FAITH LOOKS UP! -- Colossians 3:2

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Yesterday, the message of "seeking things above" was presented.  The next verse in Colossians 3 mimics that same idea.  This is what it says:

"Set your minds on  the things that are above, not the things that are on earth."  (Col. 3:2)

In order to seek what is above, we must take a critical first step.  We will have to reprogram our minds and the way we think about these "things". We must train our minds to be set on the things of God, rather than on the things of this world.  The flesh looks around our world to see what it is that  we desire for ourselves.  But faith looks up; it desires the things that God desires.

My problem with living out this particular Scripture passage is this:  I know I should seek the things of God and set my mind on them.  I say that I should seek them. And I often teach others, as well,  their need to look up and to seek after the eternal things (even as I am teaching you right now). But to actually put this into practice in my day-to-day, even moment-to-moment life, well let's just say I typically fail, and fail miserably in practicing this.

It is true that there must be a shift of focus (Col. 3:1), but before there can be a true shift, there must be a firm and decisive choice,  to choose God over the lust of the eyes, flesh, and world.  For us to change our focus from looking around us to looking above to God, we must begin to practice a "line in the sand"  type of theology, making a right decision, choice by choice.  The line in the sand can be called the "choice line." On one side of the choice line is what is of this world; and on the other side is what is of the Spirit.  This is the scenario for every choice we will make.  There are no other choices.  

So if we will set our minds on what is of the Spirit, first and foremost, then we will have a greater ability, and even a greater desire, to begin to seek what is above.  Revival comes to a heart and life that is determined to be set on the God-things that it seeks, attempting to keep our mind from returning to a place where it seeks the world's things again.  The God-things will never be found on earth.  They can only be found where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. That is the place of the "above".   Faithful followers of Christ will learn to walk through life looking up!  

Are you looking up, or are you looking around you?  Above or on earth?

Choosing The Correct Path

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(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 12)

As I begin to wind down the message of Spiritual Healing in the next few blogs, much of it will seem familiar to you, at least I pray that it will.  The last chapter of the book is the culmination of the first eleven.  Each blog will have less information, but it is designed to be that way.  Prayerfully absorb the truth, look deeply within so that you can correctly assess your spiritual condition, and then choose the correct course of action that will lead you into the Holy of Holies.

"Are you in the same court [of the Tabernacle] as when you began to read this book [or these blogs on the book], or have you covered some ground on your way into the next court?  Which court is your current address?  Each of the courts can be reached by taking appropriate steps, and sometimes even leaps, in our spiritual lives.  The goal is always to reach the presence of God in the Holy of Holies.  But your arrival there will depend on these two things:

1. You!
2. And the choices you make!

If you never choose to die to yourself and your sinful ways, you will never walk boldly into the Holy of Holies here on earth, for no flesh can reside in His presence.  So to reach that goal, one must die to self.  Do you remember that the placement of everything in the Tabernacle lines up into a cross?  In order for Jesus to secure a way for us to travel through the Tabernacle into the presence of God, He had to sacrifice His life on a sinner's cross.  If we desire to bask in His presence, we must choose to do the same.  He died for our sinfulness, but our sin still is present in us to many varying degrees.  His intimate presence will only be gained when we die to the sin still found in us.  The Old Testament Tabernacle was a prophetic picture of Christ's death.  It was also a prophetic picture of what is required of us now; it shows us how we must die even as Christ had to die."

What will you do with this information?   Did you recognize this as truth and absorb it?  Did you assess your spiritual condition and the sin that still is apparent in your life?  Will you decide to do whatever it takes to die to your flesh and to your daily sin?  These choices are up to you.  Your choices will determine and reveal whether or not you are serious about moving forward in your walk.

THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 24

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Day 24:  Nicodemus  (John 3: 1-21)

“I am so confused,” Nicodemus thought. “Being a man, a GOOD JEWISH man, I have been raised and well-schooled in all the laws of God.  I know very well what God demands of me, and I have obeyed Him and His laws.  But this Man Jesus……He is a puzzle to me.  He has come to us proclaiming a new and better way.  I know that He has performed many impressive signs and miracles that only a man of God could do.  But He also overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the temple at the last Passover, declaring that they were making the temple a place of business.  Isn’t that the way it has always been?  What am I, a ruler of the Jews, to do with such a man?  How can He and the God of my fathers both be right?”

