The Goals, Gains, And Glory Are His, Not Mine
Mon, September 10, 2007 at 12:34PM The Goals, Gains, And Glory Are His, Not Mine.
I am appreciative of the way the Lord ministers to me, corrects me, and perfects me through his Word. As I read the Word of God, the Holy Spirit does some remarkable and yet truly essential things within me. Some days I learn new and fresh things that I never knew before. But most days, I am merely reminded of truths that are lost in my conscious thinking. And while reminding me of forgotten truth, he corrects and purifies me. I (we) serve a great, gracious, and longsuffering God.
Recently I was reading again the narrative found in II Kings 14 and II Chronicles 25 regarding the life, ascension to the throne of Judah, and death of Amaziah. From this text, the Holy Spirit reminded me of three particular sins that appeared in Amaziah’s life. For one thing, he did something that confounds my sense of reasonable behavior. He went out early in his reign and fought against his enemies, the Edomites. God gave him a stunning victory. He killed 10,000 Edomites around the Dead Sea and conquered much of their territory including Petra (Sela). But (and this astounds me) he brought home the gods of the Edomites whom he had just defeated. Why in the world would he do that? First, the God of Judah was Jehovah who had just guided Amaziah to a resounding victory. Why not come home and bow the knee to Jehovah? Secondly, he defeated the Edomites and their gods did nothing to help them. Non-existent, imagined gods never do help those who foolishly trust them. It makes no sense to begin to worship them. But Amaziah did.
I do not find spiritual discernment an easily obtainable quality (any more than Amaziah did). Frequently, I do not know where to draw lines of starting and stopping activity in my life and ministry. As I seek to defeat the enemy of men’s souls by proclaiming the Gospel (and I have been blessed to see some good results), how far do I go in making my ministry relevant to the culture to which I minister. At what point have I brought the gods of the Edomites into the church and placed them along side worship of Jehovah?
Secondly, he refused to listen to the prophet whom Jehovah God sent to warn him of his sin of idolatry. Refusal to listen to the Word of God is a serious matter. God may well send someone to rebuke us of our conduct and we had better be listening. He will far more likely rebuke us as we read the Bible. So we had better be reading. And we had better be paying close attention to the Word as it speaks to us. This is in contrast assuming that we have somehow arrived spiritually and allowing the Bible to become a professional sermon outline book where we find truth to preach to others.
Thirdly, in pride he went to war against his brothers in the north. King Jehoash of Israel warned him not to come, but he proceeded anyway. The victory against the Edomites had filled him with a false sense of his own ability. He was drunk with his own might and military prowess. He entered a war that he could not win because Jehovah never led him there and would not bless him there.
I have personally never found waiting on God to be an easy thing to do. Nor have I found trusting God an easy thing to do. It is much, much easier to craft a plan, implement a plan, and then ask God to bless the plan. I have seen a few souls saved. I have seen a bit of church growth. I have seen a growing sense of commitment to reaching our community at Salem Baptist Church. Therefore, I must be quite the leader, ready to take on the Devil in Winston-Salem and beyond. No, the opposite is true. Whatever good programs I have implemented came from the mind of God and not mine. Whatever successes in reaching souls I have experienced came from the power of God and not mine. And whatever impact on this lost community has been achieved came from the hand of God and not mine.
Therefore, I had best be drunk with nothing especially a sense of my own importance and ability. Instead, I had best be yielded totally to the control of the Holy Spirit. In my life and my ministry, the goals are his, the gains are his, and the glory is his.
Howard L. Wilburn
Reader Comments (1)
Hello everyone! :)
My name is Eloise and it made some weeks that I read regularly www.theomin.com, I found lots of help and I say that as of today is for me to contribute as well.
This is the first time that I post on a forum so I hope this is the right section to post my presentation if I'm wrong I thank in advance a moderator move the topic.
I am 24 years old and live in your country for only eight months, I apologize for the mistakes of language that I do, feel free to correct me.
Otherwise, in life I'm brown and the head I am a true blonde, I have a beautiful 2 year old child and I love football, big cars and playing video games and I own a small website dedicated the seotons.
<IMG>http://fr-fr.facebook.com/profile/pic.php?oid=AQB52pio4Hxp-LOf8YjjfoY84PYN1VBtDgYCb6_s88wjY1A6fiZAALfG5EMnyKHhOKs&size=normal&usedef=1</IMG>
my facebook: http://fr-fr.facebook.com/people/Eloise-Baes/100000574781263
That is me in a nutshell.