What shall we offer God for all his Faithfulness, Love and Mercies towards us? We owe God our whole heart. I Love God Ministries over the years have being sounding the trumpet to rekindle Gods Love in the Hearts of every Believer
“Have mercy upon me, O God.” He appeals at once to the mercy of God, even before he mentions his sin. The sight of mercy is good for eyes that are sore with penitential weeping. Pardon of sin must ever be an act of pure mercy, and therefore to that attribute the awakened sinner flies. “According to thy loving-kindness.” Act, O Lord, like thyself; give mercy like thy mercy. Show mercy such as is congruous with thy grace.
“Great God, thy nature hath no bound: So let thy pardoning love be found.”
What a choice word is that of our English version of the bible, a rare compound of precious things: love and kindness sweetly blended in one - “loving-kindness.” “According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies.” Let thy most loving compassions come to me, and make thou thy pardons such as these would suggest. Reveal all thy gentlest attributes in my case, not only in their essence but in their abundance. Numberless have been thine acts of goodness, and vast is thy grace; let me be the object of thine infinite mercy, and repeat it all in me. Make my one case an epitome of all thy tender mercies. By every deed of grace to others I feel encouraged, and I pray thee let me add another and a yet greater one, in my own person, to the long list of thy compassions. “Blot out my transgressions.” My revolts, my excesses, are all recorded against me; but, Lord, erase the lines. Draw thy pen through the register. Obliterate the record, though now it seems engraven in the rock for ever: many strokes of thy mercy may be needed, to cut out the deep inscription, but then thou hast a multitude of mercies, and therefore, I beseech thee, erase my sins.
Earlier I asked you the question, “Where do you fit in?” Where do you fit in the plan of redemption laid out before the foundation of the world, hidden in a mystery in the heart of God? Are you called to be an apostle, prophet, teacher, evangelist, or pastor? Are you called to administer or to make millions to finance the Gospel?
As I said before, every believer, including you, fits somewhere in the eight operations of God found in First Corinthians 12:28. But how will you know where you fit in? How will you keep from being deceived by the enemy into trying to fill a place in the Body you are not called to or are not yet prepared for?
That’s one of the reasons God gave us the foundational eighth operation, diversities of tongues — to help us discover His perfect plan for our lives. Through the supernatural prayer language given to us and prayed through us by the Holy Spirit, God imparts to our spirits the mysteries hidden in Him throughout all the ages — Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).
Thank God for divine assistance in finding our place in His great plan!
No matter what God has called you to do in life, your calling or “job description” can be found enveloped within one or more of these eight operations of God. And if you are born again, you are called to fill that operation by the power of the Holy Spirit.
“Do you know which operation I’m called to fill, Brother Roberson?” you may ask. No, I don’t know. The measure of faith has been placed on the inside of you in seed form (Rom. 12:3).
Your calling is hidden in that seed for you, not for me, to discover. Ephesians 4:7 says, But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. A measure is part of a whole. The “whole” that Paul is talking about here is the Body of Christ. It is a Body with many members in particular, each with an individual calling. Just as a person’s physical body has many members with different functions, such as hands, eyes, ears, a nose, and a mouth, Paul says that the Body of Christ also includes different operations that together make up the whole.
What are you separated unto? What is your grace, your measure, your part in the whole operation of the Body of Christ? Whatever it is, God gives you grace for it. That’s why Paul said this:
For I say, THROUGH THE GRACE GIVEN UNTO ME, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. — Romans 12:3
In essence Paul was saying, “I’m going to speak to you according to the separation of God to my apostolic office. I didn’t merit it. I didn’t deserve it. God not only gave me the grace for my office — He gave me the faith to fulfill it. Therefore, don’t think that you’re some kind of special vehicle for God just because you’re called to a certain office.”
Some ministers have the attitude, “I’m a mighty apostle. Get me a Rolls Royce or the Rams football team to exalt me, you poor, beat-up sheep. I’m a special calling and gift that is given to you, so you better treat me right.” It’s that type of attitude that Paul warned about when he said, “Think of yourself soberly, realizing that God is the One who has dealt to every man the measure of faith for his calling and his office. In fact, God not only gave you the grace to receive your calling, He also gave you the grace to fulfill it.”
{Source: The Walk of the Spirit, The Walk of Power}
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling -Eph 4:4
The verses we just read in Ephesians 4 list the "fivefold ministry gifts" that we hear so much about. The nine gifts of the Spirit empower and qualify these five offices. You see, God meant for every person called to one of these ministry offices to preach the Word with signs following (Mark 16:20). God never intended for the preaching of His Word to seem powerless.
