The email that went out last week posted a distant past posting of our book club because of problems that we have had with the blog site, but the correct entry is online at the site now and can be read there. Thanks for your patience!
(Before completing the book Enjoying God in this posting, I’ll remind you again that from now till September we will be taking a break from reading a book, but I will post some short words of encouragement periodically until then. The book we will read in September is by Dana Candler, Deep Unto Deep. After that we will read Tozer’s Pursuit of God.)
Chapter Seven (final part): Persevering in our Quest for Intimacy
The Dark Night of the Soul
In this portion of the final chapter, S.J. Hill speaks at length about the pursuer’s “dark night” as a time when the Lord withholds the “sense” of His presence for the purpose of awakening greater hunger and longing and trust in us. He is a jealous Lover and will woo us into a place of desire for Him and Him alone. He wants us to desire Him most of all, not simply our feelings about Him.
This has been a common experience of all great men and women of God. Speaking of the story in the Song of Songs, Hill says, “The bride’s greatest desire had been to experience the presence of the Lord. Yet He hid His face from her. He didn’t leave her…Would she fervently pursue Him without feeling His presence? Would she faithfully obey Him regardless of how difficult the circumstances became? Was she seeking the Lord primarily for her own spiritual pleasure, or would she love Him for His own sake?...the ‘silence of the Lord’ was a part of His training to cause the bride to become more lovesick.”
Just like the saints of the Bible and saints since then, we don’t like going through the fire of not knowing and touching the presence of God, but if we can endure in trust, it is what creates hunger and a desperation in us to encounter Him.
Experiencing God is not for spiritual “heavyweights”, as though it’s something we win by being so deserving…”Drawing near to God is simply yearning to know Him out of your own barrenness. It’s worshipping, praying, and meditating on the Word, even when we feel little or no inspiration. It’s saying to the Father, ‘I’m struggling but I really want You.’”
One of the best things to do when in a spiritual desert is to be real with God, expressing openly what you are going through. It helps to write it out and to ask the Lord to give you Scripture that speaks truth to you about God and His ways and thoughts. Write those down and confess them to others when you have the opportunity.
He is very close to you even when He seems so far…we have many, many promises in the Word of His presence with us always. Trust what He says and hang in there. He is not offended with your struggle nor with your questions. Don’t make your love for God the primary focus but rather, His love for you. C.S.Lewis said, “On the whole, God’s love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him. Nobody can always have devout feelings…But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, his love for us does not.”
Another reason the Lord allows us to pass through darkness of the soul is so that we can more readily relate with others who are in need. Our dumping correct information on a person alone won’t touch his/her heart of confusion and hurt.
Hill concludes this portion of the chapter by saying that real and honest cries of the heart, though usually not very eloquent nor religious sounding, will “get the Father’s attention quicker than ten good deeds or a dozen relgious formulas…It’s not the accuracy of your seeking but the yearning of your heart that moves the Father. It’s not about how much time you think you have to spend with Him…It’s your yearning for Him that He loves and honors.”
Cultivating Intimacy
In this section of the chapter, the author assures us that although it will take desire and effort on our part to cultivate intimacy with God, it will be well worth it, and I agree wholeheartedly. There’s nothing to compare with encountering God, and so the cultivating of the garden of my heart may be hard work (especially in terms of fighting for the time) but He is more than worth it.
Hill says, “We’ve been culturally conditioned to live with constant busyness, noise, and activity. Transitioning into a time of intimacy (with God) is often difficult. The mind races. The to-do list grows. And often a little demonic voice whispers, ‘You’re wasting your time.’ But waiting on God is essential…worth the effort.”
Practically speaking, here are a few thoughts on how to begin:
1. Find a place that you and God can call your own. Doing this, if possible, helps remind you of why you’re there.
2. Find some means of calming your mind and emotions, such as:
+ Keeping a pen and notepad handy to jot down distracting thoughts that come when you try to get quiet
+ Playing worship music or playing the guitar or piano, whatever helps you.
+ Ask the Father to help you
3. Express words of love and adoration to the Father. Simple and few words repeated can be a wonderful way to bring your heart and mind into focus. There’s a beautiful statement that David makes in Psa. 119 that I love to repeat sometimes: “I am Yours, Lord; save me.” Be patient with yourself; God is patient with us, and always remember that He loves our reaching for Him, so it’s not a certain level of attaining that determines His delight in us but simply our reach for Him. As you continue to reach, you’ll find your inner being aligning bit by bit with His heart and inner restructuring is happening.
