A spirit of revelation (II) To he who has, more will be given

In Matthew 13:12 we read “To he who has  has,  more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” It puts me in mind of the phrase “Use it or loose it.” When we don’t use our muscles,  for example,  they atrophy, that is the wasting or loss of muscle tissue. And one cause of this is not using the muscles enough.  Last day I mentioned that Revelation comes with empowerment to facilitate,  in a practical way,  the truth that  is being revealed. I gave the example of counting ourselves dead to sin. Here the enabling, the Grace that is given,  helps us not only to know that we must not empower the sin by wrestling with the temptation, but a true revelation of it comes with the peace and the confidence that enables us to  stand and having done all to stand (Ephesians 6:14).

There is a saying in the recovery circles in which I move, and it is that it is one thing to gain the victory, and quite another to keep it.  This is the essence of what I am trying to say here this morning. In Hebrews 2:1 we read “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.”  This drifting away is very common, and we are warned “Let he who thinks he stands take care lest he fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).  What tends to happen,  is that we walk in the victory and forget that it was God who gave the victory and/or the deliverance. In other words we start to think we did it all by ourselves and pride raises it's ugly head.  I have seen number of times the Lord giving individuals dramatic deliverance from years and years of heavy drug use, but left them with a smoking addiction. And I think the reason He does that is as a constant reminder that it we He who did the delivery, not the individual him or her self!

So what am I  saying? Well,  one way to put it,  is that we are never standing still. We are either moving forward,  or we are moving back.  There is no fence, there is no middle ground here!  So we do indeed need to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, and there are a number of ways to do that.  We need to see that faith without works is dead, and act accordingly. In particular we need to serve.  But there are also times when we exercise our faith by standing still and watching the deliverance of the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:17).  Knowing which to do when is all about staying close to the Lord. After all His sheep know His voice (John 10:27).

Father we cannot separate knowing and doing,  and revelation and doing,  even if the doing is standing still in difficult times. The victorious Christian life is all about our  relationship with You, and we need to guard it by keeping short accounts, and loving You with all we are and have. We need You for this Lord, I do, and I am asking for Your help again this morning Lord to stay close, in Jesus Name Amen