Welcome!
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Today: Competent through Christ
Reading Passages: 2 Cor 3, Gal 1
4 Such confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor 3:4-6, NIV)
Apostle Paul finds out that he owes God for any skill that he had
We see many people who are competent, full of various skills
But the ministry skills that Paul uses are those he received from God
What do we do when we face a problem?
Most people take their problems to another human being
But the Biblical pattern is that we take our problems to God first
Hannah, mother of Samuel had a problem; she took it straight to God
David never took his problems to anybody else, but to God
Throughout the psalm, we see the psalmist(s) crying out to God and getting the answers
These days, we see many believers in God crying out to other people and sharing everything
Later on, it becomes like a trap; they become “slaves” to those people
If you see somebody who says, “bring all your problems to me”, be careful!
Jesus sent the disciples on a boat once; He was staying away and praying
They went into a crisis; the boat was about to sink
As they struggled, Jesus himself came to their help
Another time, Jesus was in their boat, and He got up and calmed the storm
When Jesus is in your boat, you better go to Him first
But if he is not in our boat, we better get Him in the boat of our life first
When Paul was called into the ministry, he had no body to talk to
For three years, he sat at the feet of Jesus and learned through revelation from God; that was God’s special package for Paul (Gal 1: 11-20)
These days, we have so many facilities and schools
But if we get satisfied with all that we learn from the school/seminary or internet and don’t go to Jesus to learn, we cannot be effective for God
People as well as churches are struggling because of the lack of people who get their competency from God
When we grow in the knowledge of God’s word and the fruit and gifts of the Spirit, we become competent through God
Such is the competency we need; we need to put down our own and take on the one that comes from God, like Paul
Paul put down all that he learned from school; over the period of three years, he flushed it all out and received the new one from Christ
He became a new creation-totally, in character as well as ministry; it was no longer Paul, but Christ living and speaking through Paul. His formation for life and ministry happened there
This process has to take place in us too, to become effective for Christ
May God help us do that
BG
Prayer: Lord Jesus, many are the times I tried to make myself competent, using my own skills and tactics. But help me to receive all the skills and gifts I need from you, so that I can be really effective and competent. Amen