I heard a sermon last night that claimed "charismatics" are the ones who are actually guilty of "quenching" the Spirit of God because they don't give priority to the primary work of the Spirit, namely ~ sanctification.
This is such a WILD generilization, for one; but for two, the evidences we see in Scripture of the Lord pouring out his Spirit (consider the book of Acts) actually trend more to a reality where those who are "filled" with the Spirit are far more OTHERS focused; they're going out and boldly proclaiming the Word, they're going out and ministering in miraculous ways to people in need....
This preacher's emphasis on sanctification is not altogether inappropriate, but it seems to me that the church as a whole trends towards legalism (*and I've been chief among them!*) and AWAY from the fullness of the Spirit when all we're concerned about is how good we look in the "spiritual mirror" (self-focused) rather than being FIRST concerned with a passionate pursuit of God and the revelation of his love which then COMPELS us outward from ourselves....
Surely there are those of us, as genuine believers, who are guilty of "quenching" the Spirit on all sides of the cube ~ but why would you preach in such a way as to deliberately lead your people into drawing a comparison with other believers only to conclude "Oh, see? we aren't experiencing the dramatic love of God or miraculous signs and wonders, but that means we're BETTER and more RIGHTEOUS in our walk with God, and not that perhaps we have missed the mark in pursuing the ABUNDANT LIFE he promised and pours out for and in us, and not that perhaps we haven't tasted of the RIVER of life that is to flow out of us."
I'm particularly bent out of shape over this as I have a great deal of respect for this particular preacher, but I think he is DANGEROUSLY wrong on this, and leading his body (and the potential millions he influences through other media) into further feeling comfortable for altogether AVOIDING the very Spirit of God with whom we've been UNITED for Jesus' sake!
Showing posts with label "sons" are led by the Spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label "sons" are led by the Spirit. Show all posts
17 January, 2012
19 December, 2011
"...Correct but COLD."
I may have posted on this before, but today's quote by Bonnke on Facebook is worth requoting, with this side-note:
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones once made a similar remark, to the effect that "right doctrine" IS essential; it's equivalent to us building the altar. But we must ALSO call on God to send the FIRE from heaven! Thank you, Lord! ~L
Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke:
"Unless we are burning we can never set anybody else on fire. We can be so orderly, doing everything with dignity and decorum but … without fire! Correct but cold. On Mount Carmel the pagans laid everything correctly on the altar ready for the sacrifice but the devil could not bring a spark from hell to light it. Elijah then rebuilt the altar, stones, wood, sacrifice, everything according to the book, and called down fire from heaven. And it came! And it comes!"
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones once made a similar remark, to the effect that "right doctrine" IS essential; it's equivalent to us building the altar. But we must ALSO call on God to send the FIRE from heaven! Thank you, Lord! ~L
Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke:
"Unless we are burning we can never set anybody else on fire. We can be so orderly, doing everything with dignity and decorum but … without fire! Correct but cold. On Mount Carmel the pagans laid everything correctly on the altar ready for the sacrifice but the devil could not bring a spark from hell to light it. Elijah then rebuilt the altar, stones, wood, sacrifice, everything according to the book, and called down fire from heaven. And it came! And it comes!"
"The Spirit of God is Arousing Us Within"
....
24 I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.
1-2 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
3-4 God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.
The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.
5-8 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored.
9-11 But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!
12-14 So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!
18-21 That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
29-30 God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
Romans 7:24-8:39 from THE MESSAGE
24 I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.
1-2 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
3-4 God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.
The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.
5-8 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored.
9-11 But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!
12-14 So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!
18-21 That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
29-30 God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
Romans 7:24-8:39 from THE MESSAGE
30 November, 2011
Worship is Enjoying the Presence of God
some bits from a really great, thought-provoking article I read today:
"WORSHIP IS [that is, this is the very ESSENCE, the defining nature of worship] ENJOYING THE PRESENCE OF GOD."
"Many Christians, today, do not have the conscious presence of God in their lives."
"The Holy Spirit is to us what the pillar of cloud and of fire were to the children of Israel. The Holy Spirit is God's manifested presence in our lives."
"Many people confess faith in the Lord Jesus, but do not have his presence in their lives; and [consequently,] they do not have the assurance of their salvation."
"Some of the most frightening words in the Bible are found in Exodus 33:1-3 where God gave the children of Israel his Protection, his Provision, and his Promise, but not his PRESENCE...."
"Do not settle for God's protection, his provision, or even the promised land [!] without his presence. When you have the presence of God, you need nothing more; and you should settle for nothing less!"
[note, I do not yet know who the author of this article is ~ but if/when I find, I will add as a comment to this post for future reference.]
"WORSHIP IS [that is, this is the very ESSENCE, the defining nature of worship] ENJOYING THE PRESENCE OF GOD."
"Many Christians, today, do not have the conscious presence of God in their lives."
"The Holy Spirit is to us what the pillar of cloud and of fire were to the children of Israel. The Holy Spirit is God's manifested presence in our lives."
"Many people confess faith in the Lord Jesus, but do not have his presence in their lives; and [consequently,] they do not have the assurance of their salvation."
"Some of the most frightening words in the Bible are found in Exodus 33:1-3 where God gave the children of Israel his Protection, his Provision, and his Promise, but not his PRESENCE...."
"Do not settle for God's protection, his provision, or even the promised land [!] without his presence. When you have the presence of God, you need nothing more; and you should settle for nothing less!"
[note, I do not yet know who the author of this article is ~ but if/when I find, I will add as a comment to this post for future reference.]
Being Built into a Spiritual House
I am still meditating on Monday night's powerful, loaded teaching by the pastor at my church.
We looked at, primarily, 1 Peter 2 ("spiritual house") and 1 Corinthians 2 ("spiritually discerned"), so the following is a kind of a swirl of the overall teaching from the other night, and it's swimming around in my heart and mind as if to suggest this is a SIGNIFICANT truth ~ that is, I can "feel" the Lord really impressing this to my heart:
What does it mean that the [authentic] church is being built into a SPIRITUAL house? We, governed by SPIRITUAL realities; We, having the MIND OF CHRIST; both individually (as living stones) & collectively (as a corporate Body, being "edified" - as in "edifice" - as in BUILT UP INTO) the TEMPLE of the Holy Spirit....
