When The Pupil is Ready The Teacher Appears

I use this statement from time to time because it has been the story of my life. God has chosen me to do something, but I did not know what it was, nor did I see myself in a position of service. As I look back over my life I see many things the lord has done already but still, I could not see the entire picture. I was born into a family of believers so there were certain things that were taught to me as a child. I was taught about the Bible and about God. I was raised upon Godly principles. I was given a sense of what is right or wrong. I had the fear of God placed in me from the early years, but I didn’t know what the fear of God meant. I feared crossing certain lines knowing there would be consequences. That was enough to keep me relatively moralistic. But still, I did not know God. I only know of God.

I was just sharing with a friend about how God places in us what He needs us to use when the time comes. As our Heavenly Father, He knows everything about us beyond what we know about ourselves. That means He knows what we are capable of doing even though we might not know our full capabilities. In addition, He is omnipotent which means He knows all from the beginning to the end of our mortal existence throughout creation. Therefore, He not only knows our capabilities, but He also knows if or when we will return to Him ready for service. I had no knowledge of things such as this when I was a child nor for most of my earlier adult life. This is the essence of my subject title: When The Pupil is Ready to Learn, The Teacher Will Appear?

Imagine I gave you a gift, but you never opened the package. Not knowing what was in the package you would not be able to take advantage of the gift. In a similar way, God gives each of His children a gift they are to use in service if or when they decide to serve God. They are free to refuse to be of service, but God also knows that because of His omnipotence. A gift becomes a spiritual gift only when it is used to embellish the body of God, which is His believers. Even though many have certain abilities to do special things, if it is not used to embellish the body of God, it is only a special talent no matter how great it might be. However, once you have been awakened by the Spirit of the Lord your gift is opened by God. At that point, He also teaches you how you are to use the gift. Your readiness to serve is what attracts God to you.

I can’t tell you how much I have learned once I knew I was ready to serve God. I wrestled with whether or not this was something I wanted to do for a long while. Even though my gifts were already in me and ready to use, it was the unopened gift that I had no knowledge of how to use.  I didn’t know what a spiritual gift was. Looking back, after my awakening I see so much that God had already done in me in preparation for my servitude. Obviously, God had already looked ahead seeing exactly when I would be ready so by the time I committed He had already laid most of my tool chest out in the open. I was already doing many of the same things that I would do in service, but I used it in ways other than promoting the body of believers.

One example of this was my ability to read and write music. In the world of entertainment, there are so many ways to go astray. Our industry is filled with lots of self-gratifying things to do. Perhaps you have read some of the stories about the lifestyles of certain entertainers. The availability of illicit things such as drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, self-indulgence, narcissism, false sense of self, and the like are at your disposal. Saying no to things that you really like is not always easy, especially when it opposes the righteousness of God. I use my talents to play, read, or write music to do things that didn’t promote godly righteousness. It was a talent I had probably from birth but how I used it determined if it were a spiritual gift or just a God-given talent. Since all things we come here with comes from the spiritual arena, all are God-given. The difference is when you decide to serve God with intention. It is then that He uses what He put in you to do the things He wants you to do to serve the Body.

For most of my life, I tried to be kind, generous, respectful, helpful, courteous, and the like. It was how I was raised but it wasn’t really with God in mind. Even though I didn’t realize these were the characteristics of the Spirit, God had already looked ahead and put these things in me, knowing there would come a time when such things needed to be a part of who and what I was. I was questionably a nice person but still a sinful person who was ignorant to much of what it meant to be a servant of God. Some of the nicest people you know are sinful persons. All are sinners and fall short of God’s righteous requirements, according to the Word of God. Being raised to be a nice person does not mean I would become a godly servant. Only God can make that determination. This takes me back to my subject matter, when the pupil is ready to learn, the teacher always appears.

Let’s put this in context. God is omnipotent. He already knows everything about us before we are even born. He knew if we would choose to become His servants. With foreknowledge, He puts in you what you are to use once you make your “free will” decision. He knows in advance what that choice would be. Therefore, He makes advanced preparation for you knowing when you would choose Him. They say the apple does not fall far from the tree. In this case, God knows the tree that you will fall from so He keeps it close enough that you are never far from His reach. It is similar to the story about the prodigal son. The father knew by faith that his son would return one day so He kept Him at bay in his heart when the son was ready to return.

With this in mind, do you see yourself as one who would want to become a servant of God? The fact that you have talents and abilities could be a sign that you have already been prepared for service. You only become a servant of God once you chose Him. Also know that even though you may be talented or gifted, that does not always translate into godly servitude. You can use what God gave you in ways that oppose God if you so choose.  But here is the ticker, when you are ready for God, He is far ahead of you. He already put in you exactly what is required to serve in the best way that you are capable of serving. That is just how incredible our God is. If you are still wondering when a good time would be to make your declaration, there is no better time than the present moment. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us.

The fact that you are either reading or hearing this message could mean that you are about ready to take that leap of faith. That means the Teacher is drawing you near to Himself. Once you are ready, He was already there waiting to embrace you. To almighty God be the glory, Selah!