Growing in stature – Part 3
The Jesus Example
It is stature not anointing that vindicates you before the Lord. The Bible is full of men and women who had anointing upon their lives, but without stature with God. Miriam and Aaron are examples of such people (Num. 12:1-8). Hear the way God puts it in verse 6 through 8.
“Then He said, Hear now my words: if there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with Moses my servant; He is faithful in all My house. I speak to him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord, why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
God actually acknowledged that Miriam and Aaron were also His servants, but Moses was the one with stature with God. Samson is also a very typical example of a man with anointing, but little stature with God. This is the reason Samson had a low level of “evangelical success”. He overcame all the lower demons, killing them at every encounter. Did you notice that it was the “lord of the Philistines” – the high-ranking powers and principalities that plotted his downfall and brought him to shame. (Judges 16:5) Samson received Divine investments, but refused to develop himself by growing in stature with God. He did not yield to the moulding hands of the Potter.
It was not the anointing that vindicated Moses in the day when characterless anointed men rose up against him. It was Moses’ stature with God that stood up for him, as revealed in Numbers 12:6-8.
Stature is one of the things that God promised Abraham at the point of his call. So, it is included in every call to salvation, since Abraham’s call is symbolic of every Divine call to salvation. (Gen 12:1-3). God says in Gen 12:2 “I will bless you and make your name great”. That is stature.
Let us now look at the issue of spiritual stature with God in the life of Jesus Christ.
“And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him.” (Lk. 2:40)
The above scripture says, “the child grew and became strong in spirit”. This is where it all begins. There is no growth, except our spirits are strengthened. This involves the Spiritual exercises of Prayer, Fasting, Reading the Bible and Obedience. The first thing that Jesus did was that he paid attention to the development of His spirit man. The work of the ministry is a spiritual burden and cannot be placed on a weak, fragile and underdeveloped spirit. The word anointing was not mentioned in the Bible in relation to Jesus until Matthew Chapter 4 after the wilderness experience. The lesson has been learnt. Adam was trained in the garden of plenty and he utterly failed God. Therefore, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit for a wilderness experience for the development of His spirit. The anointing is one of the inescapable concomitant of a strong spirit. When you develop your spirit man, God will share His burden with you and automatically gives you the anointing to discharge the burden. God’s anointing is to discharge a burden He has given you. Therefore, seek to develop your spirit man and stop running after the anointing. God does not give anointing when He has not given you a burden and God does not share His burden with you when your spirit man is weak and undeveloped.
Join us for the MIDNIGHT CRY on DOVE TV (DSTV channel 349, GOTV channel 83 and StarTimes channel 464) every Thursday at 7pm and on Rock City 101.9 FM every Sunday at 9pm. For more information please call 08037253604 or 07034495177.
Bro. Kunle Adigun, Friends of the Bridegroom International Ministries (FOBIM)
To Be Continued.
Get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox every day of the week. Stay informed with the Guardian’s leading coverage of Nigerian and world news, business, technology and sports.
0 Comments
We will review and take appropriate action.