This Is What I Want You to React Like

by | May 25, 2002 | God's Hands, Witnessing

Today the Lord was finally was able to get it through my thick head that I have been on the Potter’s wheel since He revealed Himself to me Feb. 19,1999 in the hospital. It has been a time of suffering in different areas of my life all to refine me for a purpose.

Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will hear and answer them. I will say, It is My people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.

Let me give an example. Last fall after the insurance company cut me off from income replacement benefits, I got a job as a collector for a third party collection agency. Little did I realize that the job was not only for income to sustain me; but to prepare me for my present situation. Because I have had just enough money for rent, food, phone and my daily needs, my bank loan payments have been in arrears since January. Now the bank (who was sweet to me when I was current) has sent my account to a third party collection agency that has been calling constantly. Hello! Even with understanding the procedure from my experience last fall, I got angry with the calls. I grew up in a tough neighborhood; and if anyone confronted you, you just got right back into their faces. However that is not how Yeshua was and not how He wants me to be now. So He whispered; remember how I reacted when confronted?

John 8:6-9 This they said to try (test) Him, hoping they might find a charge on which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger. I took a step back to calm down; He said; before responding. However, when they persisted with their question, He raised Himself up and said, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. Then He bent down and went on writing on the ground with His finger. They listened to Him, and then they began going out, conscience-stricken, one by one, from the oldest down to the last one of them, till Jesus was left alone, with the woman standing there before Him in the center of the court.

This is what I want you to react like from now on Allan.

I often have felt that my time is being wasted with my circumstances and that my time could be better spent serving the Lord more productively. I have finally realized that there is a time of preparation (completing the pot on the wheel) for each of His chosen before being used for His ultimate purpose. Two verses that speak of this are:

1 Peter 5:10-11 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace [Who imparts all blessing and favor], Who has called you to His [own] eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen, and settle you. For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness–in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].

What I learned was that from now on when confronted, I will step back, settle myself and allow the Holy Spirit to respond instead of my flesh because only when we are composed can the Holy Spirit speak for us.

Luke 12:11-12 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities, do not be anxious [beforehand] how you shall reply in defence or what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour and [a]moment what [you] ought to say.

The world says to retaliate or stand up to bullies. That’s how I’ve always been and the only way I’ve known.

Yeshua says the opposite.

Matthew 5:43-45 You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy;(A)But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, To show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike].

How will you react for your peace of mind and also to win souls?

Allan (Ilan) Mann

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This Is What I Want You to React Like

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