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And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and bag, and sandals, lacked you anything?... But now, he that has a purse, let him take it, and likewise his bag: and he that has no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. Luk 22:35-36

In Luke 9:3, the Lord had instructed His disciples to “Take nothing for your journey, neither staff, nor bag, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece”.  He repeated the same injunction in Luke 10:4. But now, after a space of not more than 3 years, He reverses those same instructions.

This is an important lesson for us to note. There is no set mode of carrying out the work of God; and it is erroneous – and sometimes dangerous – to apply old instructions to new situations.  A church, ministry, or even an individual believer will quickly go redundant in the hand of God if they keep insisting on Yesterday’s Instructions or Yesterday’s Success Pattern for Today’s Challenges.

We see an analogy in the Old Testament when the Israelite army were always victorious no matter the size of the enemy nation because they fought by specific divine instructions on warfare strategies. In the episodes where they got presumptuous and just relied on past tactics, they were roundly defeated.

This is probably why they severally referred to God as Jehovah Sabaoth, (Yehovah tsebaoth) which means LORD of the Hosts or as the NLT renders it, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

As sons of God today, as workers in His vineyard, as soldiers in His army, we need to be constantly updated with the current orders from our Commander in Chief; or else, we would miss out of His direction and purpose for us.

To keep updated, we need to be led, now and always, by His Spirit.  “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”  (Rom 8:14)

AMEN.

Thank you all for the encouraging feedbacks; God bless you. Next week, we’ll revisit a much talked-about topic in the body of Christ today.

GREG ELKAN