Able Men

Able Men

Exodus 18: 21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:

This is what it takes to be an able person before God, those that fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.

This is what I must do in order to succeed in Christianity; everyone should want to become an able person that God can use to share his wisdom through. To succeed, I must have the drive it takes to be an able person of God and take these things seriously.

An able person is someone that is able to make judgements that are solid, and are confident that they are right.

Num. 13: 30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

31 But the men that went up with him said, we be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

Caleb was an able man before the Lord, solid and confident in what he knew was right; he was able to be positive, because he knew God was on his side.

So long as I am converted and convicted in what I am about, doing Gods will and should be easy and a must, there is no option to be doing anything else.

We are able in that which we believe and give our attention to. If we give our heart mind and soul to the things of this life, then we will become very able worldly people, and if we give our life to those things of God, then we will become very able Godly people.

We need to become someone who knows where they stand with God, someone who is not a hypocrite or two faced.

James 1: 5 if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

I can not become an able person through my own ways and ideas of what an able person is, I must look into Gods word and find the steps of how I should be. When I find the way I must act upon it and do it.

I can’t ask God in my prayer to help me and to forgive me and just go about doing as I have always done. I must be single minded and give my life completely over to doing the will of God in everything I do.

Am I that someone who follows their conscience and is continually educating it through study and prayer?

2 Tim. 2: 15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Study to become someone who is able to rightly divide the word of truth, someone who is able to make judgments that are good and right. If I am not studying then I will always be second guessing my decisions and never able to know if what I am doing is right without asking about everything.

An able person is someone who fears God, is of truth and hating covetousness, and if you were to take one of these things out of the equation, you would then become disabled in the service to God.

It’s like someone who loses an arm or leg; they are no longer able to perform their normal functions as when they were whole. They become physically disabled and are not able to perform as they once did, because there is something missing that is necessary to the way they go about their daily life.

When I lose something that is necessary to the way I serve God, I also lose the ability to carry on and do that which I need to do to serve God in a way that he wants me to serve him.

Fearing God.

Prov. 1: 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The first thing we must have before we can fear him who created us and has our very life in his hand is to believe that he exists. I can not just believe that God is real, and choose not to believe all there is to him.

Many people want to believe in God, but refuse to believe in his word. I can not take parts of the scriptures and dogmatically follow them, while leaving other parts of it undone.

Through study and truly believing in his words, I will find that I can not but fear this great and merciful God.

Once I begin to fear God and realize that in order to be successful in my Christianity I must fear God and do what I need to do in order to conform to his way, then when I go to him in prayer and ask for help or forgiveness it will be something that I will take to heart and want to change and please God.

Ecc. 12: 13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

There is nothing else that I need to do, as long as I am keeping this scripture then I will be a person who is able and righteous before God.

This is all God wants of me, is to be his disciple, someone who is willing to walk in his ways willingly.

Men of Truth

Truth and honesty is also required to be people an able person, someone who is not deceitful with nothing to hide.

An honest person who is right before God has a peace and freedom that is necessary in serving God. I have to know who I am and able to be honest with myself so that I can see myself as God sees me.

Acts 6: 2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.

3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

Seven men who were considered able in their Christianity because of their honesty and way of life. Men that could be counted on and trusted in dealing with the business of the Church, because they took care of their own business and soul first.

Romans 13: 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

The honest man lives a life that he is not ashamed of or wants to hide. Walking honestly, living what I am preaching, if I say that I am living a Godly life, yet my thoughts and desires are that of lust and of the flesh, then my life is not an honest one.

Am I so quick to share with the world all their sins, yet am I either committing or thinking the same sinful thoughts. To walk honestly is to put on Christ and deny the flesh. To be able men who are honest, is to be someone who is living Christianity without hypocrisy.

Hating Covetousness

Coveting something that will give gratification to this flesh, and fulfill the lust of flesh is what covetousness is.

By putting these things up over God, they become an idol to me. Coveting riches, the opposite sex or it could just be "my free time", what ever it is for me I must hate the fact that it is something that is taking away from my service to God.

1 Kings 11: 2 Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.

3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.

4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

Covetousness will consume your heart and take it away from serving God as it did Solomon, which is why God is concerned about us taking to heart the things of this world, because it will consume us and take away our heart and ability to be able men before God.

Luke 12: 15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Take heed and beware… A mans life is not what he owns, but whether he is an able man for the Lord this is what a man’s life consist of. In the end, who is going to receive the greater reward, the striving Christian, or Bill Gates? When I die am I going to covet all the wealth of this world, or is it going to be the seal of the holy ghost?

Eph 5: 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;

Let these not be once named among you, but be followers of God. Be able men, not following after those that will make you disabled.