We, the very DWELLING place of God, his PRESENCE manifest AMONG, & IN, & TO & THRU us, making us a CITY ON A HILL, & thus a DECLARATION of GOD'S GLORIOUS GRACE!
We, an authentic church which has not merely the FORM of godliness, but which is unswervingly characterized by God's POWER, operating in dependence on his Holy Spirit, having been dramatically transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of HIS marvelous light!
WE, now, the "place" where God's PRESENCE abides, are both made FOR & (through Jesus Christ alone!) redeemed TO ~ WORSHIPPING GOD FOREVER, in SPIRIT & in TRUTH!
(1 Pet. 2, Eph. 1, 1 Cor. 2:1-5, 10-16, Ex. 33, 2 Tim. 3:1-5, a whirlwind survey thru the book of ACTS, Jn 4:23-24, et al.)
Oh, how we have TASTED, how we SEE that the Lord is GOOD!
We looked at, primarily, 1 Peter 2 ("spiritual house") and 1 Corinthians 2 ("spiritually discerned"), so the following is a kind of a swirl of the overall teaching from the other night, and it's swimming around in my heart and mind as if to suggest this is a SIGNIFICANT truth ~ that is, I can "feel" the Lord really impressing this to my heart:
What does it mean that the [authentic] church is being built into a SPIRITUAL house? We, governed by SPIRITUAL realities; We, having the MIND OF CHRIST; both individually (as living stones) & collectively (as a corporate Body, being "edified" - as in "edifice" - as in BUILT UP INTO) the TEMPLE of the Holy Spirit....
We, the very DWELLING place of God, his PRESENCE manifest AMONG, & IN, & TO & THRU us, making us a CITY ON A HILL, & thus a DECLARATION of GOD'S GLORIOUS GRACE!
We, an authentic church which has not merely the FORM of godliness, but which is unswervingly characterized by God's POWER, operating in dependence on his Holy Spirit, having been dramatically transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of HIS marvelous light!
WE, now, the "place" where God's PRESENCE abides, are both made FOR & (through Jesus Christ alone!) redeemed TO ~ WORSHIPPING GOD FOREVER, in SPIRIT & in TRUTH!
(1 Pet. 2, Eph. 1, 1 Cor. 2:1-5, 10-16, Ex. 33, 2 Tim. 3:1-5, a whirlwind survey thru the book of ACTS, Jn 4:23-24, et al.)
Oh, how we have TASTED, how we SEE that the Lord is GOOD!
03 November, 2011
Let the Truth Speak for Itself
I needed to receive this word, today...AMEN!
"People filled with the Holy Spirit should be marked with the true features of witnesses. They neither dither nor dogmatize. They are sure of their aim but are not arrogant. They have the cool assurance of knowing that two plus two equals four with no need to prove it - no polemics. They are passionate but not pushy (with a few exceptions). They let the truth speak for itself, no browbeating people into submission. They do not wear boxing gloves. The preaching formula is always 'thus says the Lord,' not 'I’m telling you!' Witnesses just pass on what they had heard and saw. It is not their business to defend it or even to invite questions. It is the Lord’s responsibility to confirm the righteousness of His own Word."
~ (Evangelist) REINHARD BONNKE
"People filled with the Holy Spirit should be marked with the true features of witnesses. They neither dither nor dogmatize. They are sure of their aim but are not arrogant. They have the cool assurance of knowing that two plus two equals four with no need to prove it - no polemics. They are passionate but not pushy (with a few exceptions). They let the truth speak for itself, no browbeating people into submission. They do not wear boxing gloves. The preaching formula is always 'thus says the Lord,' not 'I’m telling you!' Witnesses just pass on what they had heard and saw. It is not their business to defend it or even to invite questions. It is the Lord’s responsibility to confirm the righteousness of His own Word."
~ (Evangelist) REINHARD BONNKE
02 November, 2011
Does Our "Eschatology" Rescue the Perishing?!
Just thinking out loud. Particularly as the matter of "End Times" theology has paradoxically both excited/intrigued me AND irritated/deflated me....
I LOVE considering Jesus' return! I LOVE the urgency of seeing how current events line up with biblical prophecy.
But I DESPISE how matters of interpretation about prophecies that are still largely mysterious nevertheless manage to cause HUGE divisions in the Body of Christ, and to what end? (no pun intended....) If we are divided, on matters that are NOT intrinsic to the Gospel (see prev post - I am not advocating we abandon clear truths of Scripture - but where we have perhaps loved our TEACHINGS more than the WORD? let us lay those differences aside!), are we not in our division giving up the very ground to the enemy that WE should be conquering? Land that was promised to US?
So, lately, I find myself reading much about and also now in a church that holds to a kind of "end times" perspective that is a) quite different from my previously (albeit loosely) held assumptions, and that b) has VAST implications for how I might live, today, if this is an accurate interpretation of Scripture. So much so, in fact, that I am tempted to say every other "end times" view fits pretty squarely into the "not yet" category whereas this approach with which I now find myself presented is filled to overflowing with a sense of the "already." So, in my zeal, I whipped out the following as a status update on my facebook profile several minutes ago:
What if our "eschatology" - FAR from being a peripheral concern - were to not merely "inform" but absolutely TRANSFORM the way we live our life, NOW? That is, what if our "end times theology" is the wrongly held conviction that God's Kingdom is for THEN, but not NOW? What if the so-called tension between the "already" and "not yet" is so far much more defined by the "not yet" that we LOSE the ALREADY? What if "fixing our eyes on Jesus," and "setting our mind on things above," and praying "THY KINGDOM COME, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is - not some social justice march, per se, but rather the RALLYING cry for an army of Christ-followers who are storming the gates of Hell to take back all those lost and captive to sin, declaring Christ as King and Victor....NOW. ALREADY. AND FOREVER!
I wonder if anyone will have anything to say about this??
O, Church, where is our URGENCY? (And how and where along the line had I lost mine?!) Where is our dependence on God's GRACE and the leading of HIS SPIRIT so that we are STILL able to GO into the ends of the earth? Did he not say we are to make disciples of EVERY nation until the END OF THE AGE? Oh, it's there, right in the text! (cf Matt28) Because his promise is to be WITH us....until when? Do you see? This means AT LEAST until every last perishing one is rescued from the clutches of sin and death! (And of course, the "rest" into which we eventually enter is nothing less than the heaven of HIS PRESENCE, so he will NEVER leave us!)
