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Those who are prepared
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December 17, 2023 |
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 God’s kingdom always needs many workers. Many more workers are necessary as the end time draws nearer. It is the end of human cultivation and the harvest comes nearer.
God is looking for workers into His harvest, but does not use everyone who volunteers. Only those who are capable and prepared can be called by God.
A prepared vessel can be used in God’s kingdom. What then shall we do specifically to be a prepared vessel?
1. We have to become sanctified and receive spiritual strength
2 Timothy 2:20 says, “Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.” What kind of vessel does the Master choose and use from among so many types and sizes of vessels?
First of all, it must be in accordance with the purpose of use. Suppose some food that should be put into a soup bowl is placed on a plate. Then it is not easy to eat it. In brief, a useful vessel must be suitable for the master’s hand. The master will always use a vessel suitable for the purpose and tastes. A good vessel must be clean. Even a very useful vessel cannot be chosen by the master if it is not clean.
It is the same in the spiritual realm. A useful vessel spiritually refers to those who have proper qualifications in each field of the kingdom of God. Fundamentally we have to be talented in spirit to perform our God-given duties. It means we have to dedicate ourselves to the Word and fill up the measure of prayers.
A vessel suitable for the master’s hand refers to those who obey the Master. No matter how talented or capable they are the disobedient cannot be used. It is because God’s work cannot be accomplished if we go to west on our own way against God’ will telling us to go to east.
Therefore, the most important qualification for a prepared vessel is cleanness. A clean vessel refers to those who have got rid of evil from their heart and become sanctified. Even a precious or large vessel cannot be used if it is dirty. The more we become sanctified, the greater our ability to carry out our God-given duties. Then, we will be able to obey completely.
The kingdom of God does not consist in human power and wisdom. In a spiritual warfare we must have spiritual power to defeat the enemy devil (Ephesians 6:12; 1 Corinthians 4:20). Spiritual strength and power are given to us when we throw away sins and become sanctified. That’s why God is looking for those workers who become sanctified and have spiritual strength.
By the way, some believers stay at the same level of faith and are slow in spiritual change despite fasting prayers and many efforts. What then is the reason?
2. Why they are slow in spiritual change despite many efforts
1) They neither practice in detail nor strive continually.
Some believers say they want to achieve sanctification but do not strive to discover and change themselves according to the truth in detail. They are slow in spiritual growth though they say in prayers “I want to achieve sanctification. Please let me sanctified.” They have to find out what kind of sins and evil they have and pray to throw them away one by one.
They cannot change through common prayers. They must pray earnestly and fervently rending their hearts. They have to hate sinful natures within themselves. They have to be of sober spirit and exercise self-control all the time to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the same situation. When they keep throwing them away one by one, they will surely change in a month or two.
Other believers discover themselves specifically by the truth, but end up stopping at that point. By God’s grace they discover untruths within themselves that they did not know and by the Spirit’s work they realize how those untruths were planted into their hearts. The Spirit reminds them of their past events and helps them repent of them. When they have spiritual awakening and repent of their sins, they are filled with the Holy Spirit. At that point they feel as if they have thrown away every form of evil and changed into truths.
However, when you repent once, it doesn’t mean evil is immediately removed. If you do not pull weeds but cut them, the weeds still have the roots and will grow back quickly. In the same way, your sinful natures are not removed completely by repenting once or twice. You have to remove the roots of sinful natures and examine yourself with fervent prayers until you are confident that you have removed it all.
If you discover too many things, you should concentrate on pulling out the root of the gravest evil. When that evil is rooted up, a lot of rootlets of it are also pulled out. That is why you need to focus on throwing away a couple of the biggest and gravest sins so that you can throw away the remnant sins easily.
2) They fail to discover themselves
Some people do not understand what kind of untruths they have. This applies to those who wrap untruthful attributes with words of truth and deceive themselves. They cannot demolish their self-righteousness and framework and cannot find themselves clearly. In reality they try to live by the Word, perform their God-given duties faithfully, and become sanctified, so they think there is no evil within them and they abide in the Word. Let’s look into them in three aspects.