When Nicodemus’ questions refused to leave his mind, he decided to seek out Jesus late one night, not wanting to be seen by his fellow Pharisees.

From the moment Jesus started to speak to him, Nicodemus’ heart began to stir.  Jesus spoke to him of being born again.  “But how?”  he questioned.  As Jesus began to explain just how a man could be spiritually born again , the fog in Nicodemus’ mind began to clear for the very first time.  It was all about the Spirit, not the Law!  And then there was the issue of eternal life, the gift to all who would believe that Jesus was God’s Son AND live their lives by the Spirit according to His commands.  This was the salvation and hope that Nicodemus had longed for his whole life!

He had choices to make.  Would he continue to live in his dark world of sin and the laws he couldn’t possibly keep on his own?  Would he continue to hide his desire for Jesus from his friends?  Or would he confess Jesus as his Lord, coming boldly into the Light that would expose his sin?  Would he live his life by the Spirit as one who practiced the truth he claimed to believe, as a witness to his friends?

These questions also beg questions of us.  Will we receive Jesus in a way that changes our lives dramatically? Will we be witnesses of the One we call Lord? Will we be ashamed to openly worship Him?  Or will we stay safe?

Are You Too Comfortable--Ex. 3:17

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Suffering . . . affliction . . . hardship.  This is exactly what My people were experiencing.  For 400 years they had been forced into labor for which they were receiving no pay.  Life was more than difficult; it was nearly impossible for them to live by faith in Me.  And remember, the Holy Spirit had not yet come, because I had not yet come.  And they had no Word of God by which they could be strengthened.  They only had the promises I gave to their forefathers, and the stories that had been passed down from generation to generation about Me.  And yet they cried out to Me in their suffering, and I heard their cries.  For these four centuries, I had not spoken to them, and they had learned to live where they had long since been planted.

Though you might think that they would be happy to hear from Me, in reality, My children, though suffering and calling out to Me to deliver them, had grown quite accustomed to their home in Egypt.  When Moses would bring the news that I was going to now move them to the land I promised them, they would surely FIRST think of what they perceived that they were leaving behind, as well as what such a journey to a new land would cost them. 

Can you really be so comfortable in your affliction, that you would choose to stay in it?  The answer, unfortunately, is yes, My precious one.  You see, that is exactly where you are today.  You are in this world, with all of its temptations and trials and suffering, while I am calling you to My world of living surrendered and obedient to Me.  You complain about how "hard" it is here, and yet you refuse to come away to the land I have promised you, the land of walking in the Spirit. 

You are far too comfortable in this place.  Your flesh balks at surrender, and so you continue to live in your Egypt. I have already said to your enemy (the world, the flesh and Satan), "Let My people go!"  when I died on the cross, rose again, and ascended into heaven to sit down at the right hand of My Father.  You have been set free and My Spirit lives inside of you, waiting to lead you.  But you are still choosing in several areas of your life to stay in your comfortable chair, with you feet kicked up, with the TV remote in one hand and your cell phone in the other.  And since you do not have a third hand, you comfortably set your laptop in your lap.

You cannot stay and go at the same time.  You must choose which land you want to live in, this place or My place.  If you follow Me out of your place, you will have struggles, but I will be leading, guiding, and protecting you. 

Will you get out of your comfortable chair . . . for Me?  You will never know what the land of promise holds for you if you don't.

"So That " Points to Consequences

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I have noticed as I read the Word it is often the smallest words or phrases that have the most profound statements behind them.  Take, for instance, the phrase "so that."  While learning to study my bible inductively, one of the phrases Kay Arthur teaches you to look for is the phrase "so that."  When I first began to interrogate the text, I couldn't quite grasp the importance of those two little word.  But now, every time I come across them a blinking neon light goes off in my head that prompts me to slow down and take a closer look.  Upon doing so, I inevitably discover on either side of the "so that" is two other small, but powerful, words . . . "if" and "then."