O, Church, where is our HOLINESS? Where is our relentless mortifying of the sin in our own mortal bodies, so we may WALK in the freedom Christ purchased for us, not allowing the enemy to get strongholds in our thoughts and lives, setting up fortresses in our lives and minds AGAINST the knowledge of God! Where is our pursuit of the prize? Where is the JOYFUL EXPECTATION that our faith, ONCE FOR ALL delivered to us, is that SURE thing, kept and preserved by Christ himself - Do we not know whom we have believed? Are we not persuaded that HE is able to keep that which we've committed unto him against that day? And if we ARE, then why are we weak and whimpering and fattening ourselves in the day of slaughter when we were made MORE THAN CONQUERORS through Christ?!
O, ME of little faith! How I have sat, wearied by my own sin and frailty, longing and frantically searching for Home when I had the ruby slippers all along....GET UP, WOMAN!
You were made for more than this!
His grace IS sufficient for you!
His power IS perfected in your weakness!
Now is not the time for grieving! Now is the time for LAYING HOLD of the promises of God, not in weakness but in the strength of HIS might!
Sit no longer under the weight of merely enduring this life until you can be holy in the next!
O, Church! The Gates of Hell cannot prevail against us - Since when do gates launch an attack? Are they not stationary, trying merely to prevent OUR advance?
So what ought we to be doing? Standing STILL??
I LOVE considering Jesus' return! I LOVE the urgency of seeing how current events line up with biblical prophecy.
But I DESPISE how matters of interpretation about prophecies that are still largely mysterious nevertheless manage to cause HUGE divisions in the Body of Christ, and to what end? (no pun intended....) If we are divided, on matters that are NOT intrinsic to the Gospel (see prev post - I am not advocating we abandon clear truths of Scripture - but where we have perhaps loved our TEACHINGS more than the WORD? let us lay those differences aside!), are we not in our division giving up the very ground to the enemy that WE should be conquering? Land that was promised to US?
So, lately, I find myself reading much about and also now in a church that holds to a kind of "end times" perspective that is a) quite different from my previously (albeit loosely) held assumptions, and that b) has VAST implications for how I might live, today, if this is an accurate interpretation of Scripture. So much so, in fact, that I am tempted to say every other "end times" view fits pretty squarely into the "not yet" category whereas this approach with which I now find myself presented is filled to overflowing with a sense of the "already." So, in my zeal, I whipped out the following as a status update on my facebook profile several minutes ago:
What if our "eschatology" - FAR from being a peripheral concern - were to not merely "inform" but absolutely TRANSFORM the way we live our life, NOW? That is, what if our "end times theology" is the wrongly held conviction that God's Kingdom is for THEN, but not NOW? What if the so-called tension between the "already" and "not yet" is so far much more defined by the "not yet" that we LOSE the ALREADY? What if "fixing our eyes on Jesus," and "setting our mind on things above," and praying "THY KINGDOM COME, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is - not some social justice march, per se, but rather the RALLYING cry for an army of Christ-followers who are storming the gates of Hell to take back all those lost and captive to sin, declaring Christ as King and Victor....NOW. ALREADY. AND FOREVER!
I wonder if anyone will have anything to say about this??
O, Church, where is our URGENCY? (And how and where along the line had I lost mine?!) Where is our dependence on God's GRACE and the leading of HIS SPIRIT so that we are STILL able to GO into the ends of the earth? Did he not say we are to make disciples of EVERY nation until the END OF THE AGE? Oh, it's there, right in the text! (cf Matt28) Because his promise is to be WITH us....until when? Do you see? This means AT LEAST until every last perishing one is rescued from the clutches of sin and death! (And of course, the "rest" into which we eventually enter is nothing less than the heaven of HIS PRESENCE, so he will NEVER leave us!)
O, Church, where is our HOLINESS? Where is our relentless mortifying of the sin in our own mortal bodies, so we may WALK in the freedom Christ purchased for us, not allowing the enemy to get strongholds in our thoughts and lives, setting up fortresses in our lives and minds AGAINST the knowledge of God! Where is our pursuit of the prize? Where is the JOYFUL EXPECTATION that our faith, ONCE FOR ALL delivered to us, is that SURE thing, kept and preserved by Christ himself - Do we not know whom we have believed? Are we not persuaded that HE is able to keep that which we've committed unto him against that day? And if we ARE, then why are we weak and whimpering and fattening ourselves in the day of slaughter when we were made MORE THAN CONQUERORS through Christ?!
O, ME of little faith! How I have sat, wearied by my own sin and frailty, longing and frantically searching for Home when I had the ruby slippers all along....GET UP, WOMAN!
You were made for more than this!
His grace IS sufficient for you!
His power IS perfected in your weakness!
Now is not the time for grieving! Now is the time for LAYING HOLD of the promises of God, not in weakness but in the strength of HIS might!
Sit no longer under the weight of merely enduring this life until you can be holy in the next!
O, Church! The Gates of Hell cannot prevail against us - Since when do gates launch an attack? Are they not stationary, trying merely to prevent OUR advance?
So what ought we to be doing? Standing STILL??
24 October, 2011
People of the WORD!
I love the internet - there is SO much at my fingertips, as far as good biblical teaching, sermons online, etc. SO many tables at which we can sit, & eat till we are stuffed & overfull, & equally as many outlets for evangelism & ministry.
But, there are also SO many dangers, so much opportunity to proliferate BAD teachings, & all in all, how much of this really aids the Body at large IF WE AREN'T ABIDING IN THE WORD!? There is a very real danger of harm, & the very real presence of spiritual enemies who wish to snatch the truth before we are able to receive it in the good soil of our hearts (cf Luke 8).
And having Twitter & FaceBook saturated attention spans really only continues to ERRODE our patience for careful examination, critical thought, & taking the time to prayerfully seek God's face that he might make HIMSELF known to us, so we aren't so easily tossed about (& often we do not know this is happening!) by every wind of doctrine.
A HELPFUL QUESTION: What is the "trend" of your sermon-listening/book-reading? How much of what you hear is SCRIPTURE saturated, and how much is the mere pontificating of this or that teacher/preacher?
