Hi there,
So this is a simple thought experiment: God can be quick, but can He do something for a long time?
Now, there is quickening in the Holy Spirit, that's true. You can suddenly find you have an ability to do something well, when previously you found it difficult. However, that quickening - speaking in tongues say - is by and large for the moment (it edifies the spirit for a moment). That's different from something you do for a very long time.
Something you do for a long time, might be prophecy - so in a sense I have answered my question - but that is just one thing. I am thinking more like "how did God help Jesus with His carpentry?" sort of thing. A sacrifice for another example, is something God does for a long time - He never requires the sacrifice to change. But that still isn't really doing anything. Back to carpentry, is it something Jesus did well? Or was He observant?
I am sort of imagining that everything God did was for a long time, that in a sense He is at rest with doing less than He possibly could because what He has done, He has done with faith. But is that faith, for a long time? Solomon said everything comes full circle, does God's faith come full circle? Is everything in a sense "done, already" that is, from the outset (set in motion, that it achieve God's purpose)? Perhaps it is not God that needs to do something for more than a moment, but me?
I am trying to turn to God, in this - I see Him as the source of authority on what "lasts" - I just find it odd that He would not set a path out for His believers, that what they do might increase. Maybe its just me, maybe he wants to see how lastingly I can act, without His interfering? But you get my point, right? When we say "Lord willing" what we really want to say is "Lord be willing, for a long time". I mean if you were headed for the Cross, it would consume you wouldn't it? Everything you said or did would be designed to increase the impact of the Cross - like Jesus saying "my time has not yet come" and things like that.
I think in the end, its just courage: I have to have the courage to ask God, for things that will please Him for a long time!
God bless.
So this is a simple thought experiment: God can be quick, but can He do something for a long time?
Now, there is quickening in the Holy Spirit, that's true. You can suddenly find you have an ability to do something well, when previously you found it difficult. However, that quickening - speaking in tongues say - is by and large for the moment (it edifies the spirit for a moment). That's different from something you do for a very long time.
Something you do for a long time, might be prophecy - so in a sense I have answered my question - but that is just one thing. I am thinking more like "how did God help Jesus with His carpentry?" sort of thing. A sacrifice for another example, is something God does for a long time - He never requires the sacrifice to change. But that still isn't really doing anything. Back to carpentry, is it something Jesus did well? Or was He observant?
I am sort of imagining that everything God did was for a long time, that in a sense He is at rest with doing less than He possibly could because what He has done, He has done with faith. But is that faith, for a long time? Solomon said everything comes full circle, does God's faith come full circle? Is everything in a sense "done, already" that is, from the outset (set in motion, that it achieve God's purpose)? Perhaps it is not God that needs to do something for more than a moment, but me?
I am trying to turn to God, in this - I see Him as the source of authority on what "lasts" - I just find it odd that He would not set a path out for His believers, that what they do might increase. Maybe its just me, maybe he wants to see how lastingly I can act, without His interfering? But you get my point, right? When we say "Lord willing" what we really want to say is "Lord be willing, for a long time". I mean if you were headed for the Cross, it would consume you wouldn't it? Everything you said or did would be designed to increase the impact of the Cross - like Jesus saying "my time has not yet come" and things like that.
I think in the end, its just courage: I have to have the courage to ask God, for things that will please Him for a long time!
God bless.
