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Day Fifty-Eight, Super-Abounding Grace: The Grace Juxtaposition

June 8, 2013 by insolomonsporch

Day Fifty-Eight

Super-abounding Grace! The Grace Juxtaposition

 

– many died through one man (Adam’s) fall… but many gain God’s grace through the one (Jesus)

– one man brought condemnation… but Jesus’ free gift brings justification

– by one man’s trespass death reigned… but by God’s overflowing grace we reign as kings in life

– one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men… but Jesus’s act leads to righteousness for all

– one man’s disobedience makes men sinners… but by one Man’s obedience they are brought into right-standing with Him

– where sin increased and abounded… God’s grace has superabounded

– where sin has reigned in death… God’s grace now reigns through righteousness which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (paraphrase of Romans 5:15-21)

 

It is done: completed! Seven juxtapositions of man’s natural state as placed beside what God has done for him.  Can there be any doubt of God’s redeeming love, how He has super-abounded in grace for us, and has more than overcome the condition of our fall?  If there is any doubt in you of God’s nature, His character, His love for you, or how far He has actually come to abound to us in grace – you need to take time and study for yourself the above passage.  Read it. Study it. Meditate on it.

I know – it is easy to get into a spiritual funk.  Life happens.  Your find yourself high and dry on a spiritual plain of desolation.  You find it hard to see Him let alone fellowship with Him.  But I tell you – the cares of this world have been choking the word that is in you.  Turn the tables now and let this word expand, occupy, and super-abound in you in truth.  The pressure this word exerts for truth is greater than the pressure of your situation!  Let this word fill your eyes and fill your heart with truth!  It will bear you aloft over and through your situation and circumstances, if only you will embrace it.  Not because you fully understand it intellectually – but by faith you believe that the One Who holds all things is willing and able to do what He has said here.  Let Him begin to saturate your thinking with His truth.  Let His grace abound even super-abound in you today!

 

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Day Fifty-Seven, The Heart of Christ, Under-the-Influence

March 16, 2013 by insolomonsporch

Day Fifty-Seven

What the Heart of Christ Looks Like

“But he, full of the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory (the splendor and majesty) of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand!” Acts 7:55

          Between the character of the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 18:23) and the character of the disciple Stephen (Acts 7:1-60), we see an amazing juxtaposition which reveals the very heart of Christ.  In both these situations, rebellious crowds of Israelites are threatening the safety of each of these men because of the word of God which has been brought to them.  Two different dispensations are in operation: with Jeremiah – it is the law of Moses.  With Stephen it is the law of the Spirit of Life.

It is interesting to note that Romans 8:2 clarifies to us that the law of the Spirit of Life frees us from the law of sin and of death.  We will see the truth of that in how Stephen responds to the threatening crowd. But first… Jeremiah.

Israel has not received Jeremiah’s words from the Lord, and in fact his words have caused them to desire to do away with him.   Jeremiah 18:23 presents Jeremiah speaking before the Lord with a request that He not forgive their (the Israelites) iniquity, nor blot out their sin from His sight. He requests that the Israelites be overthrown before the Lord and that He would deal with them in His anger.  Harsh – to say the least, but probably from Stephen’s perspective not unwarranted.

Now contrast that with Acts 7 where the people are again threatening death to the servant of God – in this case Stephen.  They have actually dragged Stephen out of the city and are beginning to stone him.  At this moment Stephen, gazing into heaven and seeing Christ standing beside the Father — prays, “Lord, fix not this sin upon them [lay it not to their charge]!”

I believe during these two different events we are privileged to observe the law of the Spirit of Life in operation in Stephen.  It freed him from the bounds and limitations of operating according to the Moses law in a very vital way.  The Law of Moses is like the letter of the law.  It is a yardstick of assessment that brings judgment based on if you are right or you are wrong.  This Law, however, lacks the power to transform or bring new life.  In Jeremiah’s case – we saw this lack.  He could only condemn.

