We are Each Equipped, Empowered…and Responsible

I was recently impressed by the following thought from Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse:

“The Lord says that the anointing by the Spirit renders us capable of understanding, so that we do not need to have any one teach us (1 John 2:27). The existence of teachers by divine order and arrangement is like the original institution of divorce, not because it was God’s first choice, but because of the hardness of the hearts of men (Matthew 19:8). The responsibility for reading and knowing the Word and will of God is upon every individual, who must find out for himself, conclude what he believes and be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within him, knowing that he will be answerable to the Lord for the content of his faith, and that he will not be permitted to present the excuse that he believed what some church or group of clergy interpreted for him.”

We are each unable to hide behind “some church or group of clergy?”

In an age dominated by the notion of a church staff member or associate level pastor dedicated to cultivating and catering to every single imaginable semi-demographic or identifiable niche in the population, one might scarcely imagine that such a relationship as Dr. Barnhouse has described is a real possibility and goal for the average contemporary churchgoer.

Would such a thing as this even be encouraged in most contemporary American churches? One can only wonder.

Yet it is not merely possible, it is ordained to be so. We are guaranteed this guidance.

The Holy Spirit either dwells within us or He does not. Where He is, all good things are possible. The crystal clear pronouncements of His holy word give us complete assurance that we are able to find truth in scripture without conforming to the constructs or manipulations of other flawed, fallen men.

We are here for great purpose, each of us. While, as we’ve all no doubt been emphatically reminded time and again, we are incapable of any good thought or act in and of ourselves, through Him all good things are possible.

All good things. He has called us to a task and He will always faithfully and fully equip those who are called.

How cool is that?

 

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