Jesus, the Sum of all Things

In this series on "Good News about God", His nature and character, this week I'm going to simply give a quote from Watchman Nee's book, "Christ, the Sum of all Spiritual Things", in which he summarizes well what I'm attempting to do with these postings:

"There is nothing more important than to know the Lord...Knowing Him requires a spiritual seeing...everything depends upon Christ, and not upon us...When we first became a Christian, we were inclined to do everything ourselves, fearing lest nothing would ever be done or matters would fall to pieces if we did not do them...Later in having seen the Lord to be our life, we know that all is of Christ and not of us. Consequently, we learn to rest and to look to Him...

"What we need to comprehend before God is that in our experience there is neither thing nor affair but only Christ; not that He gives us light, but that He is our light; not that He leads the way, but He is the way; not that He gives us a life, but He is our life; not that He teaches a truth, but He is the truth. What Christ gives is His very own self...

"Christ does not come to sanctify us, He comes to be Himself our sanctification. Our sanctification is not a thing, an action, or a behavior. Our sanctification is a person, even Christ...Nor does God assert that the Lord is our redeemer, but He says that the Lord is our redemption...

"Thank God, Christ is our redemption as well as our redeemer. He is our sanctification as well as our sanctifier. He is our righteousness as well as our justifier. He is our wisdom as well as the One who makes us wise.

"Christianity is none other than Christ Himself."

Good News about God: The Lord our Strength

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped." Psalm 28:7

I think I used to believe that the more I matured in God, the stronger I would feel, that somehow I would gain a strength of my own through learning to trust in Him. Now I realize that the more I mature, the more aware I am of my weakness and that it is He who is strong in me.

One of my favorite pictures of maturity in the Scriptures is of the Shulamite in the final chapter of the Song of Solomon. Her entire journey through the story is one of reaching this glorious pinnacle of maturity: "...leaning on her Beloved." The outcome of her journey is that she emerges from a lifetime of walking with Him through the wilderness of affliction and difficulties as one who is wholly dependent on Him, not even able to walk on her own!

The objective of the Holy Spirit in our lives in this age is to lead us to dependence, and it takes a lifetime to learn this because it is absolutely contrary to the fallen and sinful human way of thinking and being. None of us likes to feel weak; we prefer the idea that maturity means we'll reach a point of feeling strong in the face of adversity and opposition and pain.

However, the understanding of the Scriptures is that God is my Strength and that it is in my weakness that He is shown to be strong and that I can, like the apostle Paul, boast (take joy) in my weakness (feebleness/frailty). He goes on to say that it is this embracing with joy of my weakness that actually causes the strength and ability of the Lord Jesus to rest or abide on me. Hebrews 11 says of the men and women of God that they were made strong out of weakness.

These are all truths that we know, but I believe that where we trip up is that we picture this as being people who are always sure of themselves and with no wavering or questions or confusion. This can cause us to deny the inner trembling of the soul and to act as though we are strong. I do believe that we grow in confidence in God's love and goodness and that we can experience increasing inner steadiness but any inner strength in us is His life in us, and we gain that by clinging to Him and living in simple obedience. This lifestyle of abiding and obeying leads us to more dependence, not to less dependence. The closer we cling to Him, the more we are aware that we must cling to Him if we are to experience Him as our strength in the midst of our weakness.

Again, it's Christ in you! Strength is a Person in you, not some thing you gain apart from Him. Boldness is simply obedience to Him in the face of weakness and fear; the feelings of weakness and inability may be there, but the Lord in you looks for the opportunity to manifest His strength through you when you obey Him.

Scriptures for meditation on this theme: Psalm 27:1; 28:7; 46:1; 63:8; 73:25,26; 84:5; 105:4; Nehemiah 8:10; Hebrews 11:34; Isaiah 40:29-31; II Cor. 12:9,10.

Good News about God: The Lord our Peace

Ephesians 2:14 "Christ Himself is our peace..."

We are created to live in peace; those of us who are united with God in Christ Jesus enjoy peace with God our Creator and Father Who has fully accepted us in His Son. There is no more enmity between God and us because of faith in Jesus' blood.

