Putting Childish Things Away

 (Health, Healing and Finance)

1 Corinthians 13:11, NIV: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”

Children are not born talking like adults. They start with babbling-ta,ba, ma, etc until they are able to form words to communicate their needs. Most of the time they cry to get the attention of the adults around them to meet their needs.

They learn to communicate with adults from the stimulus they get from hearing from their parents and the environment around them.

As a parent however, you expect a gradual development from babyhood, where they always cry to get what they want, to when they actually tell you what they want instead of keeping you guessing. If they are not talking at the age of to three, as a parent, you will become concerned, would you not? Also at some stage in their lives you would your children to go and get food from the fridge and eat and eventually be able to stand on their feet, so to speak.

All truths are parallel. Life is spiritual.

God wants us (those born again), to grow up from babyhood to adolescence to adulthood.

He wants us to grow in grace and stop talking like children it thinking like children or reasoning like children but put childish things away.

That is the thrust of our key scripture:

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” 1 Corinthians 13:11

God said, “My children are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6

Knowledge of God is derived from His word. God is married and tied to His word. The extent to which you know and practice His word is the extent to which you know Him. ( Jer9:24)

This is why we need to daily meditate on His word so much so that it is registered, imprinted on our hearts and regulates our speaking. His word says, “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. (Josh1:8, 1Tim.4:15, Col3:16, John15:7 Luke6:45, Matt12:35)

We are supposed to speak in line with the Word of God, God’s mind and will for us, not whatever we feel or see.  ²⁸      Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: (Num14:28) Those who died in the wilderness got what they spoke. In the same way, when you speak life, you will get life. We speak wisdom.

⁷      But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,

1Cor2:7

Paul and Silas were divinely directed to go to Philippi. There they preached the word of God so powerfully that some religious and satanic spirits were stirred against them. They were falsely accused and badly beaten with rods and thrown into a dungeon of a prison.

A babe in Christ would have been crying and moaning in the prison and accusing God of directing them ‘from the frying pan into fire’.

Instead what did they do?

At midnight, to they began to pray and sing and they did not do it quietly. The other prisoners heard them (Acts16:25). The aroma of their Praise rose up to God as a sweet smelling savour and God, in delight, sent an earthquake that rocked the foundation of the prison to set them free. 

Their response to trouble, trial and calamity with songs of praise and prayer was akin to talking like an adult, reasoning like an adult and understanding as an adult and they evoked and triggered God’s power.

The result was that they were not just delivered miraculously, but their response resulted in the salvation of the prison warden and his entire household. And there was great joy and feasting and God was glorified. They fulfilled their mission and destiny regardless of the suffering trial and tribulation. It is said that it is not what you face that matter but the way you respond to it. They responded positively, did the ridiculous and obtained the miraculous.

Try it and you too will see the miraculous in your life. Jesus Christ is still the same, yesterday today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

Let us look back at the story of the 12 spies sent to spy the Promised Land and bring a report in Numbers 13 and 14.

Ten of the spies brought an evil report because they forgot Who was on their side. They focused on the giants and exaggerated what they saw and made most of the people wail and lament being brought out of Egypt.

“We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

²⁸           Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. (Num.13 v27 -28)

³¹   But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”

³²   And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.

³³   There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

“Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.” ( Num.14:4)

On the other hand, Caleb and Joshua took sides with God and spoke like “adults” and God was impressed with them.

³⁰   Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

⁶      But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;

⁷      and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.

⁸      If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’

⁹      Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them.”

This was why whilst others died in the wilderness, Caleb and Joshua survived and entered the Promised Land.

⁷      “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me.

²⁸   Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you:

²⁹   The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.Num14:27-29

This is a great lesson for us believers. Unless we know who we are and what we have and Whose we are, we will either lack knowledge or be ignorant and the consequences are not worth contemplating.  It is worth noting that ignorance is not lack of knowledge but ignoring the knowledge that you know. And that is tantamount to being a fool.

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. Ps14:1

God does not want us to be fools. Those who come to Him must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Heb.11:6)

We have a glorious inheritance in Christ.

³²“So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Acts 20:32

Paul’s mission was: ¹⁸           to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me. Acts26:18

We are blessed with every spiritual blessings..

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Eph1:3

A Heavenly Inheritance

³      Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

⁴      to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

1Pet1:3-4

We have exceeding Great and Precious Promises. We are partaker of the divine nature.

³      as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

⁴      by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2Pet.1:3-4

All things are ours. (1Cor3:21) We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.