The spiritual gifts empower the ministry offices much the same way a power plant supplies power to the various appliances in a home. Each appliance is designed to perform a different function, yet each is hooked up to the same power plant.
In a similar way, one "wire" runs to the apostle, another to the prophet, and still another
to the pastor, but each ministry office is hooked up to the Holy Ghost. When God's power is switched on, then just as surely as a toaster acts one way and a blender acts another, the Holy Spirit anoints different offices with particular blends of the nine gifts of the Spirit.
These blends of spiritual gifts working in the fivefold ministry are what qualifies a person
to stand in a ministry office and determines which office it will be.
The Eight Operations of God
But the government of God extends itself much further than just the operation of the gifts of the Spirit and the fivefold ministry offices. These nine gifts and five offices are actually all encompassed in eight complete operations of God, which are outlined in First Corinthians12:28. These operations make up the structure of God's government and include everyone in the Body of Christ. "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first APOSTLES, secondarily PROPHETS,
thirdly TEACHERS, after that MIRACLES, then GIFTS OF HEALINGS, HELPS, GOVERNMENTS, DIVERSITIES OF TONGUES" — 1 Corinthians 12:27, 28
The eight operations mentioned in verse 28 are in divine order. In this listing, the government of God begins with the office of the mighty apostle, the first operation, followed by the prophet and the teacher.
The evangelists and pastors mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 are then replaced in First Corinthians 12 with miracles and gifts of healings. These gifts of the Spirit are the primary ones that empower and qualify the evangelistic and pastoral offices. (The entry level into the fivefold ministry gifts is also at the level of working of miracles and gifts of healings because all five ministry offices — apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher — should be equipped with these two gifts of the Spirit.)
Next is the operation of helps, which handles the physical and material aspects of the ministry. One very important helps calling is what I call the "entrepreneurship of the simplicity
of giving." A person called to fulfill this operation is someone of means who has the capacity in his character and his calling to be used by God to pour thousands, if not millions, into the Kingdom of God for the governments of the Church.
Helps is followed by governments or administrations, which includes the organizational
skills and gifts needed in the Church. For instance, a person called to this operation may be
able not only to organize a massive prayer meeting of ten thousand people, but to make sure that the little believer on the outer perimeter of the crowd has everything he needs to grow in his spiritual walk.
Both helps and governments support those who minister the Word of God by doing many of the natural things that ministers don't have time to do, such as running businesses, etc.
Undergirding everything else is the final and foundational operation, the diversities of tongues.
So in these eight operations of God, we find not only that the fivefold ministries are all
Included, but that the nine gifts of the Spirit are also poured out into all the operations, from
the apostle all the way to the eighth operation of diversities of tongues.
Let's look at the role that praying in other tongues plays in God's government. To do that, we'll have to go to First Corinthians chapter 12, where Paul outlines the operation of the Holy Spirit in the gifts, offices, and callings of the entire Body of Christ. He begins by saying in verse 1:
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
Now, I do know this about the Holy Spirit: He would not inspire Paul to make a statement like that and then leave us ignorant! In the discussion following that statement, Paul by the Holy Ghost supplies all the information necessary to eradicate any spiritual ignorance, misconceptions, or religious error we may have concerning the operation of spiritual gifts.
Personally, if there is one subject I don't want to be ignorant about, it is the operation of the gifts of the Spirit. But, to be frank with you, this is one of the areas in which this generation of believers is most lacking. We who are Full Gospel faith people often pride ourselves in knowing a great deal about the gifts of the Spirit. It's too bad we haven't prided ourselves more in knowing how to operate in those nine gifts!
Satan, the great deceiver, has successfully spread confusion and division regarding this passage of Scripture in First Corinthians 12 — so much so that entire denominations have split over different interpretations of the operation of spiritual gifts and the offices they empower. So it would profit us to make a careful examination of what Paul is teaching the Corinthian church in these verses.
In First Corinthians 12:4-6, Paul says this:
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit,
And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of operation, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
What is Paul saying? Well, we know that the "gifts" he is talking about in verse 4 are the nine gifts of the Spirit listed in First Corinthians 12:8-10
1) the word of wisdom;
2) the word of knowledge;
3) the gift of faith;
4) gifts of healings;
5) working of miracles;
6) prophecy;
7) discerning of spirits;
8) divers (or different supernatural manifestations of tongues; and
9) interpretation of tongues.