With Stephen, however, you see in operation the very heart of our Lord Jesus Christ.  You see the law of the Spirit of Life.  How do I know that?  On the cross – when He was being crucified, suffering unimaginably, Jesus first utters the very same sentiment.  “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Lk 23:34

Jesus Himself explained to His disciples after the crucifixion that it was necessary and fitting that the Christ would suffer in this way before entering into His glory. (Lk 24:26)  As He suffered and paid the penalty for us, you and I (like Stephen) are now freed by His death and given entrance to operate according to the very same law of the Spirit of Life – the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  No matter what the persecution or situation before us, in Christ, we are more than conquerors and can walk out from the abundance of His very same heart.  We can now conqueror because He has conquered for us!

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Day Fifty-Six, Under-the-Influence

March 1, 2013 by insolomonsporch

Day Fifty-Six

The Descent into Error: On What Do You Lean?

“For though I am away from you in body, yet I am with you in spirit, delighted at the sight of your [standing shoulder to shoulder in such] orderly array and the firmness of the solid front and steadfastness of your faith in Christ [that leaning of the entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].” Col 2:5 AMP

            Before every one of the saints of God there is a continual, daily choice to align with Christ. Sometimes it is even moment by moment, for there is a continual pull, a draw from the flesh (of our soul) to align with it.  It can be seen as the difference between following Christ, or following our soul and it’s leading.  It is the difference between having the Holy Spirit ruling as Umpire in our heart, or deciding things ourselves according to our own best skills.

While it may appear that your own reasoning follows the same relative heading as the leading of the Lord – you may trust that there are many instances where they will separate, and like the difference between true north and the magnetic north there exists an error of declination.  You, however, will likely not notice the increasing distance between the directional heading of these two (your soul’s leading vice that of the Holy Spirit), because the element of time is required to plot them out to their end course.

But understand this:  the enemy’s end game is to encourage and help you to lean on your own understanding and perception, rather than trusting the Lord and His!  If he can develop that default tendency in you for good things (to depend on the flesh for seeming good) it will not be long before he can solidify your leaning on the flesh (and your own understanding) for evil. It is there that he can bring you under judgment and condemnation – and it will stick because you have not trusted in the One Whom you should have trusted.

Matthew 24:10 reflects this situation as an end-times truth concerning the Body of Christ. “And then many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred.”

Once the body distrusts and deserts Jesus Christ, it is not long before they begin to behave with the very nature of the enemy: hatred and betrayal.  The beginning of that fall saints is to lean on the wrong thing.  It is a slow slide from leaning on ourselves and our own understanding to actual betrayal and hatred – but it is a descent nevertheless.

Now grasp this please!  The reason there is a problem with leaning on your own thinking and living according to that – is that Jesus Christ has given us a new life to be lived out even now – according to the Spirit.  When we make our default setting the continual, rational posture of dependence on our soul, then we in fact make our soul the chief force in our life.  We put our own understanding, our sense of duty, our own soul on the throne of our lives.  But we are called as believers to enthrone the resurrection life of Christ, to lift Him up as Lord of our lives.

Ultimately, my best thinking will never get me to the same place as obedience to the Spirit will, and this is the error of declination between living according to the soul or living according to the Spirit. Abraham’s best thinking would have never led him to offer Isaac as a living sacrifice.  Joseph’s best thinking would never have led him to forgive his brothers. But obedience did!  Jesus Christ Himself showed us the very core of difference between relying on His own understanding or leaning on the Father when He asked: if there be any other way Father let this cup pass from Me, but nevertheless Thy will, not mine be done. Even Jesus was leaning on the Spirit, obedient to the Father as He went to the Cross.  We are called to do the same!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not in your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Prov 3:5-6

The descent that one sees as we fail to lean on the Lord is equally true for a believer, for a nation, and even for the Body of Christ.  The only way to stem the slide of descent into ultimate hatred and betrayal, is to see where we are at, and turn and fully lean on the One on Whom we should trust and obey!

