I realize I have been learning books, listening sermons, studying the Bible, praying but I have the feeling that I still do not know God as He should be known. I am blessed to read this blog and seems to me the way you write is pretty familiar as your father preached. God bless you !

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  7. ay, ay, lamento que no funciona el link...si me escribe a pravenhill@gmail.com le mandare la informacion por correo.
    Me alegra que lo de mi padre ha sido de bendicion ... cuanto hay para conocer de este Dios infinito en todo Su ser.

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