This author is old. Actually he's not even on earth any more. So, struggle through the lanquage and remember people with vision - with specific, personal (not second hand) revelation from God are rare and desparately needed, but such people are forged in the furnace of affliction. Anyway, you can take it from there. I'm praying that this is what God is doing with us and the outcome will be a ministry, a service, to others that is vital for our time and eternal in its impact. As Amy Carmichel said, "Those who suffer most, have most to give."
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint. (Proverbs 29:18 NIV)
No one who knows anything about the present conditions will disagree with the statement that the Church is in tragic need of men with a message, but our point is that what is needed is the knowledge of what the message is for this time. That message must come from God to men chosen for the purpose. This is not a ministry which can be taken up. Usually for such ministry there is a long and deep history with God, a history full of mystery and suffering. Many phases are passed through, all in the permissive will of God, or in His directive will, inasmuch as they are intended to educate and give experience, but the course is never that of the established and settled kind, and so big changes may be called for, each of which comes by a new spiritual crisis. No one can do anything in the making of such vessels, however much they may be concerned for them. This is God's work alone, and they have to be left in His hands.
Men of vision and courage! Yes, and more courage will be required here than in any other realm of which we know. A specific revelation will – to begin with – set a distance between such as have it and such as have not that specific revelation. This will give rise to many possibilities. Even the best servants of God who have not so seen will probably stand back. It will mean loneliness, and going on alone perhaps for quite a time. It will mean ostracism, misunderstanding, misrepresentation, suspicion, closed doors (so far as man can close them). Then, no revelation from God is ever just verbal truth, it always involves practical issues. These practical issues will appear like the crystallizing of the truth, so that those who obey it will become marked people. This raises a new set of opposing elements. If God has given a revelation concerning His purpose in Christ which is of such vital importance as to have called for all this special history and preparation, we must realize that it is of very great moment to Satan's interests, and he will leave nothing unused to make its course impossible. If the greatest need of the hour is that of men of vision, along with it will go the need for willingness to pay the price. But there is another side, and that is God's side, and the compensations are great. It is a great thing to be in possession of an open heaven and of a mandate from God.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Help My Unbelief
I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief! (Mark 9:24 NLT)
Here is something that you and I must dwell upon. Personally, I am constantly brought to this: I have not yet learnt thoroughly to believe what I believe in! I believe in the finished work of Christ, yet sometimes I am just as miserable about myself as any man could be. I am often almost at the point of giving up because of what a wretched kind of thing I am. If there is anything in this world that would cause me to give up the Christian ministry, it is myself. Do you understand what I mean? Oh, how we are discouraged by what we find in ourselves! And so, we don't believe what we believe in. We believe in the finished work of Christ, and that God puts all that finished work to our account. God does not see us in ourselves – He sees us in Christ. He does not see us, He sees Christ in us. We don't believe that! If we really did we would be delivered from ourselves and would indeed be triumphant Christians.
Of course, that does not mean that we can just behave anyhow. We may speak and act wrongly, but for every Christian there is a refuge – a mercy seat. It has not to be made; it is there with the precious Blood. That has not to be shed; it is shed. There is a High Priest making intercession for us. There is everything that we need. The work is finished, completed. Oh, we Christians must believe our beliefs! We must take hold, with both hands, of the things which are of our Christian faith.
T.A. Sparks
Here is something that you and I must dwell upon. Personally, I am constantly brought to this: I have not yet learnt thoroughly to believe what I believe in! I believe in the finished work of Christ, yet sometimes I am just as miserable about myself as any man could be. I am often almost at the point of giving up because of what a wretched kind of thing I am. If there is anything in this world that would cause me to give up the Christian ministry, it is myself. Do you understand what I mean? Oh, how we are discouraged by what we find in ourselves! And so, we don't believe what we believe in. We believe in the finished work of Christ, and that God puts all that finished work to our account. God does not see us in ourselves – He sees us in Christ. He does not see us, He sees Christ in us. We don't believe that! If we really did we would be delivered from ourselves and would indeed be triumphant Christians.
Of course, that does not mean that we can just behave anyhow. We may speak and act wrongly, but for every Christian there is a refuge – a mercy seat. It has not to be made; it is there with the precious Blood. That has not to be shed; it is shed. There is a High Priest making intercession for us. There is everything that we need. The work is finished, completed. Oh, we Christians must believe our beliefs! We must take hold, with both hands, of the things which are of our Christian faith.
T.A. Sparks
Sunday, May 20, 2012
All in Christ
I strongly recommend that you subscribe to the following newsletter. It comes daily, it's free and is always enlightening. I've included a sample below. Here's their address:
http://www.austin-sparks.net/PHPlist/?p=subscribe
...That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ. (Ephesians 1:10)
There is one comprehensive and all-embodying truth which, if it really gained the complete mastery of our hearts and dominated our whole consciousness, capturing our will, our hearts, and our minds, would really revolutionize everything, just as the new covenant represents a revolution from the old covenant. The great truth which embodies everything is this: that God has determined that nothing which is not Christ shall remain, and He is working toward that end, on the one hand to rid this universe of everything that is not Christ; on the other hand to fill this universe with that which is Christ. That means that God does not accept or recognize anything whatever that is not Christ. Then again, it means that God puts His seal upon what is Christ, and it is all a matter of the measure of Christ. It is a tremendous thing when that really does come to our hearts with the force and the power which it really does represent. It explains everything of God's dealings with us. It gives us the key to our problems. It sets us at once upon the highway of God's own purpose.
http://www.austin-sparks.net/PHPlist/?p=subscribe
...That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ. (Ephesians 1:10)
There is one comprehensive and all-embodying truth which, if it really gained the complete mastery of our hearts and dominated our whole consciousness, capturing our will, our hearts, and our minds, would really revolutionize everything, just as the new covenant represents a revolution from the old covenant. The great truth which embodies everything is this: that God has determined that nothing which is not Christ shall remain, and He is working toward that end, on the one hand to rid this universe of everything that is not Christ; on the other hand to fill this universe with that which is Christ. That means that God does not accept or recognize anything whatever that is not Christ. Then again, it means that God puts His seal upon what is Christ, and it is all a matter of the measure of Christ. It is a tremendous thing when that really does come to our hearts with the force and the power which it really does represent. It explains everything of God's dealings with us. It gives us the key to our problems. It sets us at once upon the highway of God's own purpose.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Dominique
Do not let anyone corrupt you from the simplicity that is in Christ
(2 Corinthians 11:3b).