In God's wisdom - as an anchor to our souls! - we are to measure & test all things by his WORD, to BE a people of BOOK! This does not mean powerless, spirit-less, merely academic analysis -
This "Book" was Spirit-authored, & our ability to receive it is Spirit-empowered, & our love & application OF it is Spirit-quickened!
If we are HIS, we LOVE his Word! What this does mean? We have, in this span of time from Christ's first coming until he comes again (& forever after!), the GLORIOUS privilege of fellowshipping WITH God & worshipping him in Spirit AND in Truth, such that God himself is our Teacher.
If you have a dark spot in your understanding, ask the Lord for revelation & diligently search the WORD of God, because in his Word you will find the Light which reveals Christ.
(cf 1st John, esp. 2:18-27, & 4:1-6) ....
Blessings,
~Leah
But, there are also SO many dangers, so much opportunity to proliferate BAD teachings, & all in all, how much of this really aids the Body at large IF WE AREN'T ABIDING IN THE WORD!? There is a very real danger of harm, & the very real presence of spiritual enemies who wish to snatch the truth before we are able to receive it in the good soil of our hearts (cf Luke 8).
And having Twitter & FaceBook saturated attention spans really only continues to ERRODE our patience for careful examination, critical thought, & taking the time to prayerfully seek God's face that he might make HIMSELF known to us, so we aren't so easily tossed about (& often we do not know this is happening!) by every wind of doctrine.
A HELPFUL QUESTION: What is the "trend" of your sermon-listening/book-reading? How much of what you hear is SCRIPTURE saturated, and how much is the mere pontificating of this or that teacher/preacher?
In God's wisdom - as an anchor to our souls! - we are to measure & test all things by his WORD, to BE a people of BOOK! This does not mean powerless, spirit-less, merely academic analysis -
This "Book" was Spirit-authored, & our ability to receive it is Spirit-empowered, & our love & application OF it is Spirit-quickened!
If we are HIS, we LOVE his Word! What this does mean? We have, in this span of time from Christ's first coming until he comes again (& forever after!), the GLORIOUS privilege of fellowshipping WITH God & worshipping him in Spirit AND in Truth, such that God himself is our Teacher.
If you have a dark spot in your understanding, ask the Lord for revelation & diligently search the WORD of God, because in his Word you will find the Light which reveals Christ.
(cf 1st John, esp. 2:18-27, & 4:1-6) ....
Blessings,
~Leah
19 October, 2011
Old-Fashioned Camp Meeting ~ Revive us, O Lord!
A Personal Recounting (written Tuesday, 10/18/11):
Unplanned, we have had three meetings so far this week, all pushing 4 hours each, and we're pressing in for another, tonight.
I am afraid I would qualify as genuinely "stiff-necked" about the whole matter. Before last night, I wrote the following note to myself - exposing an attitude of some, *ahem*, suspicion:
Heading to (church) for another night with "Revivalists" (who shall remain nameless for now). We are (I am HOPING FOR THIS) a people desiring to see God move in our midst! So far, having them here has been very reminiscent of an old-fashioned "camp meeting" ~ I find I'm holding myself in reserve; not out of deference to "tradition" but to "test" the spirits and the word being preached so as to discern if this is the word of GOD....but I am so-far feeling that my having this disposition of "wait and see what the Lord will do" has already been an object of some scorn and mockery by this bringer-of-the-word. As if being "conservative" is already a problem? (Are we spiritualizing personalities, now?) Is this akin to Jesus' WOE TO YOU, you Pharisees? And I ought to feel rebuked? Or is this akin to the "demanding spirit" I have sensed from more extreme arms of those with a more "charismatic" bent, as if to say the outward signs I might exhibit of the work the Lord is doing IN me must look THIS or that way, or they can't possibly be real....I LONG for more of God, but I will not abide being manipulated, especially if that looks only like some whipping into an emotional frenzy that is based on half-quoted Scriptures and an adrenalin-rush based zeal that has more to do with chemistry than charisma!....
You might imagine from the above, I have had to engage in not an insignificant amount of battle in my mind to let my heart "get it" - but last night, I believe the Lord stirred me. My resistance was broken (though I did not, for better or for worse, let my "guard" down) when during worship, one of our worship leaders broke out with a prophetic word, picking up from one of the themes recurring through Sunday's meetings in speaking about Jacob who wrestled with God, who was willing to be even a bit belligerent with God if it meant he receive the Lord's blessing - She began to sing, "We won't let go until you bless us!"
As the music continued, another worship leader on the opposite side of the platform began to sing as if the prophetic voice of God in response - and this picked up another thread from Sunday's meetings, the cry of the blind man who had called out to Jesus, and to whom Jesus' response was "What do you seek?" (as if it wasn't obvious? But he would make the man confess it with his own mouth!)....She began to sing, "What do you want from me? Tell me what you want from me?" and proceeded to list off one earthly desire after another, as if God through this woman's song was forcing us to consciously knock down every idol of our hearts.
"Do you want silver? Do you want gold? Do you want riches untold?...Do you want friends? Do you want fame?" and on and on it went. "What do you want from me? Tell me what you want from me!" And we lingered over the same four chords, over and over, crescendoing until as a BODY the most natural response was for our collective, worshipful cry burst out of our hearts, "WE WANT YOU, GOD! WE WANT YOU, GOD! WE WANT MORE, WE WANT MORE OF YOU!"
After what seemed an immeasurable amount of time, and untold repetitions which in a previous life would have irritated me but for some reason tonight was enlarging my heart!, the music finally decrescendoed, and we quieted....Until several individuals peppered throughout the room started laughing, a break-out kind of laughing, some of which could only be described as uncontrollable. This was and would have continued to be, for me, a distraction - even as I with much effort tried to refrain from making any wild assumptions about what was happening (is this legitimate, or is this self-indulgent? artificial to get attention?), I felt the mind-battle creeping in again - one I might not have been able to set aside if Mrs. "Revivalist" (who happened to speak before her husband got up, this time) had not taken the laughter so in stride, as though it was the most natural, Holy Ghost inspired thing, distracting as it was.
Whether her intention or not, she gave sufficient space before really saying anything of import with respect to her own heart, experience with revival, and perhaps most importantly the battles she had to fight in her own life to lay aside her expectations of HOW God would minister to the hearts of his people, so that the laughter, after several minutes, did eventually die down, with only a snickering few still shaking in their seats.
