Luke 1 - GROW, KNOW, SHOW and FLOW

Luke 1. In this chapter, there are many miraculous things revolving around prophecy, faith and praise; however one verse stood out to me above the others. “80And the child (John the Baptist) grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.”

What an amazing statement of faith and life! First, John had to GROW. John grew, both physically and spiritually. He didn’t remain the same, but he grew! God could not use him fully as he was, so he had to GROW to be fully utilized by God.

Next, he had to KNOW. John “became strong in the spirit”. Earlier in this chapter, the angel Gabriel said John would be born with the Holy Spirit, but it is very important that it is mentioned here that, even though John was born with the Holy Spirit, he became even stronger in the spirit. Not had some spirit, or thought about the spirit, he became STRONG in the SPIRIT. This strength required knowledge, growth, discipline and seeking personal relationship with God, through prayer and study.

Then, John had to FLOW. “he lived in the desert”. This was a man who had the Holy Spirit from birth and grew stronger in the Spirit, so why did he live in a dessert? I believe, as was the focus of Sunday’s service, that he was in the dessert, facing the harsh trials, so he would grow even stronger and learn to rely on God for his strength and survival. How do you temper steel, by burning it in the fire to rid it of impurities so only the best is left. Could John have grown stronger in the spirit without trials? I think not.

So he had to endure the trials, follow God’s plan, as a leaf floating on a river. The leaf doesn’t try to see the whole course from beginning to end, it doesn’t worry about the rocks or blockades in the way, it doesn’t even have the power to move on its own, it simply goes with the FLOW, using the river to guide and direct its movements, confident that the river will direct the best path, as long as the leaf stays in the river. Such should be our walk with God; we are the leaf and He is the guiding, powerful river.

Finally, John had to SHOW. He was in the dessert “until he appeared publicly to Israel”. This is the final step, God gave him time to mature, to grow, placed him in the dessert to temper his faith and live centered around growing in the Holy Spirit, so he could then appear publically for the purpose that God had in store for him. It was time to SHOW, to accomplish the purpose that God had planned for him. John could not reach Israel by staying in the dessert, to do so he had to be willing and faithful enough to step out and SHOW the glory of God and complete the task.

Wow, what a lesson in the Lord. God could have directly placed John in front of Israel but instead gave him time to GROW, time to KNOW and become strong in the spirit, to FLOW and temper in the dessert, to be fully trained, tested and ready to SHOW and conquer the task at hand.

Where are you at in your walk with God?

You might be at the beginning, the GROW stage, regardless of how long you have been a Christian. You might not feel as if God has something in store for you, you might feel useless or unneeded; however, God has blessed us all with gifts to use for His purpose, His plan; you wouldn’t be here otherwise. So, don’t just sit there, this is the perfect time to GROW. Grow in your spiritual life and seek a personal relationship with God, He is waiting on you.

You might be at the KNOW stage. That is, you have established a personal relationship with God, but it’s not as strong as you would like it to be. If so, this is a perfect time to remedy that. You can gain knowledge and deepen your relationship with the Lord by spending time in prayer, reading the Bible, and learning from other mature Christians. You wouldn’t take a final test without studying would you? If so, you couldn’t be expecting great results. Therefore, how can you expect to be ready for the “final test” with God’s purpose for you without first gaining the knowledge necessary? Think about it.

It’s possible you are at the FLOW stage. You might feel that you have been following God’s will, prayed and studied and know you are where you should be; however, things look bleak, you’re in a dessert! This is a very tough time, but it is TEMPORARY. You are at this point to temper your spiritual life, to hone your faith and belief. This is the final “practice test” before the real thing. You might be feeling like its too tough, that you made a mistake, that you should turn back, that God has forgotten about you; these are all from the enemy.

Satan is trying to throw everything he has at you to get you to quit, for he knows you are so close to the blessing God has in store for you. Satan knows that if he gets you to quit now, he has won. He also knows that if you make it through this point, he has lost you and God has gained another powerful warrior for the kingdom of Heaven. It’s the enemy’s last chance to stop you, so endure, you are almost there. God will never leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5), so now is not the time to quit, it’s the time to increase your efforts and establish an even stronger relationship with God. Stay in the river of His righteousness and go with the flow, you will be rewarded!

Finally you might be at the SHOW stage. This is also a tough one to conquer, now it’s “show time”. You have grown, studied, endured, and now it is time for the “final exam”, now it is time to put your best foot forward, but there might be anxiety and fear to perform. Now, all of a sudden, the dessert doesn’t look so bad, at least you know what to expect, right? You might be thinking “what if I fail? What if I can’t do it? What if I’m not strong enough?”. To answer those, YOU will fail, YOU can’t do it, YOU aren’t strong enough, and that is the point, YOU alone can’t, but GOD most certainly can.

That is what all of the training was for, for you to put your faith and trust in GOD, for Him to move THROUGH you. Don’t stumble at the finish line by relying on yourself, break through the finish line with God at the forefront. Keep your focus on God and His will, never forget to give Him the glory and the praise, and you will do just fine. You will pass the “final exam” and ace it with flying colors, because that has been God’s plan all along, to train and prepare you to succeed!

God loves us like no other, He wants us to succeed, He prepares and equips us with all we need, we MUST follow Him and share His glory with others. There is a whole lost and dying world searching for the answer, and it is up to us to allow God to help us reach them. So get out there and GROW, KNOW, FLOW, and SHOW, it is the least we can do for God, who has given us everything. Amen?!