Dominique Voillaume has influenced my life as few people ever have. One year during our ministry in France, Dominique, a lean, muscular six-foot, two inched, always wearing a navy blue beret, learned at age fifty-four that he was dying in inoperable cancer. With the mission’s permission he moved to a poor neighborhood in Paris and took a job as night watchman at a factory. Returning home every morning at 8 a.m. he would go directly to a little park across the street from where he lived and sit down on a wooden bench. Hanging around the park were marginal people, drifters, winos, dirty old men who ogled the girls passing by.
Dominique never criticized, scolded, or reprimanded them. He laughed, told stories, shared his candy, and accepted them just as they were. From living so long out of the inner circle, he gave off a peace, a serene sense of self-possession and an hospitality of heart that caused cynical young men and defeated old men to gravitate toward him. His simple witness lay in accepting others as they were without questions and allowing them to make themselves at home in his heart. Dominique was the most nonjudgmental person I have ever known.
One day, when the ragtag group of rejects asked him to talk about himself, Dominique gave them a thumbnail description of his life. Then he told them with quiet conviction that God loved them tenderly and stubbornly, that Jesus had come for rejects and outcasts just like them. His witness was credible because the Word was enfleshed on his bones. Later one old man said, ‘The dirty jokes, vulgar language, and leering at girls just stopped.’
One morning Dominique failed to appear on his park bench. The men grew concerned. A few hours later, he was found dead on the floor of his cold-water flat. He died in the obscurity of a Paris slum.
Dominique Voillaume never tried to impress anybody, never wondered if his life was useful or his witness meaningful. He never felt he had to do something great fro God. He did keep a journal. It was found shortly after his death in the drawer of the night stand by his bed. His last entry is one of the most astonishing things I have ever read:
All that is not the love of God has no meaning for me. I can truthfully say that I have no interest in anything but the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If God wants it to, my life will be useful through my word and witness. If He wants it to, my life will bear fruit through my prayers and sacrifices. But the usefulness of my life is His concern, not mine. It would be indecent of me to worry about that.
In Dominique Voillaume I saw the reality of a life lived entirely for God and for others. After an all-night prayer vigil by his friends, he was buried in an unadorned pine box in the backyard of our fellowship house in Saint-Remy. A simple wooden cross over his grave with the instruction: “Dominique Voillaume, a witness to Jesus Christ” said it all. More than seven thousand people gathered from all over Europe to attend his funeral.
Source Unknown
(2 Corinthians 11:3b).
Dominique Voillaume has influenced my life as few people ever have. One year during our ministry in France, Dominique, a lean, muscular six-foot, two inched, always wearing a navy blue beret, learned at age fifty-four that he was dying in inoperable cancer. With the mission’s permission he moved to a poor neighborhood in Paris and took a job as night watchman at a factory. Returning home every morning at 8 a.m. he would go directly to a little park across the street from where he lived and sit down on a wooden bench. Hanging around the park were marginal people, drifters, winos, dirty old men who ogled the girls passing by.
Dominique never criticized, scolded, or reprimanded them. He laughed, told stories, shared his candy, and accepted them just as they were. From living so long out of the inner circle, he gave off a peace, a serene sense of self-possession and an hospitality of heart that caused cynical young men and defeated old men to gravitate toward him. His simple witness lay in accepting others as they were without questions and allowing them to make themselves at home in his heart. Dominique was the most nonjudgmental person I have ever known.
One day, when the ragtag group of rejects asked him to talk about himself, Dominique gave them a thumbnail description of his life. Then he told them with quiet conviction that God loved them tenderly and stubbornly, that Jesus had come for rejects and outcasts just like them. His witness was credible because the Word was enfleshed on his bones. Later one old man said, ‘The dirty jokes, vulgar language, and leering at girls just stopped.’
One morning Dominique failed to appear on his park bench. The men grew concerned. A few hours later, he was found dead on the floor of his cold-water flat. He died in the obscurity of a Paris slum.
Dominique Voillaume never tried to impress anybody, never wondered if his life was useful or his witness meaningful. He never felt he had to do something great fro God. He did keep a journal. It was found shortly after his death in the drawer of the night stand by his bed. His last entry is one of the most astonishing things I have ever read:
All that is not the love of God has no meaning for me. I can truthfully say that I have no interest in anything but the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If God wants it to, my life will be useful through my word and witness. If He wants it to, my life will bear fruit through my prayers and sacrifices. But the usefulness of my life is His concern, not mine. It would be indecent of me to worry about that.
In Dominique Voillaume I saw the reality of a life lived entirely for God and for others. After an all-night prayer vigil by his friends, he was buried in an unadorned pine box in the backyard of our fellowship house in Saint-Remy. A simple wooden cross over his grave with the instruction: “Dominique Voillaume, a witness to Jesus Christ” said it all. More than seven thousand people gathered from all over Europe to attend his funeral.