So, I intentionally chose to lay aside my own expectations of HOW God ministers to the hearts of his people, mine included, and tried to listen, with a biblically sensitive ear, keying in as first she, then her husband spoke, to various specific Bible passages with which I was familiar, (and I was chasing down the chapters and verses as they spoke to check what they were saying, did this or that really happen as they are saying?)....And I discovered that despite my familiarity, my "head" knowledge, there is MUCH I have not seen or understood in some of these well-worn paths in the pages of my Bible.
The preaching that followed began breaking up hard soil; we were freed to examine our own hearts, to recognize that we are commanded to HOLD FAST our confession, because we (like John the Baptist who sent messengers to Jesus to ask if he REALLY was the promised Messiah of God, Luke 7:18-35) are prone to LOSE our confession in a sea of doubt which is a thief (like also our own pride, or like our preconceived expectations of what it should look like for God to "show up" to his people) that seeks to steal genuine revival.
Still, we cling to the mercy of God, even as we know he pursues us, and speaks his word for our CONFIDENT EXPECTATION (just as Jesus sent a reassuring word back to John the Baptist) that he IS who he has said he is, and he will DO exactly as he has said he would do! And even now, Jesus intercedes on our behalf before the Father that we would persevere! Lord, we want YOU! and we want to see your glory, your name magnified to the ends of the earth! We want to see people RADICALLY transformed by your Gospel! Healed, delivered, set free, and turned into WORSHIPPERS for your name's sake! Halleluiah!
My mind still fights for dominance as my fledgling spirit and child-like heart are being quickened to a deeper hunger and thirst for the presence of God. This is not, despite (what I would anticipate would be) criticisms from a more doctrine-centric church-world, a battle which requires the surrender of the Word! Quite the contrary. Did I "agree" with every word the man spoke? Or that his wife spoke? Well, I'll answer that THIS way: My normal history has been to take my "discerning" (suspicious?!) ear and pick apart every wrong statement. But even as the preacher said of himself - eat the meat and, if there be any, pull out the bones. So last night, I listened instead for the "spirit" of what was being said moreso than perhaps the "letter" - because the SPIRIT was in the Gospel, and a heart cry for the salvation of lost souls and the glory of Jesus' name to the ends of the earth!
Perhaps there were a few small bones, but there was a lot of meat which nourished my spirit, increasing my expectations for this evening....
Unplanned, we have had three meetings so far this week, all pushing 4 hours each, and we're pressing in for another, tonight.
I am afraid I would qualify as genuinely "stiff-necked" about the whole matter. Before last night, I wrote the following note to myself - exposing an attitude of some, *ahem*, suspicion:
Heading to (church) for another night with "Revivalists" (who shall remain nameless for now). We are (I am HOPING FOR THIS) a people desiring to see God move in our midst! So far, having them here has been very reminiscent of an old-fashioned "camp meeting" ~ I find I'm holding myself in reserve; not out of deference to "tradition" but to "test" the spirits and the word being preached so as to discern if this is the word of GOD....but I am so-far feeling that my having this disposition of "wait and see what the Lord will do" has already been an object of some scorn and mockery by this bringer-of-the-word. As if being "conservative" is already a problem? (Are we spiritualizing personalities, now?) Is this akin to Jesus' WOE TO YOU, you Pharisees? And I ought to feel rebuked? Or is this akin to the "demanding spirit" I have sensed from more extreme arms of those with a more "charismatic" bent, as if to say the outward signs I might exhibit of the work the Lord is doing IN me must look THIS or that way, or they can't possibly be real....I LONG for more of God, but I will not abide being manipulated, especially if that looks only like some whipping into an emotional frenzy that is based on half-quoted Scriptures and an adrenalin-rush based zeal that has more to do with chemistry than charisma!....
You might imagine from the above, I have had to engage in not an insignificant amount of battle in my mind to let my heart "get it" - but last night, I believe the Lord stirred me. My resistance was broken (though I did not, for better or for worse, let my "guard" down) when during worship, one of our worship leaders broke out with a prophetic word, picking up from one of the themes recurring through Sunday's meetings in speaking about Jacob who wrestled with God, who was willing to be even a bit belligerent with God if it meant he receive the Lord's blessing - She began to sing, "We won't let go until you bless us!"
As the music continued, another worship leader on the opposite side of the platform began to sing as if the prophetic voice of God in response - and this picked up another thread from Sunday's meetings, the cry of the blind man who had called out to Jesus, and to whom Jesus' response was "What do you seek?" (as if it wasn't obvious? But he would make the man confess it with his own mouth!)....She began to sing, "What do you want from me? Tell me what you want from me?" and proceeded to list off one earthly desire after another, as if God through this woman's song was forcing us to consciously knock down every idol of our hearts.
"Do you want silver? Do you want gold? Do you want riches untold?...Do you want friends? Do you want fame?" and on and on it went. "What do you want from me? Tell me what you want from me!" And we lingered over the same four chords, over and over, crescendoing until as a BODY the most natural response was for our collective, worshipful cry burst out of our hearts, "WE WANT YOU, GOD! WE WANT YOU, GOD! WE WANT MORE, WE WANT MORE OF YOU!"
After what seemed an immeasurable amount of time, and untold repetitions which in a previous life would have irritated me but for some reason tonight was enlarging my heart!, the music finally decrescendoed, and we quieted....Until several individuals peppered throughout the room started laughing, a break-out kind of laughing, some of which could only be described as uncontrollable. This was and would have continued to be, for me, a distraction - even as I with much effort tried to refrain from making any wild assumptions about what was happening (is this legitimate, or is this self-indulgent? artificial to get attention?), I felt the mind-battle creeping in again - one I might not have been able to set aside if Mrs. "Revivalist" (who happened to speak before her husband got up, this time) had not taken the laughter so in stride, as though it was the most natural, Holy Ghost inspired thing, distracting as it was.
Whether her intention or not, she gave sufficient space before really saying anything of import with respect to her own heart, experience with revival, and perhaps most importantly the battles she had to fight in her own life to lay aside her expectations of HOW God would minister to the hearts of his people, so that the laughter, after several minutes, did eventually die down, with only a snickering few still shaking in their seats.
