From out of the e-mail from Ray to Robin, Ray kindly presents a sequence of scriptures for consideration from which this one verse particularly strikes me as revealed through the Concordant version:
Phi 4:12
I am aware what it is to be humbled as well as aware what it is to be superabounding. In everything and among all am I initiated, to be satisified as well as to be hungering, to be superabounding as well as to be in want."This is very revealing. Paul says that he
knows what it is to be humbled. Do we know? Do I know? Have I known? Am I finding out? NO and YES. In the past I have thought being humbled was my bad luck, bad karma, being punished, getting what I deserved, feeling like a victim,that made me defensive while blaming others all because I did
not know and could
not see God. God says ABSOLUTELY Isa 45 : 7
I form the light and crate darkness; I make peace, national well-being and I create physical evil, calamity; I am the Lord, Who does all these things. Isa 46 : 10 Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure and purpose. RELATIVE to us, the above scripture can make us do and think all sorts of stupid foolish things!
..before we get/I got edified and shown the meanings and significance and insights of these scriptures here in BT and in Rays teachings. We know that the Church does not teach that God is Sovereign and they miss out on this Scripture!
So before I got dragged here, I too did not know that God is the potter and I am the clay. I was full of myself. The self part is not going to go away either until Jesus returns. But when I was very thick and very full of my self the world loved me. Then I got empty as God turned me on His potters wheel. I got confused, dizzy and hopeless as God drove a hole right into my self assurance with his thumbs as easy as a hot knife through butter.
Everything I had believed became empty.
God made me get thinner on myself through a process that continues....
I thank God he brought me to BT. As I read Ray’s teachings I saw that God controls EVERYTHING and that it is my ignorance to blame, accuse and compare myself with other vessels that GOD is making. As I begin to see that EVERYONE is in GODS control I am starting to understand that when I get slapped down by a person it is not because God was not looking, or that I was not praying hard enough or that I< I< I< did something to earn pain or disappointment or grievances…but that it is all from GOD….not me, me, me as the Church would have me believe. It is GOD who is Sovereign…NOT ME! It is HE who knows the beginning from the end, ….not ME.
PAUL GOT! HE KNEW THIS! HE WROTE…..
among all am I initiated, to be satisified as well as to be hungering, to be superabounding as well as to be in want."………..Paul was initiated with the knowledge of God’s Sovereignty. Paul was
satisfied when hungering and superabounding in want…WHY….because he knew…Ray also knows….we are still learning!
I still at first see the person and not the hand of God when things do not go MY way….I am getting better though
…I still see the sickness and not the plan of God when I feel helpless for others pains and sufferings rather than seeing the love of God in action in the lives of them who are being judged now…
I still do not enjoy pain or sickness, loss or dismay, suffering or tauma and it is still difficult to see that these things God takes full responsibility over and it is as we who God will bring to account for how we respond! Do we hate God or know and understand Him. That is for God to decide. He is the potter and there are pots being made for God glory and God's wrath!
With Paul and Ray…Much has been given by God to them.....God has revealed Himself, removed the obscurity of veiled bllindness showing that we are NOT creatures of free will..... and WE are blessed to share in the insightful knowledge and teachings we have been placed by God's hand to receive through Ray's teachings that expose to our minds, hearts, eyes and ears, Ray's knowledge and comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God. Yes truly Christ is being written into our hearts MG.
Even as our brother Dwight in an another thread was
caused to present...1 Peter 1 12
.....It is these very things which have now already been made known plainly to you by those who preached the good news, to you by the same Holy Spirit sent from heaven . Into these things the very angels long to look! It is our eyes that see into what the angels have longed to look! We are indeed blessed beyond merit but not outside the bounds of HIS love!
When Paul was superabounding, he could still say he was in want because he was never SELF SUFFICINT. Self sufficiency is the mark of a fool. When Paul was superabounding he was at the same time in want because of his dependence on Christ that had become ceaseless and detatched from Pauls circumstantial lack or abundance. CHRIST was Pauls supply in all circumstances in prison or out of prison. Paul was
initiated with Gods stamp of Sovereignty. This is a Hallmark of wisdom and Pauls comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God that his epistles bring to us in exhortation, encouragement and edification.
Proverbs 12 : 8
A man shall be commended according to his Wisdom, godly Wisdom, which is comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God,….Ecc 3 : 14
I know that whatever God does, it endures; nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. And GOD DOES IT so that men will reverently fear HIM, revere and worship HIM, knowing that He IS. Ecc 12 : 13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, revere and worship HIM, knowing that He IS….Paul knew it! Peter too was in Gods purpose.
1 Peter 4 : 8
Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins, forgives and disregards the offences of others…..In other words….see GOD in EVERYTHING! In all circumstances ups and downs…He is the potter we are on the wheel for a short time that is all!
Among others in the OT someone else got the revelation that God is sovereign….God told Habakkuk 1 : 5
Look around you, among the nations and see! And be ASTONISHED! ASTOUNDED! For I am putting into effect a work in your days such that you would not believe it if it were told you……and then God SHOWED him….Astonished...ASTOUNDED....kind of how I felt as I read Ray's teachings..
Then once Habakkuk got it he wrote : 3 : 17
Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, though the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the flood and there are no cattle in the stalls, 18 YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD; I WILL EXULT IN THE VICTORIOUS GOD OF MY SALVATION. 19 The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; he makes my feet like hinds feet and will make me to walk not to stand still in terror, but to walk and make spiritual progress upon my high places of trouble, suffering or responsibility. God showed Habakkuk that HE is Sovereign. Paul knew it. Ray teaches it!
As we suffer and strain in the kiln of the potters fires we can look ahead to the fact that Jesus when He comes, it is He who will fill us, it is He who is our strength, personal bravery, army making our feet walk in spiritual progress upon our high places of trouble and suffering. We can look forward to HIS return with expectant hearts of joy and as Jackie Lee notes...praying by God's rules is an insightful aid in our race towards His return.
Hurry up Lord! We are looking for you with great excitement and anticipation! as we learn patience, long suffering and endurance....as You bring us to know that whether inside Your consuming fire or on the shelf of abounding supply...we still need YOU.
Peace to you
Arcturus