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Day Eighteen: Those who seek honor for themselves

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , on May 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Eighteen

 

More on Habitation

Those Who Seek Honor for Themselves

 

“He who speaks on his own authority seeks to win honor for himself. …”

Jn 7:18a (AMP)

 

 

          On Day Sixteen we first began looking at the habitation of the Lord.  Today we continue that topic with a look at something that can block the Lord’s habitation in our lives: having a wrong motivation – which is a motivation not from the Lord.

          The Body of Christ has allowed waters of disobedience to muddy and cloud truth in our hearts by retaining motivations from ourselves — yet believing they are from the Lord.  This passage in John 7:18 deserves much focus and meditation.  Jesus clarifies that if we speak according to our own authority (what I believe I know/understand/trust in my own soul) I speak to win honor for myself. 

          Have I sent myself to a task?  Have I taken up a cause or obligation where the Lord has not sent me?  Have I pursued action and busy-ness — racing to do things for the Kingdom that appear good from every logic angle I inspect, but have not been requested or sanctioned by the Lord? If I do not have His yes – His Amen – in me, if I have not made a “practice” of surrendering to Him my life and my works and motivations, then I am quite probably operating on my own authority for my own honor.

          Many would quickly say to this, “Well God gave me a brain to use – to decide things.  He would not have me be just sitting around not using it!”  And indeed God did give us a great brain – a wondrous computer to compute with.  But He wants it to be brought under submission to Him in every way.  The Lord does not want us to operate as loose canons working independently of Him!

          Does a musical conductor allow you to play any note you want at any time you desire?  Does your own body allow your hand to go off seeking its own plan and fulfillment?  No – of course not!  Yet the Body of Christ consistently presses against the constraint of God’s love to do exactly what it believes is the correct thing to do – without waiting for the leading of the Lord.  It was this same independence that got us into trouble in the Garden.

          Listen to the second part of John 7:18:  “…But He Who seeks the glory and is eager for the honor of Him Who sent Him, He is true; and there is no unrighteousness or falsehood or deception in Him.”  You might see that and say it’s ok because it’s talking about Jesus – He was supposed to do only and all that the Father said to do…, and you would be correct!  But you see – Jesus is the Head of His body.  And that same body (His Church) should be constrained just “as He is” … by His rule, His authority, His leading, and His instruction.  1Jn 4:17 says that “…as He is so are we in the world.” To be otherwise – is acting independent of His authority, is seeking our own honor, and is in fact rebellious and resistant towards Him.  This simple independence will preclude and interfere with the Lord entering habitation with us – everytime.

          Be-loved.

 

 

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Day Seventeen, Under-the-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , on May 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Seventeen

“Our Alabaster Flasks”

 

“And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the Leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard.  Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.”

Mk 14:3 NKJV

 

        This flask that Mary of Bethany broke to anoint Jesus for His burial was a product of worldly commerce.  It was earned as Mary plied her trade in the world – but as she surrendered her life to Him back in the city of Nain (Lk 7:37-50), both she and all that she possessed were committed into His Hands (specifically this costly ointment as well as all other things were brought into the Kingdom of God).  Thus, what was worldly became part of the kingdom and qualified to now anoint Him for His burial.  In truth, it is actually a picture of resurrection more than death, but to understand it we must look further.

        When Mary chose Jesus – she chose the better portion.  In surrendering to Him as Lord she was in fact choosing to renounce her own soulish existence and to now live for Him through His life in her.  This is what every Christian is called to – to in the spirit live out the resurrection life of Christ in place of our own lives.  Romans 6:13 describes it as yielding our bodily members and faculties to Christ as though we have been already raised with Him to new and perpetual life.  Verse 6:5 shows us that because of His death and our sharing of that death (by identifying with His death on the cross and losing our own soulish life), we share His resurrection by living a new life for Him now – through His Spirit in us.

