Spiritual Gifts part 300: We want the power; God wants the man.

Spiritual Gifts Part 300:

We want the power; God wants the man.

The Doctrine of Spiritual Gifts

Point 4.
Developing the capacity you need to function effectively in your spiritual gift.

How does the Master produce a vessel that is fit for His use?

He uses situations of suffering to accelerate the production and manifestation of virtues.

He also has plans to develop our perseverance and persistence in believing what we have received from the word of God.

Abiding means to remain, and that brings into the picture the element of time and perseverance.

The fact that “abide” is a command means that it is an experience after salvation and not a reference to positional sanctification.

The branch commanded to abide in Christ is the believer called to experiential sanctification through the filling of the Spirit.

“abide” is the verb meno =
to stay in the place that has been given to you.
To remain in a state or relationship freely given.
Not to depart, not to leave, but to remain.

hupomone is the noun form of the verb hupomeno.

hupo = “under”,
meno = “to stay”.

A cloud no bigger than a man’s hand.

Very often, after the word of the Lord has been given concerning something you need in life, there will be an intervening and unexpected delay before the promise is fulfilled.

1. God’s seemingly slow and hidden ways.

2. The demand for faith to be found in His servants.

The mantra of our day is “quick and easy”!

But God often finds it very valuable to have things proceed slowly and with great difficulty.

He wants to have His servants persist in faith.

Then Elijah built the altar of Israel, and put the parts of the ox on it, and drenched the offering with water, and called on the Lord.

The people shout, “The Lord, He is God!”

Don’t let the spectacle distract you from the most important things – orienting to the word of God, and letting Him perform His work in you.

The real tension is in the matter of the rain: of that which is needed for life to be sustained and to flourish.

We want the power. God wants the man.

If we really are to be the fullness of Christ in this world, then we ought to be happy to have things stretched to their full measure, and that includes our capacity for persevering in faith.

It also includes our capacity to love unconditionally and sacrificially.

It includes our capacity for thanksgiving and gratitude.

It includes our perseverance in prayer.
And our ability to think the best.

Our willingness to forgive.

Our reservoir of hope.

Our reliance of God’s character.

Becoming a vessel of grace for all things.