 ( Rom.8:17)

So Divine Health is ours. Healing is the bread of children. (Matt 13:19-22)

Unless we know this truth and walk in it we will remain babes, babbling and weak, and sick frequently and requiring healing whilst God’s will for us is to walk in health. But when we grab a hold of our inheritance in Christ we will not be moved by what we see or feel. We will command our body to line up with the word of God. We will not wait until feel pain to use God’s Word as medication for meditation. We will use it daily and remain in health according to the word of God.

² Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3John 1:2

Notice two things: “Above all” and “Being in health”. Being in health is God’s perfect will for you. If you are not convinced about this, you will accommodate and pet sickness and disease in your body.

 Do you know that to say,” I am sick.” Is baby talk?  (Isa 33:24)

We know we were healed by His stripes (Isa53:4, 1Pet2:24) and if we were healed, we are healed. When we grow to be adults, we will stand on the revealed truth that we are the temple of God and sickness and disease cannot dwell in the temple of God. We know that those who are joined to the Lord become one Spirit with Him.1Cor.6:17 The life that flows through the Vine flows through the branches ⁵      “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John15:5.

So What Do You Do when You are Attacked?

We are in a spiritual warfare. Use your weapons of warfare ( 2Cor10:3-4, Eph6:10-17). The best form of defence is to attack. Do not wait to be sick. Use the word of God to ward-off sickness and disease. Eat the right food. Have enough rest. Be voracious for the Word of God. Feed your faith and not your fear. The just shall live by faith. (Romans1:17)

Speak to your systems and organs to comply with the Word of God -your medicine.

The same applies to our finances. We apply the principles of God’s word and we are confident that our needs will be met according to His riches in glory (Ps1:1, 4, Phil4:19, Ps37:23, Luke 6:38). We do not speak out of turn because of any temporary set-backs. We keep affirming the faithfulness of God Who never fails.

We grow in grace from Infancy to Maturity, babyhood to adulthood (2Pet.3:18). When we were children, we spoke as children, reasoned as children, and understood as children. But when we became adults, we put childish things away. (1Cor13:11)

Seeing the Invisible

So my friend, meditate on God’s word daily. Refuse to be moved by what you see or feel or the other senses but by the infallible, living, powerful and dynamic Word of life and win any day anywhere and anytime. Talk right and live the victorious and higher life ordained for you.

¹⁶   Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

¹⁷   For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,

¹⁸   while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

1 Corinthians 13:11, NIV: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”

Talk like Paul:

Cast Down but Unconquered

⁷      But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

⁸      We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

⁹      persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed —

¹⁰   always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 2Cor4:7-10

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

God’s Everlasting Love

³¹   What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

³²   He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

³⁵   Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

³⁷   Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

³⁸   For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

³⁹   nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom8:28,32,35,37-39

²⁴           But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

When you become an adult in Christ, you will not say “I am sick.” You know It does not line up with the mind and will of God for you. You say what God said about you, regardless of how you feel or experience. You use the word of God to countermand any circumstance that is contrary to the will of God.

²⁴           And the inhabitant will not say, “I am sick”; The people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity. Isa33:24

This is how an adult in Christ speaks.

We know we were healed by His stripes and if we were healed, we are healed. ( Isa53:4-5, 1Pet2:24) We will stand on the revealed truth that we are the temple of God and sickness cannot dwell in the temple of God. We know that those who are joined to the Lord become one spirit with Him (1Cor6:17). The life that flows through the Vine flows through the branches (John15:5). You speak (like Ezekiel spoke to the valley of dry bones)  to your systems and organs to comply with the Word of God -your medicine.

You need to know that eternal life does not harbour sickness.

¹³           These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 1John5:13

John- the beloved tells us:

        For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. 1John5:4

He also shows us that there are different stages in our spiritual growth:

Their Spiritual State

¹²   I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.

¹³   I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father.

¹⁴   I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one. 1John2:12-14

Aspire to grow from being a child to being a father and able to beget others as you lead them to Christ and nurture them with the truth you have learnt so that they also grow into adulthood.

The writer of Hebrews also allude to the need for spiritual growth and progressing from milk to the meat of God’s word.

Spiritual Immaturity

¹²   For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

¹³   For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

¹⁴   But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Heb.5:12-14

Let Us pray:

Heavenly Father, I thank You that I am joined with You and sickness and disease cannot be joined with Your temple. My body and my systems and organs align with Your word at all times. Your Word is my medication for meditation day and night and I am made every wit whole. I am strong in You and in Your mighty power. No weapon fashioned against me shall prosper, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Thank You also that all things are mine and I am blessed with every spiritual blessing. You supply all my needs according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I am blessed to be a blessing to You, Your house and my world. I receive divine ideas for increase and prosperity and I lack nothing good, because You are my Shepherd, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.