        The alabaster flask was costly and broken, to be poured out for Him.  You and I are also costly clay flasks that are broken for Him and His service when we find Him as Lord and Savior of our lives.  To lose our lives for Him (to essentially lose sight of ourselves and our will, intellect, and emotions – our soul) is the call of the higher life in Christ.  Not only is this often ignored in Christian teaching today, but it is often put aside completely.  Thus we have much of the Body of Christ living and looking like the world instead of Christ.

        This, however, is not the true destiny of believers.  We are called to be a fragrance – an aroma which seems to be wafting from death to death, but is truly a sweet fragrance of Christ which ascends to God.  To those who are perishing (unsaved) we are the aroma of death, but to those who are being saved we are the aroma of life, a vital fragrance, living and fresh! (2Cor 2:15-16)  It is because in sharing His death we receive His life – a fragrance that is most pleasing to God!

        Be blessed, be that fragrance, and be-loved today!

 

(For more on this topic –check out the Essay: “The Memorial: A Case for Mary of Bethany” also at this blog.)

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Day Sixteen

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , on April 9, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Sixteen

Hungering for Habitation

“… in whom [ye] also are built together for a habitation of God in [the] Spirit.”  Eph 2:22 (Darby)

When we talk about the presence of God — His abiding presence that no longer lifts from us – we are talking about “habitation.”  At once this seems both the most heavenly of all things, but also perhaps unreachable.  To consider it brings both questions, and requirements.  We want to examine this habitation over the course of several devotional days – addressing the facts through Scripture in bite-size portions.  While Eph 2:22 is one of the few New Testament Scriptures that actually uses the word “habitation”, the concept is also addressed in 1Cor 3:9-17.  We’ll begin there.

Having recently been under a Chiropractic “hand” of treatment, you will have to forgive this influence on my manner of expression.  However it is not a “stretch” to say that as Paul opens in 1st Corinthians, Chapter Three, he is indeed making an adjustment to the spiritual posture of Corinthian believers.   He is showing them that they have been carnal, they have behaved after a human standard in preferring one person over another, and they have failed to apprehend that they are God’s building (vs. 9).

As a preface to Paul’s upcoming exposition on habitation these points are very important.  Why?  Paul is diagnosing their spiritual condition and how it is both inadequate and incompatible with being “God’s building.”  While on one hand he is showing them that they cannot be nonspiritual/carnal/ men of the flesh and also be the habitation of God, on the other hand he is drawing them to hunger for that very habitation!  He is running out the sail to capture before them the full wind of God’s wondrous design for them as His Spiritual Home and all that that portends!

We know from the Word that our flesh conveys no benefit concerning eternal things.  Jesus condemned the Pharisees for judging according to the flesh (by what they see) and yet this is how the Corinthians were behaving towards Paul and Apollos.  Essentially they were aligning themselves to one leader over another in the church because of outward appearance.  They were acting as ordinary men, unchanged and unspiritual.  They were looking at things with natural eyesight.  These tendencies were indicative of their spiritual condition – they were fleshly, not spiritual.  Before anything else could be revealed, this problem had to be addressed.

So it is with us today!  Before we can begin to experience the habitation of God, we must examine our spiritual disposition.  Are we like Corinthians — our carnal nature predominating? We must change!  Are we still infants in our new life with Christ — only able to take milk in teaching?  Are we ruled by our ordinary impulses (ones we were naturally born with)?  Do we find ourselves embroiled in wrangling, factions, and behaving after a human standard?  These are prime warning signs that our flesh is in action and control, not the spiritual man.  If we want the habitation of God, then our spiritual nature must be in charge, not our flesh!   Believe it!

Be-loved.

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Day Fifteen

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , , , on April 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Fifteen

Only Two Sources

(The World or the Father)

“Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.”  1Jn 2:15


Since the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, two grand competing tracks of provision and sourcing have run dually along the timeline of man.  They are two exclusive systems which not only are completely different, but they are adversarial to each other.  That is they are diametrically opposed to each other – and yet chronologically they both run from the fall to the end times.  Only one is destined to remain forever – that is the line of provision and sourcing from the Father.  1Jn 2:17 (Amp.) indicates that: “ …the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever.”

