SEASONED FOR THIS SEASON

THE MAN HE CHOSE

All through the Bible, God expresses in various forms his primary desire to walk with Man. He has designed his kingdom and the pattern of his work to include human input. At creation, he made Man – Adam and latter brought all that he created to Adam to give them names… God was basically saying… I make it; you name it, then it is complete. Before Adam could name it, he had a clear understanding of the mind of the creator… himself – being an extension of the Life.

Phi 2:5-6 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God... God's mind and or the full intention of Divinity concerning his work was a mutually accessible body of knowledge before the advent of sin through Adam and Even in the Garden. Sin disabled our assess to the knowledge and mind of God... Now that eh believer has regained the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, the character of the mind of Christ is therefore a mandatory recommendation for our life walk and work with God.

As long as Adam remained in the garden of Eden and walked with God with perfect understanding of the Creators’ intension, there was no problem. Sin latter severed the cordial relationship Adam had with God…

With Sin in the Garden of Eden, perspectives were disoriented… Note that Eve looked at the fruit that God said not to eat… and saw – (Gen 3:6 ) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
This was the beginning of disobedience - occasioned by the personality of Sin in the Garden of Eden. Here Eve fundamentally deviates from the understanding with which they walked with God. She call – good for food… that which God had said was not to be eaten, she also took of it – despite telling the serpent (Satan) that God said that they should not even touch it ( even though that was her own addition to the divine instruction. ) – Gen. 2:16, Gen. 3:3. With this flagrant disregard for God, man lost the right to retain access to the mind of God, therefore he also lost the right to work with God. Man was immediately out of fellowship with God.

God in his unfailing mercy however, did not give up on man and his purpose for creating man and desiring to work with man. He continued working with man on the basis of choice – He chooses who he will work with.

We understand from scriptural dispensations that the Dispensation of Conscience immediately follows that of innocence – within this time, man was judged and chosen by God to work with him – based on the content of his conscience as seen by God. It was no longer an all - comers' affair – Spiritual parameters were put in place by God to which the man he will work with; has to measure up.

The Stage is set… Now God has to choose whom to bare and share his mind with… someone who will treasure spiritual resources with spiritual passion and integrity…. But what influences the choice that God makes? Who qualifies to be chosen by God? What character traits does the chosen exhibit? On what terrain do the chosen walk? What is the passion of the one he chooses?

Based on our wholesome assumptions of the nature of God as perfect, we naturally expect that if God were to choose a mortal vessel to work with, the mortal vessel would have to meet his standard of life, character and personality… Tall order! No one qualifies. He is a glorious God – The God of Glory - Act 7:2 … hearken; The God of glory appeared… however, Sin in man has made him unqualified to relate or connect to God - Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Sin brings our separation from God, but Grace reconciles us with God. Grace makes up for all our short comings; Now God has a pool of grace – justified people to choose from.

However, we must understand the weight of responsibility that has to be borne by the man he chooses.

WHO QUALIFIES TO BE CHOSEN BY GOD?

The man who has received Grace. All who have received grace and has appropriated it to themselves, are qualified to be chosen by Him. All who live under grace are characteristically a chosen people, Grace is an umbrella that covers chosen generations.

1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:

God's choice concerning man is in different layers. He chooses a generation... then he chooses whom or those He will work with - within that generation. This creates an earnestness for those who are chosen... to understand that they have only one chance to impact their generation for Him.

Act 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep,...

MEDITATION
Am I God's chosen man for my generation? What depends on my life in the midst of the people with whom I share this generation? Does God expect more from me? What more can I do to serve His purpose in my generation, by the will of God?

Grace is the only platform on which the righteous and totally glorious God meets with sinful man. Grace is the basis of communication and the sharing of thought between God and man. It is only under grace that the faults and failures of man are accounted and advocated for – as not being counted against sinful man, but onto the account of the loving savor and His finished work on Calvary. Grace is the benevolent factor that brings the Holy God to behold sinful man.

Grace is dispensed to all equally. However, we individually appropriate it in different measures, we all live responsibly as recipients of grace with different levels of devotion and passion. This is a major distinguishing factor. A growing addiction to Him will always promote one to a place of prominence in his sight.... that place of prominence - contrary to our expectations and orientation is the exalted place of service... where were are empowered to serve his will and purpose. Our devotion to him and his word; is an expression of our love and availability for his use.

Devotion to him as recipients of grace will cause us to pledge unflinching allegiance to him. As he picks us from the pack of all that are available, he separates and makes us to instruments – fit for his use. The man who qualifies to be chosen is a man who signs up for training on the job. The man He chooses is man who has agreed to used. An agreement to be used, involves a willingness to be exploited... without regard... it involved a willingness to be dispensable in serving the will and pleasure of the user. It is the rigid adoption of a servants heart.

WHAT TYPE OF PERSONS DOES GOD CHOOSE?

1Co 1:26 - 29 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Not Many Wise – God is fond of choosing instruments or persons who acknowledge the imperfection of their own ways… People who do not know it all…. or who do not maintain a readiness of knowing what to do… He is fond of choosing those who are empty or who want to empty themselves of all that they know and has been perfected and certified in… those who want to basically walk with and after him… without a claim or attitude of leading the master or mastering the master's enterprise.

