We all must learn Humility before honor.

You can be naturally and spiritually gifted and know some or all things in your world. However the true tests comes when the fruits of the Spirit are produced.

I am not talking about the fruits or results from meetings, writings, prayers; or even those who win souls. There is a high spiritual plane that must go so, so, so very low in our own estimation.

Does this seem like a paradox? It is clear in scripture and anyone who has accepted the call has only just begun.

“Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by [his] fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” Matthew 12:33-34 KJV.

I am talking about the fruit of the Spirit. No man can be gifted to maturity by Spiritual DNA.

What gifts you are born with and spiritually given are not what I am saying here. You must learn and grow into maturity through life’s many tests, trials and tribulations.

Maturity comes with a high price. We must yield and learn to walk it out. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and tutor and takes us through His training.

“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts,” Galatians 5:19-24 KJV.

Striving against the winds of adversity, going against the grain, going against the flow and pressing towards the mark of the high calling in Christ, gives us the Spiritual substance we learn and grow by.

ALL of those who strive for the mastery, excellence in kingdom authority, with great maturity, must come through death experiences.

We must learn to die daily. Responding correctly to such negative experiences, will be where the rubber meets the road! Seemingly negative experiences in our lives can be the catalyst to produce the positive.

We cannot walk in resurrection power until we die. It is through such death that we have learned to rise to newness of life in His authority.

“And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily,” 1 Corinthians 15:30-31 KJV.

Scripture tells us by reason of use our senses are exercised to discern both good and evil. There is head knowledge in life. People can acquire knowledge through reading and knowing of the word of God.

There is spiritual exercise, and we grow spiritual muscle by walking out the word of God in our lives. Becoming the word of God “WORD becoming flesh in us” should be our main goal in life.

There are many more things that makes us fully grounded, fully usable and authentic. Within our body, soul and spirit, God has gifted us with natural things.

For example we have talents to paint artistically or being an Olympic runner. We may be gifted to speak or sing. Our natural abilities are seen easily seen as we grow up from childhood.

As we grow up into adults we may have found some that have been dormant.

“Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD,” Jeremiah 1:4-8 KJV.

God has also placed spiritual DNA in our soul. Our soul is what makes us unique; it is our mind, will, intellect and personality.

However if we are not taught, or we haven’t learned things right in the church, sometimes we will try to promote ourselves ahead of His schedule. He is the author and finisher of our faith; also all the time in between.

If we or others, attempt to promote ourselves, it can be so damaging to us and to others. In our ignorance and zeal, we think we know what is best. We should never lose the wonderment of God and the amazing ways he teaches us.

However in our exuberance and zeal, we may also think we are ready to preach to the masses! In our ignorance, we can’t figure out why the people aren’t excited like you are. Zeal without knowledge is not good.

You got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost! That is so wonderful and have an awareness of God you never knew before!

Now you are so excited and suddenly amazed that God’s word is so clear! You think you know the path of God.

Once received, we get full of the Holy Ghost we try to promote ourselves or try to promote others that we think we are in a click or club we want. We got saved and suddenly things are moving and we have bible studies and wonder why others don’t see what we see. or know what we know.

In 1984 while living on Guam, was when I personally was filled with the Holy Ghost and fire! I was gloriously filled with electric fire like lightning bolts! My life was gloriously wrecked forever and changed and nobody could tell me different! You can find that glorious testimony in my archives if interested.

Afterwards, I was visiting a Christian Servicemen’s center. A Brother David Vanoy ran a mission on Guam, out of Church Of God of Cleveland Tennessee.

I was involved in ministry there and met my first African American Woman of God who preached and ministered a conference. You have to understand this, I never heard of women preachers or prophets etc and I was shocked at this revelation, because I learned some wrong doctrine in the Baptist church that states that women cannot be preachers or speak.

I struggled with that because, I believed God told me I was chosen to minister. I argued with the Lord many years over that doctrine, and finally I received the truth about women in ministry,

I had a bible study on base handed to me, I asked if the Lady Minister from the mission could come and speak with us there at the base chapel. After I got Holy Ghost filled and on fire, the Bible Study I went to in the morning was handed over to me by the Pastor’s wife. She asked me to lead it. I don’t think she knew what she was asking for.

Where I went to church services on base, these were very subdued. These services I attended off base had a freedom and flair of being alive! There was praise and worship that I hadn’t been exposed to. It was real and authentic.

After experiencing a gusher untapped personally, here comes a live wire! Sherry with all her zeal without knowledge! Needless to say, the Bible study got fired up. Women got saved, healed and filled. I thought wow, this Holy Ghost thing is so real, and I never knew how real God could be in this life.

Looking back, and learning the lessons, afterwards the typical thing that happened was, the Pastor on base comes to me and tells me I can’t talk about controversial things. At the time I didn’t know what controversial things were.

I pointed out to him that everything I did or said was in the Bible, but that didn’t seem to matter to him. I went through a hard lesson with him and didn’t come through very godly.

My zeal was without knowledge and I got hurt. Being new to this Holy Ghost stuff, I had a lot to learn and still do. As long as we live on this earth we will always be learning.

After salvation and being filled with the Holy Ghost is like striking oil in a oil derrick the first time. We press and drill and drill until we hit oil then once the oil is hit, it causes a gushing all over the place!

All of that oil caused a massive amount of rejoicing for what they drilled for, they hit it! However, once that rejoicing occurs, the crew needs to tap the oil derrick and place a pump on it. Once that pump is set up, it is sent to be productive and refined sent in all the right directions and places.

God doesn’t want to waste one drop of His Holy Ghost in your lives! Yes we get filled with the Holy Ghost but a lot of times we fail to see that we only just begun to live in Christ! Paul even started out full of zeal that the religious wanted to kill him!

“If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands,” 2 Corinthians 11:30-33 KJV.

Trying to make ourselves ready with zeal is not good. Maturity is the key to the fruits of the spirit. Maturity comes from Holy Ghost training. It takes time, but is well worth it. Training is never wasted times and God wants to train us so well, that we will be prepared so well, we won’t fail!

In conclusion, it is better to say nothing if you have not learned humility. God will take us through life and death experiences over and over before we can ever arise with his likeness and his authority.

It is Kingdom Authority that He wants to manifest through His blood bought sons of the living God! Look for those who are heavy with the fruits of His Holy Ghost. In Jesus name!

“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk [is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, [even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil,” Hebrews 12:5-14 KJV

 

In HIS Grace and Mercy,
~ Sherry Edwards Mackey

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Sherry Edwards Mackey
Please Note: Publications and or prophecy taken from this may be used to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. The articles taken must be used according to it’s entirety with credits. Thank you kindly!

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