Not only are there just two systems, but each one has unique qualities that are “of it.”  The world track has forbidden cravings and lusts.  The Father track has the will and blessing of the Father and eternal life.

Not only will the provision and sourcing that is from the Father remain forever – but those who rely on it and have their needs met in it – they too remain forever.

The question you and I must face is twofold.  Which track do we think we rely on:  the world and its provision, or the Father?  Secondly, which track are we really running on and living our life according to?  This is a matter of grave import!

I was first provoked by this when I was reading 1Jn 2:16.  You probably know it well – but it says that all that is in the world can be categorized as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.  These things do not come from the Father it says but are from the world!  You see God told Adam that the ground (earth) was under a curse because he gave heed to the leading of Eve and ate the fruit in disregard to the Father’s instruction.  From that time forward Adam was going to eat the fruit of the earth all the days of his life.  This fruit is not just a literal product of toil – but is also what we reap when we sow to the track of the world by trusting in it and running upon it!  These fruits are the very lusts spoken of above!  Making the world your provision means succumbing to its draw and living by your fleshly appetites for physically sensual things, the longings of your mind, and the assurance and trust in your own resources (from the earth/flesh) and the stability of those things to continue on.  A dependence on the things of the world/flesh is diametrically opposed to putting your trust in the Lord.  It was this very decision that caused the fall in the Garden.  It can do no better today!

When we choose instead to run on the Father track (and make a deliberate choice to depend only on Jesus, to follow Him and trust in His resources, and to surrender all that we are into His hands) — we are truly freed from the curse of the Garden and the world’s hold.  In Him we can now bear fruit for righteousness that endures with us forever.  Before we could only derive from the world the temporal fruits of the earth (the lust of the eyes, etc.) that confirmed our ultimate destruction.  As we continue in reliance on Christ and we do the Father’s will (which is to follow and believe on Christ and remain in Him), then we abide forever!

Now we know the enemy, Satan, is a great deceiver.  He can present himself as an angel of light.  The greatest travesty would be for a believer to think his dependence was on the Father and His track when his choices and life reveal he was really trusting in the world!  If we love the world and trust in its offerings the love of the Father is not in us.  As we sow to the world track we are ruled by the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life.  Throughout our life, all that we can reap is destruction and eternal judgment.

Be wise in this and not deceived.  What track do you trust in?  What track is your life running on?  Is it of the world or the Father?  They have very different destinations!

Be-loved!

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Day Fourteen

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , on April 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Fourteen

The Value of One

“What man of you, if he has a hundred sheep and should lose one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?” Lk 15:4

We are moved today in the world by the notion that more is better, faster is better, and getting a bigger bang for the buck is good.  This thinking even spills over into our strategies for the Kingdom of God, though I don’t see this in the heart of the Father or Jesus.  In fact, what I see from the word is a continual reiteration of the great value of just one individual from Jesus’ perspective.  He constantly connected to people, individually, mano a mano, wherever He was at.

For instance, when the woman with the issue of blood was pressing through the crowd seeking only to touch the hem of His garment to receive healing – He recognized her touch as He felt the virtue of power leave although He was surrounded and hemmed in by crowds who were also touching Him.  Even when talking to groups of Pharisees He was able to discern their thoughts individually, and to recognize them as belonging to each person.  He also is able to discern when just two or three are gathered in His name – and He assigns value and power to that gathering for having their prayers answered.  Also, every deliverance, every healing, every salvation – Jesus accomplished one by one.  Mark 6:56 tells us that “as many as touched Him were restored to health.”  You could be part of a group that was touching Him and getting healed – but unless you touched Him yourself, you could not receive healing.  He deals with us individually.  Each of us is distinctly unique and important individually to the Lord!