So, I intentionally chose to lay aside my own expectations of HOW God ministers to the hearts of his people, mine included, and tried to listen, with a biblically sensitive ear, keying in as first she, then her husband spoke, to various specific Bible passages with which I was familiar, (and I was chasing down the chapters and verses as they spoke to check what they were saying, did this or that really happen as they are saying?)....And I discovered that despite my familiarity, my "head" knowledge, there is MUCH I have not seen or understood in some of these well-worn paths in the pages of my Bible.
The preaching that followed began breaking up hard soil; we were freed to examine our own hearts, to recognize that we are commanded to HOLD FAST our confession, because we (like John the Baptist who sent messengers to Jesus to ask if he REALLY was the promised Messiah of God, Luke 7:18-35) are prone to LOSE our confession in a sea of doubt which is a thief (like also our own pride, or like our preconceived expectations of what it should look like for God to "show up" to his people) that seeks to steal genuine revival.
Still, we cling to the mercy of God, even as we know he pursues us, and speaks his word for our CONFIDENT EXPECTATION (just as Jesus sent a reassuring word back to John the Baptist) that he IS who he has said he is, and he will DO exactly as he has said he would do! And even now, Jesus intercedes on our behalf before the Father that we would persevere! Lord, we want YOU! and we want to see your glory, your name magnified to the ends of the earth! We want to see people RADICALLY transformed by your Gospel! Healed, delivered, set free, and turned into WORSHIPPERS for your name's sake! Halleluiah!
My mind still fights for dominance as my fledgling spirit and child-like heart are being quickened to a deeper hunger and thirst for the presence of God. This is not, despite (what I would anticipate would be) criticisms from a more doctrine-centric church-world, a battle which requires the surrender of the Word! Quite the contrary. Did I "agree" with every word the man spoke? Or that his wife spoke? Well, I'll answer that THIS way: My normal history has been to take my "discerning" (suspicious?!) ear and pick apart every wrong statement. But even as the preacher said of himself - eat the meat and, if there be any, pull out the bones. So last night, I listened instead for the "spirit" of what was being said moreso than perhaps the "letter" - because the SPIRIT was in the Gospel, and a heart cry for the salvation of lost souls and the glory of Jesus' name to the ends of the earth!
Perhaps there were a few small bones, but there was a lot of meat which nourished my spirit, increasing my expectations for this evening....
09 September, 2011
Squeezed Out
I've long desired to return to school for my Master's degree - especially if said school could be a seminary or ministry school. Though I've recently had occasion to (again) reflect on the events in my life over the past couple years, and I see how the cumulative circumstances of my experiences have been a far more thorough "schooling"....
Experiences which have been exceedingly stressful, emotionally draining if not damaging, and have surfaced in every facet of life from work to church to friendships to family to trying to maximize my singleness for God's glory....
To borrow from some unknown someone, more clever than myself, I've been squeezed like a tube of toothpaste, and much of what has oozed out has not been a sweet aroma before the Lord. Nevertheless, I shall choose to be grateful that he continues to conform me to the likeness of Christ even if I go kicking and screaming in the process. :)
After all, if he squeezes it OUT, it is no longer IN me, right?? Let's hope to God. :)
Lord, let me be faithful, and never cease! to mortify my flesh, to always "be killing sin" so it is not killing me. By the grace of God. Thank you for your unceasing mercy and that you are slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love!
Experiences which have been exceedingly stressful, emotionally draining if not damaging, and have surfaced in every facet of life from work to church to friendships to family to trying to maximize my singleness for God's glory....
To borrow from some unknown someone, more clever than myself, I've been squeezed like a tube of toothpaste, and much of what has oozed out has not been a sweet aroma before the Lord. Nevertheless, I shall choose to be grateful that he continues to conform me to the likeness of Christ even if I go kicking and screaming in the process. :)
After all, if he squeezes it OUT, it is no longer IN me, right?? Let's hope to God. :)
Lord, let me be faithful, and never cease! to mortify my flesh, to always "be killing sin" so it is not killing me. By the grace of God. Thank you for your unceasing mercy and that you are slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love!
12 August, 2011
Led by the Spirit ~ as a true son
The primary way we hear from God is by his WORD, his self-revelation. The Holy Spirit opens our understanding, but the Word gives us the VOICE of our Shepherd so we can know him, and follow where he leads, and enjoy his presence.
This is FIRST what is meant by "being led by the Spirit" or "walking in step with the Spirit" of God ~ Namely, that we come to see JESUS for who he is and worship him AS GOD, because the WORD that testifies to him is TRUE.
~L
(cf Romans 8, John 10)
This is FIRST what is meant by "being led by the Spirit" or "walking in step with the Spirit" of God ~ Namely, that we come to see JESUS for who he is and worship him AS GOD, because the WORD that testifies to him is TRUE.
~L
(cf Romans 8, John 10)
09 August, 2011
~ BORN AGAIN AGAIN: A Confession ~
Perhaps the most resonant theme of the past year in my life has been my prayer that the Lord would "increase my capacity" to receive more of him, to ENJOY more of him. The Lord has answered, but in such a way (as it seems to happen often) that it exposed my very small expectations, and my very over-blown sense of not only what I meant by such a request, but my own assessment of what my receiving his answer would look like. In short, what follows is my (weak) attempt at a fitting summary.
I. SOMETHING OLD
*Being Exposed ~ God uses both the sharp and powerful sword of his word and the pressure of our external circumstances to pierce even to our marrow, and his word causes us to be "laid bare before him with whom we have to do." (Hebrews 4:12-13) I heard, not long ago, that Christians are like a tube of toothpaste ~ when you squeeze them, you find out what's really inside. I've been squeezed in myriad ways, and I do not like the often rotten content that is being exposed. It is like (look back to first couple lessons from Seeking Him study) the analogy of "breaking up your fallow ground" ~ allowing the plow of God's word and Spirit to get down DEEP to the soft soil under all the hard, sunbaked exterior, and the churning and cutting and grinding and tearing that has to take place to expose the soft underside of the soil so that the word can be planted in it and GROW. If you'll forgive the mixed metaphors, nevertheless, my heart contains many uglinesses of which I have been (and still remain) largely ignorant. But thanks be to God that he is in the business of making his people holy!
