- araratchurch
- Sep 29, 2022
- 3 min read
25 Da
“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
Job 38:1-7 NKJV
Not long before my father passed away, while I was sitting with him, he asked the following question: “Do you know what happens to the caterpillar in the cocoon?”
Thinking that he was reflecting on what he knew would be his soon transition, I immediately responded, “Oh yes, it’s a wonderful thing.”
To which my father responded, “Well, since you already know about it, you don’t need me to explain it to you.”
At this point it dawned on me that he wasn’t asking the question to get MY answer. The question was meant as a segue to something HE wanted to tell me. Realizing this to be the case, I urged him to speak on about the process that happens to the caterpillar in the cocoon.
Sure enough, he enlightened me on something that I did not really know at that point.
Of course, I knew that a caterpillar is somehow transformed into a butterfly; what I did not know is that it totally loses its complete structure and becomes like a “goo.” The butterfly forms out of the goo that was once the caterpillar. The metamorphosis is a result of the total “identity” of the caterpillar being lost and replaced with the new creation. Does that sound familiar to you? It should.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
II Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
And,
“It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.”
Galatians 6:15 NLT
Having reflected further on that question, I have now come to see more fully the meaning of Jesus’ remarks about the seed.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
John 12:24-25 NKJV
Think about how the seed grows. In actuality, what grows out of the seed comes from the total breaking of the seed’s form and all the qualities it once contained. If it “chose” to stay in its original form, it would never grow and become fruitful.
We sometimes find ourselves desperately clinging to who and what we are; in doing so, we greatly limit what God can and will do with/for us. To truly walk with Him, our former identity needs to be relinquished to the process of COMPLETE transformation.
In our opening scripture we see that God answers Job after hearing Job’s complaint as well as the words of his friends. The Lord makes clear to Job that Job’s questioning of Him is ridiculous. The Lord commences to a ask a series of questions, none of which Job—nor anyone other than the Lord—can answer. And there was the point: God knows what we don’t know; we are in no position to question what He does. Now, I’m not talking about the kind of questioning meant to obtain understanding. I’m talking about the kind of questioning that is basically an accusation that the Lord—somehow or another—has made a mistake.
I have found over the years that the Lord has used questions as the segue into something He wanted to teach me, just like my father did!
Only today I was thinking about some things the Lord had revealed to me that I had not shared. Suddenly, I felt the Lord questioning why I did not share them. I quickly answered that I didn’t want to put His name on anything He had not said. But then—as He often does—the Lord asked a follow-up question of me: “Are you more concerned about my reputation, or your own?”
Well, I’ve learned enough to know I’m not going to throw out an answer to that without spending some time with the Lord, letting Him show me the truth. But it all started with a question.
Don’t be afraid of the questions presented to you by the Lord. Additionally, don’t be so quick to answer. He’s not trying to find out what you know. He’s trying to show you what you don’t know; and, if you will receive it, He’ll fill you in.
We light a second candle of illumination today by knowing this:
The Lord’s questions are meant to teach us something.
- araratchurch
- Sep 28, 2022
- 4 min read
“that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
Ephesians 1:17-23 NKJV
Do you know what’s more dangerous than not knowing what you need to know? The answer is: it is more dangerous to not know, that you don’t know what you need to know. Now, I know that was a mouthful; but you get the point.
Believing that I already know what I need to know may well lead me to destruction. Because, when we think we know, what we need to know, we stop seeking out the truth. Rather, we are operating according to what is probably based on our own opinions. And, when we accept our opinions as being the truth, we tend to reinforce that assumption by ignoring all evidence to the contrary—at which point—we are headed toward a world of hurt. Therefore, any quest for revelation, any foray into deeper things, must begin with knowing what it is you don’t know.
Something that I have shared with you before I will rehearse here:
Several years ago the Lord spoke to me, calling me by name, and saying, “Janet, you have to know that you need a savior to have one [a savior].” Well, that seems very obvious. But apparently, I didn’t know what I needed to know in order to truly know that I needed a savior. But first, what is really involved in knowing you need a savior?
We must begin by knowing the completeness of Original Sin, the completeness of our separation from God (in terms of being able to be led by, and be one with, His spirit). Those who see the problem with mankind as being able to be solved with a “refurbishing,” are greatly mistaken. We cannot be “fixed” through a process of digging away all the pesky residue of bad experiences and bad choices to find that chewy center where goodness dwells. In fact, digging down deeper and deeper into the unrenewed person will find not goodness, but only deeper depths of sin.
The only solution for our depravity, is the sacrifice, the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. In His death, the accusation against us was dispatched. He satisfied the penalty associated with our Sin.
Additionally, just as our only hope of salvation is in Jesus, our only hope of walking in all that He has attained for us is by walking in, or according to, His Holy Spirit.
Now, our ability to receive the Holy Spirit is a result of the Lord ascending back to the Father and then dispensing the gift of the Holy Spirit back to us through the Way He had made (where there was no way). And, as the Holy Spirit dwells in us, our process of further enlightenment (illumination), is that of learning more and more from the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
Now, I presented all of the above concerning the fact that we need a savior, to explain to you why I apparently did not know that I needed a savior—at least not in the way the Lord wanted me to know.
Of course, I grew up knowing about Jesus, always seeing Him as my Savior and Lord. But I also —somehow or another—was trying to “earn” my salvation. No, I wasn’t consciously thinking, “I’m going to earn my own salvation.” But my actions, attitudes, and emotions, revealed that was exactly what I was doing. I wanted to be “perfect.” I wanted “to make the Lord “glad” that He had done what He did for me on the cross. Now, saying that out loud sounds ridiculous if you understand what the Lord truly did for us. But, you see, I didn’t know that I didn’t know that. I am so much better off now that I know what I didn’t know.
In the case I have explained above, the Lord challenged my way of thinking by making a statement which I needed to apply to myself. What if, when He made that statement (that you need to know you need a savior to have one), I had thought, “Oh yes, that’s so true,” not realizing He was speaking that to (concerning) me? Sadly, I still would’ve been operating the way I was operating; and I would’ve missed out on so much that the Lord has shared with me since that point in time.
In our journey into illumination we will ask the Lord to challenge opinions we have accepted as truth. We are living in the Last Days before the coming of Jesus Christ, and as such, the Lord wants to enable us with “night vision.” In other words, we will be able to see what others don’t see, so we can know what others don’t know, and do what others can’t do. This will never happen if we think we know, but we don’t. This can’t happen if we confuse our opinions with the truth.
We light one candle of illumination today by knowing this:
We must know what we don’t know.