This value of you – your value to the Lord is something that settles your heart as to your importance in His eyes, becomes a platform of strength against temptation and sin, and fortifies you in your place and role in the Kingdom.  The only way we can know this value, however, is to have revelation of it from the Lord through His word as we sit before Him.  He communicates it to us!  He begins to personalize the truth of His word for us.  It has our name on it as His love letter!  He says to us: “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” (Jer 31:3)  “I have loved you to the last and highest degree.” (Jn 13:1)  “My Father has loved you even as He has loved Me.” (Jn 17:23)  But this value of one is not just for us alone!  The Father desires that none should perish, but that all would come to repentance – hence He would have us communicate His love and value to others so that they may know Him.

Each of us has people within our sphere of influence (people we know and interact with) who are in a sense “lost sheep” or struggling.  Jesus values these people!  He would leave 99 of His saints to go pursue the one that is lost.  He would have us care and notice the needs of these people.  The question is:  Will we?  Would you and I have His heart concerning these people?  Are we willing to reach out in caring for the one He wants to recover?  Are we willing to put aside our pursuits and pursue what and who He wants?

The problem is we want evangelists in stadiums to do our work for us.  We want people to come to a church service and find Jesus.  But Jesus is saying to us – as the Father sent Me, now I send you!  He is waiting for us to hear Him.  He is waiting for us to gain His heart that each  “one” is vitally important – because everyday of every life – He works through one at a time – changing families through one child – changing churches through one life on fire for Him….. We cascade forth into the world as His living water – one person at a time!  Are you willing to go for Him – to pray with Him — to seek and save in His name – the “one” that is lost?  He is waiting to hear from you – His “one”.

Be-loved.

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Day Thirteen

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , on March 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Thirteen

Held Together- Transferring Your Confidence

“And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).”  Col 1:17

It is my hope that one day we will see the truth of things so clearly – that we will be amazed that we could ever have doubted… Him, or the fact that He has held all things.  1Cor 13:9-12 speaks of how we now see in a mirror dimly, but when perfection comes we will see clearly and with completeness.  I believe this is saying when Jesus manifestly returns we will actually “see” visually with completeness – for perfection will be before us.  But for now, I believe the saints have the capacity in Christ to grasp with fingers of faith a level of “spiritual vision” that can perceive perfectly.  We have already been brought out of darkness and into the Kingdom of the Son of His love (Col 1:13). When we see with eyes of faith we will see the truth and the truth will set us free.  Free from what?  Having confidence in the temporal over the eternal, sight over faith, natural over supernatural, etc. etc.

We can find hints of this in certain observations.  Take water for instance.  There is a scientific principle called cohesion (which is derivative from cohere in the Scripture above).  Try this!  Spill a bit of water on a waterproof table surface and also put a substantial drop of water nearby that spill, then trace a line of water from the drop to the spill.  The water from the drop will be drawn into the water mass of the spill.  This is cohesion.  They are united because of molecular likeness, and the greater body always draws the smaller.

As believers, we are like the water drop placed in proximity to the life and reality of Jesus Christ.  We are drawn to Him, we become more and more like Him — which draws us even closer to Him!  He draws us with the cords of man!  The more of Him we have, the more fully we cohere to Him– because of this property of cohesion.  He is our head spiritually, but He is also our center.  We are always moving closer to Him in intimacy.  In Him we cohere and are held together! We are most definitely “stuck” (in the very best sense) on Him!

When life storms or trials occur, the greatest damage occurs if we fail to remain stuck on Him, and instead put our trust in something else.  Our substance is not of “medical-likeness”, or “money-likeness.”  It is not of “world-likeness” or “man’s wisdom-likeness.”  It is of Christ-likeness!  So we must stick with the right thing – or rather the right One.  Nothing else has the inherent power to hold us together like Jesus.  Everything else is just a cheap imitation.  Stick with the Genuine, hold to the True.  No matter what — He’s got it all-together!

Be-loved.

