There is a dynamic we have come to identify very simply as the hear-do cycle.
17 For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.” ~ Luke 8:17-18
When you hear the word of the Lord and act on it, more will be given, which is to say, more hearing. You will gain an increased ability to hear or discern the Lord's voice and receive His testimony, His own heart and mind. This is “how you listen.” If you hear and fail to respond appropriately the result is immediately a diminished ability to hear. You become more deaf, spiritually, because of the failure to act in faith that represents the poor stewardship of what has been so graciously entrusted to you. You trend toward being deceived. Here is the hear-do trend. Hear, Do, hear more, do more, hear more, do more... and this is a cycling trend toward being taken further into the Lord's confidence as one who is proving themselves able to be trusted with greater secrets of the Kingdom. In contrast, to hear and subsequently not do what is fit for that word produces in you with each cycle an increasing deafness and the condition of being more and more greatly deceived. When the Lord said that, “even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him,” we understand how it is that for the one who fails to listen in the way of a faithful steward of that word, what is produced in them is a false sense of their condition, a misperception. They think they have what they don't really have.
I am reminded of a quote that a brother recently sent in an email as the closing signature.
“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain
Having false confidence in our ability to discern gets us into trouble. And the reality is that we won't even know it! We'll be oblivious!
In this matter, there is no “break even” kind of scenario, no level plane or even balance to walk out in practice. You are advancing in one direction or the other, either taking action, whether internal or external in manifestation, according to what is required of a steward by the spirit of the living God, or you are living with false confidence about your state and status.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. ~ James 1:22-25
Are you grasping what's at stake?
I am reminded of the following parable.
11 While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. 12 So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. 13 And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Do business with this until I come back.’ 14 But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ 15 When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. 16 The first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’ 17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’ 18 The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’ 19 And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ 20 Another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; 21 for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 He said to him, ‘By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’ 24 Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ 25 And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’ 26 I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 27 But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.” ~ Luke 19:11-27
We do well to take this warning to heart. If we are withholding what is due according to what the Lord has given us to steward of all His blessings, for the sake of fear of one thing or another, we forfeit reward, incurring great loss, and, indeed, the whole body of Christ suffers. He who is faithful in little is faithful in much. Get your mind wrapped around that. Own it. Let it be a constant reminder to seek His help in the matter of stewardship - which is absolutely required.
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. ~ Luke 12:48(b)
You may ask how it is that one might pursue this matter of increasing faith and producing a return on the Lord's investment in you. This was demonstrated to us in Luke 17, as the Lord taught and then immediately validated with a fit demonstration.
Do you see where the increase is found, in the going beyond duty? If you have not yet got hold of this in your life you have not yet found the place where your gifts are bearing the fruit that the church so desperately needs.
Another passage that is speaking to me today is the following, from Galatians 6.
6 Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. 5 For each one will bear his own load. 6 The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. ~ Galatians 6:1-10
Where we are sowing to our own flesh we are not sowing to the Spirit, and yet it is in sowing to the Spirit that we, from the Spirit reap eternal life.
1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says,
“When He ascended on high,
He led captive a host of captives,
And He gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. ~ Ephesians 4:1-16
“When He ascended on high,
He led captive a host of captives,
And He gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. ~ Ephesians 4:1-16
In closing, here are two links that may be a blessing to you.
Others May, You Cannot
George Müller - Notes on living in faith
ReplyDeletehttp://themindunleashed.com/2018/01/classified-evidence-us-soldiers-raped-boys-front-mothers.html
"This is at Abu Ghraib … The women were passing messages out saying ‘Please come and kill me, because of what’s happened’ and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It’s going to come out.”
http://secretsofthefed.com/japanese-scientists-prove-teleportation-is-possible/
ReplyDeletehttps://tecake.in/scientists-prove-existence-fourth-spatial-dimension
http://themindunleashed.com/2017/12/physicists-create-worlds-first-time-crystal-out-of-oscillating-ytterbium.html
"Last year, scientists claimed they have added a “fourth dimension,” what they call “the movement of time,” to a crystal for the first time ever, enabling the matter to “act as a kind of perpetual time keeper.”"
Hello Bob. In regard to the first link in your most recent newsletter - Abu Ghraib seems to have been a particularly horrible situation. It looks as if the Federal Government turned it into an actual chamber of horrors, I believe, for the torture and mind-control of Iraqi men and boys. They violated these prisoners in every way they knew they would most abhor. I think these young men and boys grew up to be the so-called " Al Qaeda " and "IsIs " fighters we see today. It's horrible to contemplate but seems to be part of the real picture of what we are facing. Thanks for this - TH
ReplyDeletehttps://nexusnewsfeed.com/article/jon-rappoport/sex-criminals-revealed-on-a-large-scale/
ReplyDeleteHi Bob. Dan 2:33 , the image of the beast. Iron and clay. I think ive been to one of the models. Its the washington monument. The phallus of the beast. When looking down on the mall and deciphering the symbols of the domes, reflecting pools, etc it becomes clear to me. The red eyes mimic the orher images of baal devouring children. The washington phallus is sheathed , one monument inside another. Time capsual?
ReplyDeleteI think there is even more going on there. I suspect that there is, underground, what would be far more revealing.
Deletehttps://www.rt.com/news/415403-north-korean-weapons-us/
ReplyDeleteChinese diplomacy trumps again. We keep the s koreans or Philippines. Japans next. They got a lot of our petro dollars. Our big stick aint so big anymore. Washington monument was cracked in an earthquake not long ago. Just like the liberty bell. Reminds me of spells.