However, walking in fullness of peace is more than simply the removal of enmity between God and me; it is increasing oneness with the Prince of peace Himself, Jesus. Because of unrenewed thinking and areas of unknown or unresolved sin and woundedness that we bring into our union with God, it's not unusual that we experience lack of peace (fear) in our walk. Because we are made for peace, we automatically search for inner peace at whatever cost when our insides are churning. We all find temporary rest and peace through taking things into our own hands (control); this plays out in countless ways, such as busyness or running to humans or through spending or eating, or shutting down the heart and emotions, etc. Our desperation for inner peace is such that many times we will go for the quick fix even though it's a very short-lived peace which leaves us in more fear.

The good news about God is that the Lord Jesus Himself is our peace. Isaiah prophesied of Jesus that He was the Prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6), and the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul calls God the "God of all peace" (Rom. 15:33; 16:20).

If peace is primarily about a Person, there are a couple of implications to this:
1) Jesus' presence within me by His Spirit means that I don't need to strain to get something (Peace) that I already have.
2) Lack of inner peace suggests that there are areas within me where Jesus' presence is not yet in control; His life hasn't yet permeated my whole being.
3) The way to increasing and uninterrupted peace within is continual growth in knowing the God of peace intimately, His life gaining more and more control in me and my life letting go of control.

Just this morning, three situations hit my "radar" all at once, all of them involving people close to me. My mind wanted to race around looking for immediate action to alleviate the feelings of fear that hit my heart; but I knew I had to get perspective from Jesus (my Peace) before I could hope to move and act out of faith. He gave me grace to wait and worship and cling to Him. As I waited in worship, I imagined myself grasping Him tightly and Him holding me in His strong arms. In His tight embrace, the strength of His peace-filled life came into me, empowering me to be still even though the emotions didn't disappear immediately. (By the way, the fact that our emotions take time to quiet down doesn't mean we aren't trusting...HE is our peace and our simple clinging tightly to Him, rather than running off to act independently of Him, is trust.)

Some ways to draw near to Jesus our Peace:
1) Ask the Holy Spirit to make you aware when you are headed into the "taking control" mode and then ask Him to help you cling to Jesus instead (this is what it means to abide in Him).
2) Worship the Lord with all your heart, no matter what your emotions may be like; use the Word of God to worship and pray; practice imaginative prayer such as I shared above in my experience.
3) Obey Jesus; whatever you understand Him to say to you, do it as best you can, knowing that He isn't a perfectionist but a tender Lord who takes our weak effort and multiplies it for His glory.

Scriptures for meditation:
Luke 24:36; John 14:27; John 16:33; John 20:19; John 20:21; John 20:26; Acts 10:36; Romans 15:13; Romans 15:33; Romans 16:20; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 2:14-15; Phil. 4:6,7; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:2; 2 Thess. 3:16; Hebrews 13:20-21; 2 Peter 1:2.

Good News about God: God is Love

I John 4:8,10 "...God is love...In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

When asked in his later years to summarize his twelve volumes on church dogmatics, the well-known theologian Karl Barth answered by repeating a line from an old children's hymn: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

Among believers, the good news that God is love may be one of the most intellectually known truths about God while being one of the least experienced truths about Him.

The phrase, “…this I know…”, in this children’s song is key. Apart from the deep experiential knowing that I am unconditionally loved and accepted by God as His child, I will continue to unconsciously strive for His acceptance and run away from Him when I falter or fail.

As simple and elementary as this truth about God is, I find that it is what the world, the flesh, and the devil fight most to keep obscured from those of us who belong to God. It is one of the most appealing and attractive realities about God’s personality but is so contrary to fallen human nature that we don't want Him around in our times of failure or when we feel like we haven't measured up to His expectations.

I believe our offense over such love is because of our religious nature that instructs us that we are lovable and desirable to God only when we look and perform well. And so we refuse to allow God to love on us in our failure until after we have run off to “fix” ourselves; only then will we present ourselves to Him again. The irony of this is that we run from the only One Who can “fix” us!

This, of course, is what Adam and Eve did when they suddenly experienced painful self-consciousness in His presence after they chose their own way. Such was the pain of self-consciousness that they hid from Him and attempted to cover their nakedness apart from Him. We know from the Word and from our own experience that human attempts to fix ourselves never work; only God, by His utter acceptance of us in Christ Jesus, can free us from the horror of self-consciousness and the shame that is attached to that.

It is in remaining (abiding) in Him that we are restored and continue in fellowship with Him; He isn’t fooled by our “fig leaves”. He knows everything about me and isn’t taken by surprise with the things that come to the surface in me under pressure. He wants me to run to Him, not away from Him, in my worst moments, and there in His presence (painful as it may be) to experience His acceptance of me in Jesus.