*Being Emptied ~ It's not enough to realize the uglinesses in our hearts. God fully expects us to be RID of them. To put sin to death! To not yield ourselves any longer to the lusts of our flesh, but rather to be led by the Spirit. So once pierced, once churned, once exposed, we must now be emptied. But not only of sin, but also of SELF. Oh, self! You have deceived, you have usurped! But you were never meant to be God, you were meant to be in COMMUNION with and submission TO God! In him is your greatest, FULL satisfaction! Why do you buck so, o rebellious soul! But thanks be to God that he is not only able to empty us of self and sin, he does so for our good, so that we may have life to the FULL; and who else is life? "Lord, who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that You are the Holy One of God!" (Jn. 6:68-69)
*Being Expectant ~ So in keeping with Jesus' promise that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, ALL other needful things will be added (Matt. 6:31-33), in keeping with Jesus' promise that ANYone who comes to him, he will in NO way cast out (Jn. 6:37), I have a godly HOPE ~ that is, I KNOW ~ God will answer me. (Matt. 7:7-12) My "expectation" (even at that!) is far too small! But thanks be to God that he is able to do ABUNDANTLY above and beyond what I can even ask or think! (Eph. 3:14-21) He who has promised will do it!
II. SOMETHING NEW
*Being Encountered ~ I have spent the last several years of my life (most of which unknowingly) in a Romans 7 kind of existence. So much "striving" and "working" to be obedient, righteous, etc. And failing. And let's be honest, MOST of my "striving" and "working" was wimpy at best, and yet I would always manage to convince myself (at times) that I was really making a difference, or really succeeding, only to be confronted with new ways in which I had failed (most of which had to do with failing to convince OTHERS that I was doing right or doing good, so how much was genuinely out of my conscience, and how much was just a failing to win the approval of men?!)...But how kind of God? that he would overlook my offenses and my selfish strivings again and again, that he would even lovingly confront my pride, where in my zeal I felt "At last! I've grasped success in my walk with Christ!" only to fail so miserably, and the Lord would meet me in those moments and whisper forgiveness, lovingly redirect me, sometimes force me to repent, often TO those very "men" from whom I was seeking praise!. How kind of God that he answers our longings to know him by showing up and ministering to us with the presence of his own Spirit? Abiding with us, even comforting us as he makes us over. He may administer a sharp, piercing scalpel as he cuts out our flesh, but he does not do so without anesthetic, he does not do so without himself being the one to nurse the woundings, guard from infection, and set us right again, in SPIRIT, so that even if there must be a scar, we can point to it and confess HIS goodness in having HEALED us so completely!
*Being Enraptured ~ When he meets me in the intimacy of his Word, in the making me aware of his presence by his Spirit, and often in the context of corporate worship with other believers in Christ, I am discovering a whole new kind of euphoric sensation, replacing my former "religious" engagements which would often bear the fruit of self-loathing and condemnation, I have been given new SIGHT! and I find, as I fix my eyes on Jesus (Heb. 12:1-2), look full in his wonderful face, truly the things of this earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace! He is glorious, he is beautiful, he is extravagant in his love, he is perfect, unyielding, and yet gentle as fierce power which is capable of crushing me is nevertheless reined in so that I can touch his heart in worship. I am ashamed to confess these moments have been few and far between! Much as my spirit LONGS for these moments, I find I have only begun to realize the intimacy possible with God!...But how kind of God? that he would pursue us, that he would promise to see us in secret, to meet us in the privacy of moments of prayer, and to DELIGHT our souls with his presence? HE is the one for whom we have been made! How could we wonder that we would be enraptured by anything less? We were MADE to be WORSHIPPERS! God's glory is our great JOY!
*Being Equipped ~ So now, God willing, I am moving from Romans 7 to Romans 8 and will pursue all the FULLNESS that means for me. I am no longer a slave, but a son! (Gal. 4:1-7) Is it possible? For one born again to be born again again? If so, that is the point to which I have come. I am again an infant ~ what of knowledge? I have been a student of the word, I have loved to dig deep, but that knowledge (though it OUGHT to have produced joy!) only puffed me up! (1 Cor. 8:1-3) I heard this past week, from another preacher of God's word, that we are not called primarily to be students of God's word - though we are to be that - but we are to be WITNESSES, to testify to that which we have seen, namely JESUS! seated on the throne, high and lifted up! I have spent most of my adult life unknowingly aspiring to merely acquiring more knowledge about God. And to be sure, we ARE to love the Lord our God with all our MIND. (Matt. 22:36-40) But that is not all, and it is not even first...But how kind of God? that he does not leave us in our ignorance! My "knowledge" has increasingly obscured my own ignorance, and I am being made a child again, learning to love BEING-WITH Jesus by the power of his Spirit. This life I now live must be ever adding to our faith. Where I have possessed knowledge, I have lacked character. So now, I am requiring a new equipping. (Gal. 5:19-26, 2 Pet. 1:3-11) In some ways, learning to "do over" things I have taken for granted that I already knew. Lord, make me LISTEN! He speaks through the word of God, and I know his voice! (Jn. 10) I LOVE his voice! Not nearly so much as I ought! But thanks be to God! not nearly so much as I WILL!
God HAS answered me ~ He IS "increasing my capacity" for which I am thankful. Even though I see only the acorn, I am confident of the oak tree hiding under its tiny cap! He breaks my heart, but what he gives me in return is so absolutely incomparable. I would desire more of this "breaking" ~ it is the KINDNESS of God that leads us to repentance! ~ if it will yield more of this ENJOYING of God. Something I thought I knew, but had only barely tasted. If God can do this while we are yet in this earthly tent, HOW MUCH MORE will he give us when we come face to face with him in GLORY?
GLORY TO GOD!
~ P.S. We did complete the below "Seeking Him" series in class, but I wasn't able to keep up with the notes online. So for those who were eagerly waiting for lessons 9-12, my apologies, and perhaps I will yet be able to capture some of what was reviewed ~ it was indeed a GREAT study!
I. SOMETHING OLD
*Being Exposed ~ God uses both the sharp and powerful sword of his word and the pressure of our external circumstances to pierce even to our marrow, and his word causes us to be "laid bare before him with whom we have to do." (Hebrews 4:12-13) I heard, not long ago, that Christians are like a tube of toothpaste ~ when you squeeze them, you find out what's really inside. I've been squeezed in myriad ways, and I do not like the often rotten content that is being exposed. It is like (look back to first couple lessons from Seeking Him study) the analogy of "breaking up your fallow ground" ~ allowing the plow of God's word and Spirit to get down DEEP to the soft soil under all the hard, sunbaked exterior, and the churning and cutting and grinding and tearing that has to take place to expose the soft underside of the soil so that the word can be planted in it and GROW. If you'll forgive the mixed metaphors, nevertheless, my heart contains many uglinesses of which I have been (and still remain) largely ignorant. But thanks be to God that he is in the business of making his people holy!