4. Look for little moments in the day to “steal away” with Him and express your love and praise to Him. This is what the Church has come to know as the “practice of the presence of God,” and this practice eventually leads one to a lifestyle of prayer and worship throughout the day and night.
5. Learn to meditate and contemplate the Word (both written and Living Word). There’s a time for studying the Scripture but it’s important to develop the ability to slow way down and really experience the Word, eating it and digesting it and letting it change your heart and mind. A natural outcome of this is that you begin to pray the Word, and that is a powerful way to pray.
6. Learn to journal, writing down both negative and positive. Getting your thoughts and emotions and doubts and fears out on paper is a first step to bringing them into the light where they lose their power to dominate you. When writing out lies that you are believing, ask the Holy Spirit to give you truth from the Word to replace those lies and begin speaking truth.
7. Practice the discipline of silence. I have done this over the years, and it is a powerful means of developing inner quiet and of becoming more sensitive to the voice of the Father Who has a lot to share. I’m still growing in this, but the little I’ve done has convinced me of its value. Hill says of practicing silence, “…He wants to speak to you. Open your heart to Him. Begin with short periods of time. Don’t say anything. Just focus on the One who lives in you. Reflect on the beauty of His heart. Contemplate His greatness. Occasionally, whisper some words of love and devotion to Him. But the purpose of silence is to allow Him to settle on you and bathe you in His peace and love. Your heart was made for this.”
In closing, keep in mind that you are unique. These suggestions by the author aren’t rules, but rather more like “scaffolding” to help hold you as you develop and build your own “house” (your heart which is God’s dwellingplace). Using suggestions from other saints helps get us started, but along the way, you will shape your time with Him uniquely, and He wants it that way because there is no one like you.
I agree with S.J. Hill that we are living in a generation unlike any before, and I believe the Holy Spirit is wooing His people and stirring up stronger desire to know God intimately. More and more believers will take radical steps to be able to know Him. As we approach the end of the age, Jesus the jealous Bridegroom will fight for His Bride. He will not relent until He has our whole heart! It will be costly but true love is costly. It cost Him His life; to know Him intimately will cost the Bride her life in the end times.
May the Spirit of Jesus, the One who loves Him radically, rest on us and continue to stir desire in our hearts for this God-Man!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Enjoying God - Week #9
Chapter Seven (to p. 132): Persevering in our Quest for Intimacy
“I didn’t send My Son in an emotional vacuum.” This paraphrase of God’s reality as said by a teacher of the Word that I heard recently really struck me. Oh Lord, how little we, Your bride, know of Your unrelenting passion and desire for us! (The book of Hosea is a powerful portrayal of God’s unending love and desire for His people Israel and the Church.)
This final chapter of Enjoying God wraps the theme of the book up and gives encouragement for persevering in seeking after Him until we find what our heart longs for – He Himself! The author says at the beginning of the chapter: “…serving God is not the ultimate reason you were born. You were born for intimacy with the Father. The nearness of God to your heart is the crowning glory of your life on the earth!”
While no one can tell you how to seek God (because you are unique, unlike any other person), there are general patterns and experiences that the saints of God have had throughout history that can encourage us along the way so that we don’t grow faint and give up; this is what S.J. Hill attempts to do in this chapter.
He says, “Although I’ve mentioned several times that it takes God to pursue God – it takes the Father’s initiative to stir one’s heart to holy passion – you also have a part to play. There will be times in your Christian walk when you will have to persevere in your quest for intimacy with God. This is when you will need to understand the value of stirring yourself up to seek the Lord.”
God is always seeking us…deep calls to deep; but unless we respond, then it is a one-sided relationship, not what He has designed us for. Our part can be summed up in the words of James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
Jacob is an example of someone we tend to degrade because of his crafty ways of getting the birthright, but the author makes a point of showing that his desire for the birthright pleased God in spite of the devious way he went about getting it; whereas Esau, who was the stronger of the two in the natural, incurred God’s disfavor because of his lack of appreciation and desire for what was rightfully his. This is an encouragement to us in our weakness. Each of us has taken things into our own hands in order to bring about God’s purposes; this delays the process but it doesn’t keep God from fulfilling His purposes for us when He see strong desire in us for Him and all that He has for us. He loves our feeble reaching for Him! It’s like a small child reaching for the mom or dad – his reaching won’t get him to the parent, but the reaching arms moves the loving parent toward him.