Source Unknown
Monday, April 2, 2012
Marriage – God’s Model for Christ and the Church
"Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husban." (Eph. 5:22-33)
One of the reasons there is so much debate and controversy around the roles we each have in marriage is because our focus is on the roles and not the reason or purpose of the roles. It’s very typical for us humans to look at marriage from the angle of what’s in it for me, but what Paul is talking about is in the context of the filling of the Spirit in Eph. 5:18, which presupposes that the married couple is more concerned with the glory of God than their own critique of each other’s performance. Their lives are characterized by the control, leading and shaping of the Holy Spirit, not the flesh.
Nothing will destroy a marriage faster than two people on a mission to fix each other.
In Matthew 10:39 our Lord lays down the one primary rule for discipleship, He who loses his life will find it. Practically speaking, this is what the filling of the spirit implies. We lose our lives so that Christ can bring His life into us. He can’t do so while we are in the way.
Marriage is the great testing ground for discipleship. Marriage is not meant to be 50/50; it’s meant to be 100/100 – meaning that to the extent a person loses his or her life, to that same extent, spiritual life and happiness can enter that marriage. Happiness in marriage is a byproduct of the pursuit of the glory of God.
The only reason my marriage is good and getting better all the time (Lennon-McCartney), is because each of us is learning how to give up our rights rather than fighting to keep our rights. Marriage isn’t about rights; it’s about sacrifice.
As one author wrote,
Many marriages would be better if the husband and the wife clearly understood that they are on the same side; which leads to what I said in the beginning about the purpose for the roles in marriage. Compare these verses:
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms . . . For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. (Eph. 3:10, Eph. 5:31-32)
Our purpose in getting married is to find someone who can make us happier than we’d be if we were alone and then spend the rest of our lives trying to shape them into someone who will make us even happier. But God’s purpose is to use marriages to show the angelic realms and the human race the relationship between Christ and the church. Those are conflicting purposes. Which is why most marriages either fail or if they stay together, they are not even close to being genuinely happy.
So, again, no one finds life until they lose their own life and this is truer in marriage than in any other relationship. What the marriage relationship has the potential of being will never be experienced until both persons lose their lives for the other. And no marriage based on self – on rights and personal agendas – can be truly happy nor can it glorify God because personal rights, agendas and selfishness are not what the relationship between Christ and His church is all about.
So, when Paul says that the wife is to respect her husband, he’s not just offering some practical peace-keeping advice, he’s asking her to take on a role that reflects the attitude of the church to Christ. If she’s unwilling to take that role because of personal reasons, she misses both the joy of marriage as it can be and the opportunity to fulfill God’s purpose as shown in Eph. 3:10.
Notice this passage in 1 Peter 3:6, Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. . . You don’t have to do the calling him lord part, but you get the idea. Sarah’s relationship with Abraham reflected the church’s relationship to Christ.
When Paul asks the husband to love as Christ loved, he’s asking for sacrifice. Most husbands are much more interested in what their wives can sacrifice for them than visa versa. But when a husband sacrifices for his wife, he’s helping build a relationship of love that will make them both happier. He’s losing his life to gain a greater life in union with his wife.
It reminds me of the passage in Heb. 12:2, Who for the joy set before Him (i.e. our salvation), he endured the cross, despising the shame . . .
Jesus was alone until after the cross and resurrection, but when the grain of wheat fell into the ground and died, it bore much fruit. An entirely new race was born from the resurrection of Christ; a race that would become one flesh with Him. This was the result of the sacrifice of the cross.
When wives respect their husbands and when husbands love their wives like this, two things happen: God’s purpose in revealing the relationship of Christ and the church is accomplished, and the marriage becomes increasingly wonderful for the couple involved.
If we can get past our own self-centered expectations, we can not only glorify God in our marriage but we could also have a marriage that, as Paul wrote in another context is above all we could ask or think.
I’m going to close with a story that helps us see this in a practical way, in this case by focusing on the privilege of being a mother – though this could apply to the father as well:
The young mother set her foot on the path of life. 'Is the way long?’ she asked. And her Guide said: 'Yes'. 'And the way is hard'. 'And you will be old before you reach the end of it'. 'But the end will be better than the beginning'.
But the young Mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed with them in the clear streams; and the sun shone on them and life was good, and the young Mother cried, ‘Nothing will ever be lovelier than this'.
Then night came, and storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the Mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said, 'Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come,’ and the Mother said, ‘This is better than the brightness of day, for I have taught my children courage'.
And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the Mother was weary, but at all times, she said to the children, A little patience and we are there. So the children climbed, and when they reached the top, they said, 'We could not have done it without you, Mother'. And the Mother, when she lay down that night, looked at the stars and said: 'This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned strength in the face of hardship'.
And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth-clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the Mother said: 'Look up'. 'Lift your eyes to the Light'. And the children looked and saw above them beyond the darkness. And that night the Mother said: ‘This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God.’
And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and the Mother grew old, and she was little and bent. And when the way was hard, they helped their Mother, and when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond the hill they could see a shining road and golden gate flung wide.
And the Mother said: 'I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know that the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them'. And the children said: 'You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates'.
And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said: 'We cannot see her, but she is with us still. A Mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence'.
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husban." (Eph. 5:22-33)
One of the reasons there is so much debate and controversy around the roles we each have in marriage is because our focus is on the roles and not the reason or purpose of the roles. It’s very typical for us humans to look at marriage from the angle of what’s in it for me, but what Paul is talking about is in the context of the filling of the Spirit in Eph. 5:18, which presupposes that the married couple is more concerned with the glory of God than their own critique of each other’s performance. Their lives are characterized by the control, leading and shaping of the Holy Spirit, not the flesh.
Nothing will destroy a marriage faster than two people on a mission to fix each other.
In Matthew 10:39 our Lord lays down the one primary rule for discipleship, He who loses his life will find it. Practically speaking, this is what the filling of the spirit implies. We lose our lives so that Christ can bring His life into us. He can’t do so while we are in the way.