 

 

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A Laser-Guided Vision, Under-the-Influence, Day Fifty-Five

February 9, 2013 by insolomonsporch

A Laser-Guided Focus:

The Redemptive Vision

Day Fifty-Five

Under the Influence

“Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish;…” Prov 29:18

            During many of the United States military campaigns since the Gulf War first erupted in 1990 we have employed laser targeting for placing bombs on respective targets. Assets on the ground place a laser marker on that object, and the bomb is guided to that site – even to an exact place – by that laser marker.  This allows for high accuracy in reaching the target, and the exact placement of the marker allows for maximum target destruction.  Without laser guiding, the accuracy is much compromised.

In a similar way, having a redemptive vision of the Lord moves our own gaze from a natural perspective to a supernatural focus.  We begin to look at and see what He is focusing on and seeing.  Like the assist from the laser placement guides the bomb for target acquisition, the Lord trains His focus (and our hearts) on where He would have us come along-side Him in prayer or activity: where He would have us obligate our attention.  As we then act in obedience to His leading, there is victory.  For either destruction or for building up, as saints of the most-High God, unless we have His redemptive vision for where to place our focus – we are shooting blindly – simply according to our own natural leading.

Without the redemptive vision of the Lord, we cannot assess what is the important focus He has for this moment in time.  Without His vision, we cannot even have an accurate cross-hair placement.  Whether for prayer or for planning, we are instead taking our precious, limited warfare assets (read arrows, finances, time, etc.), and shooting them haphazardly into the sky – then praying they will strike pay-dirt.  How ridiculous that makes us to think we would be effective in that manner.  What archer would pick a target after already shooting?  Our job is not simply to shoot our arrows (our prayers, our efforts), but it is in fact to employ them in obedience as the Lord leads.  Then it will be established and succeed as the Lord says (Prov 16:3).

May we each come to the place where we corporately set our hearts and then our minds on what is above (the higher things).  May we continue to behold in the word of God the glory of the Lord, and thus be transfigured into His very own image (therefore have His own focus and interest) in ever-increasing splendor.  May we truly have His redemptive vision (an accurate picture of what He has done at the cross – that He has already redeemed us as His, and redeemed us for Himself).  And may we commit and trust the focus of every work – even its origin, to obedience to and for Him and His leading.  Then we will have success every time, hitting pay-dirt for His glory.  It is He Who teaches our hands to war and our fingers to fight (Ps 144:1).  Lord help us to focus on You, that you would focus us.

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Under-the-Influence, Why God Tolerates Satan (for now)…

January 3, 2013 by insolomonsporch

Under-the-Influence

Why God Tolerates Satan… (for now)

Day Fifty-Four

“… the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of His creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all harmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.” Eccl 12:13 Amp

          I’ve heard the question asked, “Why did God not just write salvation in the sky?”  And it is a very good question. But as He published the Law in the old Testament – in a way He sort of did that very thing.  He wrote out Who He is, What He is About, and What He expects.  Yet neither the Law nor the Old Testament can save mankind.  At best they pointed a finger towards a coming Savior Who would (and did) redeem us all.

But the greatest issue addressed, the greatest need for us to recognize, and the central role for our lives is to recognize God’s authority: to recognize that all things are His: including us.  The central battle in the universe (as stated by Watchman Nee in Spiritual Authority) is about who shall have authority.  That same question is then the focus and fulcrum of all the teachings in the Scriptures, all the intentions of the Gospel message, and the issue behind all healings and miraculous works in the Bible and what we even see yet today.  It is answering that underlying question:  Who is the authority?  The answer of course is God Almighty. But there are some things I would like to point out.

Why couldn’t the Law redeem man? Why wasn’t it enough? And therefore why wouldn’t it work for God to just write salvation in the sky?  The answer is: for God’s authority to be fully expressed and received there needed to be subjection to that authority as a response.  Without the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross, there could be no redemptive life of the Spirit dwelling in us (no subjection). Without Christ we would be forever left with only self-will and the action of “sacrifice,” – we would never be able to achieve “obedience.”  Why is that you wonder?

