(1 Cor 1:27 NIV) But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
(1 Cor 1:28 NIV) He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are,
The computer gives me these verses in the New International Version of the Bible, but I like the way they read in the King James Version:
(1Cor 1:27 KJV) But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are nought, to bring to not the things that are.
I like the way the Message Bible says this verse.
“Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks, exploits, and abuses chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything we have-right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start-comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That is why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.””
In my addiction, I was a fool. I would lie to my parents about where I was going, and what I was doing, and what I was spending my allowance on so that I could go and get high with my friends. At these parties, there were fights; people were involved in sexual depravity. The people who were my so-called friends would sell me out for the next drug deal. I was a fool, and to be honest, when you were not actively serving God, so were you. You would lie to cover yourself, and rationalize your behavior to avoid being honest with yourself and God, avoiding the cross and the truth and the mercy of God that sets us free. We were fools.
Funny thing about life is this. When I initially wrote these words, 15 years ago, I had not yet been exposed to a different culture: the ‘up and outers’..People that have accumulated wealth, assets, and stuff, yet as I have entered their homes, I have met all kinds of irregular behaviors: Pride, homosexuality, materialism, drug addictions (with drugs now supplied by ‘friendly’ doctors, alcoholism, and the long train of broken relationships, divorces, child custody battles, and the whole ‘keep up with the community’ scene. People who have money, but who, in the privacy of their own homes, are just as broken, and messed up, as we used to be partying on the weekends in high school.
As I have seen this scene, I am even more convinced that Jesus is the only answer for the human heart:Only He, can give peace, dignity, honor, and joy in the journey..If we walk with Him, money can have purpose, and be a blessing to many, without Him, all money does is make more of me.
If ‘me’ likes video games, money gets ‘me’ more games. If ‘me’ likes women, then ‘me’ wines and dines more ladies. If ‘me’ likes cars, ‘me’ gets more fancy automobiles, and so it goes with houses, electronics, boats, planes, etc.
Yet, if ‘me’ loves Jesus, and is surrendered to Him, money means more churches, orphanages, missionaries being sent, children’s programs, great gospel crusades, food to the hungry, water wells drilled, children going to school, and truly one discovers that it really is more blessed to give than to receive…as one by one, like the leper who came back to Jesus, people in the kingdom, come back to say, ‘Thank-you!’, and joy becomes full!
(2 Tim 2:20 NIV) In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.
(2 Tim 2:21 NIV) If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
(2 Tim 2:22 NIV) Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
(2 Tim 2:23 NIV) Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.
(2 Tim 2:24 NIV) And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
(2 Tim 2:25 NIV) Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,
(2 Tim 2:26 NIV) and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
Where do you think all these temptations come from? God? Do you think God is schizophrenic? Holy, Pure, kind, and loving one minute, then tempting you to do the things that will destroy you?
(James 1:13 NIV) When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
(James 1:14 NIV) but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
(James 1:15 NIV) Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
(James 1:16 NIV) Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.
No! God is a good God. He loves you, and can never lead you into evil. It is Satan who puts the thoughts in your mind, reminding you of the pleasure your sin will bring you. Let’s get real here can we. If sin was no fun, no one would bother. Saw a plaque on a wall one time made me laugh, that read: ‘The trouble with trouble is that it started out as fun!’ No, the Bible is clear, there is pleasure in sin for a season. Yet, it always pays the same – death. It is designed to separate you from Him who is life, and while your flesh is laughing with the fools and God haters, your conscience is screaming No! Don’t do this, the Holy Spirit grieving within you. Think about it.
Well, the Bible is good news. And who you are will affect what you do. As you begin to see yourself as God sees you, you will change, for you are designers original, a work of art, created by the Author of all life for divine destiny in Him alone. He is still inscribing the wonder of your life against the backdrop of eternity. After a diamond is cut and polished, it is small, like a piece of glass lying on a desk, insignificant. Yet, if you take that same gemstone, set it in brilliant gold, mount it upon black velvet, and shine a light upon it to accent it’s many glorious hues and iridescent luster, it shows both the beauty of its creative forces, and the exquisite excellence of the master gem cutters hand. That is where the grace of God shines best, against the backdrop of sin, for where sin abounds, grace does much more abound.
So it is God who gave your life. Like a piece of coal are each of us without Him.
Except a person be born again, we cannot even see the kingdom of God. Yet, is it not written?
(Isa 48:10 NIV) See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
(Isa 48:11 NIV) For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.
In the fiery furnace of heat and pressure formed as our sin creates incredible pressures and heat in this life, this blackened piece of coal that is our life either burns up, or comes to Jesus, is born again that raw uncut diamond.
Now a new fire is applied to our lives, the fire of God’s love. The revelation of His holiness, the application of His word slicing through our dross, and cutting away those things that dishonour Him. Now the gem becomes cut, to reveal the beauty within.
