The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. – 1Cor. 2:14 NIV
461-Avoid Frustration In Your Christian Life_17072021
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The Devotional for today is sequel to the Devotional titled, “Your Wisdom Is Foolishness To Him” where the Apostle Paul made it clear to the brethren in Corinth that human wisdom cannot be used to analyse the things of God. He made it clear that the Almighty God had deliberately chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. He had equally chosen the weak things to shame the strong, had chosen the lowly, despised and generally things that are not, to nullify the things that are, all to ensure that no man will glorify self before Him – 1Cor. 1:18-33. That been the case, he advised that man should therefore, make no attempt to analyse God’s solution for salvation, or doubt God on His ability to save man from the wages of sin, using the doctrine of the gospel of salvation. This doctrine simply requires that the one that desires to be saved from the wages of sin, should accept Christ as Lord and Saviour. How that will happen is simply beyond the wisdom of men, reminding them in the process that many of them could not, even by human standards be considered wise, influential or of noble birth before they were called.
He went further to inform them that he had deliberately taken a decision to know nothing but Jesus and his crucifixion, when he was in their midst, which is why the success of his Evangelism activities could not be attributed to human eloquence neither can he attribute to any superior human wisdom. He had chosen to operate amongst them in weakness and fear, and with much trembling for the Lord, avoiding the use of human wisdom and persuasive words, but also with a demonstration of the Power of the Holy Spirit, so that their Faith will not rest on men’s wisdom and oratory ability, but on the power of God – 1Cor. 2:1-5; 1Cor. 4:20.
He was however quick to add that, though he spoke the message of wisdom amongst matured and wise people, the wisdom in reference was not earthly wisdom or the one displayed by the rulers of this world but one that has been hidden heretofore and destined by God for the glory of man, before even time began – 1Cor. 2:6-9; Jms. 3:13-18. If they are to benefit from the message that he preached among them, they will need to have this wisdom that can be accessed by only those who possess the Holy Spirit. This is because it is only the Holy Spirit that can know the Will of God for every situation just as it is only the spirit of a person that can know the thoughts of any person. Therefore, whoever wishes to understand the message of salvation, being the product of the wisdom of God, will need to have the Holy Spirit as teacher, as they, were also taught the Words of the message of Salvation by the Holy Spirit – 1Cor. 2:10-13; Jn. 14:26. He concluded with the scripture that is the foundation of today’s Devotional that
- The one who lacks this Spirit will not be able to accept the Words that are Spirit-based as they will sound like foolishness – 1Cor. 2:14a.
- The one who lacks this Spirit cannot even understand those Words because they have to be spiritually discerned – 1Cor. 2:14b. The truth is that every reasonable human being is expected to accept only what they can understand and the only one that was assigned with the role of ensuring that man was not left like an orphan, by teaching man deep things of God, is the Holy Spirit. It will always be difficult to understand what one has not been taught – Acts 8:31.
He concluded his argument by asserting that the spiritual person is able to make judgement of everything but is not subject to human judgement.
The conclusion of the Apostle Paul, with regards to why the things of God will always seem like foolishness to man also applies to the Christian today. With less emphasis on the importance of the Christian experiencing the baptism of the Holy Spirit, there is little wonder why true Faith seems to be one that is found only in Christian history books. Faith, the bible says comes by hearing the Word of God. Hearing here will imply that the hearer understands what is being communicated.
Unfortunately, without Faith, the bible says no man can see God. Again to see God is to experience the movement of God with regards to His miraculous intervention in the situation of man, as no man can physically see Him. No wonder, true and meaningful testimonies by Christians are becoming occurrences of the past. Christian leaders must begin to emphasize the important role of the Holy Spirit and the need for the serious Christian to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit, if they really want to grow a congregation that will continue to manifest the great ability of Jehovah. Without these manifestations, there will always be cases of back-sliding, as congregants begin to get frustrated with their Christian lives due to lack of positive testimonies. In truth, they are heaven bound and so should be thinking heaven-wards but they also need to have basic comfort in this realm before their transition to heaven, and not having all those other things that they were promised once they have started seeking the kingdom of God and its righteousness, may easily get them frustrated – Matt. 6:33. Avoid living a frustrating Christian life because the Word is not working in your favour. Let the Holy Spirit help to activate the Word in your situation and that will help grow your Faith better. May God grant us deeper knowledge of His Word through the teachings of the Holy Spirit in Jesus name. Amen.
