Peter…said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this
man?" Jesus said to him, "…what is that to you? You follow Me."
—John 21:21-22
“One of the hardest lessons to learn comes from our stubborn
refusal to refrain from interfering in other people’s lives. It takes a long
time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interfering
with God’s plan for others. You see someone suffering and say, “He will not
suffer, and I will make sure that he doesn’t.” You put your hand right in front
of God’s permissive will to stop it, and then God says, “What is that to you?”
Is there stagnation in your spiritual life? Don’t allow it to continue, but get
into God’s presence and find out the reason for it. You will possibly find it
is because you have been interfering in the life of another— proposing things
you had no right to propose, or advising when you had no right to advise. When
you do have to give advice to another person, God will advise through you with
the direct understanding of His Spirit. Your part is to maintain the right
relationship with God so that His discernment can come through you continually
for the purpose of blessing someone else.”
CHAMBERS
Why did Jesus heal some and not others? Why did He do anything at all? In obedience to the Father's will, to fulfill the Father’s purposes and bring
glory to Him. In order for us to do what Jesus did,
we must have spiritual discernment. In
order for us to do that, we must be in a heated pursuit of God. Our focus must be primarily on God, all other
things we see with our peripheral vision.
With our peripheral vision, we can see things on our left and our right,
but only to the point that we are aware of them. Not to the point where we can discern
every detail. That is how it should be
with our focus on God and this world.
The world should be in our peripheral vision, God at the center of our
focus. It is then that we are able to
rightly discern others. When we were
living in Haiti, it was common for beggars to come to the window of our truck
and ask for money. Sometimes I would
give them money and sometimes I would not.
Martie would ask me why I did, when I did. My answer was that I always ask the Lord for
discernment. Sometimes He said give them
money, and others He said don’t. Does
that sound too mystical to you? No apologies. That is the way I live my life and interact with
the world. This rule does not only apply
to strangers, but to family as well.
There are times when a family member has a need, perhaps a great need,
but the Lord holds your hand back from helping.
To know when that is requires spiritual discernment. Your focus must be on God and the person must
be in the periphery. Discerning when your response is out of emotion and when
it is based upon the unction of the Spirit can be difficult. If you do not keep God as you primary focus. If you are not cultivating your new nature
then it is virtually impossible. ELGIN
God Bless You
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