Not Many Mighty – Our strengths and accomplishments thereof, is as dung before God. We will fail if we come into the kingdom with the assumption that our records of success and skill is required by God, and that is why he saved us. Just because we were or we are a success in the world does not necessarily qualify us to occupy certain positions or undertake certain assignments in the Church or Kingdom; if that were so, Matthew would have been a better treasurer that Judas Iscariot. He called us – not because of who we are; but because of what he wants us to be or what he can make out of us… which is the final picture of what He can make out of us. The man whom God chooses is the man who is not tired or weary of presenting himself as Raw Material to God all the time. It is the man who understands that the skillful hands of the master considers every finished work as a raw material or prerequisite for the next project or assignment. We must understand that in His Kingdom, nothing is an end in itself, everything and everyone is prepared to serve a deeper purpose. This understanding makes us separate and keep ourselves fit – for the masters’ use, anytime. By strength shall no man prevail – 1 Sam.2:9.

Not Many Noble – God does not call us to share his thoughts or his mind because of our status or position – even inside the Church. (This is why even those in leadership need to be secure in their call and not feel threatened when he chooses to use any other instrument or individual under us – This is a major problem factor unfortunately in the Church today). We are not chosen because of our status… ‘cause he is no respecter of persons.
Grace is the only factor that raises the believers’ value in the sight of the Lord. We are a major and irreparable deficiency without the changing or transforming effect of the Grace of God. God does not pick us to use us because of who we are already. Everyone appears unbridled and unclean before him… then the grace of God begins to work in us… to bring out his purpose and his will in us. We are not his instruments because of what we can do… or what we are trained to do… but because of who He is and what He desires to do with the raw material of our life in whatever stage or state.

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise – God’s choice and methods are eternally wrapped in the dynamic mystery of His Grace, His Will, His Person. His sovereignty is the major driving factor behind the exercise of His divine will. We cannot influence His will. His will influences and controls us. Every choice that God makes is guided by the overbearing influence of what he can do and what he wants to do. In the process of any activity with any instrument, the only thing that God guards jealously is his Glory.

Isa 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The superiority of God’s thoughts and manner of operation is distinct; as opposed to the assumptions and human approach to the daily issues that life presents to us. He does not think like and as we do… he thinks and speaks with a passion of what he wants to do and how he wants to do it… he has the clear picture of the final destination in view… on the contrary, we think, and speak with a perspective of the distorted – circumstantial view of where we are… that we dignify with the term – “Reality”.

The man and the instrument God chooses are normally in the most unlikely character and nature; the purpose behind his choice is equally subject to various human debates. He chooses the FOOLISH THINGS… the foolish instruments… and pitches the foolish against the wise… not to expose the weakness of his choice, but to prove the excellence of his knowledge and power with the most deficient instrument. Too many times, people get it all wrong with the assumption that He chooses us because of what we can bring to the table. the truth of the matter is that He chose us... because he was looking for foolish things... foolish instruments to use to perfectly display his ability. We must understand that in God’s kingdom, it takes the little and the weak to destroy the Big and Mighty. It takes the foolish to get the wise confused. This understanding must be accepted in out hearts as we say yes to His call.
The wisdom of this age – pales when compared with the wisdom of God at the disposal of a foolish instrument that He chooses.

WAYS AND MEANS

His choice of foolish instruments and foolish things speaks volume of the way he has chosen to do his work in the midst of men. we must understand the passion of the master and his decision to place value on foolish and despised instruments. The shift in spiritual enthusiasm should be understood by His people... we are in a season when the crux of the fulfillment of His will is predicated on what he can do with "Foolish" people. For too long, He has allowed His righteous heart to bleed as he watched the futility of mans' wisdom. Now indeed is the season where He is pleased to gain satisfaction through the joint enterprise of Himself and foolish things.
this is the way he has chosen to work. Those he uses or those He has chosen should be willing to do seemingly foolish things... bear foolish labels by the world and by the old order that He has bypassed... because of a derailed desire that has so pointed finishing in the flesh as their goal.

1Co 1:17 - 21 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence

God specializes in using ordinary instruments… that are characteristically weak and vulnerable.

God’s choice is too often subjected to despise. It attracts ridicule all too often… matter-of-fact, even those He chooses often find the audacity of his choice a surprise. Moses could not understand why he was saddled with the task of bringing Israel from Egypt – His response was that he could not speak. Prophet Jeremiah said – Ah! Lord God… I cannot speak… for I am a child. Prophet Isaiah could not respond until his tongue was loosed. Gideon said he was from a small tribe and family. Samuel did not even know what to say… he kept running to, and answering to the wrong person… the list goes on and on… these all illustrate the fact that all through time God thrives in the act of picking imperfect instruments… people who are not even ready… people who were even disqualified in themselves… based off our assumptions; and the cloaks we choose to place over the sovereignty of God and his choice.

The grace of God is so encompassing and elevating… that it makes up for the perceived short – falls. Because of the dynamic potential and ability inherent in his grace, he chooses people – instruments that are in need for transformation… people who will adduce every achievement to the dynamic working of the power deposited in unfit human instruments when they respond to a divine choice.