Our seeking/reaching for Him moves the Father’s heart, and He comes to us. It is we who determine how close we will be to God; He is always eager and wanting us and only waits and looks for our longing and yearning for Him. Jesus was surrounded by various groups of people: the multitudes who saw and heard Him at a distance, the seventy who He commissioned to go out and minister for Him, the twelve who were with Him constantly, the three who hung out even more with Him, and finally John, who dared to lean on His breast and called himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
We know from Scripture that Jesus, the God-Man, is not partial, so John’s boldness in naming himself in this way doesn’t reflect on favoritism in God but on desire in John to be as near Him as he could. I dare say this was costly to John, simply because intimacy with God is always costly. But the reward is well worth any loss! (Genesis 15:1)
Throughout human history there have always been those who have refused to be satisfied with anything less than God Himself. I believe that in the final days of the Church on earth, this will be characteristic of the Bride as a whole. There won’t be “outstanding” believers because all who truly love God and are cleansed and forgiven in Christ will be lovesick for Him and ruined for any reward less than Him.
Unlearning a Lifestyle
This section of the chapter is so important. From my own experience, I know how critical unlearning former mindsets is for the expanding into fuller understanding of who God is and what He is about these days. I’ll quote the author:
“Finding God in greater intimacy doesn’t just come in what we learn but in what we have to unlearn. Experiencing God in greater intimacy often means changing our lifestyle… Encountering God isn’t hard; it’s simply foreign to us. In Western society especially, we are continually tempted to try to squeeze the Father into the busyness of our lives…God becomes Someone who is allowed to stop in rather than abide. He’s permitted to make an appearance but not steal the show.
Unlearning busyness is one of the most difficult things to deal with, because the quest for intimacy with God goes against all of our cultural conditioning. Something in the human makeup feeds off busyness. It allows us to feel good about ourselves. This is due in part to the fact that we believe we’re successful only if we’ve accomplished something…”
My response to this is that I have discovered this to be true. One thing that cannot be rushed is intimacy, and while cultivating nearness to God will look differently in each person’s life, it will require a dedication of time, and this is a mindset shift for a busy Christian culture. This requires a constant re-focusing and reshaping of our lifestyles along the way.
I find it very helpful to see my relating with God in terms of close human relationships that have their ebb and flow to them. So it’s not a matter of condemnation and false guilt but of learning to relate with a real Person and realizing that any good relationship has its ups and downs and good days as well as not-so-good days, etc. It’s very dynamic!
And it does require desire on our part and perseverance in pursuing God in response to His pursuit of us. It will begin to impact our lifestyle, and the pain in that is that it implies the unlearning of a former lifestyle.
Finding our Chief Joy
In speaking about God being our first joy and love, Hill says that the Father will begin to make us dissatisfied with other stuff so that we want Him more. Quoting A.W. Tozer, he says, “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be dinied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness…”
The Lord says of His people in Hosea 2: “She shall pursue her loves but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’”
Later in Hosea 4, the Lord says of Israel: “They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply…”
The Lord has ways of drying up the satisfaction that we find in other gods/sources until we want to return to Him as our “first Husband/Love.”
Spiritual Hunger
In Born After Midnight, A.W. Tozer says, “Hunger and thirst are physical sensations which, in their acute stages, may become real pain. It has been the experience of countless seekers after God that when their desires became a pain they were suddenly and wonderfully filled. The problem is not to persuade God to fill us, but to want God sufficiently to permit Him to do so.”
Hill concludes this part of the chapter by saying, “The Father uses hunger born out of desperation to wean us from the world and make us addicted to Him…His real purpose is to make us so lovesick that we’ll want Him more than anything else…”
May the Spirit of the Bridegroom King come and wean us away from the pleasures that we derive from the world, the flesh and the devil, and make us lovesick for Him! Holy Spirit, come and increase hunger in us for the Father and for Jesus. Awaken in us a response to His wooings and strengthen us to not give up in our pursuit of God. Thank You that You love to do this and You have all power to affect this in us!