Marriage is the great testing ground for discipleship. Marriage is not meant to be 50/50; it’s meant to be 100/100 – meaning that to the extent a person loses his or her life, to that same extent, spiritual life and happiness can enter that marriage. Happiness in marriage is a byproduct of the pursuit of the glory of God.
The only reason my marriage is good and getting better all the time (Lennon-McCartney), is because each of us is learning how to give up our rights rather than fighting to keep our rights. Marriage isn’t about rights; it’s about sacrifice.
As one author wrote,
Many marriages would be better if the husband and the wife clearly understood that they are on the same side; which leads to what I said in the beginning about the purpose for the roles in marriage. Compare these verses:
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms . . . For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. (Eph. 3:10, Eph. 5:31-32)
Our purpose in getting married is to find someone who can make us happier than we’d be if we were alone and then spend the rest of our lives trying to shape them into someone who will make us even happier. But God’s purpose is to use marriages to show the angelic realms and the human race the relationship between Christ and the church. Those are conflicting purposes. Which is why most marriages either fail or if they stay together, they are not even close to being genuinely happy.
So, again, no one finds life until they lose their own life and this is truer in marriage than in any other relationship. What the marriage relationship has the potential of being will never be experienced until both persons lose their lives for the other. And no marriage based on self – on rights and personal agendas – can be truly happy nor can it glorify God because personal rights, agendas and selfishness are not what the relationship between Christ and His church is all about.
So, when Paul says that the wife is to respect her husband, he’s not just offering some practical peace-keeping advice, he’s asking her to take on a role that reflects the attitude of the church to Christ. If she’s unwilling to take that role because of personal reasons, she misses both the joy of marriage as it can be and the opportunity to fulfill God’s purpose as shown in Eph. 3:10.
Notice this passage in 1 Peter 3:6, Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. . . You don’t have to do the calling him lord part, but you get the idea. Sarah’s relationship with Abraham reflected the church’s relationship to Christ.
When Paul asks the husband to love as Christ loved, he’s asking for sacrifice. Most husbands are much more interested in what their wives can sacrifice for them than visa versa. But when a husband sacrifices for his wife, he’s helping build a relationship of love that will make them both happier. He’s losing his life to gain a greater life in union with his wife.
It reminds me of the passage in Heb. 12:2, Who for the joy set before Him (i.e. our salvation), he endured the cross, despising the shame . . .
Jesus was alone until after the cross and resurrection, but when the grain of wheat fell into the ground and died, it bore much fruit. An entirely new race was born from the resurrection of Christ; a race that would become one flesh with Him. This was the result of the sacrifice of the cross.
When wives respect their husbands and when husbands love their wives like this, two things happen: God’s purpose in revealing the relationship of Christ and the church is accomplished, and the marriage becomes increasingly wonderful for the couple involved.
If we can get past our own self-centered expectations, we can not only glorify God in our marriage but we could also have a marriage that, as Paul wrote in another context is above all we could ask or think.
I’m going to close with a story that helps us see this in a practical way, in this case by focusing on the privilege of being a mother – though this could apply to the father as well:
The young mother set her foot on the path of life. 'Is the way long?’ she asked. And her Guide said: 'Yes'. 'And the way is hard'. 'And you will be old before you reach the end of it'. 'But the end will be better than the beginning'.
But the young Mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed with them in the clear streams; and the sun shone on them and life was good, and the young Mother cried, ‘Nothing will ever be lovelier than this'.
Then night came, and storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the Mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said, 'Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come,’ and the Mother said, ‘This is better than the brightness of day, for I have taught my children courage'.
And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the Mother was weary, but at all times, she said to the children, A little patience and we are there. So the children climbed, and when they reached the top, they said, 'We could not have done it without you, Mother'. And the Mother, when she lay down that night, looked at the stars and said: 'This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned strength in the face of hardship'.
And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth-clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the Mother said: 'Look up'. 'Lift your eyes to the Light'. And the children looked and saw above them beyond the darkness. And that night the Mother said: ‘This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God.’
And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and the Mother grew old, and she was little and bent. And when the way was hard, they helped their Mother, and when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond the hill they could see a shining road and golden gate flung wide.
And the Mother said: 'I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know that the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them'. And the children said: 'You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates'.
And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said: 'We cannot see her, but she is with us still. A Mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence'.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Dark Night of the Soul
I want to begin with a short passage in Ephesians 4:17-24
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God. . . . That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that you put on the new man, which in God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
So, everyone has done that, right? You’re a new creation in Christ and you are living perfectly in all that the new life implies? Or maybe, like me, you’re just really close to perfection but haven’t quite got there yet. It is so frustrating – sinning occasionally:)
We know we aren’t supposed to live like we used to; that we’re supposed to lay aside the old life and move into a whole new life, but for most Christians the real issue is not knowing what we are supposed to do, but knowing how to do it.
For example, Paul struggles with this issue in Romans 7,
For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
We’re not alone in this battle. Even the great apostle Paul went through a season of knowing exactly what was expected of him and discovering he wasn’t even close to living that way. So, how do we move from the old to the new? The first step is to recognize the fact that there is an old and a new - and that the old life is both empty and destructive.
Our old life at its absolute best is nothing more that spiritual death disguised as living a normal life. The first thing to realize is that no one moves out of their old life until they know, beyond doubt, that it’s worthless and self-destructive. When you and I can honestly, inside, say,
Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?!”
Can you relate to this? There’s nothing like desperation to motivate change. So then the question is - how, exactly, does the change occur? What does moving forward look like?
The change occurs when God shatters your life.
Let’s just take a couple of brief examples. We already saw Paul’s cry of desperation in Romans 7. Here’s a similar experience Peter had in Luke 22:31-34;
Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simo, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Jesus answered, I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.
Remember Peter’s three denials? Afterward the Bible says Peter went and wept bitterly. All of Peter’s illusions of how capable he was of living the Christian life were shattered that night.
