I want to greet you and share one thought this week before we start another book next week (Seven Longings of the Human Heart by Mike Bickle).
A Scripture that is a lifelong light on my spiritual path is II Cor. 11:1-3 in which the Apostle Paul warns the Corinthian church about the tendency in us to subtly move off track from simple devotion to Jesus:
"...I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to Christ to present you as a pure bride to her one husband. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ."
As in the Garden of Eden, the enemy is ever on the lookout for ways to divert our attention away from simple devotion to Jesus. By diverting Eve's attention away from the Tree of Life (Jesus) onto the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he succeeded in leading mankind into unimaginable complexities that we were never meant to have to deal with apart from union with God. His intention was that humans would focus on knowing Him in intimacy, and through Him, we would discern all that we needed to know, and there would be a blessed simplicity about profound knowledge.
The way back to God's original design is only through the Cross, through the Christ of the cross, through simple and focused devotion to Him. May the Spirit of Jesus (Whose focus and desire is Jesus) come and empower His people to focus on "this one thing", the Lord of glory, the Lamb of God!
God bless you this week. We'll cover the Preface of our new book next week.
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Comment on last week of Pursuit of God.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments this week, Nita. Blessings to all.
I can see how the previous chapter regarding “meekness” prepares one for a unified life in integrating the sacred and the secular. The inner rest of meekness actually brings about this unification of us as persons, so we can be one within. As this rest is applied in us, we can leave off the pretense and artificiality. We desire the Holy Spirit to deal with the area of pride in our life. This pride keeps us from being able to receive God’s love and it restricts a walk in the rest of meekness. The Holy Spirit has a way of bringing things to our attention…mainly through the lack of this “rest.” I certainly can vouch for this in my own life. This lack of “rest” seems to be a cause of the inner division of persons, and with divisions, we categorize ourselves and others, and this includes the dividing into the sacred and the secular.
However, as we allow the Word to touch our spirit, a deep awakening within us occurs and begins to unify the secular duties with the sacred issues in our deep heart. In the “rest” brought about through meekness, we will find that our focus on Jesus will be the unifying factor in our smaller groups, or in the church. Just imagine this type of life being lived out in the body of Christ. What a picture it would be of the whole body of Christ being one (secular and sacred together) at the individual level and at the group level. What could happen???
Thanks, Nita, for the gentle reminder to the simplicity of Christ and the message of the cross. May our devotion to Jesus... our simple, adoring love for Him, be renewed as we look to the cross and then live in the new life He has given us with Him through His resurrection power this Easter weekend. May we lift Him up in our hearts in humble thanksgiving and may He draw us ever nearer to His blessed Heart of hearts.
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