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Tuesday, October
28, 2008
A Heavenly Increase
Isaiah 9:6-7 For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his
name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace. (7) Of the increase of his government and
peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his
kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice
from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform
this. (KJV)
The Lord’s government and order will go
on forever, now the question is will you? There is no end to the peace and
the unending blessing of being a part of our Lord’s increase, which means
greatness, or abundance. Our Lord has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings from above so that we could now partake of this spiritual
abundance and continue growing in the knowledge of our Lord and savior
Jesus Christ. While we see this earthly government eroding away and
changing constantly because of corruption, there is a new order available
to partake of which is separate from this fallen realm.
John 3:30-31 He must increase, but I must
decrease. (31) He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the
earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is
above all. (KJV)
These are the words of John the Baptist,
who was basically one of the last of the Old Testament prophets, letting it
be known that he was stepping aside and allowing someone greater to have
control. That same greater that was within Jesus of Nazareth is within you
also, to give a you a greater insight to the things from above, allowing
His Spiritual influence to increase and our carnal ways of thinking to
decrease. There is no end to how far you can go in your walk with the Lord;
the only thing that gets in the way is our own thinking. All things are now
possible to them that believe.
Galatians 5:22-26 But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
(23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (24) And they that
are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. (25)
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (26) Let us not
be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
(KJV)
Now there is an increase we should all be
partaking of as verses 22&23 make reference to, against such there is
no law, no limitations to how much of this spiritual fruit you wish to
partake of and allow to manifest in your walk. But as we see again, we need
to decrease in order for this to increase, to the point of crucifying our
old carnal nature so a new spiritual one can increase greatly, abundantly
also.
1 Corinthians 3:5-8 Who then is Paul, and
who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to
every man? (6) I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
(7) So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that
watereth; but God that giveth the increase. (8) Now he that planteth and he
that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according
to his own labour. (KJV)
God has given each and every believer in
Christ the ability to minister His word, even though you don’t have a title
or degree from a Bible college. God may use His people to plant the seed,
and another one of His down the road to water that seed. It is then, that
once the seed is planted and sufficiently watered, that the individual
needs to go to God personally for themselves to get the increase and see
this heavenly plant grow to maturity. Keep in mind when sharing the Word
that you are not responsible for the outcome, and don’t think that just
because someone didn’t respond the way you thought they should you failed.
Our duty as ministers is to present the message, and then leave it with the
person and let them decide if they wish to continue in the faith or fall
away back to the old realm again. Your reward will be based on how well you
presented the truth, as well as staying out of the way and not adding your
own thoughts and ideas. Those that truly desire to serve the Lord will go
to Him and seek His word, and allow that spiritual seed which is Christ to
be watered with living waters on a daily basis, and see the spiritual
increase that is promised to His people.
Colossians 2:18-19 Let no man beguile you
of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding
into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly
mind, (19) And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and
bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the
increase of God. (KJV)
Man and his limited wisdom have come up
with many things over the years that they think will bring them closer to
the Lord, most of which is something contrived by their puffed up fleshly
minds. The true word of God points us to Christ, who God appointed the Head
of His church, so that we could grow and increase with what God intended
for us, which is, being blessed with His spiritual blessings. The fruit of
the Spirit is available to all those in Christ and ready to blossom in
those that know how to water and keep their gardens cultivated.
1Thessalonians 3:12-13 And the Lord make
you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men,
even as we do toward you: (13) To the end he may stablish your hearts
unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. (KJV)
Actually the word ‘increase’ here means
to super abound, so that the love of God can be shed abroad in your heart
and cast out all fear and doubt of your old fallen nature. So are you
growing and maturing daily in the things of the Spirit, watering your seed
with living waters, or are you still rooted in the things of this world,
choking the new life that should be growing and manifesting in you? Is the
love, joy, peace, with some confidence and boldness becoming more of a
reality to you daily, or is the fear and doubts of the carnal realm still
keeping you in bondage from stepping out in faith? There is a Heavenly
increase to partake of today, but something, or I should say someone, needs
to decrease in order for it to take place.
Ephesians 4:15-16 But speaking the truth
in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even
Christ: (16) From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted
by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in
the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of
itself in love. (KJV)
Have you learned how to edify yourself on
a daily basis so that you can stay built up and ready to do your part as a
member of the body of Christ? If not, then you have no business trying to
fix other people until you are mature and consistent enough in your walk to
be effectual in the things of God. He must increase, because those that
worship our Lord must do so in Spirit and in truth. It’s a must that He
increase, which means you, must decrease. While watching a movie last week
a statement was made by a person that said “he spent all his time trying to
be larger than life, and now he is just working on becoming smaller every
day”.
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