Quoting from Watchman Nee: “Why did Samuel say that ‘obedience is better than sacrifice’? Because even in sacrifice there can be the element of self-will. Obedience alone is absolutely honoring to God, for it alone takes God’s will as its center.” (Spiritual Authority, p13) Nee goes on to explain that for there to be subjection to God – self has to be kept out or excluded from the process. So subjection to God is only possible as one lives in the Spirit (cause self always wants to be in change).  Thus, we can only truly express subjection to God when we are operating in the Spirit and Life of Jesus Christ.

This then, is what the Cross provided for us that the law could not. Yet, beyond this you must realize that all future with God, every blessing, every promise, every benefit is tied to “in Christ.”  There is nothing that can be assured or protected or sustained outside of “in Christ.”  In that place (in Christ), like the verse from Ecclesiates above shows, is the place of all promise. So imagine in the midst of cataclysmic disaster and destruction you hear of an island of safety – where there is only peace and stability, calm and freedom.  That would be an analogy to being in Christ. But you can never have the freedom from harm if you do not venture to that island.  Christ has purchased our salvation and freedom from a sin nature that will always seek to “do it my way.”  He sustains all things with His word of power, and all things are subject to Him (to His authority) – except those things like us who must choose subjection as an act of our will.  As we choose to submit to Him, and to acknowledge His authority over all things, we enter into safety from the controversy of the universe where the enemy attempts to lie, distort, distract, and to deflect us from the truth of God’s authority.

Why was salvation not written in the sky?  Because by your ascent and choice, God wanted to be able to write it on the tablet of your heart in His own handwriting – thus giving us the right and privilege to receive the life of His Son and to bring us into the place of proper submission to acknowledge and experience His true authority.

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Day Fifty-Three, Under-the-Influence

December 13, 2012 by insolomonsporch

Day Fifty-Three

What You Must Deny:

The Creative Power of “Let”

“And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.” Gen 1:3

            The very first recorded spoken word of God was “let.”  He said, “Let there be light”: and then there was — light.  Next: “let there be firmament”: and firmament was. Then… waters. Then — vegetation.  They had no choice.  They had to come forth.  God’s power and authority is such that the order of command imperative only had to be “let” – and it had to happen!

So when we examine what is needed for us to become disciples of Jesus Christ in Matthew 16:24, Jesus says: “If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself…”  There it is again.  The creative power of God is at work – at the same strength that was at work in the beginning at the creation of the world and all things!  “Let”!

What does this mean for us?  At the very moment you desire to be a disciple of Christ – you have at your disposal the power to become a disciple.  It must come forth in your life! However, to engage that power – you must “deny” yourself.  Before you can pick up your cross, before you can follow Him – you must “deny” yourself.  The “let” Jesus provided was the power to deny yourself!  That comes first!  And not surprisingly, it takes a level of power equivalent to creation power to “deny” ourselves: to disregard, lose sight of, and forget ourselves and our own interests.  It takes that much power to disengage from ourselves, and turn to the Creator of the Universe for the fullness of fellowship and oneness with Him.

If you have lost sight of the wonder of the first and perhaps greatest miracle performed in your life, think anew this season on the level of power Jesus Christ afforded to each of us to become His disciple – when He said, “let”.  Not for the light, nor the firmament, nor the vegetation – but for you to deny yourself!  [Let]… the significance of that provision wash over you anew in revelation, understanding, and gratitude.

Because of what He did for us on the cross, because of His command imperative “let” (him deny himself), we indeed can – and then enter into the heart of the deepest walk of fellowship, and following of Him, the very Best Gift. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

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Day Fifty-Two, Under-the-Influence

December 5, 2012 by insolomonsporch

Day Fifty-Two

Words of a Kind

“…but my words are of a kind which will be fulfilled in the appointed and proper time.”

Lk 1:20

 

Like fruit and animals that are each according to their kind – words are also of a kind.  Words are either of flesh, or they are of spirit.  All that they then yield, all that they inspire, conform to the nature of either flesh or spirit.

In the passage above, the angel Gabriel is speaking to Zachariah, the priest, and he is explaining that Zachariah will be silent until the words he has spoken to him have come to pass.  This is because Zachariah questioned their certainty – thus he was struck mute.  The angel says his words are of a kind, and that they have a destiny ahead to be fulfilled.

