Obtaining: A Right And Wrong Way
Submitted by Clay Sikes

As we continue to learn the mechanics of walking in the Spirit, being led of the Spirit, and adopting the Spirit life as our own, many issues continue to arise that shed light on life as a Spirit being; a life of living in a body with an often contentious soul (mind, will, and emotions). We battle our logically thinking minds as well as the years of tradition that so point us directionally. We battle these on a daily basis to escape into a place of being led of the Holy Ghost.

God is gracious in teaching and revealing to His own the spiritual inertia that blocks His Spirit life and keeps us penned in the prison of our soul (the arena of logic and reason). To this extent, the Lord continues to deal with us in the area of OBTAINING. What I am learning is the difference in OBTAINING on my own and RECEIVING from God. Most of us have years of training in the art of obtaining: obtaining love, obtaining money, obtaining respect, obtaining spiritual information; in fact, obtaining any need we may have. Since these learned methods of OBTAINING have taken years to master, we older types may have a little more difficulty in letting go of these man instituted traditions and social and psychological entrapments.

Lesson number one in which the Holy Spirit is now shouting from the housetops is to refocus us from being "NEED MINDED" to becoming "PURPOSE MINDED." What I am finding is that as I focus on God's purpose alone and follow Him by His Spirit alone, my needs are met and often met supernaturally. When my purpose is His purpose my needs become His responsibility. As a Type A personality this lesson has taken years to learn. God's dealing with me has been ever so severe, showing me that without Him (His direction) I no longer have the ability to do what I once routinely did with ease. This part of my life has had to constantly be put to death in order to walk this out, but take heart, if His grace can break me of this there is hope for everyone.

As God has taken me deeper into this walk He has shown me that when I am seeking Him first and following His leading, I am also supernaturally resisting the devil because THE GREATER ALWAYS INCLUDES THE LESSER. When I am following His leading, He also meets my needs because THE GREATER ALWAYS INCLUDES THE LESSER. As we have mentioned in previous articles, much of the Church today is "NEED MINDED" with many attending Church primarily to get their needs met. Our Church leaders preach it from the pulpit, sell it on TV and tapes and have unconsciously, or perhaps in some cases consciously, led the saints to believe that church attendance will get the job done, tithing and giving will get the job done, giving into this or that "good ground" ministry will get the job done, but where is God in all these spiritually rhetorical promises? God must be first, and if He is, the needs will be met - "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness AND THEN all these things will be added."

Obtaining or getting needs met (receiving) God's way is a true blessing - "The blessing of the Lord makes (us) rich, and he adds no sorrow to it." For years I read this scripture in Proverbs without much understanding. The first part is easy enough to understand; "The blessing of Lord is good," but what does "adding no sorrow to it" really mean?

The following (for me) was revelation, not only about this particular scripture, but also in understanding that, IN GOD, there is a proper way to obtain (receive) and an improper way (the way of "sorrow"). A well-respected local prophet recently said,

"Whatever is obtained by power must be maintained by power. Whatever is obtained by manipulation must be maintained by manipulation. Whatever is obtained by a lie must be maintained by a lie." Said differently, "Whatsoever a man soweth, so shall he reap."

As you expand this principle into other areas of obtaining, it is clear to see that only that which is obtained (received) from God is worth having, whether it is money, job, respect (identity/image), spiritual understanding, even our own ambition.

As an example, let me use the ever-so-slippery and socially accepted category of ambition. In the world, ambition is looked upon with great respect; unfortunately this is also true with much of the Church. Several years ago a pastor friend of mine enthusiastically met me with a "Praise the Lord Clay, I have just received a great miracle of God!" "Great!" I replied. "What is the miracle?" He then told me that his little congregation of fifty or sixty people needed a new Church building and deserved better than the very adequate storefront building that they were presently leasing. He went on to say that the miracle was that he had found someone who was going to lend them $1.2M for a new building, new offices and classrooms, a gymnasium and other perks. My heart fell into my shoes and my countenance must have shown it as he asked me why I wasn't excited for him. What I saw was a supposed need being fueled by ambition outside of God.

To make a long story short, the pressure on the congregation for tithes and offerings was constant to maintain payments needed to feed the beast of debt. It appears now that much of the congregation has left and the building is in foreclosure. The principle is clear; if you obtain something through your own ambition, you will have to maintain it through your own ambition - in this case it appears to have cost the pastor everything.

How much better is it when, by His grace we obtain (receive), rather than by other measures; for when we obtain it by His grace, by His grace it will be maintained, whether it be ministry, marriage, business, friends, relationships, church buildings etc., Our NEED MINDEDNESS has short circuited God's plan for our lives, by seeking "things" first instead of God. When we do this we circumvent God's ability to get "things" to us because He will not violate His word that says to "Seek Him first and then the things will be added." He warns us in Matthew 6 to not be like the pagans who run after things, but rather seek Him and know that God always pays for what He orders.

Is there a sorrowful way to obtain? Indeed so, and I have a few Ishmael's to prove it, but we have moved into "the time set by the Father" that Ishmael (the child of the flesh) and Isaac (the child of promise) cannot live in the same house. In fact, Ishmael's antagonism will become unbearable for those destined for His purpose.

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