One way to experience this radical love of the Father in Jesus is to deliberately wait before the Lord (both in good times and bad times) and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the Father’s affectionate emotions for me and to keep saying “yes” to Him. As I do this (and this takes a lifetime), little by little I am healed and cleansed and strengthened; and lo and behold, the painful self-consciousness begins to drop off as the ongoing receiving of the Father’s love builds confidence in me about who I am to Him!

May He empower us this week to stand in the fire of His unrelenting affection and therein sing boldly, “Jesus loves me, this I know!”

The following are Scriptures to help nurture your heart and mind in this reality: Genesis 3:8-10; 3:21; I John 3:1,2; I John 4:7-12; 4:19; John 15:9,10; Romans 5:6-10; I Cor. 13:4-7; Psalm 30:5.

Good News about God: The Lord is a Very Present Help

“The Lord is a Very Present Help”

Psalm 46:1,2 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear…”

The Holy Spirit quickened this psalm to me this week, and I have been looking at God as our “very present help.” I investigated into the meaning of these words in Strong’s exhaustive concordance and Hebrew dictionary and found the following:
• Very: “vehemently; by implication wholly, speedily, etc. —diligently, especially, exceeding, far, fast, good, great, louder and louder, might, (so) much, quickly, (so) sore, utterly, very, well.”
• Present: “…properly to come forth to, that is, appear or exist; attain, that is, find or acquire; to occur, meet or be present:—be able, befall, being, catch…deliver, be enough (cause to) find…get (hold upon)… meet (with)…(be) present, ready, speed, suffice, take hold on.”
• Help: “A primitive root; to surround, that is, protect or aid:—help, succour.”

This speaks volumes to me about God…

He is my Help; Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the “Helper”. The help I need in trouble is a Person, the very Spirit of Jesus. It is His life in me and around me that comes to my aid; His nature is to help; He doesn’t begrudge helping and releases to me all that is needed in times of trouble, whether that’s spiritual, financial, emotional, practical aid. Out of His being comes forth the help that I need, and He has many resources at His command to meet the need.

His help being a “present” help tells me that He’s fully present and involved right at the moment of need; He’s not too busy or distracted with other issues and problems to be fully present. This suggests keen and continual attentiveness to me; because He is constantly attentive to me, He is never blindsided by trouble that hits me suddenly and unexpectedly, and He has already made provision for the need.

And His very (or vehement) present help speaks to me of His emotional involvement in times of trouble. Vehemence means “very ardent; very eager or urgent; very fervent; passionate; as, a vehement affection or passion; acting with great force; furious; violent; impetuous; forcible; mighty; as, vehement wind; a vehement torrent; a vehement fire or heat.” Thank God He is not stoic about what we face; while it’s true that He is not nervous about anything and sits securely on His throne, He is very emotionally involved in our lives and the suffering of His children, and He showed that most clearly in the life and death of Jesus which was anything but cold and stoic!

The living understanding of this reality is the remedy for fear according to Psalm 46:2: “Therefore we will not fear, even though…(you can fill in the blank)…”

Father, thank You that You are a very present help in our trouble; thank You, Lord Jesus, that You fought for us to the death and ascended to Your Father, therein providing help through the sending of the Helper; thank You, dear Holy Helper, that You are vehemently jealous over us, fully present in our need and rushing to make full provision for our life in God to be full of faith and fruitfulness no matter what the circumstances of life may be. Thank You for Who You are – very present Help; would You remind us of this good news about You throughout the day? We love You and thank You for Your help in time of need!

The following are Scriptures for meditation on this truth about God: Psalm 46:1,2; John 14:16,26,27; John 15:26; Psalm 54:4,5; Heb. 13:6; Heb.4:14-16; Isaiah 41:10,13.

Good News about God: The Lord is My Light (Part 2)

I'm following up on last week's posting on the good news about God being Light and that we cannot truly live without experiencing the light of His countenance/face shining on us always.

I'd like to approach this with different language to help with understanding how critical it is that we experience the light that comes from His shining countenance, His smile.

In the maturing process of humans, the foundation necessary for developing into healthy adulthood is laid in the early days and months and years of the child. What the infant looks for immediately is the mother's smiling face and loving touch. The smile of absolute acceptance and approval along with her loving touch tells the infant the he is unconditionally loved without having done anything to earn that; he is loved and accepted purely for the fact that he is her child. The father's loving voice affirms this reality.

