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The Parable of the Two Generals and the Old Wise King

This week’s weekly devotional is a parable, inspired by a message I sent out last year, called “Believe This!” (You can click on this link to read it again)

An Old Wise King was once at war, as kings often were, in those days. The Old Wise King, being Old, was not in the fray, but, being Wise, he was following, with great interest, every move of his two most highly positioned generals, leading the war. His well-trained messengers were running to and fro daily, bringing him reports and delivering his advice.

His interest in the war was not so much for whether or not he would be victorious, for he had seen many wars, and the outcome of this one was clear to him from the beginning. No, his interest was mostly in observing the behaviour of his two generals. The man who had served him as his Chief of Defense from his youth, had grown old like himself, and had asked to be allowed to spend his last days with his children and grandchildren. And so, the Old Wise King was using this war, to select his next Chief of Defense.

The Old Wise King’s enemy was no novice to war either, and he soon perceived that he was fighting not so much against these two generals, but against the wisdom of the Old Wise King. So he started a campaign of carefully intercepting some of the messages that were coming from the Old Wise King to his two generals, altering these, and then sending them on their way again. He had succeeded in bribing some of the enemy’s messengers, and so he could get his altered messages delivered by the Old Wise King’s very own messengers.

The two generals soon became aware of the fact that this was happening, but they found it very difficult to know whether the messages they received were their own Old Wise King’s real instructions, or whether they had been altered.

The Old Wise King, in the meanwhile, also found out about this, and he greatly increased the number of his communications to his two generals. He thought about every communication carefully, and created such a consistency in his communication that it would become possible for someone who had worked with him before, like these generals had, to follow his instructions correctly in general, even if some of the details might sometimes be altered. He knew that it would be impossible for his enemy to intercept all of, or even the most of these instructions, and so he felt confident that enough of his instructions would reach the front unaltered, to ensure the victory.

The one general was very experienced and considered himself very wise. He had fought many wars, and as soon as he learnt of the fact that messages were being altered, he decided to begin to ignore most of the communication from the king. He began to fight the war using the wisdom and experience of his years. He would still read the communication, but would only follow the advice that confirmed decisions he was already planning to execute.

The other general, being much younger and less confident in his own wisdom and experience, started studying every message very carefully. He began to keep the messages, and studied them so well that he could almost recite some of them word for word. He soon noticed the increase in communication, and he also noticed that although there were some messages that he couldn’t always quite fit into the plans, a large number of the messages seemed to form a consistent message. And so he decided to place his confidence in his Old Wise King’s ability to get the messages to him. He would make every effort to identify the messages that were clearly out of line, and often questioned the messengers extensively, but generally, he continued to respond to the messages as well as he could.

“It is my responsibility to fight this war. It is the Old Wise King’s responsibility to get his messages to me clearly.” He said to himself.

The wise old general fought a good war, and with a few mishaps here and there, prevailed and eventually drove back the enemy on his front.

The young apparently less wise general also had a few mishaps, as he sometimes followed instructions that had been altered, and so led his people into a few ambushes. But with the wisdom that he’d gained from following the other instructions, he succeeded every time in getting them out of those, and after some time, he also prevailed.

The two victorious generals returned to the city of their Old Wise King, and were welcomed with great fanfare. The very next day, the Old Wise King called them and listened carefully to their accounts of the war. He took a special interest in their response to the interception of the messages.

He felt a sense of gratefulness for the wisdom of the young general, who had so much trust in his Old Wise King that he continued to make every effort to follow the instructions. And so he appointed him as his new Chief of Defence. As for the older and wiser general, having no urgent wars to fight, and being older, although not quite very old yet, he sent him on early retirement.

Lots of Love

Ashton

Who's on what side?

Peter Rasmussen mentioned on Sunday evening that some of us, despite having been saved, have had our minds battered by sin. He spoke about the rafters of our house that could be infested by the white ants of habitual sin. Even though I could be born again, there remains this hidden sin that is ever ready to suddenly make the roof cave in on my head.

This suddenly jolted my mind into realizing afresh, what we so easily forget, which is that God is for me and against sin. God does not see me as my sin, just like the owner of the house sees the white ants (and not the house) as the problem. He does not ask of me to feel guilty when I do something wrong. Jesus did not die on the cross so that every time I think of it, I can feel guilty about “my sin nailing Him to the cross.” He did it so that the burden of the sin can be instantaneously removed, allowing me to run straight to Him for the strength to now fight back against this sin.

Rom 8:1 There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus.

I’d like to paraphrase this into more “normal” English to saying: “There is no reason to feel guilty ...”

Next time you stumble, instead of feeling guilty, rather remember this:

Heb 4:15 Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. (16) Let us have confidence, then, and approach God's throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.