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Day Twelve, Under-the-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , on March 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Twelve

Forego Hasty or Premature Judgments!

“…He will both bring to light the secret things that are [now hidden] in darkness and disclose and expose the [secret] aims (motives and purposes) of hearts…” 1Cor4:5

We know from the book of John that Jesus was the Word incarnate – He was the Word made flesh.  Previously He had been known as the “Logos” – the Word God spoke, and thus it was through this Word that everything that has been created was created!

In the gospel of John we see that Jesus gave and spoke to us every word that the Father gave Him.  He didn’t exceed this with words of His own making, nor exclude anything that the Father gave Him.  So there is perfect agreement between what the Father charged Jesus to do and say, and what Jesus gave or manifested to us.  He is the standard of perfect obedience!  So when we think of the word as a double-edged sword, or as living and active (as in Hebrews 4:12), exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart – we know that we are talking about the very essence of the nature of Christ here.   Jesus is the revealer of the thoughts and hearts of men!

Even Mary the mother of Jesus was to experience this “revelation” as she was told in Luke 2:35 that a sword would pierce her own soul and that the thoughts and purposes of many hearts may be brought out and exposed.  This is a specific property of the word of God.  Like H2O is the essence of the property of water — this is the very nature of Jesus, and from this distinct nature come all of His revelatory gifts such as words of knowledge or wisdom.  On his own, man does not have this ability.  It is only available through God as He provides the insight.  Man likes to figure things out by logic and reason, but this is very different and childlike compared to the truth that is known through God’s revelation.

Hence it is no wonder that we are told to not make hasty or premature judgments until Jesus “shows up”.  Our judgments are at best inaccurate observations, or based on faulty logic and analysis.  They are fraught with error!  Only the word that is living and active can disclose and expose the secret motives and purposes of the heart.  Unless the Lord provides this insight through the Holy Spirit to us, we are only seeing things on the surface.  We are walking by sight – only.  We might think we “know” something because we believe we have good intelligence, or we know it firsthand (we saw this).  But we do not have all the truth.  That only is available “when the Lord comes.”

He may show up manifestly for a moment, or He may send revelation through the Holy Spirit, or it might have to wait until His second coming.  But unless there has been a manifesting of His presence and truth in power, there is only a shadow of the truth available.  He is the revealer of the thoughts and hearts – and we must wait upon Him to cast light upon things that are hidden.

Thus we hold in abeyance the solidifying of an opinion that He has not precipitated nor confirmed!  Until the Lord discloses something, it is truly not yet known.  And if something is required to be known for pending action, we best be about the business of seeking His face and His truth.  Until that happens, we are just casting our own shadows on the wall – and those are all subject to change.

Let us realize our own limits to logically assess truth, and recognize our dependence on Him.  There is no getting around this fact — there is only counterfeiting it.

Be-loved!

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Day Eleven, Under-the-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011 on March 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Eleven

Dealing with Hard Days

“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, he who rules his [own] spirit than he who takes a city.” Prov 16:32

The idea of ruling our own spirit is initially foreign to us.  Even as believers we don’t often know what this means.  It is saying that as an act of your will (your soul), you are choosing to allow the Lord and His Life to rule in your regenerated spirit.  Your re-awakened spirit is then allowed to ascend to a place of rule over your soul and your physical body.  This ascended life is in charge.  Thus, the Kingdom of God actually begins to rule over your heart and mind in Christ Jesus, and works through the agency of the Holy Spirit in your own spirit.