*Being Emptied ~ It's not enough to realize the uglinesses in our hearts. God fully expects us to be RID of them. To put sin to death! To not yield ourselves any longer to the lusts of our flesh, but rather to be led by the Spirit. So once pierced, once churned, once exposed, we must now be emptied. But not only of sin, but also of SELF. Oh, self! You have deceived, you have usurped! But you were never meant to be God, you were meant to be in COMMUNION with and submission TO God! In him is your greatest, FULL satisfaction! Why do you buck so, o rebellious soul! But thanks be to God that he is not only able to empty us of self and sin, he does so for our good, so that we may have life to the FULL; and who else is life? "Lord, who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that You are the Holy One of God!" (Jn. 6:68-69)
*Being Expectant ~ So in keeping with Jesus' promise that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, ALL other needful things will be added (Matt. 6:31-33), in keeping with Jesus' promise that ANYone who comes to him, he will in NO way cast out (Jn. 6:37), I have a godly HOPE ~ that is, I KNOW ~ God will answer me. (Matt. 7:7-12) My "expectation" (even at that!) is far too small! But thanks be to God that he is able to do ABUNDANTLY above and beyond what I can even ask or think! (Eph. 3:14-21) He who has promised will do it!
II. SOMETHING NEW
*Being Encountered ~ I have spent the last several years of my life (most of which unknowingly) in a Romans 7 kind of existence. So much "striving" and "working" to be obedient, righteous, etc. And failing. And let's be honest, MOST of my "striving" and "working" was wimpy at best, and yet I would always manage to convince myself (at times) that I was really making a difference, or really succeeding, only to be confronted with new ways in which I had failed (most of which had to do with failing to convince OTHERS that I was doing right or doing good, so how much was genuinely out of my conscience, and how much was just a failing to win the approval of men?!)...But how kind of God? that he would overlook my offenses and my selfish strivings again and again, that he would even lovingly confront my pride, where in my zeal I felt "At last! I've grasped success in my walk with Christ!" only to fail so miserably, and the Lord would meet me in those moments and whisper forgiveness, lovingly redirect me, sometimes force me to repent, often TO those very "men" from whom I was seeking praise!. How kind of God that he answers our longings to know him by showing up and ministering to us with the presence of his own Spirit? Abiding with us, even comforting us as he makes us over. He may administer a sharp, piercing scalpel as he cuts out our flesh, but he does not do so without anesthetic, he does not do so without himself being the one to nurse the woundings, guard from infection, and set us right again, in SPIRIT, so that even if there must be a scar, we can point to it and confess HIS goodness in having HEALED us so completely!
*Being Enraptured ~ When he meets me in the intimacy of his Word, in the making me aware of his presence by his Spirit, and often in the context of corporate worship with other believers in Christ, I am discovering a whole new kind of euphoric sensation, replacing my former "religious" engagements which would often bear the fruit of self-loathing and condemnation, I have been given new SIGHT! and I find, as I fix my eyes on Jesus (Heb. 12:1-2), look full in his wonderful face, truly the things of this earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace! He is glorious, he is beautiful, he is extravagant in his love, he is perfect, unyielding, and yet gentle as fierce power which is capable of crushing me is nevertheless reined in so that I can touch his heart in worship. I am ashamed to confess these moments have been few and far between! Much as my spirit LONGS for these moments, I find I have only begun to realize the intimacy possible with God!...But how kind of God? that he would pursue us, that he would promise to see us in secret, to meet us in the privacy of moments of prayer, and to DELIGHT our souls with his presence? HE is the one for whom we have been made! How could we wonder that we would be enraptured by anything less? We were MADE to be WORSHIPPERS! God's glory is our great JOY!
*Being Equipped ~ So now, God willing, I am moving from Romans 7 to Romans 8 and will pursue all the FULLNESS that means for me. I am no longer a slave, but a son! (Gal. 4:1-7) Is it possible? For one born again to be born again again? If so, that is the point to which I have come. I am again an infant ~ what of knowledge? I have been a student of the word, I have loved to dig deep, but that knowledge (though it OUGHT to have produced joy!) only puffed me up! (1 Cor. 8:1-3) I heard this past week, from another preacher of God's word, that we are not called primarily to be students of God's word - though we are to be that - but we are to be WITNESSES, to testify to that which we have seen, namely JESUS! seated on the throne, high and lifted up! I have spent most of my adult life unknowingly aspiring to merely acquiring more knowledge about God. And to be sure, we ARE to love the Lord our God with all our MIND. (Matt. 22:36-40) But that is not all, and it is not even first...But how kind of God? that he does not leave us in our ignorance! My "knowledge" has increasingly obscured my own ignorance, and I am being made a child again, learning to love BEING-WITH Jesus by the power of his Spirit. This life I now live must be ever adding to our faith. Where I have possessed knowledge, I have lacked character. So now, I am requiring a new equipping. (Gal. 5:19-26, 2 Pet. 1:3-11) In some ways, learning to "do over" things I have taken for granted that I already knew. Lord, make me LISTEN! He speaks through the word of God, and I know his voice! (Jn. 10) I LOVE his voice! Not nearly so much as I ought! But thanks be to God! not nearly so much as I WILL!
God HAS answered me ~ He IS "increasing my capacity" for which I am thankful. Even though I see only the acorn, I am confident of the oak tree hiding under its tiny cap! He breaks my heart, but what he gives me in return is so absolutely incomparable. I would desire more of this "breaking" ~ it is the KINDNESS of God that leads us to repentance! ~ if it will yield more of this ENJOYING of God. Something I thought I knew, but had only barely tasted. If God can do this while we are yet in this earthly tent, HOW MUCH MORE will he give us when we come face to face with him in GLORY?
GLORY TO GOD!
~ P.S. We did complete the below "Seeking Him" series in class, but I wasn't able to keep up with the notes online. So for those who were eagerly waiting for lessons 9-12, my apologies, and perhaps I will yet be able to capture some of what was reviewed ~ it was indeed a GREAT study!
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