I want to cite an author’s description of this experience. If this hasn’t happen to you yet, it will – assuming you really do want to live the spiritual life Christ has brought you into.
Every true servant of God must experience a disabling from which he can never recover; he can never be quite the same again. Something must happen to you which means that from now on you will genuinely fear yourself. You will fear to move out on the impulse of your own mind, your own desires and creativity.. We must be aware that we are often working and serving the Lord in our own natural strength; we are not drawing from God.
God must bring us to a point – I cannot tell you how it will be, but he will do it – where, through a deep and dark experience, our natural power is touched and fundamentally weakened, so that we no longer dare trust ourselves.
The Lord graciously laid me aside for a season in my life and put me, spiritually, into utter darkness. It was almost as though he had forsaken me, almost as though nothing was going on and I had really come to the end of everything. And then by degrees he brought things back again. The temptation is always to try to help God by taking things back ourselves; but remember, there must be a full night in darkness. It cannot be hurried; he knows what he is doing.
And of course I cannot tell you how long he will take, but in principle I think it is quite safe to say this, that there will be a definite period when he will keep you there. It will seem as though nothing is happening; as though everything you valued is slipping from your grasp. There confronts you a blank wall with no door in it. Seemingly everyone else is being blessed and used, while you yourself have been passed by and are losing out. All is in darkness, but it is only for a night. It must indeed be a full night, but that is all. Afterwards you will find that everything is given back to you in glorious resurrection; and nothing can measure the difference between what was before and what now is....When once your back is broken, you will yield to the slightest touch from God.
Watchman Nee
Peter, and everyone who has ever been used of God in a great way, had to come to a place experientially that when he looked at himself, all he saw was a total failure. The Lord had great plans for Peter, but none of those plans could happen until first Peter understood his complete inability in himself to live the Christian life. Remember how our Lord said that only those who lose their lives will find it? Now you know what that means.
As long as we believe we having something to offer, something in us that will be of great help and value to God, we are still living at least in part in the old mindset of pride and blindness. But when we come to the end of ourselves, when we genuinely lose our lives, we discover that God is willing and able to strengthen us to live by His life, by His power. This is why Paul wrote the following to the Corinthians,
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; confused, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
The Lord desires that we express the likeness of Christ, of our new life in Him; not the likeness of our old life. And the only way that can happen is if we allow the Lord to bring us to a place of no confidence in ourselves and all confidence in Him. As Paul told the Philippians in 3:3,
For we worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.
How do you get to the place of “no confidence” in the flesh? It is only when we see ourselves as absolute failures when it comes to living as Christ lived that we can begin to understand the how of all this.
In Galatians 2:20 Paul said, It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God. . .
Paul had experienced Romans 7 and knew, beyond any doubt, that only Christ could live the Christian life. Once that foundation of zero expectancy from ourselves and all expectancy from God is established, then we can approach the leading of the Spirit in this new life we entered with assurance that, as Paul told the Philippians, It is God who now works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13).
At that point, we want what God wants. We know that only He has the power to live that way; and we know that He is willing to work in us in a way that will get us there. The “getting us there” process is never an overnight thing; it may take years of learning and failing and winning and losing. But if we are walking by faith in Him instead of faith in us, He will definitely complete what He has begun in us. Like the Potter shaping the clay, if the clay is willing to be shaped, it’s only a matter of time until that clay represents exactly what the Potter has in mind. As painful as this training under the hand of God is, the outcome is perfect; it is exactly what He, and what we, long for. As one author put it,
Nothing so reveals the solid progress of a soul as when it is enable to view its own depravity without being disturbed or discouraged.
When we became Christians, what did we really expect from us? Why do you think God says the Christian life is a life of faith; of dependence upon Him, not on us? Jesus said that there is none good but God. Do we really believe we’re good? The goodness of any man or woman exists only to the extent that Christ is seen in them. We must decrease – He must increase. And the path of our decreasing and His increasing is that season of life that shows us in a very personal way that we cannot, in our own strength, be what the Lord would have us be. But He is more than willing to get us there by His mercy and power.
Finally, notice this comment by another writer,
Let us remember for our consolation that the perception of a disease is the fires step to a cure; when we have no sense of our need, we have no curative principle within. Discouragement is not a fruit of humility, but of pride. Suppose we have failed; all our falls are useful if they strip us of a disastrous confidence in ourselves.
Remember the passage I mentioned earlier from Philippians,
For we worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.
When, because of the experiences of life you know, personally, beyond any doubt that you can’t live the Christian life, and when you believe that He can and is willing to do so in you, you will be able to move forward, walking by faith in the Son of God Who loved you and gave Himself for you. As Paul wrote in 1 Thess. 5:24, Faithful is He who called you, who will also do it.
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God. . . . That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that you put on the new man, which in God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
So, everyone has done that, right? You’re a new creation in Christ and you are living perfectly in all that the new life implies? Or maybe, like me, you’re just really close to perfection but haven’t quite got there yet. It is so frustrating – sinning occasionally:)
We know we aren’t supposed to live like we used to; that we’re supposed to lay aside the old life and move into a whole new life, but for most Christians the real issue is not knowing what we are supposed to do, but knowing how to do it.
For example, Paul struggles with this issue in Romans 7,
For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
We’re not alone in this battle. Even the great apostle Paul went through a season of knowing exactly what was expected of him and discovering he wasn’t even close to living that way. So, how do we move from the old to the new? The first step is to recognize the fact that there is an old and a new - and that the old life is both empty and destructive.
Our old life at its absolute best is nothing more that spiritual death disguised as living a normal life. The first thing to realize is that no one moves out of their old life until they know, beyond doubt, that it’s worthless and self-destructive. When you and I can honestly, inside, say,
Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?!”
