We were created to live in an intimate relationship with God. That glorious privilege has been restored to us by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Does my sin strip me of this opportunity? No, it does not.
I can almost hear the sharp religious intake of breath – what do you mean no?
Do you know anyone that is without sin? Are you without sin?
Isn’t that why Jesus came? So that we can’t get disconnected from God because of our sin whilst we are growing in holiness?
Enough said.
Do the trials that I am facing change that? No…absolutely not.
I address this because many believe that the trials that they are facing are somehow connected to their sin. The point is…everything that God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ did was to help us so that Gen. 1:26 may become our reality.
Rom. 8:37-39 – Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Regarding the trials…and even the sin…
1 Peter 4:12 – Beloved do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings (by dying to self), that when His glory is revealed (in you), you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
There is purpose in the trials. He is stripping away those things in us which are not His image. You and I are being built and formed into the image of God. What will the result of overcoming the trial be? What will the result be of overcoming the sin that held you captive? Resurrection life – abundant life in Him.
Jesus is the author and the finisher of your faith. What is the work that Jesus is doing in you? Finishing…He is finishing your faith. In the trial your faith is being tried…who do you believe in, what do you believe? It is not there to shame you but to establish you in your faith in Him. If you allow yourself to go into the trial and to face it in the spirit – you will be expanded as a carrier of the Presence of God.
“Jesus commanded us to pick up our cross. You can’t remove suffering from the cross, you can’t take death out of the cross AND you also cannot take resurrection life out of the cross. It is one package.
The suffering is not forever! Resurrection is on its way.” – Miki Hardy
If we don’t surrender to the process, we will be baby Christians all of our lives.
Last week I shared this by Francis Frangipane, ‘God is not stationary and aloof and watching from a distance. He is seeking something from each one of us.
God is steadfast in His quest to have a Christ-like you.’
Nothing can separate you from the love of God. It is in coming to God, in the midst of the trial… the battle with sin… that we find firstly forgiveness and secondly His grace to help us in time of need. He IS the Way to victory over the trials and He is the WAY to victory over the sin… He is the WAY to resurrection and abundant life.
So… all of this… to let you know… He never grows weary of us and He will never abandon us in our time of need. Nothing can separate you from His love and He is drawn to the humble. He is absolutely committed to finishing His quest…Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The Father is calling and waiting. Will you come?
Experiencing the Lord God and learning to ‘know’ Him
We know that as we enter into this intimate relationship with Him and as we are learning to ‘know’ Him, He will breathe His life into us by His Holy Spirit.
The image that we portray of Jesus is directly connected to intimately ‘knowing’ Him and not just knowing about Him.
John 17:3 – And this is eternal life…that they may ‘know’ (Ginosko) You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You sent.
Know – Strongs: Ginosko – to know absolutely. A Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman.
It’s about INTIMATELY knowing one another…becoming one…so that the Holy Spirit can birth Christ in us.
Remember Mary, ‘Let it be unto me according to your word.” And the Holy Spirit came upon her and the power of the Highest overshadowed her to birth Christ in her.
God is looking to invest His Son…into your being…to make you like His Son…by His Son’s Spirit living in you. The fruits of the Spirit are not manufactured by us…they are planted in us by the Holy Spirit. These fruits have their roots in the love of God and the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. This will only come about through a love relationship with Him.
Intimacy… nobody gets pregnant from just holding hands. We cannot become pregnant by reading a book about pregnancy or by hanging around people who are pregnant. There has to be personal intimacy.
In the same way we can’t just hang around people who are pregnant with God’s purposes, His Word and His voice and think that by listening to them we will become pregnant with His purposes, His Word and His voice. There is no substitute for going into the closet yourself and closing the door.
Studying the bible, praying, listening to podcasts etc. are all good and are important but we must be careful that they are not MORE important than getting alone with Him. Our God wants to occupy the throne of our hearts and then from His throne, the rest will flow. It is completely possible to satisfy religiosity by reading the bible etc. and not experience God at all. There are many who can quote and preach the bible but who do not know Him intimately.
It would be very dangerous to know all about God and then stand before Him and not know God.
No… in order to know Him, you have to experience Him and by experiencing Him, He will use the scriptures to breathe His life into you by His Holy Spirit.
“Perhaps you have had a desire to know God but you have been going about it the wrong way.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, ‘If you board the wrong train, it is no use if you run down the corridor in the other direction.’
Many people board the train of works and they run towards God but they find themselves further and further from the One they long to know.” – Eric Gilmour
“I remind you of the Loveless church in Rev. 2. Jesus basically says, ‘Your doctrine, your duty and your discipline are beyond reproach! Well done! But I have this against you – you have left your first love… Repent… Remember from where you have fallen. You have all these things right but My heart and your heart are no longer looking at each other.
He didn’t come here just so you would follow His rules. He came to captivate your heart”. – Eric Gilmour
G. Campbell Morgan had this to say, ‘No amount of activity in the King’s service will make up for the neglect of the King Himself.’
You are going to stand before God one day…best we practice that now so that it’s a norm.
The presence of God is not a gift for those who are already holy. The Presence of God is the gift that makes you holy.
It’s about becoming aware of Him in the stillness… taking captive every thought by focusing on Him.
Time to be still...
In your mind’s eye, can you see a rocky coastline, waves crashing on the rocks and spray shooting in the air in an arc as it rises and falls onto the rocks… can you see in the beginning… the land arising out of the waters because He commanded it? From that moment on there was land and one day you were privileged to see and stand on what He spoke into existence…
He is the One from whom all life flows, including you. He is the God who walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day. And since the day that they could no longer communicate on a spiritual level because of sin, He has been longing for the day when our spirits were alive once more and able to communicate once more with Him, Spirit to spirit. That day has come and you have been invited into His presence where knowing isn’t just about words on a page, it is a communion of knowing Him in the spirit.
He is waiting for His beloved… for you…