Have you learned the secret?

Not that I am implying that I was in any personal want, for I have learned how to be content (satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or disquieted) in whatever state I am. I know how to be abased and live humbly in straitened circumstances, and I know also how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance. I have learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well-fed or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going without and being in want.  Philippians 4:11-12 (AMP)

 

I am not saying I need anything. I have learned to be happy with whatever I have. I know how to get along with little and how to live when I have much. I have learned the secret of being happy at all times. If I am full of food and have all I need, I am happy. If I am hungry and need more, I am happy. Philippians 4:11-12 (NLV)

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Philippians 4:11-12 (NIV)

The thing about being content is that it's easiest when you have. When you feel like you are in place where you don't want anything, you can happily talk about how content you are. The hardest thing about being content is that it works best when it's heart knowledge. We all know in our heads that we should be content. We are told  over and over again, but do you know this in your heart. Heart knowledge is the kind of stuff we truly believe and has an influence on our daily life. These are truths we stand on. Heart knowledge are the lessons that are often the hardest to learn. They aren't learned overnight. These lesson aren't like the simple math problems like adding, they are like complex trig lessons and after a whole semester of class you may still have no clue. Paul experienced this on high level. One minute, he's sailing on a ship to be held prisoner in Rome and the next he is shipwrecked on a strange island, before you know it, the inhabitants of the island are throwing a great party. Learning to be content van be hard, but it's valuable. Those that are content seem to  have the most blessings. Being content with what God has given you opens the door to even more blessings. If you are discontent with the things God has given you, why would He give you more? Contentedness is like patience, when you ask for it, God won't give it to you. He'll put in a place and situations that allow you to develop it. This is one of those things I advise that it is something you really want, and are willing to go through the trails to obtain it. Paul put it best when he called it a secret. Not everyone knows it and many never will. You must ask the holder of the great secrets to give it to you. We all need to learn to be happy with what God gave us and understand that whether we are well fed or hungry we have plenty.

Got Talent?

Such is the reliance and confidence that we have through Christ toward and with reference to God. Not that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God. [It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not [ministers] of the letter (of legally written code) but of the Spirit; for the code [of the Law] kills, but the [Holy] Spirit makes alive.  2 Corinthians 3:4-6 (AMP)


We can say these things because of our faith in God through Christ.  We know we are not able in ourselves to do any of this work. God makes us able to do these things. God is the One Who made us preachers of a New Way of Worship. This New Way of Worship is not of the Law. It is of the Holy Spirit. The Law brings death, but the Holy Spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 (NLV)

 Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant —not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 (NIV)


This is something I struggle with. It's not the confidence part. I stand confidently in the Lord everyday. I know He has my today and tomorrow because He took care of yesterday.  It's the competent part, I struggle with. See, as I write these words, I struggle with are the right ones, will they have meaning in your life, are good enough and in the end will they glorify God? I am not competent. I'm not skilled at much. My life testifies to this. I'm pretty sure, I'm the most unskilled, and talentless person out there. Everything, I have done with the skill and talent has come from a great struggle or great gifting from the spirit. According to these verse you are supposed to be unskilled and talentless because your competence comes from the spirit.

This competence that comes from spirit. God pours down his spirit to get you the skills and talents needed to fulfill His will. God's spirit isn't just this thing we think about to make us feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. The spirit is something of power and skill. I've written about how we need to empty ourselves and full ourselves with the spirit. The spirit works best when it's the only thing in you. It's what makes you skilled. There's a saying out there God doesn't call the qualified. God qualifies the called. He does, this is how he works. If he has called you to do something and you have stepped up and accepted the job, it doesn't matter what your skills are. I'm not one who is organized but somehow I do a decent job as the Sparks secretary  keeping those records fairly straight. I did pretty good job of helping to run the Going Beyond simulcast, and I bet I do a fair job again in the fall with Living Proof. What you do is only limited by you. If you maintain that relationship with Christ and are willing to go where He has called you to go, you will go to amazing places and do amazing things. You have the ability to translate the Bible into different languages. You have the ability to enter into the army doing a job you have no skill to do and can do well. You can teach anything to anyone, anywhere.

 We are made competent in a new way. The law is done, it brings death, but the spirit it helps make you competent and is the life. Open yourself up to being a minister of the spirit.