Next week we will complete the book by finishing this chapter, Persevering in our Quest for Intimacy. Blessings on you as you mature in His love along with others who love Him!
“I didn’t send My Son in an emotional vacuum.” This paraphrase of God’s reality as said by a teacher of the Word that I heard recently really struck me. Oh Lord, how little we, Your bride, know of Your unrelenting passion and desire for us! (The book of Hosea is a powerful portrayal of God’s unending love and desire for His people Israel and the Church.)
This final chapter of Enjoying God wraps the theme of the book up and gives encouragement for persevering in seeking after Him until we find what our heart longs for – He Himself! The author says at the beginning of the chapter: “…serving God is not the ultimate reason you were born. You were born for intimacy with the Father. The nearness of God to your heart is the crowning glory of your life on the earth!”
While no one can tell you how to seek God (because you are unique, unlike any other person), there are general patterns and experiences that the saints of God have had throughout history that can encourage us along the way so that we don’t grow faint and give up; this is what S.J. Hill attempts to do in this chapter.
He says, “Although I’ve mentioned several times that it takes God to pursue God – it takes the Father’s initiative to stir one’s heart to holy passion – you also have a part to play. There will be times in your Christian walk when you will have to persevere in your quest for intimacy with God. This is when you will need to understand the value of stirring yourself up to seek the Lord.”
God is always seeking us…deep calls to deep; but unless we respond, then it is a one-sided relationship, not what He has designed us for. Our part can be summed up in the words of James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
Jacob is an example of someone we tend to degrade because of his crafty ways of getting the birthright, but the author makes a point of showing that his desire for the birthright pleased God in spite of the devious way he went about getting it; whereas Esau, who was the stronger of the two in the natural, incurred God’s disfavor because of his lack of appreciation and desire for what was rightfully his. This is an encouragement to us in our weakness. Each of us has taken things into our own hands in order to bring about God’s purposes; this delays the process but it doesn’t keep God from fulfilling His purposes for us when He see strong desire in us for Him and all that He has for us. He loves our feeble reaching for Him! It’s like a small child reaching for the mom or dad – his reaching won’t get him to the parent, but the reaching arms moves the loving parent toward him.
Our seeking/reaching for Him moves the Father’s heart, and He comes to us. It is we who determine how close we will be to God; He is always eager and wanting us and only waits and looks for our longing and yearning for Him. Jesus was surrounded by various groups of people: the multitudes who saw and heard Him at a distance, the seventy who He commissioned to go out and minister for Him, the twelve who were with Him constantly, the three who hung out even more with Him, and finally John, who dared to lean on His breast and called himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
We know from Scripture that Jesus, the God-Man, is not partial, so John’s boldness in naming himself in this way doesn’t reflect on favoritism in God but on desire in John to be as near Him as he could. I dare say this was costly to John, simply because intimacy with God is always costly. But the reward is well worth any loss! (Genesis 15:1)
Throughout human history there have always been those who have refused to be satisfied with anything less than God Himself. I believe that in the final days of the Church on earth, this will be characteristic of the Bride as a whole. There won’t be “outstanding” believers because all who truly love God and are cleansed and forgiven in Christ will be lovesick for Him and ruined for any reward less than Him.
Unlearning a Lifestyle
This section of the chapter is so important. From my own experience, I know how critical unlearning former mindsets is for the expanding into fuller understanding of who God is and what He is about these days. I’ll quote the author:
“Finding God in greater intimacy doesn’t just come in what we learn but in what we have to unlearn. Experiencing God in greater intimacy often means changing our lifestyle… Encountering God isn’t hard; it’s simply foreign to us. In Western society especially, we are continually tempted to try to squeeze the Father into the busyness of our lives…God becomes Someone who is allowed to stop in rather than abide. He’s permitted to make an appearance but not steal the show.
Unlearning busyness is one of the most difficult things to deal with, because the quest for intimacy with God goes against all of our cultural conditioning. Something in the human makeup feeds off busyness. It allows us to feel good about ourselves. This is due in part to the fact that we believe we’re successful only if we’ve accomplished something…”
My response to this is that I have discovered this to be true. One thing that cannot be rushed is intimacy, and while cultivating nearness to God will look differently in each person’s life, it will require a dedication of time, and this is a mindset shift for a busy Christian culture. This requires a constant re-focusing and reshaping of our lifestyles along the way.