Words of spirit have a destiny of creating life, or expanding life.  They will not fall to the ground, nor will they return void.  But they will accomplish all that pleases God, and they will prosper in the thing for which they are sent.  Words that are spirit and life conform to the very word and promises of God which are yes and amen!  They are intentioned and arise out of the very heart of God.  They are then true and find their amen for those who are in Christ Jesus.

It is no stretch then to read Romans 1:16 where we are told that the gospel, the good news (read as God’s words of spirit and life) is God’s power working unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  Nor is it surprising that Jesus says in John 6:63 that the words He has been speaking are spirit and they are life.  All the words He ever gave were what the Father gave Him to give.

So if words of spirit have a destiny of bringing life and expanding life, what destiny do words of flesh bring?  Since they are words of flesh, all they can foster is more flesh.  From the flesh then, they bring ruin and decay and destruction (Gal  6:7-8).  This is a most sobering realization.  Not only do we sow from our thoughts and our deeds, we sow from our words.

Who then – knowing all of this – would not desire to choose their words carefully?  Who would not be most humbled by the inherent power of their words and their own inadequacy of character to bring their words under subjection? James tells us (Jam 3:2) that we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things.  And if anyone does not offend in speech [never says the wrong things], “he is a fully developed character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature.”

Truly, I only know of One Who is perfect in this way.  Everyone else can only repent repeatedly of our massive shortcomings and cry out to Him continuously for mercy and help.  Some of us need His grace to overcome – even moment by moment!  And yet, as we yield, He is our ever present help in time of trouble.

Saints, scrutinize and bring captive to Christ the thoughts you indulge, and the deeds you do. But remember – it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles us, (Mt 15:17-19) and that words are “of a kind.”

 

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Day Fifty-One, Under-the-Influence

November 12, 2012 by insolomonsporch

God paints better than anyone

Day Fifty-One

What God is About … Is Love!

“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.  God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” 1Jn4:16 NKJV

 

Admittedly, we have often been mystified by God:  His ways; intentions; His substance; His “endgame” so to speak.  But just as He is love – the substratum of all His plans, purposes, and provisions – is also love.

As I grow in the knowledge of His character and nature, I ultimately expand in His love.  I cannot have more of God, without having more of His love.  They cannot be separated.

From the standard world view and vernacular of today, a rendering of 1Cor 13: 4-8 (the great Love passage) might sound something like:

“… love is fluffy, love is fun, love meets all of my needs, and cares for me without end. Love is my soft pillow friend that cushions every blow this world would deal unto me. Love gives all and requires nothing back. Love asks nothing hard of me. Love is tolerant of all my shortcomings. Love makes a place for me to be accepted without caveat. Love is all about me and focuses on me.”

Of course that would be not just in error, but simplistic, planar even, when God’s truth and His love abounds, overflows, out-distances all the self-centered thinking that we can attribute to it.  As different as light is from darkness – so is the truth of God’s love from the above rendering. So let me share a little glimpse that I have been given into God’s love – that is a painting analogy.

Imagine you have a box of paints like the old grade-school kind.  But instead of a full complement of colors you only have oranges and yellows.  But you are trying to paint.  You begin to notice the amazing cloud formations in the southwest skies.  The wispy, swirling clouds in the pastel blue expanse overhead inspire you, grip you – you must paint them.  But you have nothing to work with.  You begin to want.  And you’re want grows and is lifted up as hunger to an unknown Being.  For some reason – you believe there is One out there Who can not only hear and respond, but also cares.

The day you come upon the pallet of colors way beyond what you asked for – is a day you will never forget.  It is the start of something big.  More than painting!  But soon the new color pallet becomes disappointing.  You can’t seem to capture the fullness of what you see in the overhead sky.  Yours is flat, one-dimensional, lacking in – something.  So you ask your Source for what is missing to help you.

The question comes, “Will you trust Me?”  Your own heart leaps in assent.  “Oh yes!”  Although you do not know exactly why you trust – but it is sure in you as anything.

