“The Way of the Samurai Sheep” > Page 2

SUBTILE: “I’M NOT SUPERMAN”

SUBTITLESUB: “The Thousand Word Articles”

PRIDE is POISON to the ANOINTING.

I would also dare to say that if you are not in Prayer, you are in Pride.

Why is this so important? The world wants to see real Christianity, and if Pride is Poison to the Anointing, then they are not seeing it if we are trying to be Mr. Superman. Let’s see if one of the greatest of Apostles can shed any light on this?

In II Corinthians 12: 5-10 we find Paul explaining: “That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (NLT Version)

Now add to that what we pointed out earlier concerning the Church of Philadelphia, where Christ says, “You have little strength”, and then he opens a door for them that no man can close!

When we recognize our own spiritual poverty, (First Beatitude),  and humble ourselves to embrace our “sheeplikeness”, that is when God, our Shepherd, can come on strong! Like John the Baptist said, “I must decrease, and he must increase”.

I am the sheep; he is the Shepherd. Catch the vision!

Welcome to another page of “The Way of the Samurai Sheep”! Perhaps a totally ludicrous thought, and yet is it any more hard to understand, or visualize, than, “When I am weak, then am I strong?” Are we not basically saying the same thing? If there is such a thing as an undisciplined and disobedient sheep, then there is also such a thing as a disciplined and obedient sheep, and I call that, samurai!

The more I look at this, the more it seems that the greatest power lies in “humility”, which leads to “obedience”. So, the Way of a Samurai Sheep is the way of humility. We do not realize what a hard thing this is for us to do! Even Paul had to be guarded against pride, and so important was this that God assigned a tormentor to him just to make sure it happened!

Looking through the eyes of my sheephood has taught me to take my hands off of things, and spend more time in prayer! Remember the scripture where Jesus said, “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes, and harmless as doves.” (Matt 10:16) Not only does he tell us we are as sheep, but he goes on to tell us to be shrewd as snakes! Sheep are already pretty harmless, so the dove part is sort of a re-emphasise, but shrewd as snakes? What’s that all about?

Snakes have no hands! How do most snakes attack? With the mouth! We are to keep our hands off, but have a sword proceeding from our mouth! Whether it is in prayer, or quoting scripture, speaking our faith in God, binding the enemy, or whatever! Have enough faith in God to keep your hands out of it, and speak God’s will! (I hope this makes sense without a page on this alone, but this is part of the samurai sheep picture!) What I mean by “keep our hands off”, is simply to quit rushing ahead of God and trying to do things in our own power! We need to get back to the Anointing! All we’re doing is burning ourselves out and not showing the world what true Christianity is. The samurai sheep must learn to hear, and follow, as sheep do, but not rush ahead. This does require discipline and wisdom on our part. Wise as a serpent!

My 1,000 words are going fast, but…I don’t know how many times God is going to keep bringing us back to II Chronicles 7:14?  However, he does keep bringing us back, because it is the only hope for our future, and the first step of that spiritual formula is to “humble” oneself, or you get no further.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

God, himself, resist the proud, but gives grace to the humble. We are so spiritually impoverished, the only way we accomplish anything good is by God’s grace, and even that is not our own, but it is God’s. What an honor it is, and it should be enough for us to simply be a vessel that God rides in on. What a powerful and glorious thing it is to be a part of what God does on earth! For us to be able to stand in the gap, and to know that God moved in the earth because of his love for us!

Pride is Poison to God using us! Superman is a myth, a lie from the devil! Paul knew the power of humility! However, it is true that the Super Shepherd has a flock of blessed sheep! Never underestimate what the Good Shepherd will do for those who are his own, and walk in his ways.