I find it very helpful to see my relating with God in terms of close human relationships that have their ebb and flow to them. So it’s not a matter of condemnation and false guilt but of learning to relate with a real Person and realizing that any good relationship has its ups and downs and good days as well as not-so-good days, etc. It’s very dynamic!
And it does require desire on our part and perseverance in pursuing God in response to His pursuit of us. It will begin to impact our lifestyle, and the pain in that is that it implies the unlearning of a former lifestyle.
Finding our Chief Joy
In speaking about God being our first joy and love, Hill says that the Father will begin to make us dissatisfied with other stuff so that we want Him more. Quoting A.W. Tozer, he says, “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be dinied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness…”
The Lord says of His people in Hosea 2: “She shall pursue her loves but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’”
Later in Hosea 4, the Lord says of Israel: “They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply…”
The Lord has ways of drying up the satisfaction that we find in other gods/sources until we want to return to Him as our “first Husband/Love.”
Spiritual Hunger
In Born After Midnight, A.W. Tozer says, “Hunger and thirst are physical sensations which, in their acute stages, may become real pain. It has been the experience of countless seekers after God that when their desires became a pain they were suddenly and wonderfully filled. The problem is not to persuade God to fill us, but to want God sufficiently to permit Him to do so.”
Hill concludes this part of the chapter by saying, “The Father uses hunger born out of desperation to wean us from the world and make us addicted to Him…His real purpose is to make us so lovesick that we’ll want Him more than anything else…”
May the Spirit of the Bridegroom King come and wean us away from the pleasures that we derive from the world, the flesh and the devil, and make us lovesick for Him! Holy Spirit, come and increase hunger in us for the Father and for Jesus. Awaken in us a response to His wooings and strengthen us to not give up in our pursuit of God. Thank You that You love to do this and You have all power to affect this in us!
Next week we will complete the book by finishing this chapter, Persevering in our Quest for Intimacy. Blessings on you as you mature in His love along with others who love Him!
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Enjoying God - Week #8
CHAPTER SIX (second half) – "LOVE-EMPOWERED HOLINESS"
The longer I live and walk with God, the more I understand how impossible it is to love Him in the flesh. Wholehearted love for God is only possible by the power and grace of His Spirit. The pursuit of wholeheartedness is ongoing and requires focus and intentionality – this doesn’t come naturally to us, and the enemy of our soul will fight this every inch of the way because he knows well how dangerous lovesick followers of Jesus are to his agenda. Even though such followers are weak, they can’t be manipulated nor intimidated by the world and the flesh and the devil.
So once again the issue of getting spiritual understanding of God’s enjoyment of me is imperative since I will never enjoy or love Him rightly without first knowing that He loves and enjoys me. Grasping His true nature and heart towards me is necessary for confidence to grow.
The second half of this chapter on love-empowered holiness continues the theme of desire for love and pleasure. The author addresses the matter of giving up all for the sake of the Kingdom of God, saying that this is the outcome of having caught a glimpse of the value of the Treasure, Jesus (Matt. 13 parable about giving all one has to buy a field in order to have the treasure discovered there). Discovering the beauty and attractiveness of the Lord will empower us to do things we could never do by sheer willpower and things that we never thought we’d be able to do. Hill gives the examples of Hudson Taylor, Mary of Bethany, Jim Elliot, etc., as people who gave all because they saw something (the ravished heart of Jesus) that empowered their hearts to give all for His sake.
I believe that the evil one knows what most empowers the human heart to give all, and for that reason one of his greatest strategies is to keep the believer in the dark about the nature of God and His emotional heart towards His children.
AFFECTION-BASED OBEDIENCE
“The more we enjoy Him, the easier it will be to obey Him. Obedience that is born out of the revelation of His deep affections for us always produces the strongest commitment.”
I recently heard a preacher say, “A heart won in tenderness is held in the tightest grip imaginable, and in the dark hour it won’t give way.”
The enemy’s desire is to make you fear that God will reject you, and the fear of judgment causes us to guard our hearts before Him rather than freely be who we are in His presence. “Loving and worshipping the Father without a guarded heart is vital for spiritual growth.” As long as we shrink before Him, love and affection for Him won’t flower. It’s like being in the presence of someone who you know doesn’t especially like you or is disappointed in you – none of us enjoys that very much and will avoid being with someone like that. If we feel that God looks at us that way, we will avoid being with Him as much as we can. Even in our prayer times with Him, we can dodge His look at us with religious ways of having our devotional time.