At that moment, the Lord takes from your hands the beautiful pallet of paints, and instead hands you a small box to open.  You wonder what is inside – but you are not afraid.  You open it and are surprised to see that it is not paint inside at all – but simply a glowing light.  Not quite certain what to do with it – you reach your hand out to touch it.  It is captivating, inviting, and something stirs in you to bring it closer.

With a quick intake of your breath the light moves from your hand – to inside you.  It is like panorama has opened before you.  Where previously you saw only from your own narrow perspective – now you see in full relief. Depths, heights, expanses, slices, even darkness and shadows – all are perceived by you.  But something more too.  This something which first appears to be a side benefit of the light inside you – you realize is the main thing.  You have A New Life living inside you!

“Now” the Lord says, “Here are your paints back.  But you must always use them from my Life in you – not your own old life!  See what can be done now.”  And you do.

αώ

The Lord doesn’t just give us paints to satisfy our hunger, He gives us Himself and He is love in substance, intention, practice, character and power.  If we could realize it – He not only originated the fullness and definition for the word “love”— He exemplifies it. He is the gold standard. Yet we think it is the other way around – Him being defined by love. Much more than definition (of a flat planar kind), more than simply substance, it is Truth – He is Love.  But get ready – He is bigger that what you and I can dominate or manipulate.  He is!

“…Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord of hosts.” Zech 4:6

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Day Fifty, Under-the-Influence

October 13, 2012 by insolomonsporch

Day Fifty

WARNING:

Have an Active Spirit before God

“Then said the Lord to me, You have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it.”  Jeremiah 1:12 AMP

 

No matter what our relational status with the Lord, we are created in His image.  But if we are believers, then we are being brought into His likeness in increasing degrees, from glory to glory. (2Cor3:18)  We are being transformed into His likeness, thus as He is alert and active – so should we also be.  But what does that refer to?  Are we called to be like busy bees always in motion, steeped in Christian good works?

Not at all – in fact this posture of alertness and activeness refers more exactly to our spiritual posture before the Lord.  As He is active, so we are actively pressing into Him in spirit.  I’ve always seen this in a peculiar way.  We are like Play-dough. When we receive the word of God into our hearts and we believe, there begins an active cooperation on our part.  We take in the word and it is like a press or a mold.  Quite vigorously we lay hold of the word, and press ourselves against it.  It makes a great impression upon us!  Like the old papyrus tablets of clay used for communication – we are marked by the word of God.

The apostle Paul said that he bore in his own body the marks of the Lord Jesus, that testified of His ownership of Paul (Gal 6:17).  He also said that he was making up in his own body whatever was still lacking in the afflictions of Christ – for the sake of His Body.  I wonder, – Do we have such marks of ownership and affliction upon us – ones which testify of Christ?  We should!

We should bear in ourselves the very fingerprints of God.  Not because He is so harsh and rough, but because we pursue Him so fervently.  He draws us, and we run after Him. Like Matthew 11:12 reveals, “And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force.”  When we gain a glimpse of Who the Lord is and what He has provided for us, and at what cost – we cannot get enough of Him!  We seize upon Him (with violent love and devotion of course) and never let go!

Now if you can’t fathom anyone wanting to seize upon Jesus, I direct you to the Gospels where he continually had his disciples standing by with a boat ready, because the people would throw themselves at Him and lay hold of Him because He was healing and delivering so many.  May our experience with Him be so vital!

Back to the important point here, however — we are never to be passive and wishy-washy where the Lord is concerned.  We are to be alert and active, just like Him.  To be otherwise is in-fact dangerous.  To be in a passive state spiritually can put you on the road to deception and destruction, because Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light (2Cor11:14).  He is ever waiting to intercept and gain access to our thoughts, our will, and then our behavior to bring us into sin and under condemnation.  Sin, after all, is commonly defined as “missing the mark.”  Perhaps, that is missing the mark(-ings) of Christ in our lives, more than us missing a designated target?

