Given September 12, 2009
I want to be promoted in the Kingdom of God. I’m not satisfied to justbe on the team and wear the uniform, I want to move up. I have found over the years that it takes work to do that; you’re not going to be promoted just because you’re the boss’ son like it happens in the world sometime. I am the King’s kid but my Father requires me to go through a process to move up to the next level and there are four steps in the process; four Ts.
First, we have to be taught. God’s Word is the source of that where, as we read and listen to it, it becomes ingrained in our spirits and becomes part of us. When this happens, we move to the second phase, training. After we get the, “book learning”, we must put it into action or practice. The Word says, “Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only.” James 1:22. We must take what we’ve learned and see how it works in the real world.
Third, the way we see if we’ve learned and been trained properly is to be tested. God will put us into or cause us to come upon situations where we can use what we’ve learned to further His Kingdom. The way we react or, actually, if we act at all, will determine whether we pass the test or not. There have been times when I’ve passed by someone I could have helped becaue I was late for a meeting or something and immediately after, I got the inner feeling that prompted me to say, “Lord, I just missed that didn’t I? I didn’t pass the test did I?”. But He always gives me another test AFTER I go back to training for awhile.
The final “T” is, after we’ve been taught, trained, and tested, (and passed), God will take us to the next level. I pray every day for God to test me and try me so I may be used in a greater way for Him. “Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind“. Psalms 26:2. I hope you’re like that too. Don’t be satisfied to sit in the pew. God has so much for us to do before He gets back here.