Tuesday 31 May 2011

The Bronze Serpent

'And Moses made a bronze serpent...those that looked on the serpent when biten by the serpents were saved' paraphrased by me from somewhere in the Old Testament
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The serpent was on a pole and when they looked out towards it direction, it was with hope. There is always a bronze serpent, hanging on a pole. Something that is set before us to look unto with hope. It is almost always far away yet close enough for us to be inspired to hope, wait, believe....continue. At times we never attain to that thing in that particular moment in time and there are even other times when they loose there significance like a high school crush that makes you spend a bit more time making sure you look good enough before leaving home for school. Yet the moment passes, nothing really happened with that 'bronze serpent' you kept on looking at and now you can look back with hindsight and say, well it kept you and indeed helped you to look good those days. It is no longer relevant now and the crush is something that you can shake your head over.
Now maybe the anology is not on point. The bronze serpent actually healed people. But that is just what we are talking about, something that God places before us that He maybe knows that we would never get if He has any say in it but it works in keeping us in shape...until the period passes. As we look, we hope and as we hope we purify ourselves. So in a way it is healing, keeping us in the shape God would want. We might want it terribly then but the period passes.
We do find such situations in our lives every now and then, but it is only after the passage of time that we can really look at them and they really become to us like that high school crush we talked about.
We are in effect prisoners of hope until the day we enter into the rest of God. That rest maybe His perfect will for us in a situation or what we will get by and by. But the point is He places those bronze serpents so close yet just out of reach so that we may keep alive and be in that state of anticipation till His time comes. This is a food for thought. God may not be in the whirl wind, fire or earth quake but those things keep our hopes alive until the still small voice comes, until expectations are met and surpassed. May His Love preserve you. Amen.

Unclothed

All scripture quotes are taken from the KJV except otherwise stated.(Some could be paraphrased by me and without necessarily quoting or showing where they are taken from)
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"And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in his shepherd bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the philistine" 1 Sam. 17:38-40
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Saul wanted David to go into battle with his own equipments. He took time to clothe David according to his own experience and desires, life does not necessarily work out this way. Your experience may be invaluable to the next person, but we can see here that Saul's experience could have meant certain death to David had he taken it on into battle.
There is nothing wrong with discipleship of mentoring as such, but the scripture above tells us that we must take care to know where we draw the line or else we will be sending people into battle with the wrong equipment.
Now to Saul, he was even honoring David and doing his best to give him everything he needs to deal with the foes he was about coming up against. But the spiritual and physical reality shows that the very things he was been given would have become the very things that would have destroyed him.


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"Take heed how ye hear..." Jesus
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There is an annointing in you that teaches you all things and any other thing outside of that Annointing is meant to complement or equip you in line with the trainings or teachings of that annointing.


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"I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them" David
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God had been preparing him for such a time as this, but He had been preparing him with another set of equipments and not what Saul handed down to him. Saul had a dream and wanted David to fufil it. To him, he already had a set notion of how David should engage the enemy, and he would have sent David to war with his own set notion of how David should go about fighting in that war.
David had a destiny and Saul's dream would have derailed it. May your destiny not be derailed by someone's dream. This is a prayer that many have failed to watch over in their lives.


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"I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them" David
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Here was a boy, someone who had barely left his teens telling the annointed king over Isreal that this battle was his to fight and what he will use was his decision to make and to the king's credit, he accepted it. But today, grown up men cannot look at their pastors or who ever they have submitted to and tell them God's truth, even that which is written in black and white. You must get your loyalty straight or else you may end up making a shipwreck of your God given destiny whilst chasing after and fulfilling another man's dream.
And how many men today in the position of King Saul in the lives of others would even backdown from the initial position the King took? Would you have backed down or would you have gone into another sermon on loyalty and refusal to be mentored or discipled? Would you not have taken offense that your 'boy' could reject your 'supreme' command and that in front of so many people?


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" As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time" 1 Cor. 16:12
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Spiritually speaking, Apollos was his spiritual grandchild yet he could say no to Paul and The Apostle did not take offense at this.
After all is said and done, everything and everyone about you is meant to help you in the fuifilling of your God given destiny. And in the end, everyone will answer for themselves. David refused the dream of Saul because he had his own. His path was different and eventhough he had to meet Saul to help him along the way, him meeting Saul was not to exchange his destiny and dream for that of Saul's. This is something any onyone under the pursuit of God and his God given purpose should take to heart. Thank you and God bless.