The Proverbs Scripture is providing a comparison of strengths.  It is revealing that a person ruled by their spirit (and by extension the Holy Spirit) is much greater in strength than the one who possesses massive physical force.  Why is this?  Natural strength is good, but it can only take you so far.  You might even conquer a city with it, but that is unsubstantial compared to your own heart and mind being ruled over by the Kingdom of God.  It is there, in that place of service and submission under the rule of the spirit that miracles can occur!  It is there – with the very life of Jesus ruling in us – that we can do greater works for the Kingdom!  This is why we are also instructed that physical conditioning is of some value, but the training and disciplining of our spiritual life is of much greater profit! (1Tim 4:8)

However, this place of greater works is also a place of complete dependence on the Holy Spirit and His leading in us.  It is a place of obedience to the word of God, and to the authority of Jesus Christ!  For this reason, the enemy (Satan) tries with great effort and strategy to derail this kind of spiritual growth.  The capacity that we have as well-ruled spirits to do great works for the Kingdom drives the enemy to fight tooth and nail to sabotage this kind of life.  He brings every difficulty he can to make our days hard and our heart weary in well-doing.  His goal is to keep us on the run and caught up in our fleshly lives and thinking so that we lose the position of abiding in the spirit and having it rule over us.

When you embark on this path of life in the spirit, the enemy will target you.  When you approach increasing maturity in it – the enemy will try and pull out every stop.  It may look like he is winning.  But do not believe it!  Continue on in the spirit, and leave no room to indulge the flesh whatsoever!  Do not look at yourself, but continue to see only the face of Christ!  The enemy will learn that his tactics are only helping to perfect you in Christ’s likeness.  As you submit to God, and resist every tactic of the enemy, he will flee from you.  Be-loved.

 

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Day Ten, Under-the-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011, tagged , , , , , on March 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Ten

Heed the Call to Simplicity

“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”  NKJV 2Cor 11:3

In the Garden of Eden, Satan baited Eve to doubt and disbelieve God’s intentions by posing questions to her.  Watchman Nee describes with great detail this attack in The Spiritual Man, and how this tactic was used to cause Eve to employ her mind to answer his questions.  Though we may not see it, the attack was a malicious and deliberate attempt to get Eve to stir up her soul (specifically her mind), so her soul would expand in its efforts of thinking and depart from under the rule of the spirit within her.  The spirit was the part of her, and Adam, that could commune with God.  To destroy the rule of their spirits was to destroy this fellowship with God.

Now, here, the Apostle Paul presents a warning so that a similar evil will be averted today by believers who possess a regenerated spirit in Christ.  He is warning that our minds may lead us into the very same corruption as Eve experienced, a corruption characterized by fleshly thinking and doing, and a dependence on our soul vice the spirit as it is moved and led by Christ.

If you are a believer in Christ you actually have two minds.  You have your natural mind that you were born with.  But through your regenerated spirit you also have the mind of Christ.  Romans chapter eight discusses this duality, especially verses 1-18.  May you study them and receive revelation!  But in very simple terms, imagine you are a dog-sled and that there are two different dogs that like to lead you (the sled).  One dog is the flesh dog, one is the spirit dog.  Depending on which dog is allowed to lead – that is the nature of the things he pursues.  The flesh dog pursues the things of the flesh and seeks to gratify those desires.  The spirit dog seeks those things of the spirit and seeks to gratify the desires of the spirit.

So essentially Paul is warning us to let the spirit dog always be the lead dog, and let the flesh dog die of boredom and non-use!  The importance of this is not to be minimized!  Your flesh dog – can never please God (Rom 8:8), and it will always lead you astray.  The profoundness of this notion is underscored by the meaning of “simplicity” in 2Cor 11:3.

This word simplicity is haplotes (#572) in the Strong’s Greek.  It means singleness, without dissimilation or self-seeking.  The word is also derived from (#573) haplous, which adds the aspect of a particle of union, and being folded together.

Our flesh is “self-seeking.”  Our spirit is Christ-seeking.  Paul’s admonition to pursue simplicity in effect means never be self-seeking, thus never flesh-led!  Further, to have union in Christ – to be folded together implies we seek the same things, have similar perspective, and have the same goal as Christ Jesus – thus be spirit-led, following the dictates of the spirit.  This is having the simplicity in Christ Jesus!  It is singular devotion that is pure and of one substance with Him.  It is uncorrupted.