But what does verse 5 mean when it says, And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord? To understand what Paul is talking about in this verse, we have to go to Ephesians 4:8 and 11, where it says this: Wherefore he saith, When he [Jesus] ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.... And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.
In other words, there are different administrations or offices in the Body of Christ, such as apostle, prophet, teacher, pastor, and evangelist. But it is the same Lord Jesus Christ who ascended on high and gave those gifts or offices to men.
Then in First Corinthians 12:6, it says, And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. So Paul is simply saying this: It is the Holy Spirit who determines how the nine gifts of the Spirit and the ministry offices operate. It is Jesus Christ who sets each person into his or her respective office or calling.
And it is God the Father who supplied the original plan.
We may know how to claim our inheritance. We may be good at declaring, "Healing is mine.Prosperity is mine!" But how can we get the tremendous power of the Holy Spirit that resides on the inside of us — the power that raised Jesus from the dead — out onto the problems that face us so those blessings can be Manifested in our lives? And even more importantly, how can we discover our divine call?
Well, are we so wise that we can find a better way to answer those questions than the way God gave us when He designated the Holy Spirit to come and represent us?
You see, God didn't trust us to any of the many thousands of angels in His service. We're worth more than that to Him. No, He went as high as He could go and entrusted us to the Holy Spirit Himself, who then came to take up residency in us. So how can we fail when the third Person of the Godhead creates the prayer and the other two members of the Godhead see to it that it comes to pass? I'd call that a foolproof plan!
God's Wisdom Against Satan's Strategies
The day you decide to lock yourself in your prayer closet to spend some quality time with the Lord in prayer — that is the day you will enter Heaven's classroom here on earth with the Holy Spirit as your Teacher. You need that "classroom" if you're ever going to fulfill your divine calling.
Remember, God tells us to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves (Matt. 10:16).
Why would God say something like that? Because Satan has an entire arsenal of weaponry that can only be combated by the wisdom of God.
For instance, suppose Satan walks in the room with horns and a tail and says, "Pardon me, nice Christian, while I remove the Word of God out of your heart." You would look at him and say,
"You're not getting my Word!"
He says, "Why not?"
"Because you're the devil!"
"What gave me away?" he asks.
"Your horns and your tail." (That's the traditional way the devil dresses in Christian folklore.)
At that point, the devil says, "I'll never come dressed this way again. I'll go get a sheepskin and put it on.Then I'll sneak in unawares and steal the Word out of you. You won't even know who's doing it because I'll use religion to seduce you. I'll use circumstances. I'll blame it on the economy. Or I'll blame it on your husband or your wife. But one way or another, I will take the Word of God out of you, and you won't even know who's doing it!"
Jesus let us know that Satan only comes for one reason in three parts: to kill, to steal, and to destroy(John 10:10). And you may as well know — the devil is good at it! He doesn't do anything else but those three things. Killing, stealing, and destroying have been his specialties ever since his light went out and he fell from Heaven (Isa. 14:12). And if you misjudge him — if you don't take him seriously — he can destroy you!
Now you see why we must be as wise as serpents yet as harmless as doves. Yet some people say they don't need the Holy Ghost's help in prayer. They push His language aside and refuse to allow Him to pray the mind of God for them hour after hour. Who do they think they're operating against — a spiritual wimp?
Satan is not an enemy to take lightly. He's a smart fellow, and he comes for only one reason: to kill. He doesn't do anything else; he doesn't know anything else. And if you don't take care of his strategies by the wisdom of God, he will succeed in killing everything good in your life.
Since this is true, how can a believer consider spending two or three hours in prayer a sacrifice?
What is he really saying? "I made a big personal sacrifice last night. I let God pray for me for three hours!"
No, that believer didn't make a big sacrifice. He just enjoyed the priceless privilege of praying in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit created a prayer language on the inside of him that tapped into the mind of Christ and the infinite wisdom of Almighty God for his life!
It's beyond my natural understanding how that supernatural process works. But I guarantee you, I will use what He has given me!
My Heavenly Father has promised me this, and I can pass it on to you: If you will faithfully continue to get to know God by His Spirit — and an important part of that process is praying in other tongues — then five years from now, you will not be the same. You won't look back over the years and lament that every day was the same, one month just like the next, until three and then four years slipped by, and you ended up just as defeated and unchanged as you were at the beginning of that time period.
No, if you will pursue God by the Spirit, then at the end of five years, you will be able to look back and see that you have experienced spiritual growth. You have changed for the better.
You are getting to know Jesus Himself as the Holy Spirit reveals Him to you. And you are well on your way to fulfilling your divine call as it unfolds before you!
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