There is nothing that can take the place of learning by experience. I can recall the many guys who would show up on the job site with new tools and carpenters bags and not having a clue as to how they work. They would watch me and other experienced builders and learn. There were some who would ask how this worked, then there were those who were embarrassed to ask and try to use the tools without instruction. Sometimes they would see the ones who asked questions or wanted to hang out with the experienced guys, moving ahead quickly and they would do one of two things. They would either ask how or become frustrated and they keep trying to work the tools with little success. After some very frustrating days most would bend and ask. But, there were always and I mean always ones who would never bend their pride. They become very bitter and felt the whole crew was out to prevent their moving on, when it was really their own foolish pride which kept them from advancing further in their working knowledge of their craft.
Jesus promised that He would send the Spirit to lead them in all truth. He worked with them and gave them an experiential knowledge of His Father and of course Himself. It would only be when the situations of life would crowd them that they would begin to activate certain things to help them overcome. In the meantime they were still a part of Him and belonged completely to Him. There are times when we will need to allow God to flow in a way which will be very intense. Then there will be times when a quiet time of introspection will be just as needed. I think we become confused sometimes thinking that we need this intense power surrounding us, when it should be in us and erupted only when the situation calls for it. Volumes of books are written on practicing the presence of God or generating power through worship, or knowledge through Bible reading. There is nothing that will generate God's power but Himself in us. We need only to pray and seek one thing, His will. He (Jesus) has saved us, has sanctified us and needs to fill us, empowerment through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
He (Jesus) did not say any human effort would enable us to know anything we would need to fulfill His will in us. In this year I will be emphasizing the constant need to grow our love for God. God's love is complete and whole, it lacks nothing and in the filling of His spirit we will know wholeness. It is His wholeness that breaks down walls and loosens the chains. It is His fullness which brings peace and harmony in a world that is clamoring for the most vital path to fullness with God. I would be a tragedy if we bypass it trying to reach it! Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man can come unto the Father except by me." In Him, he grants us passage thru Him to the Father by the infilling of the Spirit. They had not built up all this reserve of power for the moments of truth, it was already present, it was Him when Satan came against them, and it was He who triumphed for them. One thing I noticed more than any other thing with the men God gave me to work with, when our relationship was in harmony the work got done almost as a secondary act, the close bond building within us flowed and things were done. It was a natural flow. But, when we fought and argued over our methods and such, time got the better of us, we would fall behind, things were not done, and work that did get done was less than what we wanted to see.
How is your love for God these days? We can love him for all He has done, the salvation, sanctification, healing and every other attribute we find in Him or we could fall back in love with Him, just Him. Have you ever felt appreciated for only those talents you possess, for the cakes you bake, or the things you build for the giving? I have to believe that God wants to be loved for Himself and not just for the good things He does. Why do we try to reach Him? Is it for the blessings of His hand or is it for the mere touch of that hand? We seek guidance for everything so we make the right moves in life. What if there were only one thing to seek and there really is! "Seek ye first (only in the original writing) and all these things shall be added unto you, or realized by you." Let life make the right moves in you. He is the way the truth and the life. Seek Him!

Have a Jesus Day!

Chuck