Not By Might Nor By Power – Devotional for December 3, 2010

My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power . . . —1 Corinthians 2:4

Human wisdom is grounded in experience. That’s why “older and wiser” run together. Generally those who have experienced the most, demonstrate the most wisdom. And there’s the rub. Human wisdom is also limited by experience. That’s why we should never base our discussion of Christ on our experience alone. Even if we have walked with Him for years, we can experience only a morsel of all that He is. This is not to say we shouldn’t share our testimony, our experience. We certainly should. But we should make clear that we are relating what God did in OUR lives. Leaving open the possibility He may do differently and greater in the life of another. 
Nor should we rely on our “clever” or “precise” recitation of our experience. Rather we should rely on the Holy Spirit to pick the words and the time of their speaking. Only He knows what the need and state of the listener is.
God is reality. We must be rooted in Him. Our hope for others is that they too will learn of Him and be rooted in Him and not just in our experience of Him. If another believes God is only as we have experienced Him then when their experience varies from ours, they will be shaken. Once you are rooted in reality, nothing can shake you. If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith. But nothing can ever change God or the reality of redemption. Base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God Himself. Once you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will never be moved again. 
Nick

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