“…I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by Me.” Jn 14:6
“He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power….” Heb 1:3 AMP
“…And as He loved those who were His own in the world, He loved them to the last and to the highest degree.” Jn 13:1b AMP
In the earliest days of the New Testament church, their path, their intention, and even the character of the movement and it’s inclination was called…THE WAY
Know Him in His Ways
We know from Ps 103:7 that Moses knew the Lord according to His ways (of righteousness and justice). But the children of God, the Israelites knew Him by His acts.
This distinction or limit of distance was their choice. The Israelites feared God in His frightening power, and back in Exodus 20 they asked that He would speak to Moses, and Moses would then speak to them. God would not violate this request. He would not push in…
Without realizing it, we can put the same obstruction between us and God, choosing to only know Him according to His acts of power, and having a religious official be our interface with God.
This is not what He desires. He wants to know you personally and for you to know Him directly. To have relationship with Him, unfiltered.
So, how do you know Him?
Have Your Way in Me
When we received the Lord in salvation, He came to live in us by the Holy Spirit Who comes to live in us and restores life to our own spirit. But think about this thought for a moment. Hebrews tells us that He (Jesus) is the sole expression of the Glory of God. He is the out-raying radiance of the divine…
This is Who has come to live in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. The very manifest expression of God…Jesus. But for some of us, He is still like a genie trapped in a bottle. We have not let Him have full occupancy as He desires…Instead, we continue to do our thing our way and life by our thoughts and desires and plans. We believe we are saved because we said a prayer. But there is no proof in the pudding of our life, no fruit so to speak, that testifies He is Lord in us… Emmanuel!
Now speaking of His way, you may want to understand the meaning of that word “way.” Used in John 14:6, it is hodos in the Greek (3598). It means a way, or traveled way, a road, travelers way or journey. Metaphorically it means a course of conduct, a way or manner of thinking, feeling, and deciding.
Now let me digress for just a moment to address the notion of sin. Most of us have a definition something like missing the mark, or falling short of the glory of God. These are not incorrect, they are just not specific enough to shape our understanding and concept of sin.
I want to direct you to something that the Lord impressed upon me from 1Jn1:9…
“If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].” AMP
My point in this sidebar is to say, here we see a clear diagnosis of what it means to sin. I sin whenever I fail to conform to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action? What does it mean to conform? The pattern of my character and will become formed along the very same lines as the Lord Jesus’. But this is not me intellectually examining Him and then saying, “I got this Lord, I see what You want” – and then doing on my own.
This is instead, and inside job, Christ in me the hope of glory!!! He does it! He builds the house.
For me this opens a massive understanding of how often and how many various ways I have sinned against God!
For instance, I may have His thought about something, but because of a fleshly/soulish attitude still operating in me I devise a soulish plan and perform it according to a wrong spirit. Thus, I sin and reap destruction…(Gal 6:8).
Now God is extremely longsuffering and gracious, and is trying to communicate His will to us. As His ways (think His character, motivation, manner, habit, escentially His “Heart”) expand in us, an understanding and ability expands to do His will! (Phil 2:13)
The point: His way becomes our default setting!!!
Now as to the very Highest Way…
Choose the Highest Way!
From 1 Corinthians 13:13 we learn that faith, hope, and love abide…
From 1 Corinthinas 12:31 we learn that there is a more excellent way [one that is better by far and the highest of them all – love] – So how do we think we arrive at working in this highest of all ways?
From the way of Christ Jesus in us having His preeminent way…
“He took a servant’s towel”… Jn 13:1
Love to the highest and greatest degree is prefaced by having a servant’s heart, a willingness to deny yourself and follow the One we serve. For us it is discipleship, and sanctification.
For Jesus, Himself, it is sacrifice which He exemplified as He came into the world. He said, “Here I am, coming to do Your will Oh God…” Heb 10:7&9
As we yield to Jesus, and surrender to His way, we will have both the power and will to do according to His plan…
But what if you are one that has lost your way in this journey? That is a good thing!!! As long as you now submit and embrace His way and pursue His way and finding out what that is! Press into Him and allow His way to be formed in you, but this is not a passive thing. It is an active, lifelong, pursuit… from glory to glory which comes from the Lord , Who is the Spirit.
amen…
Insolomonsporch's Blog 