Can you relate to this? There’s nothing like desperation to motivate change. So then the question is - how, exactly, does the change occur? What does moving forward look like?
The change occurs when God shatters your life.
Let’s just take a couple of brief examples. We already saw Paul’s cry of desperation in Romans 7. Here’s a similar experience Peter had in Luke 22:31-34;
Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simo, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Jesus answered, I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.
Remember Peter’s three denials? Afterward the Bible says Peter went and wept bitterly. All of Peter’s illusions of how capable he was of living the Christian life were shattered that night.
I want to cite an author’s description of this experience. If this hasn’t happen to you yet, it will – assuming you really do want to live the spiritual life Christ has brought you into.
Every true servant of God must experience a disabling from which he can never recover; he can never be quite the same again. Something must happen to you which means that from now on you will genuinely fear yourself. You will fear to move out on the impulse of your own mind, your own desires and creativity.. We must be aware that we are often working and serving the Lord in our own natural strength; we are not drawing from God.
God must bring us to a point – I cannot tell you how it will be, but he will do it – where, through a deep and dark experience, our natural power is touched and fundamentally weakened, so that we no longer dare trust ourselves.
The Lord graciously laid me aside for a season in my life and put me, spiritually, into utter darkness. It was almost as though he had forsaken me, almost as though nothing was going on and I had really come to the end of everything. And then by degrees he brought things back again. The temptation is always to try to help God by taking things back ourselves; but remember, there must be a full night in darkness. It cannot be hurried; he knows what he is doing.
And of course I cannot tell you how long he will take, but in principle I think it is quite safe to say this, that there will be a definite period when he will keep you there. It will seem as though nothing is happening; as though everything you valued is slipping from your grasp. There confronts you a blank wall with no door in it. Seemingly everyone else is being blessed and used, while you yourself have been passed by and are losing out. All is in darkness, but it is only for a night. It must indeed be a full night, but that is all. Afterwards you will find that everything is given back to you in glorious resurrection; and nothing can measure the difference between what was before and what now is....When once your back is broken, you will yield to the slightest touch from God.
Watchman Nee
Peter, and everyone who has ever been used of God in a great way, had to come to a place experientially that when he looked at himself, all he saw was a total failure. The Lord had great plans for Peter, but none of those plans could happen until first Peter understood his complete inability in himself to live the Christian life. Remember how our Lord said that only those who lose their lives will find it? Now you know what that means.
As long as we believe we having something to offer, something in us that will be of great help and value to God, we are still living at least in part in the old mindset of pride and blindness. But when we come to the end of ourselves, when we genuinely lose our lives, we discover that God is willing and able to strengthen us to live by His life, by His power. This is why Paul wrote the following to the Corinthians,
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; confused, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
The Lord desires that we express the likeness of Christ, of our new life in Him; not the likeness of our old life. And the only way that can happen is if we allow the Lord to bring us to a place of no confidence in ourselves and all confidence in Him. As Paul told the Philippians in 3:3,
For we worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.
How do you get to the place of “no confidence” in the flesh? It is only when we see ourselves as absolute failures when it comes to living as Christ lived that we can begin to understand the how of all this.
In Galatians 2:20 Paul said, It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God. . .
Paul had experienced Romans 7 and knew, beyond any doubt, that only Christ could live the Christian life. Once that foundation of zero expectancy from ourselves and all expectancy from God is established, then we can approach the leading of the Spirit in this new life we entered with assurance that, as Paul told the Philippians, It is God who now works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13).
At that point, we want what God wants. We know that only He has the power to live that way; and we know that He is willing to work in us in a way that will get us there. The “getting us there” process is never an overnight thing; it may take years of learning and failing and winning and losing. But if we are walking by faith in Him instead of faith in us, He will definitely complete what He has begun in us. Like the Potter shaping the clay, if the clay is willing to be shaped, it’s only a matter of time until that clay represents exactly what the Potter has in mind. As painful as this training under the hand of God is, the outcome is perfect; it is exactly what He, and what we, long for. As one author put it,
Nothing so reveals the solid progress of a soul as when it is enable to view its own depravity without being disturbed or discouraged.
When we became Christians, what did we really expect from us? Why do you think God says the Christian life is a life of faith; of dependence upon Him, not on us? Jesus said that there is none good but God. Do we really believe we’re good? The goodness of any man or woman exists only to the extent that Christ is seen in them. We must decrease – He must increase. And the path of our decreasing and His increasing is that season of life that shows us in a very personal way that we cannot, in our own strength, be what the Lord would have us be. But He is more than willing to get us there by His mercy and power.
Finally, notice this comment by another writer,
Let us remember for our consolation that the perception of a disease is the fires step to a cure; when we have no sense of our need, we have no curative principle within. Discouragement is not a fruit of humility, but of pride. Suppose we have failed; all our falls are useful if they strip us of a disastrous confidence in ourselves.
Remember the passage I mentioned earlier from Philippians,
For we worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.
When, because of the experiences of life you know, personally, beyond any doubt that you can’t live the Christian life, and when you believe that He can and is willing to do so in you, you will be able to move forward, walking by faith in the Son of God Who loved you and gave Himself for you. As Paul wrote in 1 Thess. 5:24, Faithful is He who called you, who will also do it.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Great Expectations
In John chapters 14-16 Jesus is summing up His final instructions and encouragement to His followers. He promises to send the Holy Spirit to be with them so they won’t be left alone while He’s gone, and He promises them they will know His joy and His peace – that they need not be afraid.
But if we’re real about our lives and what we are experiencing, we know there’s a lot of mystery around these promises. Much of the time, experientially, we don’t have a clue what He was talking about.
For example,
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)
So the promise here, which is very similar to other promises throughout this section of John, is inner peace in the midst of outward turmoil. We are all very familiar with the outward turmoil part. The whole creation, us included, groans and travails in pain (Romans 8:22-23). Life is extremely hard, especially for those who are growing spiritually.