God the Father, Jesus Christ and you, are on the same side. The devil and sin, are on the other side. Never fall into the trap of thinking that you and your sin are on the one side, and God is on the other side. When you sin, be grateful for the work of the cross, confess as quickly as you can, run into God’s open arms and ask Him for strength to squeeze that sin out of your life.

To make use of this amazing gift, however, you have to be a Child of God. If you have never given your life to Jesus, why don’t you close your eyes right where you are, surrender your life to Him, and ask Him to wash away your sin, allowing you to enter into this new life without guilt, that He promises.

Love

Ashton

Our Different Love

In this world love has to do with, and depends upon the target of the love. We love ice-cream because it tastes good. When we first start learning about romantic love, it's all about that person. What that person looks like, what she does, how she treats me and so on and so forth. If I were to add some salt to your ice cream, you are likely to stop liking that ice-cream. When my high-school sweet-heart turns out to have a knack for losing her temper and calling me names, the love would be simply turned off, never to return.

The point that I am trying to illustrate is that the source and the target of the love is the same. We only love the person because of certain characteristics of that person. When that person changes significantly, our love for him or her ceases.

The difference between this, and Christian love for people, is that with Christian love, the source and the target are different. The source of our love is God, and the targets of our love are the people around us. The power of this is that our love becomes totally independent of the characteristics of the people. So if the person that God sends across my path is everything that I wouldn't normally like, it does not stop me from being able to love that person. The source of my love continues unchanged.

Jesus said:

Joh 17:7 and now they know that everything you gave me comes from you.

And he said:

Joh 13:34 And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

So if everything that Jesus received, came from the Father, then so did His love for us. And we are instructed to love each other in the same way i.e. with the love that comes from the Father.

This sounds easy in theory - it's a bit more of a challenge in practice. It takes some faith and a lot of grace, but here is the promise to remember.

Ask God to become the source of your love.

Eze 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh

Is there someone you need to love, but you are finding it difficult? Pray that God will do the work, and begin to create that love within you, that He would take out the hardness, and replace it with His heart of love and compassion.

Love

Ashton

The Importance of Prayer in Ministry

“The pride of learning is against the dependent humility of prayer... Every [Christian] who does not make prayer a mighty factor in his own life and ministry is weak as a factor in God’s work and is powerless to project God’s cause in this world.”

Men of Prayer Needed, E.M. Bounds

I will never forget one specific evening at a youth meeting. We had invited another youth group to come and minister to ours. I remember not being very impressed with the worship they had just led us through. Their band was sloppy and I really didn’t get the impression that anyone of them was doing anything other than trying to impress us. There seemed to be no desire to truly enter into God's presence at all.

A young man stood up to minister the word to us, but because of the quality of their worship team, my expectations were low and I sat back, ready to pass the time by preparing my own sermon based on the scripture he was about to share.

The young man opened the Bible, and started reading a scripture. As he began to speak my insides felt as if they were jumping up inside of me and the tears welled up in my eyes as the Spirit of God ministered with more power than what I had ever felt, at any time, from someone simply reading a scripture.

I do not remember the scripture. I cannot even remember if he preached after that. But I will never forget the impact that there was from the annointing with which that young man read that scripture.

I have no doubt that, that young man had spent time, serious time, hours, maybe days, before a Living God with whom he had a very close relationship. I believe he had waited until God had burnt that scripture into his spirit so that when he opened his mouth and spoke, the power that came with it was not the power of reading a scripture. It was like compressed annointing that had been shut up within him, which was suddenly released. His lips had truly been touched by the coal from the altar.

May I encourage you to not underestimate the power with which God is busy endowing you, when you spend time in His Presence, in preparation for ministry.

Love

Ashton

Believe THIS!

When asking God for guidance, trying to live the right life and trying to hear His voice, we can often get caught up in wondering whether we heard right. This sort of thinking can quickly cause spiritual paralysis. But I do not recall any scripture where God actually commands us to hear right.

My Sheep Hear My Voice

A promise springs to mind: “My sheep hear my voice.” This is not a command, it’s a promise.

This observation seems to me to be in line with one of the facets of God’s character, which is to never ask of us to do something which we have no ability to control. It is impossible for me to make myself hear right, or wrong. I can only practice to listen as well as possible.

Two Things To Believe Regarding Guidance

So one of the most encouraging scriptures I have found which puts your heart right at ease over this whole big issue, is this:

Heb 11:6 And without faith it is not possible to be well-pleasing to him, for it is necessary for anyone who comes to God to have the belief that God is, and that he is a rewarder of all those who make a serious search for him.

Here, God asks us only to believe two things:

1) That He IS.

2) That He is a rewarder of those who search for Him seriously.

So instead of worrying about whether I am hearing right, I worry about whether I can honestly say that I am seeking Him with all my heart, mind and strength. If I am doing THAT, then I can believe that He will reward me – and speaking to me clearly is only one of the many, many rewards that I can expect from that.