① They think about success making excuses about their mistakes
Suppose you caused your neighbor a trouble while doing your God-given duties with fervor for God’s kingdom. And peace was broken between you and him because your stubborn persistence brought about discord and conflict. If you have self-righteousness and framework, you might think, ‘I did it only for God’s kingdom but never intentionally to break peace’ and fail to discover yourself.
A true peacemaker will make themselves agree with the other’s opinion even if their opinion seems better than his. Sometimes they will readily suffer loss and abandon what they desire in order to accept what the other is talking about.
A subordinate as a peacemaker will obey their senior’s directions. They try to put themselves in the other’s shoes considering him or her first unless it is concerning untruth or sin. If you say you are right and ignore the other, it means you have such a fleshly attribute as to destroy peace.
They may persist in what they are doing because of their strong desire even though their superior tells them not to do it. They may say their superior is giving them a hard time. In fact, they are breaking peace and disobey the fundamental order.
Nonetheless, they may make excuses, saying, “I didn’t break peace. I really wanted to be at peace with him, but I cannot agree with him.” This shows the shortage of sincerity. They may want peace in the brain, but hypocritically think they cannot help but break peace for the sake of God. So, they talk about peace with words and in tongue but do not practice in deeds and truth.
In this sense they cannot accomplish sanctification quickly because they make excuses thinking they have tried to be at peace.
② They look at the other’s error but conceal their own error
Suppose Deacon Kim did something wrong and Deacon Lee talked about it among people. This caused them to have ill feelings against each other, and drove them into conflicts.
In this situation they both should have discovered their own error. But they looked at the other’s error and attributed it to the other’s faults. Deacon Kim says peace was broken because Deacon Lee revealed his error. In contrast, Deacon Lee thinks he told the truth and peace was broken because Deacon Kim was narrow-minded.
If you truly long for sanctification, you should not think of the other’s error but examine yourself first with sober spirit in every aspect (1 Timothy 5:22). Though the other has ninety-nine faults and you only one fault, you have to repent of the only one.
③ They deny untruths that are revealed
When you saw someone behave rudely and you try to advise her, you have to with love and gently. Some people seem to advise with gentle words but have ill feelings in heart. Ill feelings belong to evil in heart so they have to repent and get rid of it.
We can look at the other properly when we have no ill feelings at all and are at peace. If we have feelings of untruth within ourselves, we cannot understand others properly and so end up judging and condemning them with our own standards of judgment. Then we come to think we are right and others wrong.
However, some people may think ‘I told him with love. I did it for his sake’ although they said with evil feelings. Sometimes they feel guilty in conscience, but deny their own evil until the end, saying, “I have no ill feelings.” This is due to spiritual pride in which they think they have achieved spiritual growth.
In the same situation a humble person tends to look back on themselves even though they have no ill feelings. It is because they long for sanctification. They come to examine whether they advised her gently and properly in God’s sight or whether they hurt her with improper words because they failed to put themselves into her shoes.
Suppose a person gained what you had eagerly desired and you felt frustrated instantly at that sight. You have to acknowledge there is jealousy within you. You have to find the root of sin, and pray more intensively to get rid of the root of jealousy.
You may quickly turn that ill feeling into truth and deny your frustration. You may think, ‘I tried to rejoice with the truth. I have such a heart that rejoices with the truth.’ Of course, it is important to immediately repent of untruth when revealed. When you feel frustrated, you should immediately turn such frustration into joy and thanks.
In that situation if you repented of it but did not acknowledge the root of sin in heart, the same ill feelings may arise within you repeatedly. You may feel frustrated again and simply continue turning your feelings when faced with the same situation. It means you have not removed the root of evil so you are slow to achieve sanctification.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
God is searching for sanctified people to accomplish His work. In these last days, He needs more and more spiritual people. Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will examine yourself with humility in every aspect and uproot all untruths through fervent prayers so that you will be preciously used in the kingdom of God.
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