I was reminded by the Lord of a vision that someone had, that had impacted me greatly.
The vision was about three people praying:
As they prayed, the Lord Jesus Christ walked by. He stopped by the first person and began to lavish his love on them: they were being edified, encouraged and mightily touched by Him;
However, when he moved on to the second person, he simply laid his hand on them, blessed them and moved on;
To the third person he seemed to pay no heed at all, simply walking past them.
The explanation to this has impacted me forever:
The first person was a new believer, and as such, was given more care and special attention by the Lord.
The second person, a growing Christian, was also encouraged, but without the attention of the first one - because they did not need it. They were growing in faith and becoming stronger.
The third person, a mature believer, had no need of a “tangible touch” or a “prophetic word” at all. They knew who their Lord was - and they knew who they were!
I was also struck by the level of trust that the Lord seemed to have, towards the second - and especially the third believer: He had no need to give them any special attention. His Word of Truth was enough: It was written in their hearts and was now producing fruit.
I have never forgotten the lesson of this vision: For me, (especially when I’m in a more charismatic environment, where the measure of a person seems to be based upon their level of “anointing” which in turn seems to be based on spiritual manifestation) this puts everything into perspective.
“On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,
while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it,
so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.”
1Corinthians 12:22-25
So what of the epidemic that seems to be sweeping the western churches: where people are following the prophet because they want a word from the Lord…where they are running to and fro looking for the next move of God because they want an “experience”? This cannot be the measure - the plumb line - that we live by.
I think most of us have experienced seasons where we have received prophetic words of encouragement, edification and even instruction from the Lord - and valued these words when they came: But, there is no substitute for the teaching of the Word of God.
Surely we will never reach maturity as the Body of Christ, without the daily manna of the Word of God. There is only one source of Truth in this world full of lies and deception…there is only one Rock that cannot be shaken…only One Tried and Tested Cornerstone.
If we cannot learn to have fellowship with God in the dark places of trials…in the desert places where there is nothing…if our faith is based on feelings …on experience…on what we see, hear, touch, feel - than it is not truly faith in Christ and Him crucified.
1Corinthians: 3
But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
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