Bible Reading: 1 Sam 10, 11 & 12. Luke 9:42-62.
“But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.” Luke 9:55 (KJV)
I went out to evangelize a few days ago and I met a young man who claimed to come from a strong Christian home but had not visited the church for several years! On why he chose this path, he said after living home a few years ago, he found out that most people he had contact with were not ready to help but made money in crooked ways and he was concerned on how to make money. Though we shared the word of God and he rededicated his life to Christ, he certainly had a wrong concept of God. He focused on the wrong thing and it was obvious he had a shaky Christian foundation! He did not know who a believer in Christ was! And this is the problem with most Christians today, they do not know what power they have and who God really is because of their experience. Thus, in Luke 9:52-55, when Jesus sent the disciples out into a village to make a place ready for him and the villagers said no, James and John asked the Lord that they should command fire to come down from heaven and consume them like Elijah did to the Army of fifty and their captain. Jesus responded in Luke 9:55 (KJV), “But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.”
Now what manner of Spirit are they? Firstly, if they truly call fire from heaven in faith, the fire would fall and consume the villagers as he exposed this to them later in Luke 17:6 (KJV), “And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamore tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.” But secondly, that would amount to destroying lives and Jesus made it clear in Luke 9:56 (KJV), “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them . And they went to another village.” This was further illustrated in John 10:10 (KJV) where the Lord said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” So believers are not to destroy lives but to bless them. How often do you curse and pray for death by fire for your enemies when you are to bless them! This much Jesus enjoined us when in the earlier chapter of Luke, he said specifically in Luke 6:35 (KJV), “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.”
You need to have a good understanding of who you are in Christ and that starts with having a knowledge of Christ and his expectations of us. As a Christian, you are expected to be like Christ and thus live a life of love, joy, truthfulness and perseverance that will show you as one who is a true believer of Christ in addition to having the power and strength of Christ. This power and strength will manifest as you emulate Christ in your daily living.
Action point: Please give your life to Christ or rededicate your life to him if you have backslidden by accepting him as your Lord and Saviour, confessing your sins and promising not to go back to those sins anymore.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero