Be determined to know more than others. If you
yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to
use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea. Put everything in
your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide
of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus,
you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the
harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out
past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things
for yourself— begin to have spiritual discernment.
When you know that you should do something and you do it, immediately
you know more. Examine where you have become sluggish, where you began
losing interest spiritually, and you will find that it goes back to a
point where you did not do something you knew you should do. You did not
do it because there seemed to be no immediate call to do it. But now
you have no insight or discernment, and at a time of crisis you are
spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-controlled. It is a
dangerous thing to refuse to continue learning and knowing more.
The counterfeit of obedience is a state of mind in which you create
your own opportunities to sacrifice yourself, and your zeal and
enthusiasm are mistaken for discernment. It is easier to sacrifice
yourself than to fulfill your spiritual destiny, which is stated in Romans 12:1-2.
It is much better to fulfill the purpose of God in your life by
discerning His will than it is to perform great acts of self-sacrifice.
“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice . . .” (1 Samuel 15:22).
Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when
God wants you to be something that you have never been. “If anyone wills
to do His will, he shall know . . .” (John 7:17).
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