The point is – once the enemy finds a strategy that works, he generally keeps running with it.  Getting Eve to rely on her mind (flesh) rather than remain dependent on the spirit worked in the Garden – so he sees no reason to change his playbook.  He believes it will cause you also to fall.  But for you – hear the words of Paul and do not allow the enemy’s tactics to succeed again!  Let the flesh dog die – surrender and renounce the use of your flesh.  Reckon yourselves as being dead to sin but alive to Him.  And yield/offer “yourselves” (all of your faculties and members – all of your soul) to Him as instruments of righteousness (Rom 6:13).  Be-loved …

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Day Nine, Under-the-Influence

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011 on March 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Day Nine

Active Resistance

“… Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the harlots will get into the kingdom of heaven before you.”  Amp Mt 21:31

There are two Scriptures I find especially heart-breaking and even scary, with a third depicting fatal intransigence in the heart of man.  These are: Isaiah 30:15; and Matthew 23:37, and Matthew 21:31.

In the first two passages I hear the heart of Jesus break because what He is offering is being refused.  In the third, a similar terminal resistance is also displayed.  Let’s look at each.

Isaiah 30:15 is a favorite Scripture of mine.  It paints a simple yet clear picture of salvation and victory in Christ Jesus.  It is a place where we return to Him, rest in Him, and become strong in Him.  And yet – His offer in this passage is scorned.  It is not wanted by the Israelites of the time.  It is as if the greatest possible gift is extended with Hands yearning for it to be accepted, but it is refused!  The abrupt slamming shut from the doors of many hearts is almost perceptible– as if the gift was insulting, or offensive.

Equally sad is the Scripture in Matthew 23:37, where Jesus is crying out to the city of Jerusalem saying, “…How often would I have gathered your children together as a mother fowl gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused!”  At this, Jesus tells them that their house is now forsaken and desolate – and with this the Olive Branch of Israel is cut-off from the Tree, and the wild olive branch of the gentile church is grafted on, until the ingathering of the gentiles is complete.  What was rejected by Israel – is picked up by gentiles for the time of the church age.

So now we turn to the last Scripture Matthew 21:31, and its tie-in.  Jesus has been debating with the chief priests of the Jews and the elders.  They ask Him from where His authority is derived.  Before answering, He asks where they believe John the Baptist’s authority is from – heaven or men.  They choose to not answer, because they see they would lose from either choice.  If they say it was from heaven – they will be conceding to Jesus that His authority is from heaven as well and will have no recourse but to receive His claims that He is the Savior.  This they do not want!  But to say John’s authority was from man would get them into trouble with their people who believed He was a prophet.  So they abstain from answering which halts any further progression of truth.  Seeing the brick wall they have thrown up against Him, Jesus approaches from a different tact – a more simple strategy:  the story of two sons and which does the will of the Father.  Not seeing His intent, they answer with the correct choice – the first son is the one who has done the will of the Father.  Jesus then validates that John’s authority came from heaven and chastises them for not believing John because even the harlots and tax collectors believed this.  Therefore, those will enter the kingdom before these whom He is talking to.

All significance here pivots on the story of the two sons.  It was the first son (who initially refused to go to work in the vineyard but later changed his mind and went) who is the one who does the Father’s will.  This is the timeless message from Jesus’ heart!  Change your mind!  Change your way of thinking, and enter the kingdom of heaven.  Do not be like the ancestors in Isaiah’s time who actively resisted and said –“We will not,” when offered salvation and rest!  Do not be like the residents of Jerusalem who refused to be gathered into His arms like a brood of baby chicks!  Do not actively resist like the chief priests and elders who were caught up in a political power struggle for what they thought was status quo and control!  His cry to all is be like the first son — change your mind and enter the vineyard!

Let us all hear this cry of Jesus’ heart and share it!  Let us not remain in active resistance to what He offers!  Let us have the wisdom of the first son – and do the Father’s will.  Be-loved.

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