THE POWER OF GRACE
“…many of us try to serve Him solely on the basis of the strength of our wills…Legalism teaches us that our commitment to God motivates Him to be committed to us…the grace of God teaches us that His commitment to us is what enables us to be committed to Him. It’s the romance of the Gospel and the Father’s commitment to us that release us from religious pride and legalism.”
The author quotes from the book "Ministering to the Lord" by Roxanne Brandt, and I recommend that book to you as a great little book about true ministry to God. She writes: “How wrong the Church has been to teach new Christians that we are saved to serve God. No…We are saved primarily because He wants us for Himself…God isn’t in the business of saving people because He needs servants to win the world for Christ, or because He might lose the battle against the devil…The Bible never once tells us to do anything for God. It tells us that in His love and grace, God chose to involve us in what He is doing…”
God does the work and we get to be alongside Him in it! He has chosen not to do His work without human companionship. I love that!...and just this morning was asking Him to let me partner with Him in bringing about a particular reality in my little world. This is what prayer is about – partnering with Him in what He already wants to do but won’t do without a human partner alongside Him. This takes the strain out of work and ministry, because we aren’t called to make anything happen; rather, we are called to join Him and say yes to what He wants to do and simply obey anything He may ask of us along the way. When He has our agreement with Him, then He accomplishes the impossible and we get to enjoy it with Him! Isaiah 9:7 says, “The zeal of the Lord will accomplish it.”
So the slave mentality is replaced with a marriage mentality in which we belong to Him and gladly yield to His ways out of desire and love. “The radical call to holiness is really an invitation to let the beauty and sweetness of Jesus so fill our hearts and minds that the seductive pleasures of sin will be swallowed up in the holy satisfaction of His presence.”
CAPTURED BY A SWEETER SOUND
Hill finishes this chapter telling of the story of Ulysses in Greek mythology. He went to the city of Troy to rescue Helen, the wife of King Menelaus, who had been stolen from the king. The rescue of Helen was ingenious (you know the story), but it was the trip back to Greece and to the king that proved the most difficult part of the rescue. Part of that trip included having to pass by the island inhabited by the infamous Sirens whose outward beauty and seductive songs were irresistible to countless unwitting sailors who had passed that way. Once lured close to the shore, the boats would crash on hidden rocks, and the demonic cannibals (Sirens) could then savagely consume their flesh.
Ulysses had heard much about the Sirens and the destruction of many sailors. He ordered his men to put wax in their ears and to look straight ahead and row for their lives. As for himself, he ordered his men to strap him to the mast of the ship but to leave his ears unplugged because he was curious to hear their songs. It turned out that he was totally seduced by their songs and except for the ropes that tied him down, he would have easily succumbed to their invitation. “Although his hands were restrained, his heart was captivated by their beauty. Inwardly he said Yes…His No was not the fruit of spontaneous revulsion but the product of an external shackle.”
Another mythological character, Jason, faced the same journey, but he used a different solution. He took with him Orpheus, who was a musician of “incomparable talent.” When they were about to pass the island of the Sirens, Jason did not plug the ears of his crew nor tie himself down but ordered Orpheus to play his most beautiful and alluring songs…Jason and his men were not at all inclined to succumb because they were captured by a transcendent sound, music that was of a different order altogether!
The author closes the chapter with this line: “You must allow the sweeter sound of Jesus to capture your heart so you can say no to the seductive sounds of this world.”
Holy Spirit of Jesus, open my ears to the music of heaven and God’s passionate heart for me so that I am increasingly empowered to say no to the seductive voices that seek to lure me away from true holiness which is based in intimate relationship with God, receiving and giving love freely from and to my First Love. Thank You that You are delighted to do this!
(Next week we will cover the first part of the last chapter(up to page 132), Persevering in our Quest for Intimacy. The blessing and grace of the Lord Jesus rest on you this week!)
The longer I live and walk with God, the more I understand how impossible it is to love Him in the flesh. Wholehearted love for God is only possible by the power and grace of His Spirit. The pursuit of wholeheartedness is ongoing and requires focus and intentionality – this doesn’t come naturally to us, and the enemy of our soul will fight this every inch of the way because he knows well how dangerous lovesick followers of Jesus are to his agenda. Even though such followers are weak, they can’t be manipulated nor intimidated by the world and the flesh and the devil.
