Richard Roberts – First of two parts
One day, as I stood ready to preach, the Lord said to me, “Don’t preach, just obey Me.” I was stepping out into new territory that morning, because I completely abandoned what I had planned to preach as God had a little different way for us to go. My job was, and is, to be obedient.
Those of you who are in the military or have a military background understand obedience. You receive orders, and when you receive an order, you obey. And the last command stands. The same is true with me and the Holy Spirit. I must obey. If I don’t obey, and I get into disobedience, and the anointing leaves me.
John 6:2 says that the multitude followed Jesus because of the miracles He did. I want you to know that I believe we serve a miracle-working God. He is still healing, He is still delivering, He is still setting people free.
A word of knowledge is one of the nine gifts of the Spirit. It does not belong to one person. It belongs to the Holy Spirit. Before I began to really understand the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and as they were beginning to move in my life, I had to get my Bible and turn to 1 and 2 Corinthians to begin my understanding.
As I read and reread 1 Corinthians 12, primarily, it helped me understand the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We, as believers, have the Holy Spirit, so God can manifest those gifts through us at His will if we will open ourselves up.
It was man’s mind that got messed up in the Garden of Eden when he decided to disobey God and try to become God himself. That is why the carnal mind is at enmity with God. We must keep our thoughts on God, keep our thoughts pure, and keep our thoughts holy.
“Whatever is pure, just, and of good report,” Paul said, “think on these things” (see Philippians 4:8). Also, the Bible says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (see Proverbs 23:7). We must keep our minds on the Lord Jesus and go with the flow of just obeying Him!