Seeking Jesus First - May 29, 2023
Don’t Run Out, Run Over. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.” (Psalm 23:5, NKJV)…
My testimony is that I came to know Christ Jesus at a very young age and I knew that I was called to preach when I was six years old. I grew up in with a Mom who loved Jesus and and she taught me how to believe God and His Word. When I finished high school, I went straight to Bible College. I went to Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, Tx. It was Founded by Gordon Lindsay who also created Voice of Healing Magazine and wrote over 200 books on the Bible and The Life of Christ and The Ministry of Holy Spirit. His wife Freda and their son Dennis was over the school when I attended CFNI. We were taught to praise and worship, to pray, to trust Holy Spirit and to read and study the Bible. It was an awesome time and place in my life.
People would say, “Burn up, don’t burn out.” But someone along the way said that we should minister out of the overflow. I learned to praise and worship, to pray, to trust Holy Spirit and to read and study the Bible as part of my relationship with God and not for the purpose of ministry. I was taught that my relationship with God comes first.
I came to understand that when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, the bush was on fire but it didn’t burn up. The bush didn’t burn up because the wood and leaves in the bush was not the fuel for the fire. God was the source of the fire and the fuel for the fire. We don’t burn up in the fire. His fire may “consume” certain things out of our life, but the flesh is not the source or the fuel for the fire. God is.
My relationship with God gets stronger on my side as I give Him more of my attention and come to experience His love for me more. This fiery love draws us closer to Him and it is the kind of fire that never stops burning because He is the source of love.
As we stay in this fire, we fill up and overflow with His oil - His love. Because of our relationship with Christ Jesus through Holy Spirit, we can minister out of the overflow. We do not need to “spend” ourselves in ministry. We are attached to the source of the oil.
Picture a menorah with its own source of oil that flows into the center tube of the candlestick and from their flows into the branch tubes of the candlestick. The branch tubes do not burn their own parts; they burn the oil that is fed to them from the center tube.
This is us abiding in the vine. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15:7, NKJV)
Why are we able to ask anything and receive it from The LORD? Because He is our source for everything. It would be foolish for us to try to “burn our own oil” when limitless oil is constantly available simply through abiding in Him and letting His words abide in us.
As the flame from the branch tube burns oil from the top and continues to be filled by the center tube, we minister from the burning oil of Holy Spirit in us. We will only “burn out” if we detach from the center tube and try to burn our own stuff.
One of the most important things about our relationship with God is that it is our relationship with God. Our relationships depend on the attention we give to them.
Do not do anything in your own strength as it pertains to the flesh. If we are fulfilling the desires of the flesh, we are burning the wrong oil. If we are “burning out”, we are burning the wrong oil.
Do everything in the strength of The LORD as it pertains to The Spirit.
Psalms says “The LORD is my strength.” Nehemiah says, “The joy of The LORD is your strength.” “strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;” (Colossians 1:11, NKJV) “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,” (Ephesians 3:16, NKJV)
As we abide in Him, the strength we have comes from Him. If what we are doing needs strength, the strength to do it comes from God because we are abiding in Him and His words and Holy Spirit are abiding in us. We no longer burn the strength of the flesh. We burn the strength of The Spirit of God flowing through us because we are attached to Christ Jesus.
Start seeing The LORD and the joy that is found in Him as OUR strength. Start depending on and drawing from the strength of The Spirit of God in us. DO what you know is right because we can because we are strengthened by the power of His might. None of the strength of the flesh is adequate for our spiritual journey. The sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. Those who are walking in the spirit are not fulfilling the desires of the flesh.
Don’t run out, run over. Overflow by staying intimately connected with Christ Jesus.