Brother Marlon  

ex·pe·ri·ence

1a: direct observation of or participation in events as a basis of knowledge b: the fact or state of having been affected by or gained knowledge through direct observation or participation

2a: practical knowledge, skill, or practice derived from direct observation of or participation in events or in a particular activity b: the length of such participation

3a: the conscious events that make up an individual life b: the events that make up the conscious past of a community or nation or humankind generally

4: something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through

5: the act or process of directly perceiving events or reality

I was talking with a good friend of mine the other day and we were talking about the age we are in, and how everyone especially young people, learn through experience.  Now in the mind of God we were never supposed to learn from experience.  If we go back to the garden man Adam was to fellowship with God daily and there God would share with him and mature him.  A verse of scripture that I want to share with you is Galatians 4:1-2, and it says that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

The word child used in that passage if we use it in context of our current time: we can say that anyone that has not be yet released or promoted to their next level.  And what that means is go back to the garden.  Adam was to have dominion over the fish of the sea over the foul of the air, upon every living thing that moved upon the earth, he was to subdue it…so what that means is he was higher in authority than all those things…however God did not totally release him on his own he still had to connect to God daily to get the vital information he would need for the assignment he was given.  So it can be said the same way with us.  People do not want to posture themselves as a child and learn through the tutors and governors those who have been placed in your life to teach and train you, and then release you into your next level which has already been set aside for you.

What I see today are a lot of people who recognize they have gifting, ability, and anointing but have not served under anyone or walked in posture of a child because they feel that it is beneath them or they feel they don’t need anyone to tell them anything. We have even children today who don’t want to posture themselves as children…they want to be grown.  I tell my children all of the time; if you want to make grown up decisions than you deal with the grown up realities and consequences.  The reason for those being over us in authority is not to rule over you, as it is to bring you to a higher level in wisdom and knowledge.  Why re invent the wheel?  If you have someone who has been right where you are and can see farther than you can see why not allow that person to show you which way to go?  What makes a person believe that they’re situation will be different…if you do the same things you will get the SAME results!  This is the same trick the enemy used in the garden, Gen. 3 and he is still using it now…God and your parents are keeping something from you!

Experience has to be a good teacher…this is a better way of saying experience is a good teacher.  Reason why it has to be is because nobody will allow those who have been placed by God in their lives to give them God’s wisdom.  Romans 13:1 says all authority comes from God…so where ever you go you are to see God’s authority modeled.  When you are in school, you have the security guards, the teachers, the principal, the bus driver, the crossing guards that will give you instruction.  At work you have your boss, and so on and so forth.  At home it should be your parents – problem in this generation is you have a parent trying to do so much alone and the children are emotionally damaged…they are not seeing the model at home of God’s authority so they don’t know how to honor it outside of the home.  In Psalm    there is a word called intermeddelth it means to separate oneself from wisdom.  So when you reject the authority God has placed in your life you separate yourself from wisdom…wisdom is the application of knowledge, and knowledge is what you get either from experience or from learning the lesson taught to you through being trained or discipled…we see this in Romans 5:3 Tribulation works patience and patience experience.  So you have to go through some tribulation to learn from experience.  But God would have you sit in a class and that classroom does not have to be the normal classroom you may think.  Jesus’ had class all of the time look through the gospels and he taught his disciples everywhere he went.  And look at the model he shows us.  Whenever the disciples would step out of line he would check them quick.  Peter was normally the one who would get checked, but that was because he had so much in him…look at Matthew 16 later when you have a moment…Jesus is telling his disciples about him having to go before the leaders and the chief priest and be treated cruel, put to death, and then he’ll resurrect on the third day…Peter says no Lord this will not happen to you…Jesus corrected him.  But Peter received the correction.  And we see how Peter ended up.  Correction is necessary in order to grow. 

That is one of the reasons to have those in authority over you.  The purpose of authority is for covering/protection, instruction, order and covering/protection.

Protection/Covering

Hebrews 13:17
17Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Amplified
17Obey your spiritual leaders and submit to them [continually recognizing their authority over you], for they are constantly keeping watch over your souls and guarding your spiritual welfare, as men who will have to render an account [of their trust].  [Do your part to] let them do this with gladness and not with sighing and groaning, for that would not be profitable to you [either].

Instruction

1 Peter 5:2, 3
2Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

Amplified

2Tend (nurture, guard, guide, and fold) the flock of God…

Order 

Psalm 37:23
23The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

1 Corinthians 14:40
40Let all things be done decently and in order.

Psalm 119:133
133Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me

Correction

Proverbs 22:15
15Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

Proverbs 3:11-12
11My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: 12For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

The Proper Usage of Authority is to Serve Others!

Luke 22:26-27
23And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. 24And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. 25And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. 26But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. 27For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.

John 13:13-16
13Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. 16Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

The Christian who seeks to follow Christ’s example will learn to use his authority with others more than over others. 

We have to receive the instruction, we have to receive the correction, the order and the covering...we have to receive it in order to go to that next level…it does something inside you and equips you for those things you will see once you now step into what God has given you.  The passage in Galatians says the child differs nothing from a servant.  You have to serve up to where God has called you to. 
 
Examples to study in this area would be David and Paul.  Men who had to serve and sit under before they we’re placed into the position they were anointed for by God.