King David stood before all of Israel to address them about the temple that his son, Solomon, would build.  He had a very important message to deliver to his people and to the soon-to-be king.  After he reminds them of all that God has said regarding them as a people and the kingly lineage, David speaks the heart of God to all of them.  (I Chronicles 28: 1-10)  In his address to them, tucked between the implied "if" and "then" is a very powerful "so that."  Here is how it reads:

"So now, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, [the "if you will"] observe and seek after all the commandments of the LORD your God SO THAT you may possess the good land and bequeath it to your sons after you [ the "then you will"]."  

Do you see it?  "So that" so often means what blessings God will bestow on us in return for our obedience to Him.  In the case of the Israelites, it sounded like this:  "If you are obedient to all of My commands, then I will give all of the land to you so that you can pass it on to your children."  It can also mean what consequences might come for disobedience.  God could have just as easily stated this same verse from a negative point of view.  That would have sounded something like this:  "Refusal to obey Me will result in disaster SO THAT you may not possess the land and pass it on to your children." "So that" points to the "then," the action God will take, whether favorably or unfavorably.

 You can see it again in the following verse (vs.9) as David speaks to his son.  "If you seek Him, (then) He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, (then) He will reject you forever."  Either response from Solomon will surely have the appropriate consequence!

Just prior to the if/then of verse 9 you can clearly see the way to avoid the unfavorable consequences in your own life.  It is as true for you today as it was for Solomon hundreds of years ago.  It is simple, and yet profound and eludes the grasp of many Christians.  These 4 points are timeless and will never fail you:

1. Know God
2. Serve Him
3. Give Him your entire heart
4. Willing follow

In every choice you make God wants you to know Him so well that you choose as He would have you.  It matters not how you serve Him, but that you serve Him alone.  God does not want your leftovers, but your whole heart.  God wants you to stop leading so that He can!

"Consider now . . . be courageous and ACT!"  (2 Chronicles 28:10)  As the picture says, "If you'd just do as you are told, then it might all work out right!"  Obedience and disobedience are choices.  What will you choose?

On The Banks of Your Jordan

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Israel is camped on the edge of the Jordan, closer than they have ever been to the Promised Land. The years in the wilderness have taken a toll on them, but this new generation is moving forward. Have they learned all the necessary spiritual lessons? Will they finish the journey in front of them in bold and courageous faith? How are you doing on your personal journey? What lies just ahead of you?

When Israel left Egypt, they went out into the wilderness with great faith in their God who had just slayed every firstborn in Egypt.  They had been spared because of the very first Passover.  God had also displayed His great and mighty supremacy over every Egyptian god by the first nine plagues.  They knew their God; they trusted in Him.  And yet, 3 days into their journey home they lost their fervor and their faith.  They stumbled and fell, over and over, in the wilderness.  They became obstinately disobedient and even longed to go back to their former life of slavery and bondage in Egypt.  Their unbelief and evil actions had grave consequences.  Every person (except Joshua and Caleb) of the original group would die in the wilderness, and never see the land of their forefathers, the Promised Land.  

Those who stood on the banks of the Jordan, ready to drive out the Canaanites and take possession of their homeland, were the new generation of Israelites.  As children (spared of the curse of dying in the wilderness) they had observed their parents' sin and disobedience.  Now it was their turn.  Would they obey every command of the Lord their God?  Or would they begin to walk their own way as the parents had? 

Just ahead of them was a river they would have to cross, people to drive out, altars of pagan worship to destroy, armies to defeat, and purity and devotion to God to hang onto!  Each one would have countless, individual choices to make.  And each choice would affect the entire nation.

Today, you too have a river to cross.  It is the river of dying to your own desires, goals, agendas, and plans.  You have sin in your heart that must be driven out, attitudes that need to be destroyed, and a holiness in God to attain.  That is your Promised Land of rest--rest in the peace of God that only is obtained by right relationship with Him.

You are a part of THIS generation.  What your parents did, right or wrong, can have no influence on your choices.  You, and you alone are responsible for them.  How do you choose to walk?  Will it be as an obedient child of God?  Or will others look at your walk and see that it looks a lot like the lost generation of the wilderness?  Will you be facing forward, walking in the Spirit, with eyes on the promises or looking back longingly to the days when you walked in your flesh? 

Go forth boldly!  Walk in the power of the Spirit and true faith!  The promises are waiting for you just on the other side of surrender!