If the infant does not experience the smile and brightness that comes from the adoring eyes of the mother in his early development, he grows up striving to earn the love and approval of his parents, and as an adult, his life is driven by the need to perform in hopes of being accepted by others. The unconditional acceptance that comes through the eyes of a good mother roots him in love so that his life work assignment is an expression of the unearned acceptance that he has freely received.

The same is true of our life in God; if the foundation that is laid for the "infant believer" is mainly about what he can accomplish for God, then he carries a mindset of religion that demands all kinds of compliance to this rule or to that system in order to be accepted. Many believers live our life in God striving to get approval by conforming to what we believe is expected of us because of our lack of living understanding of the unconditional acceptance of God in Christ Jesus.

Much Christian service is about this desperate need for approval and for proving our worth to others and to God. We need to experience the heavenly Father's light-filled countenance shining on us in order to be freed from dead works. And for that, we must understand that God is light and there is not even a shadow of changeableness or fickleness about Him (James 1:17); the light that shines from His countenance isn't sometimes light and sometimes dark, depending on His mood. When He looks at me, His favor shines on me, not because I have earned it but because I am His child by virtue of the blood of my Elder Brother Jesus.

I encourage you to take a few moments and imagine what kind of look you think the heavenly Father has on His face when He looks at you, especially when you feel you've really messed up. Is it one of disappointment, disapproval, disgust, impatience, anger, belittlement...? His face is full of light in which is no darkness at all. He won't approve of some of my behavior and attitudes, and He will correct that but never in a way that reflects anything but affection and acceptance of me as a person for whom He has deep affection and liking.

I need to walk in His unconditional acceptance of me every day in order to live free from dead works, and so it's good news about God that He is all light; I can look up into His face and know that what I will encounter in that look is light and life, and I am empowered by His approving smile to serve Him and others without a slave mentality, and I am also empowered to receive His correction in a life-giving way.

Again here are some Scriptures from last week that you can meditate on related to this: James 1:17; Numbers 6:25; Psalm 27:1; 139:11,12; Isaiah 60:20; Daniel 2:22; Micah 7:8; John 1:4,5; 8:12; I Timothy 6:15,16; I John 1:5.

Good News about God: The Lord is My Light

Oswald Chambers: "When we preach we are not simply proclaiming how people can be saved from hell and be made moral and pure; we are conveying good news about God."

Good news about God: The Lord is my Light. (Psalm 27:1; John 1:4,5; I John 1:5)

Light is a big topic, so I'm going to approach this reality about God by simply saying that without light, there is no life. Instead, the fear of death reigns with all of its manifestations, such as fear of man, fear of loss, fear of failure, etc.

This truth about God is great news and tells us something about His nature that is important for us to grasp by the Spirit in order to see Him rightly. The news that God is Light speaks clearly to us that He is the Source of all life. There is no trace of death and darkness in Him; death is the ultimate enemy. Jesus said of Himself in the Gospel of John that He is the Light and the Life, and it is His light and life that has overcome death and darkness.

It's important to grasp this truth about God because in order to experience the dispelling of the darkness/confusion of death's impact on our hearts and minds, we must tie the soul's anchor to the reality that because God is light, His countenance is full of light, and it is through looking into His countenance (face) that life and light are imparted to us.

If I am to live in this age without the darkness and confusion of the fear of death in all its forms, I must have the light of His countenance (His smile) shining on me! Because He is all Light and Life, I can have the assurance that His countenance is filled with light towards me and that there is no shadow over His face related to me. If my picture of Him when He looks at me is one of a scowl (darkness) on His face, I will not "flower" into who I truly am in Him but will want to hide from Him. In my moments of failure is when I most need to know that His face is full of light towards me, because it's that which will motivate me to cling to Him and thereby find light for my darkness.

God is Light; in His countenance is no darkness at all; instead we find favor in Jesus, and in His favor, is life. This is good news about God. Isaiah says that He will be our everlasting light (Isaiah 60:20), so for both now and forever we will be dependent on His shining smile for life.

In order to receive His light, I must by faith look into His shining countenance. The following are several Scriptures that you may want to meditate on related to God and light: Numbers 6:25; Psalm 27:1; 139:11,12; Isaiah 60:20; Daniel 2:22; Micah 7:8; John 1:4,5; 8:12; I Timothy 6:15,16; I John 1:5.