So once again the issue of getting spiritual understanding of God’s enjoyment of me is imperative since I will never enjoy or love Him rightly without first knowing that He loves and enjoys me. Grasping His true nature and heart towards me is necessary for confidence to grow.
The second half of this chapter on love-empowered holiness continues the theme of desire for love and pleasure. The author addresses the matter of giving up all for the sake of the Kingdom of God, saying that this is the outcome of having caught a glimpse of the value of the Treasure, Jesus (Matt. 13 parable about giving all one has to buy a field in order to have the treasure discovered there). Discovering the beauty and attractiveness of the Lord will empower us to do things we could never do by sheer willpower and things that we never thought we’d be able to do. Hill gives the examples of Hudson Taylor, Mary of Bethany, Jim Elliot, etc., as people who gave all because they saw something (the ravished heart of Jesus) that empowered their hearts to give all for His sake.
I believe that the evil one knows what most empowers the human heart to give all, and for that reason one of his greatest strategies is to keep the believer in the dark about the nature of God and His emotional heart towards His children.
AFFECTION-BASED OBEDIENCE
“The more we enjoy Him, the easier it will be to obey Him. Obedience that is born out of the revelation of His deep affections for us always produces the strongest commitment.”
I recently heard a preacher say, “A heart won in tenderness is held in the tightest grip imaginable, and in the dark hour it won’t give way.”
The enemy’s desire is to make you fear that God will reject you, and the fear of judgment causes us to guard our hearts before Him rather than freely be who we are in His presence. “Loving and worshipping the Father without a guarded heart is vital for spiritual growth.” As long as we shrink before Him, love and affection for Him won’t flower. It’s like being in the presence of someone who you know doesn’t especially like you or is disappointed in you – none of us enjoys that very much and will avoid being with someone like that. If we feel that God looks at us that way, we will avoid being with Him as much as we can. Even in our prayer times with Him, we can dodge His look at us with religious ways of having our devotional time.
THE POWER OF GRACE
“…many of us try to serve Him solely on the basis of the strength of our wills…Legalism teaches us that our commitment to God motivates Him to be committed to us…the grace of God teaches us that His commitment to us is what enables us to be committed to Him. It’s the romance of the Gospel and the Father’s commitment to us that release us from religious pride and legalism.”
The author quotes from the book "Ministering to the Lord" by Roxanne Brandt, and I recommend that book to you as a great little book about true ministry to God. She writes: “How wrong the Church has been to teach new Christians that we are saved to serve God. No…We are saved primarily because He wants us for Himself…God isn’t in the business of saving people because He needs servants to win the world for Christ, or because He might lose the battle against the devil…The Bible never once tells us to do anything for God. It tells us that in His love and grace, God chose to involve us in what He is doing…”
God does the work and we get to be alongside Him in it! He has chosen not to do His work without human companionship. I love that!...and just this morning was asking Him to let me partner with Him in bringing about a particular reality in my little world. This is what prayer is about – partnering with Him in what He already wants to do but won’t do without a human partner alongside Him. This takes the strain out of work and ministry, because we aren’t called to make anything happen; rather, we are called to join Him and say yes to what He wants to do and simply obey anything He may ask of us along the way. When He has our agreement with Him, then He accomplishes the impossible and we get to enjoy it with Him! Isaiah 9:7 says, “The zeal of the Lord will accomplish it.”
So the slave mentality is replaced with a marriage mentality in which we belong to Him and gladly yield to His ways out of desire and love. “The radical call to holiness is really an invitation to let the beauty and sweetness of Jesus so fill our hearts and minds that the seductive pleasures of sin will be swallowed up in the holy satisfaction of His presence.”
CAPTURED BY A SWEETER SOUND
Hill finishes this chapter telling of the story of Ulysses in Greek mythology. He went to the city of Troy to rescue Helen, the wife of King Menelaus, who had been stolen from the king. The rescue of Helen was ingenious (you know the story), but it was the trip back to Greece and to the king that proved the most difficult part of the rescue. Part of that trip included having to pass by the island inhabited by the infamous Sirens whose outward beauty and seductive songs were irresistible to countless unwitting sailors who had passed that way. Once lured close to the shore, the boats would crash on hidden rocks, and the demonic cannibals (Sirens) could then savagely consume their flesh.
