Minister: Pst. Laide Olaniyan
Topic: Understanding the Sense of the Milk of the Word
Every allocation in the spirit has an objective. A person can be familiar with key concepts, yet the work that should be wrought has not been done in a person. The predominant sense that the dispensation of the milk of the word ought to wrought in us is faith, sight, meekness, and hunger.
(Acts 2:41-42) – “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” – Fellowshiping together with the saints, breaking of bread, staying with the word, and in prayer are cultivated in the believer in the allocation of milk. The believers had discipline of fellowship, which was groomed in the economy of the milk of the word. Weakness in the place of prayer and in the study of the word in a believer is evidence of deficiency in the milk of the word. Not being comfortable fellowshipping with saints and your brethren is also a milk deficiency. When a soul is not enthused towards fellowship and gathering in church, it shows a deficiency in milk.
The reason we read the word and pray is that we are looking for God. When we do these things, we should do them because we are looking for more of God. Scripture says there is a presence that comes when there is a corporate gathering; this is why the believer should not despise the assembling together of the brethren (Matt. 18:20, Heb. 10:25). There must be a consistent exercise in prayer and the study of the word. We must be steadfast or steady in these things. Exercise is not something we do joyfully, but with consistent exercise, it becomes a part of you because you continue in it. There needs to be a deliberate exercise in these things.
Without exercise, we can’t achieve the result we desire. Doing these things in themselves is not a mark that we have become spiritual, but you will become responsible. In some churches, you would see people who have attained this consistency are made pastors because it makes them look spiritual.
Anyone who is well-exercised and consistent in spiritual activities will look responsible. Wisdom and counsel will have trained that person’s senses to know which way to go. When your soul has been trained in prayer and doctrine over time, your soul has a default response to certain things because of what the soul has been tuned to.
The fruit of all the exercises above made all of them have all things in common. (James 1:19-21) – “These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” – Separating yourself is sensual. One of the fruits that shows that you have the spirit is that you always want to be with brethren. You want to be with those who hold the truth that you also hold dear. By reason of the exercise, one of the things that will break forth is the desire to be together, and have all things in common (Acts 2:44). Some people are more comfortable with unbelievers than with brethren; this shows that you have not drunk milk well. It shows you still have a taste bud that is carnal.
In milk, they will begin to deal with selfishness and uniqueness. It is contentment to be like your brethren, to not want to outdo your brethren. They had the same spirit. The believers had all things in common before they sold their possessions. The first level of contentment they had, and we should have, is to look within the community and not want to shoot out of the allocation and economy of grace everyone is enjoying. This is what allows one spirit in our midst. This expression of having all things in common, some people did not have that spirit.
This daily exercise in milk will begin to deal with minding our own things to a measure (Philippians 2:4, Acts 2:44-45). The milk that Christ gives is wholesome. Exercise in milk helps you see that you have a greater treasure in God, and you are willing to sacrifice what the world calls goods/possession. It takes hope to sell everything. Milk will begin to show you a hope to see that which is beyond the earth. You can’t sell everything you have without having seen something. True milk exercises us to sell all we have for the sake of God. Milk dealt with men to the point that they despised possessions of goods. A soul that is exercised doesn’t mind what it loses. This is because the invisible has been magnified so much more than the seen. Milk will teach you that possessions are for use, and they can be transferred. There is a sense that milk must instill inside the soul to know that the value of everything here is lighter than vanity. The hope that some people have in following Jesus is for vanity. The proof that vanity has no hold over you is that at a commandment’s notice you can let it go.
(Acts 2:46) Good milk produces one accord. One of the breakthroughs of the milk allocation is a heart disposition worked out by faith that prioritizes the pursuit of God and the hope of the gospel more than earthly acquisitions or material prosperity. Where a person lacks that, it can become the basis of their interpretation of all the dealings of God. All the elementary principles of the doctrine of Christ ought to raise a man who is looking for Jesus and the pursuit of earthly acquisitions or material prosperity, more than the pursuit of God becomes an encumbrance that holds back the soul from this pursuit. Exercise of faith towards God shifts your focus from enjoying yourself to pleasing and enjoying God. The root of carnality is in seeking our own pleasure or will. The carnal soul will need to be weaned from that which satisfies him alone to that which pleases God. The goal of the gospel and Jesus’ coming to die is not to help us acquire material possessions. He came humble, meek, and spent His time seeking the creator so we can do likewise.
