Evangelist Carolyn Malaika Foster-Brooks
The Ministry of S.A.R.A.H. in Lyons, GA.
PRAYER:
Dear Lord, my God above,
I thank You for your undying love. God I realize and I admit that I have not been the best that I could have been, but Lord if you help me to hold out just a little while longer I’ll become the woman of God predestined to be by You.
I am not afraid of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And through the avenue of prophetic evangelism I declare that I believe that the bible is the living Word of God to be shared with all mankind.
In the Holy name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READING:
(Romans 8:12-14 nlv) SO, DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, YOU HAVE NO OBLIGATION WHATSOEVER TO DO WHAT YOUR SINFUL NATURE URGES YOU TO DO. FOR IF YOU KEEP ON FOLLOWING IT, YOU WILL PERISH. BUT IF THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT YOU TURN FROM IT AND ITS EVIL DEEDS, YOU WILL LIVE. FOR ALL WHO ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD ARE CHILDREN OF GOD.
TEXT:
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
When people come to Christ, he meets them where they are and has the same plan for all to be conformed to His image. That is true spirituality!
It is a state of being that takes time for the Holy Spirit to develop! A person can be saved in an instant and raptured in a "twinkling of an eye", but it takes a long time to become a "spiritual" person.
I Corinthians 3:1 says, And I, brethern could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as carnal, as to babes in Christ.
In other words, a baby Christian may be spiritual momentarily, but only a mature Christian can understand true spirituality!! Paul was speaking in Corinthians to Christians who were saved, but they were still carnal (of the world) and had not given up the influence of the Greek world around them.
Before you continue to say Amen in agreement with the truth your are receiving thus far, stop and think for a moment....Do not confuse age of seniority with that of spiritual maturity. Being of senior age may eventually qualify you for retirement, but it does not automatically make you a spiritually mature person!
Have you ever wondered why you have some people living to be old and grey, yet not really getting into the Word of God until they are past 70 years or older??
It’s because it takes some people longer to get the hell out of them! (That is not a joke.)
In our churches today we have spiritually immature people who have been paying dues (not tithing) and have been on the membership roles in their church for over 50 years. And, oh how they boast and they brag about not having moved their membership since they were first born into the world!
Some of these very same people are blocking the progress in their temple and are living by old ways that are not beneficial. The gospel song writer said, "If you can’t help me, don’t try to block me.Move out of my way, I’ve got a race to run.To the finishing line, I want to see God’s face!
The most unfortunate thing is that the minority of us tolerate what the majority is doing. (Minority you say?) Matthew 9:37 lets us know that , the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few!
The majority says, I’m the baby, you gotta love me! And the minority cares for them, carries them, pampers them, listens to them whale, whine and complain because they (the majority) never want to be more than a church member, occupying the same bench seat for upteen years and they believe that this type of church membership is their "social security"!
Get up! Get up! Get up!!
God did not allow you to live this long for you to be lazy and immature children of His! (Matthew 5:16) Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.
You might be sitting here right now, allowing the devil with his no good self,to enter into your subconscious mind and Satan is telling you to be offended by the Lord’s message and persecute His messenger! Satan is telling some of you to continue to be complacent and allow somebody else to do God’s work while you sit back and reap the rewards for the fruit of their labor.
Wrong! You reap what you sow!
But I am telling you right now, if the shoe fits-don’t wear it!
Kick the devil out and listen to God only. (Matthew 11:28) Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
God is talking to the minority at this point.
Spiritual Maturity or Social Security- WHICH PLAN ARE YOU ON TODAY?....a spiritually mature Christian is one who is controlled by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18) and manifests the nine fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), who walks in holiness, who knows the Word of God and diligently seeks to do His will because he loves Him (John 14:21). While that does take time, it does not take a lifetime.
Actually, it is impossible to say how long it takes a person to become spiritually mature, but we can gain insight from I John 2:12-14 where we find 3 stages of growth compared to the spiritual life:
1- Little Children.
2- Young Brethern. (men and women)
3- Father and Mothers.
A spiritual child is one who is newly born again! While salvation is a free gift, spiritual growth is the result of growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord through study of His Word as faith. A new born babe as Peter calls him, or a little child as John labels him, is not going to be a victorious Christian most of the time! Don’t get discouraged with your ups and downs because if you stay strong, your commitment to the Word will make you an overcomer!
At that point you reach the young man and young woman stage. That happens when "the Word of God abideth in you. (It lives in you.)
Finally, as you continue to study the Word of God, walking in the Spirit, talking in the Spirit and being in the Spirit- believing that faith is based on knowing God, you become a Mother or Father of faith. (I’m not talking about giving birth or planting a carnal seed.) A Mother or a Father, a woman or a man who spiritually reproduces themselves in other people, being conformed to our Lord’s image, are whom I’m speaking of.
You see, how fast you grow depends on long it takes you to learn the principles, wisdom and knowledge of God found in His Word which is His plan for your social security by you becoming spiritually mature!
It’s by His will, not our will. (Romans 8:29)And we know that all things that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans.
QUESTION:
Do you love God more than anything or any person on this earth? If you can honestly say yes, then God bless you!
But if you are on social security and you want to have a desire in your heart to become one of God’s laborers- let us pray right now for your deliverance!
