Bible Verse of The Day – 11-25-19

John 4:31-34 (NKJV) 31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

It can be a bit amusing sometimes to read some of the things the disciples said to Jesus. They were clearly not seeing and thinking spiritually-minded. They were often only able to see and discern things in the natural.

It was for this reason that Jesus said to them on one occasion, “Are you thus without understanding also?” (Mark 7:18). In other words, do you still not understand this, even after I have taught you and shown you so much?

This is also one of the biggest hurdles for believers to overcome in our walk with Him. Our minds are so carnal, and our thoughts seem to automatically lean on natural understanding in just about everything we encounter.

Yes, we live in a natural, tangible, carnal world. And we dwell here in human bodies that function in a fleshly way.

But God has given each of us a spirit. And He wants us to learn to live by our spirit also, not just by our flesh or our human understanding.

Romans 8:13 (NKJV) 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Living by the spirit brings life and understanding, whereby living and walking according to the flesh brings confusion and death.

Learning to live by the spirit takes time and effort, just as babies learning to walk and talk. We can’t expect to snap our fingers and have it happen overnight.

And it’s an amazing thing when we start to “get it”. It can be exciting, fun, extremely interesting and even overwhelming at times, as we start to see and understand the things of the Spirit.

But, no matter what, we should never let it intimidate us or scare us.

Yes, we want to handle it responsibly. We don’t want to make mistakes or wrong choices because we didn’t discern or understand something correctly. But God shows us grace as we are learning, knowing that we are like babes learning to walk.

We will fall down. Sometimes we will get bruised or scraped up a little. But He is always there to pick us back up, brush off the dirt and put a band-aid on our wounds, sending us on our way again with His love and encouragement.

Draw near to Him. Spend time in His word. Learn of Him. These are all part of the equation when it comes to getting understanding and walking by the Spirit, not by the flesh.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

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