I just got another glimpse of His power yesterday while pondering “LIFE’S DESIRE”

Here is the 1st Stanza

“I Need the Promised Holy Ghost

To stir the gift, O LORD of Hosts

Create in me concrete desire;

To be for Thee a flame of fire.”

 

The phrase “to stir the gift” or more pointedly the word “GIFT”

Yes, God has given to all His Special Gifts & Callings

Let us  read again

King James Bible
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

Berean Study Bible
For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.

New Living Translation
For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.

GOD’S WORD® Translation
God never changes his mind when he gives gifts or when he calls someone.

Amplified Bible
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable [for He does not withdraw what He has given, nor does He change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call].

 

All translated from Romans 11:29

Again Calvin only endorse KJV and the rest are commentaries

And we repeat

“I need the Holy Ghost

To Stir the Gift, O LORD of hosts

Create in me concrete desire;

To be for Thee a Flame of Fire!

When God calls He always back it up with His Special Gifts and Promises!

And these Gifts once Given are permanent, unchanging, unchangeable & for ever

However, there are conditions as we shall see

1. MOSES

When God called Moses He gave him POWER in the Rod.

“And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

³ And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

⁴ And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:”

God entrusted omnipotence to Moses in that rod

The 10 plagues that befell Egypt came through that rod which Moses held up.

He lifted the rod and the Red Sea opened up. He stretched forth his rod again and the entire army of Pharoah were drowned. And then he smote a rock and out came water

Now God told Moses to “speak” to the rock

⁷ And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

⁸ Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

⁹ And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

Read again God’s specific command

((( speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water )))

God said, “SPEAK YE UNTO THE ROCK”

And what did Moses?

¹⁰ And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

¹¹ And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

Moses did not speak but smote the rock twice in a fit of anger

See, Moses bypassed God’s implicit command & exercised the omnipotent power thru the rod in disobedient to God

For that he disqualified himself from going into Canaan

This teaches us the Sacred Gift God gave without condition and is irrevocable (and the warning not to misuse or abuse this high calling to glorify God)

 

2) ELIJAH

Elijah prayed with all earnestness on Mt Carmal for God to send fire.

“THE GOD THAT ANSWEREST BY FIRE LET HIM BE GOD”

After the great victory on Mt Carmel Elijah fled for his life in fear “because Elijah was a man subjected to passions like ours

Recorded in 2 Kings Chapter 1 a King sent an army of 50 soldiers commanding Elijah to appear

Elijah still hesitant & apprehensive responded

Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down. ¹⁰And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 

For the great presumption of the captain fire came down & consumed them all

Still haven’t learnt his lesson the 2nd captain & his 50 soldiers did the same

¹¹Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly. ¹²And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.

The 1st Captain that perished said

Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down

The 2nd Captain said

O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.

See how foolish and stupid the words of the 2nd Captain

Instead of  “the king hath said” his harsh words are “THUS HATH THE KING SAID!”

And instead of “Come down” he enforced with a more hasty tone “Come down quickly.”

And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty

Only then did the 3rd Captain learnt his lesson & got his life spared

¹³And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. ¹⁴Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. ¹⁵And the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.

This incident was recorded to show God’s gift of calling by prophet Elijah down fire from heaven is permanent when required against the greatest apostasy in Israel’s history.

Repeated twice to enforce and encourage and strengthen God’s fearful servant

See what the angel of the LORD said to Elijah,

“Go down with him: BE NOT AFRAID OF HIM. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.”

WITH THE BACKING OF OMNIPOTENCE THERE SHOULD BE NO FEAR AT ALL.

If God be for us, who can be against us? (Rom. 8:31b)

 

 

3) SAMSON

Very strange gifts & calling. He was told not to cut his hair as HIS STRENGTH is in his long hair of consecration until he fell into temptation with Delilah & got his hair shorn & lost his power

His Gift of Power hath a condition…to keep his hair long

In the dungeon unknown to the Philistines Samson hair started to grow again

Judges 16:22

“Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.”

And he got his power again!

God overlooked the weakness of Samson because His gift is without repentance

Look at God’s Word in Hebrews roll call of Faith

“And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:”

And so were many others to whom God gave Gifts

To Joseph “dreams”

To King Solomon “wisdom”

And to all

“Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”

 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

⁴ Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

To young Timothy Paul exhort

 ^“Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.”

So listen my dearly beloved brothers & sisters

It is not whether we are worthy or not but God who call and back up His call by His gifts and unfailing promises.

And in His Will with His Gifts we are victorious

As George Whitefield said, “We are invincible as long as our work on earth is not yet accomplished”

Yes, Moses, Elijah, Joseph and even Samson were all invincible in their times when they were doing God’s works with God’s Gift in His Will

Amen & Amen