6/20/2014
Monday Morning Blog: “What Is Man That You Are Even Mindful Of Him?”
By Richard Gazowsky
Actually, I have wanted to write about this subject for a long time because perfection is something I had spent a large portion of my life trying to accomplish but had not been able to achieve. For a large section of my adult life I even gave up my pursuit of perfection. I just shrugged my shoulders and said, “This is, well, I guess good enough.”
It wasn’t until three years ago, in 2011, that God spoke to me and said, “Richard, I want you to be perfect, even as My Father in heaven is perfect.” Right after this the highly respected and revered Prophet Timothy Snodgrass prophesied to me almost the same words, “Richard, God is calling you to personal perfection.” You can see the quandary that hit my mind because personal perfection was a pursuit that I had given up on the as unachievable. Now I was been instructed by God to be perfect like God’s perfect. The question in my mind was almost more than I could bear.
Around this same time I had three near-death experiences. Each time I found myself laying on a hospital gurney, faced with the question, “Am I even going to live another day?” To be honest with you, in each one of these experiences I had absolutely no fear of death. But I did have an overwhelming sense of surrendering everything to God, including my will to have my own way regarding “hidden” dinners. I desired to do God’s perfect will, but it seemed so hard to achieve. Then the Lord simply spoke to me this simple command, “Richard, just do what I tell you to do every day”.
I was well aware of the famous scripture “Man should not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” But now what Jesus was simply telling me was that the road to perfection is found in obeying the commands He tells me every day. Wow! This seemed pretty simple! And is it not so, that the greatest accomplishments done by mankind are usually just as simple?
This all came to a head about three months ago. I finally came to the conclusion that I needed to live every moment of my life in complete and perfect obedience to exactly what God has instructed to do for that day. At the end of the day I could lay down at my bed at home, cuddle my pillow, and think, “Wow! Today I did exactly what the Lord asked me to do!”
Instantly that feeling that I had been searching for all of my young life, of coming into perfection, began pouring like warm oil over my entire body and giving me an internal childlike fuzzy really good feeling that I have pleased the Lord today. It felt so good I never wanted that sense of enjoyment to go away. I realize that this was the thing I was after all of my life ~ perfection in Christ!
The very next day it got better, the following day it got even better, and the day after that it got wonderful, the next day stupendous, the following day fantastic, the day after that super fantastic, the next day unbelievably supernaturally great, and on and on. I understood that the prophet Isaiah was so accurate when he said, “Of His kingdom and increase there shall be no end!”
These fantastic daily experiences of perfection have now been going on in my personal life for about 3 1/2 months. And I believe that it is going to last for the rest of my life. I just can’t wait for each new day and the experiences that are going to be so wonderful. Each day I look for His pearl of great price ~ a surprise that Jesus has waiting for me every day. What a perfect day!!
God is currently dealing with me on the concept of perfection based on quality and quantity. The only comparison that I can properly use in this context is that of a professional sous chef that learns that there are many factors that go into making an exquisitely prepared masterpiece meal (or can I say perfect cuisine). It is this level of perfection that God is having me seek after.
Of course I mean on a personal level. I am not talking about cooking, but about the normal business events of life. I’m discovering that when I go to business meetings I should exactly measure what I’m about to talk about. I should only speak the words God tells me to say, even though I might think I know more about a particular subject. I must limit what I am saying to precisely what God has instructed me. I’m finding that this is perfect obedience.
Then, like a good chef, I must wait until the meal is properly prepared, heated, and served, so that the meeting is finished at the right time ~ when every person involved in the agreement and is at the right temperature so they can mix correctly when the meeting is over. This level of perfection makes agreements that will last not only for a lifetime, but down to multiple generations. Remember, of His kingdom and increase there shall be no end.
I feel this is the kind of perfection that the Father is designing to happen in everybody’s life. He wants you to continue obeying His will so that you can live the perfect life, have the perfect family, the perfect job, the perfect church, and perfect everything! And of course the perfect future, which leads to the perfect forever.
In conclusion of this subject of perfection, it is important to understand that this is where the operation of the applications of the fruit of the Spirit become incredibly necessary. The nine applications of the fruits of the Spirit truly are the refining process that brings perfection to a complete operational place.
In other words, the nine applications are the essence of perfection in operation in your daily activity. They are given to you by God through the gift of the Holy Spirit to do one thing in your life and that is to perfect you. Now go out and have fun doing His wonderful perfection each day!
A Place To Meet Jesus 