What Determines my Measure?

D.WHAT DETERMINES MY MEASURE?

Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Ephesians 4:7

Jesus Christ operated in the five-fold ministry gifts. He was the Chief Apostle, the Prophet, the Shepherd (Pastor), the Evangelist who saves and He was the Teacher (the rabbi). All the gifts were in Christ. These gifts come by the measure of grace dispensed in your life. In other words, if you will be used in the apostleship or the office of the prophet, pastor, evangelist or teacher, it will be according to the grace of God. This is how much influence has been effectual in your life, which is reflected by how much you have applied the Word to your everyday situations, circumstances and relationships. That influence determines the measure you receive of Jesus Christ to minister.

The ministry in your life depends on how much Christ has influenced you. HOW DO I MEASURE THIS INFLUENCE? How do I know how much grace has been dispensed in my life? How do I know how much of this grace I've absorbed? My mindsets tell me whether I have been influenced by God or not. The purpose of this influence (grace) is to create the mind of Christ in me.

When this influence comes from heaven, it has one objective, and that is to make me like Christ. The more of this grace or influence I receive from God, the more I am going to become like Jesus Christ. Therefore, as I take on His likeness by absorbing the influence that comes from heaven, I am now a candidate for one of these gifts to operate through me. God knows me. He knows what experiences I have had in my life and He knows what I experienced before I met Him.

Because of the influence and knowledge, I have received from heaven, I am able to gain experiential knowledge in order to operate in the knowledge of God. Since God upholds all things, there is nothing that exists that God does not uphold. God is contained in all things and is a part of everything I have experienced, even before I met Him. He even predestined them.

Now that I am His and have obtained a knowledge of God (God being in all things, upholding all things and having been in my situations before I met Him), I can glean experiential knowledge from these experiences. God can now put an anointing on the experiential knowledge I gleaned from those past situations, circumstances and relationships.

WISDOM: THE OPERATION OF KNOWLEDGE

The knowledge I have received of God also gives me wisdom dispensed through God’s grace. As I receive the knowledge, wisdom allows me to look back and: Discern how I came out, and why it took me so long to find Him. Discern what kept me out in the world and the captivity of the enemy. (I did not understand because I did not know I was captive.) Now with the knowledge of God, I can see what the devil used to hold me. I can see how he tied the cords and when I was about to break free he put another cord around me. I can now look at all of that, and see and understand what happened: I can see my captivity, my attitude, the spirit of pride that was operating in me, the greed and wantonness, and I can see all the iniquities that separated me from God. I can now understand these experiences and have the knowledge of God which upheld all things even then.

I can look back because there is no time or distance in the spirit world and redeem the time. Why do I need to redeem the time in my own life? Now that I can discern these things, they become experiential knowledge to me and God can now put an anointing on them to become life to someone else. God is developing us as sons, and He knows a son must be able to reproduce. He starts out giving us knowledge, understanding and wisdom. It is wisdom that gives you the ability to reproduce, not your knowledge.

Wisdom is the operation of knowledge. If you do not understand how to make the knowledge fruitful, you will not be productive. Wisdom is the operation of the Word. The Holy Ghost will take all these things you have done both before and after you met God, and categorize them; showing you the effects they have on you and how they aided in your captivity. He also shows you how you aided the devil in your own captivity. Then He shows you how to break free. This is the wisdom extracted out of the knowledge. You have to listen to the Word in order to enter into this measure, that is determined by influence.

The influence God is going to have on you will come through knowledge, understanding, revelation, and the wisdom in the knowledge and revelation of Jesus Christ. The knowledge, wisdom, revelation and understanding of Jesus Christ in your life must supersede everything else that has influenced you. You must be thoroughly influenced by Jesus Christ in every area of your life, and this influence will determine the measure (gift) you receive.