For those who aren’t growing, life may be somewhat easier because they haven’t incurred the anger of the forces that are against Christ. The flesh is content, they fit into the world, and demons find other people to hassle. But if you try to move forward with Christ and take your stand with Him, the world, the flesh and the devil all come at you in full force. They don’t let up. They don’t know the meaning of vacation or mercy.
That’s tribulation and it doesn’t stop until we either leave this world or turn our back on spiritual advance. So, when Jesus says we will have tribulation we know what that means. But He also said we could have peace in our souls in the midst of whatever storms are raging outside.
We can understand that in concept, but look at the reason He gives for this happening, I have overcome the world (John 16:33). I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but my initial response would be, That’s great – but what’s that got to do with me? How is His victorious life related to my peace? Look at our Lord’s words in the next chapter, John 17:22-23
The glory which You, Father, have given Me, I have given them, so they may be one, even as we are one: I in them and You in Me. . .
All that Jesus was and all that He accomplished was somehow to be transferred to those who belong to Him. His victory, His destiny, His very life would become ours. As Paul puts it, Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
Through the Holy Spirit, Christ has come to live within us and to share His own life with us. So, then the question becomes, Again, that’s great, when and how do I start experiencing that life? Having something, but not experiencing it, is no better practically speaking than not having it.
I’m assuming most of you experience, from time to time, some degree of thankfulness, maybe even joy, over the fact that you’re going to heaven instead of hell. You are sharing Christ’s destiny because of what He did on the cross. That’s good news, and occasionally, you probably experience a degree of peace or joy when that reality hits home. When you stop and think about it, and when you contrast eternal condemnation with eternal happiness, one can’t help but experience a bit of joy about that.
So, you will notice that two things are in action when you actually experience something related to the promises of God: The work and Person of Christ, and faith on your part.
If you didn’t believe the cross had anything to do with your eternal destiny, I doubt you’d experience any personal joy or relief around the fact that Christ’s death 2000 years ago resolved your sin problem.
The same is true now that you are His child. Heaven is settled, but now the issues are related more to daily living than eternal destiny. However, the principle remains exactly the same. As you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in Him. (Colossians 2:6)
When we learn something about Who He is and what He’s done or promised, we can either believe or not believe Him. With the gospel, we believed and a billion incredible things happened. Inner rest in this case is the practical outworking of our belief that what the Bible says is true.
Paul tells us that Jesus is head over all things to the church (Ephesians 1:22). Not some things, all things. Our lives are not too big a challenge for Him. Our circumstances, failures, weaknesses are not beyond God’s ability to deal with. When we trust Him, the things themselves (our circumstances) may or may not change, but faith affects our inner lives, and to God what matters most is the inner man, the spirit, and that issue must be settled first. The rest of faith must be our position, our stand, in His Word to us.
Even if, like Abraham waiting for Isaac, we don’t see immediate results, it is inevitable that if we stand by faith in Christ on His word, we will ultimately win this battle we’re in. We’re asked to fight a fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12).
Think of this hypothetical analogy. We have a loved one, maybe a husband or father, away at war. We haven’t heard from them for too long and we assume the worst. Then an epistle comes to us from the army base in that region telling us the he is alive.. We rejoice without any evidence this is true simply because we believe the epistle.
Compare that story to these verses in 1 Peter 1:6,8;
In this you greatly rejoice . . . Whom (Jesus), having not seen, you love; in Whom, though now you see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and fullof glory.
Those Peter was writing to had never seen Jesus and were not seeing Him in the present, but because they believed what they were told of Him, they rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Nothing in their circumstances changed, but look at the effect of faith on their soul!
Thomas needed to see to believe and to this Jesus said, Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed: Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet believed.(John 20:29). And in John 4:48 the Lord said, Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. .
All of us would love to have confirmation in terms of experiences, signs, anything to which we could attach our faith. That’s because, like Thomas and others, we are empiricists whether we want to admit it or not. But now we are being asked to walk by faith not by sight; not something we are used to; not something we even want to do.
Knowing and believing the Word of God brings rest, joy, peace. Faith doesn’t always change our circumstances but it definitely changes our heart.
Just as we believed (and rejoiced) that the Cross affected our destiny without any evidence beyond faith to confirm that fact, we can believe (and rejoice) that the Potter is shaping us through our circumstances into something wonderful whether we have any evidence to confirm those promises:
We rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation develops perseverance and perseverance, character and character, hope . . . (Romans 5:3-4)
Count it all joy when you fall into various trials . . . that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4)
James calls this, the testing of your faith (James 1:3).
Abraham was excited about being the father of many nations. He was excited about that nearly 100 years before Isaac was born! You can read other similar stories in Hebrews 11.
God may supernaturally inject peace or joy into us. He’s God and can do whatever He wants. But as we saw in the words of Jesus to Thomas, there is greater blessing in time and eternity for those whose rest and rejoicing come as a result of faith.
We began this study with the passage in John regarding Jesus' overcoming of the world and asked how that would apply to us. We share His overcoming because we share His life. This is not something that will happen, future tense, if we just believe. It is something that is a present reality. We are, now, seated at the right hand of God above all principalities and powers (Ephesians 1:20-21, 2:6). As John tells us in 1 John 5:4, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.
Faith doesn’t make something happen, it allows what has already happen to become real in our experience. We’re not going to be blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, we already are (Ephesians 1:3).
If we’re going to have realistic expectations we must never forget the supreme value and definition of what faith really is, Faith is inner assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Faith give experiential substance to things we cannot see.
Again, we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
But if we’re real about our lives and what we are experiencing, we know there’s a lot of mystery around these promises. Much of the time, experientially, we don’t have a clue what He was talking about.