When you see a man who is fully exercised, there is a consecration and fear he uses to live. He has a way of using material things. This is a holiness and consecration that good milk works in the soul. Some believers cannot endure being jobless for integrity’s sake; they cannot seem to believe that God will take care of them. If this is not worked in the soul, this person cannot endure the wilderness of Christ. Under the government of the Holy Ghost, they will instill this sense in a soul.
(Acts 2:46-47) Singleness of heart is also singleness of eyes. Daily exercise in doctrine will produce singleness of heart. Your heart can not be single if your eyes are not single. Our hearts need to come to a place of oneness. We all should mind one thing. It is not all the church that came to this place. It will eventually show if you are not being exercised in these things, as seen with Ananias and Sapphira. Those who don’t follow steadfastly will always be different.
There are fruits of the exercise, and there is also the exercise itself. (Acts 4:32) Milk will work one soul in us; divisions and strife will be dealt with to a degree in us. It is difficult for two people to be one, but for a multitude to become one, it is a great victory. Milk can be seen in the love that Jonathan and David had for themselves and in what the saints in Acts had for each other. None were intimidated by the success of another.
(Acts 4:32) We should have the sense of a steward such that we see possessions as things we don’t own. He knows God can move a possession you have into another person’s possession tomorrow, and you are not clinging to it. He knows everything in this world belongs to God. This man does not see his worth in these things; they don’t influence his sense of self-worth. When these things define you, it gives you a sense of confidence in this world. We need to come to an understanding that all that we have, we are managing it for God. This makes obeying commandments easy. We need to learn to wait on the Holy Ghost in the distribution of our possessions. That it is in our possession does not mean it is our own. These are the beginning of training in stewardship. (Luke 16:11-12) – “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?” – The things that are truly ours will be given to us; until then, we own nothing. What is called our own are true riches. If we will prosper in light, this must be a sense inside us, that is, the sense of what is our own.
(Acts 4:33-34) God managed the economy of the brethren in Acts. They trusted the discretion of the Apostles to make distribution according to the needs of every man. None of them lacked. They lived such a transparent life that there was nobody whose life and needs were hidden from the Apostles. Attachment that gives us a kind of right to ask for accounting for what we have given is flesh. The brethren in Acts gave and forgot about it. They gave back to God what was God’s. This is not to advocate for unfaithfulness on the part of those who manage what is given, but we must learn detachment once we have given to the needs of the brethren. God needs to restore us from being overtly invested in wanting to acquire things. The way we see believers act with material things shows if they have taken milk that is pure. Ananias and Sapphira were the exception; the predominant conversation amidst the church was the expressions seen above. It was their general sense. When a believer holds on tightly to material things, it shows the soul is not wholesome.
(Acts 6:1-7) The reason the widows were neglected was that some people did not commit to continuing steadfastly. Neglect means a responsibility was given, but someone did not commit to it. Some people lacked the sense to retain the spirit and shut out satan. Satan broke in through the weakest link: those who weren’t continuing steadfastly in these things. So, the fault wasn’t from the Apostles but from the person who wasn’t obeying the Apostles’ teachings. We must learn to exercise reasonable diligence in the things that have been assigned to us. Diligence is using the Holy Ghost in making sure nothing spoils. We must exercise ourselves in faith so we can have skill, diligence, and care for the people of God and the work placed in our hands. In the exercise of this diligence, Faith was also needed because the Apostles might have given them resources that were less than what was needed, but because they were full of faith, they could trust in God, the one who supplies all.
We must live a life of faith, not living by sight. We need to be careful not to be an Esau generation. What the Lord needs us to pursue, He will expressly tell us and aid us. Faith sense is dependent on God, yet not slothful. It is apt and diligent in the spirit. This foundation is necessary for a spiritual or Christ man to be built. We must bear fruit from exercise. If we don’t exercise consistently and continually, we will not bear some of these fruits. It takes staying in the place of fellowship before some unclean thoughts or mindsets are judged. Nothing that truly lasts must be born from consistent exercise.
Some of us have not consistently exercised ourselves in the word, prayer, fellowship, and devotion. Daily devotion is necessary to retune our senses. These exercises must be daily and consistent over a protracted period of time before we start seeing the fruits of the exercise. We must pray that, as a church, these things will become common among us. It won’t be something we tease people for and hail them for being spiritual; it will be common to us all.
THE END.