Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
The natural tendency of a human being is to be lazy and to take the path of least resistance. We have forces, such as upbringing, culture, personal drive, a situation, events, etc., that help to shape the natural tendency from one of least resistance to one of achievement. However, ultimately, it comes down to the individual and their free will. There are a lot of individuals who think of themselves as achievers, in their own minds, but to those that know or observe them, the opposite is true. As Believers, what does God expect of us?
For the past few weeks, The Holy Spirit has been impressing “excellence” in my soul. I find when The Holy Spirit is impressing something, it means I have a fault that must be addressed or there is something coming requiring excellence in my life or God is speaking something to me to share with His Children. I’m still working with The Holy Spirit to determine which of the aforementioned is being addressed. I’ve learned in dealing with The Holy Spirit, He uses different methods to teach or instruct me. Sometimes the answer just comes up within me. Other times I can be reading The Word, and it appears to me. Other times, I can be working on another subject in Scripture altogether, and it appears to me. And yet other times I can be in the middle of teaching, witnessing, or preaching, and the answer comes to me in what I’m speaking. Lastly, He can catch me up in a vision while I’m engaged in other activities. This has only happened once to me. I was teaching a class and suddenly I was sitting on a mountain ledge next to Jesus Who was explaining “the mustard seed of faith” to me. While I’m sitting on the ledge, I’m also very aware I’m teaching simultaneously. No, I didn’t see Jesus, but I was very aware He was sitting next to me on the ledge.
So, what of excellence? I decided to search The Scriptures for the word “excellence.” These are some of the verses I found.
Proverbs 17:27
He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.
Psalm 8:9
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is Thy Name in all the earth!
Proverbs 8:6
Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
Hebrews 1:4
Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Job 37:23
Touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out: He is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: He will not afflict.
Hebrews 8:6
But now hath He [Jesus] obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
Psalm 36:7
How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.
Psalm 8:1
(To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.) O LORD our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! Who hast set Thy glory above the heavens.
Isaiah 28:29
This also cometh forth from The LORD of hosts, Which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
Isaiah 12:5
Sing unto The LORD; for He hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
Philippians 1:10
That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
So, as we can see from the above list of verses, not exhaustive, “excellence” is part of God’s vocabulary, His Word. It is also one of God’s attributes. In fact, I would go further to say, God is excellence.
I wanted to gain an understanding of what excellence meant in many of the verses above. Rather than go through each verse, I going to list the many definitions of excellence from the above verses:
Majestic
Surpassing
Great
Different
Precious
Rare
Splendid
Weighty
Excellent things
Proud
Make great counsel
Famous
Glorious
Gallant
Noble
Principal
Goodly
Powerful
Worthy
Precious
Splendid
Leader
Ruler
Prince
Master
Stately
Mighty One
Magnificent
Lofty
As we can see, God’s excellence, that which He expects of us, is many, many things. However, every single thing listed above speaks to excellence. What are Believers called by God in Revelation 1:6? Kings and priests. Jesus, through His Passion, made us kings and priests to the Most High God. Jesus is The King and The Great High Priest (Melchizedek). We, as Believers, all serve God The Father and Christ The King and Great High Priest. God has called us to operate as He and His Son operate, with Godly excellence. When I read through the list of definitions of excellence above, it makes me think of a king or a priest.
Most Believers immediately disqualify themselves from operating (thinking, speaking, and acting) with excellence. The first thing out of many Believer’s mouths are, “I can’t be like God. It is too hard.” “I can’t memorize verses, it is too hard.” “I can’t get up early for prayer and devotion, it is too hard.” Yep, you won’t for sure. Your mouth made sure of it. We don’t just click on and off and instantly think, speak, and act like God. It takes us time and development. How? By daily reading The Scriptures, studying The Scriptures, meditating The Scriptures, decreeing The Scriptures, and receiving the promise of The Scriptures. Remember, Romans 10:17 tells us we develop Christ’s faith in us by “hearing The Word.” By making a conscious decision to continually do this, over time we become godly mature. The Scriptures call this “perfect” (II Timothy 3:16-17).
I remember being raised to understand that second place is the first best loser, that if you’re not the lead dog in the pack, the view never changes, and that if we keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result, we’re insane (I call it a faithless Believer). I was also raised on the adage, “success is when preparation meets opportunity.” While these are secular expressions, all of them are grounded in Spiritual Truth. God doesn’t raise losers or fools. What does He call us in Deuteronomy 28? The head and not the tail, above only and not beneath, lenders and not borrowers, a powerful, authoritative people high above all other peoples and nations of the earth, a people called by His Name. This sounds like a winner and a wise man or woman to me. Jesus never lost, never came in second, was never a follower, and only thought, spoke, and acted based upon what He had heard and seen of The Father. At the end of the day, the choice is strictly and only ours. The outcome is solely and entirely upon us. We’ve already been made and declared winners and wise men and women. We need to accept and believe this and set our goals and objectives upon God’s excellence. Are we the five wise virgins or the five foolish virgins? Are we the servant of one talent or the servants of five and two talents who doubled their master’s investment? We must remember, there is an accounting of our “excellence” at The Bema Seat with Christ.
Blessings in Christ Jesus,
Larry