Do this, and you will please Him – regardless of whether you heard right or wrong. Pleasing Him, is after all what our entire lives are all about.

Love

Ashton

The Soil which God Blesses

Heb 6:7 God blesses the soil which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and which grows plants that are useful to those for whom it is cultivated.

Reading this verse from the back is a great way to get one of those “Steps to blessing” recipes that we love so much in our western logical minds.

The first thing we see here, starting at the back of the verse, is that there are people who are the target:

“for whom it is cultivated”

Heb 6:7 God blesses the soil which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and which grows plants that are useful to those for whom it is cultivated.

So the first question we have to ask ourselves, is simply: “Who is it that I am going to be ministering to / blessing / giving to / helping?”

The next thing when we move a step towards the beginning of the verse, is that we see it talks about:

“plants that are useful.”

Heb 6:7 God blesses the soil which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and which grows plants that are useful to those for whom it is cultivated.

Once I know who I want to deal with, I need to get to know them well enough to figure out what would be useful to them. What do they need, require, want or desire? It is therefore critical that we try to get to know the people we will be working with, as well as possible, so that a relationship of trust can develop. In that way, we can begin to know what will be useful to them. People don’t often reveal their needs to strangers.

We must also always spend time praying and waiting, for God will often reveal to us what would be useful to them.

The next step back is the word:

“grow”

Heb 6:7 God blesses the soil which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and which grows plants that are useful to those for whom it is cultivated.

Growing very seldom is “Jack and the Beanstalk” type growth, “and tomorrow it touches the sky.” Growth generally happens over a period of time, and it happens almost imperceptibly. Growth is best observed by focusing on doing the right things and occasionally observing the growth. If you watch it all the time, you get frustrated.

Picking a fruit too early means that it will simply go bad before ever being edible. Trying to sit under the shade of a three month old tree is more frustrating than helpful. Growth requires time and wisdom: Time to grow and wisdom to know when is the best time to pick the fruit and present it, or the best time to go across and say “Here is some shade for you from the sun.”

This is also why it is important to develop the gifts that God gives you, over time, because although at first, your fruit might seem small, and the growth process long, there soon comes a time when you suddenly find that the whole tree is covered with fruit, and shade is plentiful. Then you can see a need and meet it immediately – the fruit is ready – in fact so plentiful that you can’t keep up with giving it away.

You can see the home-cell as a nursery and research centre. This is where you can test the fruit. Pick it, serve it, and if it’s green, there will be no harm done other than a few faces pulling a bit sour. But we are family and will get over it, encouraging you to try again soon.

The next step back in this verse, is a powerful encouragement:

“the rain that often falls on it.”

Heb 6:7 God blesses the soil which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and which grows plants that are useful to those for whom it is cultivated.

The rain is God’s Spirit, God feeding us, God giving us all that is needed to grow. The encouraging part of this is that this verse clearly simply presents, as a fact, that this rain falls often. There is no dependency clause here. The rain does not fall often when God decides, or when we deserve, or based on any other condition that we need to meet. It simply falls often. Always. No end. No favouritism. It has been my experience that this rain falls whenever I spend time to come before God, and often even in between.

Then it talks about:

“drinks in.”

Heb 6:7 God blesses the soil which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and which grows plants that are useful to those for whom it is cultivated.

The rain must be taken in, digested, and worked out to the various parts of the plant, for growth to take place. We must take time to sit and drink. Reading the Word prayerfully, praying for the “for whom it is cultivated” and waiting on God for guidance, wisdom, insight and revelation, simply sitting in God’s presence, soaking in His anointing, attending church services and home cell, listening to teaching, reading Christian books -- all of these things are the sources of the rain, but we must “drink it in” if we are going to be making a difference. I have found that one’s mental and spiritual attitude is amazingly changed when you take a short passage of scripture, become still and quiet in a place where you are not disturbed, and simply start focusing all your thoughts on it, word for word, phrase for phrase, sentence for sentence. Soon you can literally feel your whole body becoming saturated with the truth of that scripture.

Then it talks about:

"soil. "

Heb 6:7 God blesses the soil which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and which grows plants that are useful to those for whom it is cultivated.

Well, that’s us. We are made from soil, and we will return to soil. Within ourselves we are nothing else. We don’t have the rain, we don’t even have the seed. All is given us by God’s grace. We are just the soil. We must just drink and begin to cultivate and grow those plants.

When all of that is in place, we get to the beginning of the verse, and we see that then, “God blesses.”

So get out there, figure out who you want to serve, get to know what would be useful for them, begin to grow those fruit by drinking in the rain that God gives you often, and enjoy God’s blessing!

Heb 6:7 God blesses the soil which drinks in the rain that often falls on it and which grows plants that are useful to those for whom it is cultivated.

Love

Ashton