Listen to some of the language Paul uses in Philippians Chapter 3 to frame his posture towards the Lord: “[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him …” (Phil 3:10);  “…but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.” (Phil 3:12);  “I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.” (Phil 3:14)

As you can see, Paul is not passive at all concerning the Lord – but he is actively pressing in and cooperating with all that He desires.  As we press into the word, and it impresses us – we have a safety net of sorts.  In our mind we have actively engaged the word of God, and thus are connected to truth.  Our entrance into the presence of God is framed by this same word, and by our spirit that is in a posture like that of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ.  Kind of like a docking chamber between different environments (spiritual and natural), our active engagement prevents the influx of foreign and adversarial agents.  When our link and engagement to the Lord is through the word and the Spirit of Truth, we are kept in safety.  We know Who we are connected to.  When we haphazardly and passively invite the Holy Spirit to come to us, take us over etc. we leave ourselves open to enemy deception and forces of darkness.

Believers, be secure, be safe, be active in your engagement with Jesus Christ and the spiritual realm.

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Day Forty-Nine, Under-the-Influence

October 1, 2012 by insolomonsporch

Day Forty-Nine

 What will you foster? Character or Understanding

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Mt 6:33 (ESV)

Are you someone who believes the events of life are there to teach you something– to increase your understanding so that you are ever becoming more skilled in navigating life?  I would suggest to you quite the opposite – I believe events are actually to build your character in Christ, not your natural understanding, and that this is a much more profitable course.

Look for a moment at those who are skeptics before God.  They think: “I will believe when I see.”  Or, “I will obey when I understand.”  Like Job they desire an audience with God so He can receive their perspective on things.  They want to weigh in on the events and their impact, thinking that God really needs their input.  Yet more than understanding, God desires obedience; more than understanding, He desires trust.  The shaping and renovation taking place in any life is not something we can oversee.  We do not have the right perspective or wisdom for it.  We are quite literally – clueless!

We must come to the place of trusting God – and committing this process to Him, even when we don’t understand what is happening.  He is able to keep all that is committed to Him! Like going to a dentist and trusting his skill – we don’t give him instruction, we don’t review his work plan or tell him how long he can drill – rather we sit in the chair quietly, sometimes white-knuckled, counting the time waiting for the work to end.  God is infinitely more trust-worthy than any dentist, more skilled than any practitioner – so why do we take this consumer approach with God?

Simply, we don’t have the big picture – yet we want control.  Like an airplane pilot who (given no visibility) should fly IFR but doesn’t  – we trust our instincts and skills more than the IFR readings.  We believe we know our orientation.  We have more confidence in our abilities than in His.  Because of this confidence in ourselves, we approach life events believing if we only learn enough we will succeed.  If life is really only about learning more — we can do that and navigate it more successfully.  We can do it our way.

But life does not exist simply as an experiment to provide useful teaching.  It exists to help us see that we need God in our lives. It clarifies over and over our need to be dependent on Him, and to be more like Him.  The Lord fashions life and its events so that we will grow in Christlikeness.  Growing in Christlikeness will get us farther and higher than any amount of personal understanding.   His ways are higher than ours, and His thoughts are too, but only by coming into greater Christlikeness can we even approach knowing His ways, and sometimes understanding them.

But there is no shortcut to this process, no way to jump ahead with a workaround.  Our character must be expanded in Christ, our mind renewed by the Word, and our trust in the Lord made unshakable.  Then we can begin to have His perspective and process what is really going on. It is when we fully seek His Kingdom (His rule in our hearts and minds) and His righteousness (His way of being and then doing) that we enter into Truth, and begin knowing the truth.  Only when we have Christ living in us does true learning and understanding actually occur.

Life, then, is not about garnering more facts, more information, and adapting accordingly, or leveraging it with our rapier-sharp intellect.  Rather, it is coming to know the One Who is eternal life, growing in Him and His character and having His overcoming life fill us abundantly, and sharing that.

In the final shakedown, we will either strive on our own to become better, or receive the One Who truly is better.  May it be said, “We did it His way.”

 

Posted in Under-the-Influence, Devo Shorts 2011 | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

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