For example,
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)
So the promise here, which is very similar to other promises throughout this section of John, is inner peace in the midst of outward turmoil. We are all very familiar with the outward turmoil part. The whole creation, us included, groans and travails in pain (Romans 8:22-23). Life is extremely hard, especially for those who are growing spiritually.
For those who aren’t growing, life may be somewhat easier because they haven’t incurred the anger of the forces that are against Christ. The flesh is content, they fit into the world, and demons find other people to hassle. But if you try to move forward with Christ and take your stand with Him, the world, the flesh and the devil all come at you in full force. They don’t let up. They don’t know the meaning of vacation or mercy.
That’s tribulation and it doesn’t stop until we either leave this world or turn our back on spiritual advance. So, when Jesus says we will have tribulation we know what that means. But He also said we could have peace in our souls in the midst of whatever storms are raging outside.
We can understand that in concept, but look at the reason He gives for this happening, I have overcome the world (John 16:33). I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but my initial response would be, That’s great – but what’s that got to do with me? How is His victorious life related to my peace? Look at our Lord’s words in the next chapter, John 17:22-23
The glory which You, Father, have given Me, I have given them, so they may be one, even as we are one: I in them and You in Me. . .
All that Jesus was and all that He accomplished was somehow to be transferred to those who belong to Him. His victory, His destiny, His very life would become ours. As Paul puts it, Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
Through the Holy Spirit, Christ has come to live within us and to share His own life with us. So, then the question becomes, Again, that’s great, when and how do I start experiencing that life? Having something, but not experiencing it, is no better practically speaking than not having it.
I’m assuming most of you experience, from time to time, some degree of thankfulness, maybe even joy, over the fact that you’re going to heaven instead of hell. You are sharing Christ’s destiny because of what He did on the cross. That’s good news, and occasionally, you probably experience a degree of peace or joy when that reality hits home. When you stop and think about it, and when you contrast eternal condemnation with eternal happiness, one can’t help but experience a bit of joy about that.
So, you will notice that two things are in action when you actually experience something related to the promises of God: The work and Person of Christ, and faith on your part.
If you didn’t believe the cross had anything to do with your eternal destiny, I doubt you’d experience any personal joy or relief around the fact that Christ’s death 2000 years ago resolved your sin problem.
The same is true now that you are His child. Heaven is settled, but now the issues are related more to daily living than eternal destiny. However, the principle remains exactly the same. As you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in Him. (Colossians 2:6)
When we learn something about Who He is and what He’s done or promised, we can either believe or not believe Him. With the gospel, we believed and a billion incredible things happened. Inner rest in this case is the practical outworking of our belief that what the Bible says is true.
Paul tells us that Jesus is head over all things to the church (Ephesians 1:22). Not some things, all things. Our lives are not too big a challenge for Him. Our circumstances, failures, weaknesses are not beyond God’s ability to deal with. When we trust Him, the things themselves (our circumstances) may or may not change, but faith affects our inner lives, and to God what matters most is the inner man, the spirit, and that issue must be settled first. The rest of faith must be our position, our stand, in His Word to us.
Even if, like Abraham waiting for Isaac, we don’t see immediate results, it is inevitable that if we stand by faith in Christ on His word, we will ultimately win this battle we’re in. We’re asked to fight a fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12).
Think of this hypothetical analogy. We have a loved one, maybe a husband or father, away at war. We haven’t heard from them for too long and we assume the worst. Then an epistle comes to us from the army base in that region telling us the he is alive.. We rejoice without any evidence this is true simply because we believe the epistle.
Compare that story to these verses in 1 Peter 1:6,8;
In this you greatly rejoice . . . Whom (Jesus), having not seen, you love; in Whom, though now you see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and fullof glory.
Those Peter was writing to had never seen Jesus and were not seeing Him in the present, but because they believed what they were told of Him, they rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Nothing in their circumstances changed, but look at the effect of faith on their soul!
Thomas needed to see to believe and to this Jesus said, Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed: Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet believed.(John 20:29). And in John 4:48 the Lord said, Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. .
All of us would love to have confirmation in terms of experiences, signs, anything to which we could attach our faith. That’s because, like Thomas and others, we are empiricists whether we want to admit it or not. But now we are being asked to walk by faith not by sight; not something we are used to; not something we even want to do.
Knowing and believing the Word of God brings rest, joy, peace. Faith doesn’t always change our circumstances but it definitely changes our heart.
Just as we believed (and rejoiced) that the Cross affected our destiny without any evidence beyond faith to confirm that fact, we can believe (and rejoice) that the Potter is shaping us through our circumstances into something wonderful whether we have any evidence to confirm those promises:
We rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation develops perseverance and perseverance, character and character, hope . . . (Romans 5:3-4)
Count it all joy when you fall into various trials . . . that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4)
James calls this, the testing of your faith (James 1:3).
Abraham was excited about being the father of many nations. He was excited about that nearly 100 years before Isaac was born! You can read other similar stories in Hebrews 11.
God may supernaturally inject peace or joy into us. He’s God and can do whatever He wants. But as we saw in the words of Jesus to Thomas, there is greater blessing in time and eternity for those whose rest and rejoicing come as a result of faith.
We began this study with the passage in John regarding Jesus' overcoming of the world and asked how that would apply to us. We share His overcoming because we share His life. This is not something that will happen, future tense, if we just believe. It is something that is a present reality. We are, now, seated at the right hand of God above all principalities and powers (Ephesians 1:20-21, 2:6). As John tells us in 1 John 5:4, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.
Faith doesn’t make something happen, it allows what has already happen to become real in our experience. We’re not going to be blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, we already are (Ephesians 1:3).
If we’re going to have realistic expectations we must never forget the supreme value and definition of what faith really is, Faith is inner assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Faith give experiential substance to things we cannot see.
Again, we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
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