What negative experiences will do for you...

David went through an experience with Bathsheeba...but allowing the lust of the eye to get the best of him, he stole another man’s wife and had him killed...the price was losing the child he had fathered in sin.

Abraham went through an experience when God told him he would have a son, but he did not wait for God.  He allowed his wife to bring her hand maid to him to help God’s word come to pass...

If you are a parent and you have tried to pour into your child and have given them sound wisdom and they are choosing to learn by experience rather than your teachings, or if you’re trying to get through to a friend or a loved one and you feel you have done all that you can do and say all that you can say...Put it in God’s hands know that God already worked it out.  By faith call those things that be not as though they were, at times as the scripture shows us in the story of the lost son...we have to allow them the space they need and be there waiting to receive them when they have come to their senses.  I know that is a hard place to be in, but you really don’t help people by trying to be their answer, and get them out of trouble when they have chosen that path.  If you have pointed out the way to go and they are just set on going the opposite way...Let Go and Let God.

For that person that has people in their lives trying to show you the right way to go, but you choose not too...

I myself must admit.  I learned by example...that is why the message is so powerful today.  I see the effects of having gone my own way.  Don’t think because it worked out for me that it will for you.  You cannot see the baggage and the weight I carry around with me daily because of bad decisions and learning from experience.  We have different purposes, and time frames.  Don’t think you can come back whenever, again I know that in the Bible passage we just referenced the son came to himself and said I am going back to my father as a servant.  And he did.  It was a happy ending...but look all around us, watch the news, read the papers...they are full of stories of people who did not make it back.  The enemy wants to get you away from the positive influences so that he can have you to himself.  He wants you lost, he wants you only hearing his voice and moving to his sound.  This is not an age thing, you don’t have until you get older, or when you are finished doing your thing.  Jesus told his disciples to come now!!!  I was talking with my little sister the other day and she was upset because she wanted to out with her friends rather than be in church, she felt she was there too much.  All I could say was you’re not missing a thing.  What you are getting now is preparing you for what God has called you too.  I said I’m going to ask you in 10 years if you still feel the same way.  She’ll either at that point say:  I’m glad I listened to my loved ones, and I’m glad they kept me in church.  Or she’ll say I wish I would have listened. 

What will you say?

As we know we are divided into three parts: spirit, body, and soul.  Now that we have been saved the spirit should always be in control. (Romans 8:13-14, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.") The soul and the spirit, alike in their nature and in their activities. Generally speaking the spirit is the higher, the soul the lower element. The spirit may be recognized as the life principle bestowed on man by God, the soul as the will of man or mind, the body being the flesh; given life by spirit and soul.  Well keeping all of this in mind, think of a newborn child.  It is totally dependent.  It must be taught how to do everything.  The child learns in many ways, mainly from trying different things (trial and error; making mistakes) and it learns from those that influence it the most (parents, guardian, brothers, sisters, etc.) what I like to call their tourguide.  Well the child must learn to crawl first before it can walk, it must babble before it can talk, it must make a mess before it knows how to feed itself, etc.  We too as christians must learn to live in the spiritual.  We start out as babes drinking milk, crawling around.  As we grow, and learn more, we can do more.  The only problem is we do not pay attention to our tourguide as in the natural.  The person that already is walking in spirit, that has been doing it for a while and knows how to do it.  Everybody has one, God would not leave you to figure things out on your own.  Just as he gives parents to children in the natural, he gives us spiritual fathers and mothers in the spirit.  Think about it, when your lost you stop to ask for directions. (Most men will not!)  Or sometimes you actually arrange for someone to show you around if you’re somewhere you’ve nerver been.  You want somebody that knows where they are going.  Well the same in the spiritual sense, you don’t want somebody that is crawling to teach you how to walk, you want somebody that is running with their eyes closed.  We must recognize who that person is in our lives,  follow their teaching, their example, listen to them, and respect them.  If you don’t know who that person is, seek God’s help!  This is a very important key to spiritual growth, and one we need to embrace.  For one day we will have to turn and show someone else the way. 

The best teachers are the best students. 

Here are some passages of scripture that support someone pouring into or discipling another, we would call it mentoring or training.  See the blessings in these scriptures for having these relationships and not learning through experience.

Mentoring - The Blessing

Genesis 49:28
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

Passing On the Mantle

2 Kings 2:13
13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; 

The Indispensable Value of a Spiritual Mentor

2 Chronicles 24:17-20
17 Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. 18 And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass. 19 Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear. 20 And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you. 

Passing On the Blessing

Psalm 67:1-2
1  God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.  2 That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.

Wisdom from a Father to His Son

Proverbs 1:8
8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

How We Need Teachers!

Proverbs 4:11-13
11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. 12 When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. 13 Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

Wisdom Through Relationships

Proverbs 13:20
20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. 

The Wisdom of Taking Counsel

Proverbs 24:6
6 For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.

The Value of Companionship

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Prayer Partners

Daniel 2:17-18
17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: 18 That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 

Accountability

2 Corinthians 2:5-11
5 But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. 6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.  7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. 8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. 9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. 10  To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;  11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Mentoring, Kingdom-Style

2 Timothy 2:2
2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.