(Isa 53:2 NIV) He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
So it is with us. God Himself has come to live within us. Outwardly, we may look unfinished, but He is working. Even if our life appears to be remnants on the cutting room floor, the gem remains for (Phil 1:6 NIV) we can be confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
So now we decide the price of the gem, for each of us was formed perfect in our raw uncut state. What will our life become? One of heartbreak and failure and compromise, or will we, like the apostle Paul, abandon all and say, “(Phil 3:14 NIV) I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
It’s a choice only you can make. Your husband, wife, or family cannot make it for you. No, eternal rank, glory, positions are at stake, and these are the most precious things one could ever desire. Great heat and pressure made the clump of coal a beautiful gem.God knows this, and so He allows us to pursue Him, for those things that will never be taken away for us. Our lives, gems in His hand with a weird twist. He allows us to determine the eternal value we might hold. We are vessels that reflect His glory.
(2 Tim 2:20 NIV) In a large house, there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble.
(2 Tim 2:21 NIV) If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
Notice that we are to come willingly to the word, and let the master gem cutter cut and shape us for His glory,
(2 Cor 4:16 NIV) Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
(2 Cor 4:17 NIV) For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory, that far outweighs them all.
(2 Cor 4:18 NIV) So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
As we focus on Him who is yet unseen, we discover that He is the pearl of great price, and He is altogether lovely, the fairest of ten thousand, the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star. As we do this, and the wonder and the awe of these truths become alive in us, we discover that something is happening to us as we behold Him, (2 Cor 3:18 NIV) And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
This glorious transformation has been wrought in others before us. Charles Finney, the great revivalist would simply enter a town, and the glory of God upon his life would cause sinners to fall upon their faces groaning and weeping before God, crying out for mercy. Entire towns shut down all business upon his arrival.
Smith Wigglesworth, after prayer, came out of a restroom on a public train. Onlookers beheld his face as it were, like an angel, and an entire train car found themselves weeping, crying out to God for mercy for their sins.
In the ministry of Kathryn Kuhlman, the great healing evangelist and woman of God, it is recorded how she was escorted into a hotel conference room via the kitchen. The hotel staff was immediately overcome with the presence of God, and fell out unconscious under the power of God.
I personally have experienced moments with majesty in meetings with some who still walk the earth today.
In 1994, in Anaheim California, at the World convention for FGBMI, Benny Hinn ministered the anointing of God to us. The crowd threatened to storm the stage, and surged forward. Suddenly, a power emanated from him that swept through the crowd, leaving thousands unable to stand. I shall never forget the picture burned in my spirit of him, standing alone on the platform, as power emanated from him. It was tangible, electric, and terrifying.
Like John the revelator who penned the words Rev 1:17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.
Or in Toronto Canada in Rodney Howard Browns meeting where a holy hush fell upon us. Several ministers were thrown from their seats to lie prostrate in the isle, jerking, groaning. No one could move to help them, the fear of God was in that place.
Or in my youthful exuberance hugging brother Hagin while attending Rhema, and leaving the embrace suddenly aware of my sin, and the depth of depravity in my soul, and going home to weep before God, until I knew the cleansing power of His blood afresh and anew. It was like being born-again all over again.
What is Biblical humility? Not groveling around like a worm in the dirt but rather consider this:
Phillip Brooks made an apt comment when he said, “The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is.”
quoted in Burning out for God, E. Skoglund, p. 11.
Mal 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Isa 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
You are a jewel in the hand of Jesus, allow Him to cut, polish, refine and finish you, for His glory.
Let’s Pray:
Father, I see your call to consecration, and purpose to walk in it. You have seen my pain and heartbreak, yet I have come to you, and you have accepted me. Give me wisdom to do your will in all of my daily affairs, and may I never compromise in the high calling you have set upon my life. Refine me Father, restore my soul, and cleanse my mind from the filth my sin has left there. Purify and make me holy practically, as I know you have done for me positionally in Christ. Amen
Today, God wants to touch you afresh.
Rev 2:13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!
16 So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Spiritually, you may be poor, naked, blind, and self-deceived.
Here’s the wonderful part of this teaching I want to get across to you.
(1 Sam 2:8 NIV) He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; upon them he has set the world.
God wants to touch you today with His presence. To fan the flames of your fire. He would impart to you fresh fire from heaven, passion, zeal, and strength to run the race.
As a child of the king, you have access to the very throne of God. The second you accept Jesus, God seeks to begin training you for reigning, lessons of servanthood, humility, and obedience to both His Word and His Spirit that educate you for eternity. It is so much easier to learn them here, in this life. Why go through this earthly existence as a pauper, with one foot in the kingdom of God, and the other in the world. No, why not sell out for God now, pursue Him with passion in this life?
“Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervours, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God things, and willing as God wills.”
John Brown, Nineteenth-century Scottish theologian, quoted in J. Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, p. 51.
Today I’m going to have an old fashioned alter call,on-line. We are going to turn this place into holy ground. A place where you can meet God. I am anointed today to stir you into the high call upon your life. You need to respond to God today. Perhaps you need a fresh touch from heaven today. There is not time or distance in the Holy Spirit, Receive it: NOW!
When you are able, email me your testimony!