{"id":99638,"date":"2020-09-22T04:26:26","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T09:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/?p=99638"},"modified":"2020-09-18T10:17:35","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T15:17:35","slug":"15-a-he-must-increase-but-i-must-decrease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/2020\/09\/22\/15-a-he-must-increase-but-i-must-decrease\/","title":{"rendered":"15.b. “He must increase, but I must decrease.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

John 3:22\u00a0 <\/span>After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison). Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, \u201cRabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness\u2014look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.\u201d John answered, \u201cA person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.\u2019 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeremiah 1:5<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBefore I formed you in the womb I knew you,<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 4:7<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?<\/p>\n

Matthew 25:15<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 12:11<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.<\/p>\n

Romans 12:6<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 15:10<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0But by the grace of God I am what I am,<\/p>\n

James 1:17<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.<\/p>\n

1 Peter 4:10-11<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:\u00a0\u00a0whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies\u2014in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0John\u2019s disciples seemed alarmed, but it didn\u2019t bother John one bit. John would not allow envy or the fickle crowds make him forget his mission: to announce that the Messiah had come, and then to step back and let the attention be focused upon the Messiah. John first answered his worried disciples that everything he had \u2013 including those who responded to his ministry \u2013 were a gift from God. If they are God\u2019s gift, then they should be received gratefully. John then reminded his disciples that he knew who\u00a0he<\/i>\u00a0was, and he also knew who\u00a0Jesus<\/i>\u00a0was. Understanding that, he could keep his proper place; not too high (thinking he was the Christ) and not too low (thinking he had no call or place in God\u2019s plan). John explained to his followers that he was like the best man at a wedding; he isn\u2019t the bridegroom. He isn\u2019t to be the focus of attention, but to supervise the bringing of two people together.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cJohn had no sense of envy or rivalry. It is not easy to see another\u2019s influence growing at the expense of one\u2019s own; it is even less easy to rejoice at the sight. But John found his joy completed by the news which his disciples brought.\u201d\u00a0 John the Baptist understood it was good for him to become less visible and known, for Jesus to become more visible and known. In even larger aspects, this should be the motto of every Christian, especially leaders among God\u2019s people. Jesus should become greater and more visible, and the servant should become less and less visible. John that Baptist also did not\u00a0quit<\/i>\u00a0his work just because Jesus was doing a similar work and doing it for more people. He labored on, content to do what God called him to do even though Jesus gained more and more attention and John less and less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John 3:22\u00a0 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison). Now a discussion arose … Continue reading “15.b. “He must increase, but I must decrease.\u201d”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[469,14360,4839,371,464,3929,6089,3345,454,4160,4932,223,14354,2232,14337,12405,2344,8965,4338,14358,3149,530,14356,372,14361,83,14359,2855,4202,8435,165,14355,4151,719,198,14353,8436,14363,373,4855,3601,14357,1091,5781,3281,315,32,5782,467,14362,872,4111],"class_list":["post-99638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-ability","tag-approtions","tag-baptizing","tag-boast","tag-bride","tag-bridegroom","tag-change","tag-christ","tag-coming","tag-complete","tag-decrease","tag-disciples","tag-discussion","tag-dominion","tag-empowered","tag-father-of-lights","tag-forever-and-ever","tag-formed-you","tag-gifts","tag-given-from-heaven","tag-glorified","tag-glory","tag-going-to-him","tag-good-gift","tag-good-stewards","tag-grace","tag-greatly","tag-hears","tag-increase","tag-individually","tag-jesus","tag-jew","tag-john","tag-jordan","tag-joy","tag-judean","tag-no-variation","tag-peaks","tag-perfect-gift","tag-prison","tag-purification","tag-recive","tag-rejoices","tag-serves","tag-shadow","tag-spirit","tag-strength","tag-supplies","tag-talents","tag-varied-grace","tag-witness","tag-womb"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99638"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99752,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99638\/revisions\/99752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}