Ulysses had heard much about the Sirens and the destruction of many sailors. He ordered his men to put wax in their ears and to look straight ahead and row for their lives. As for himself, he ordered his men to strap him to the mast of the ship but to leave his ears unplugged because he was curious to hear their songs. It turned out that he was totally seduced by their songs and except for the ropes that tied him down, he would have easily succumbed to their invitation. “Although his hands were restrained, his heart was captivated by their beauty. Inwardly he said Yes…His No was not the fruit of spontaneous revulsion but the product of an external shackle.”
Another mythological character, Jason, faced the same journey, but he used a different solution. He took with him Orpheus, who was a musician of “incomparable talent.” When they were about to pass the island of the Sirens, Jason did not plug the ears of his crew nor tie himself down but ordered Orpheus to play his most beautiful and alluring songs…Jason and his men were not at all inclined to succumb because they were captured by a transcendent sound, music that was of a different order altogether!
The author closes the chapter with this line: “You must allow the sweeter sound of Jesus to capture your heart so you can say no to the seductive sounds of this world.”
Holy Spirit of Jesus, open my ears to the music of heaven and God’s passionate heart for me so that I am increasingly empowered to say no to the seductive voices that seek to lure me away from true holiness which is based in intimate relationship with God, receiving and giving love freely from and to my First Love. Thank You that You are delighted to do this!
(Next week we will cover the first part of the last chapter(up to page 132), Persevering in our Quest for Intimacy. The blessing and grace of the Lord Jesus rest on you this week!)
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Enjoying God - Week #7
(Just a reminder that the next two books will be Deep Unto Deep (Dana Candler) and The Pursuit of God (A.W. Tozer). We will start the first one in September after a break in August when I will post some simple words of encouragement during the month.)
Chapter Six – Love-Empowered Holiness (through p. 105)
Jonathan Edwards: “…there is no man upon earth who isn’t earnestly seeking after happiness, and this appears abundantly by the variety of ways they so vigorously seek it (happiness); they will twist and turn every way…to make themselves happy…”
This chapter of Enjoying God is about discovering a life of holiness that is rooted in the love and joy of God. (By the way, I have come to understand that this kind of holiness is the only true holiness there is because it is how God is. That which is rooted in performance and religion isn’t biblical holiness; it’s contrary to the nature of God.)
The author points out that we Christians tend to shy away from the idea of seeking happiness. I would say that this tendency is for a couple of reasons at least. One is that we legitimately don’t want to be seeking our own comfort at the expense of others, but the other reason is that we have the erroneous notion that the most heroic and spiritual things are measured purely by the amount of pain and sacrifice attached to them.
As a preacher who I heard recently said (my paraphrase), “In the evangelical and missions world we believe that rather than pursue an encounter with God (which includes His coming to us with tender emotions that touch our emotions) we should be content to live and work without encountering God in intimacy.” This is how we tend to measure true faith; the less we feel of God, the more spiritual we are.
But we were designed to feel and experience God in all areas of our life. We can’t manipulate nor force this, but we can pursue Him wholeheartedly with our heart open to receive His tenderizing touch on our hearts. I’m not referring to “emotionalism” which is a state in which my emotions control me, but I’m referring to being fully alive – mind, will, and emotions. I don't want to be controlled by my emotions any more than I want to be controlled by my mind, but I do want to live with the faculties of my soul (mind, will and emotions) as fully alive and in touch with the Spirit of God as possible.
And so in talking about seeking happiness, the author is referring to how God created us for pleasure and happiness. Seeking pleasure is not sin; the places we go to get pleasure is where sin enters the picture. Adam and Eve were deliberately placed in a garden called Eden which means "delight". God wanted joy and pleasure for them, and as long as God Himself was the Source of their joy, they could enjoy fully the gifts He brought with Him for them. Their sin and misery came when they looked to another source for pleasure and peace.
Psalm 16:11 says, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” David knew the Source of joy and pleasures – the Father’s presence.
“No human relationship can ultimately satisfy us. Taking drugs…getting drunk…illicit sex can’t do it. Money can’t buy it. Only knowing and experiencing the Father can give us the happiness and pleasure that our hearts so desperately crave.”
The author quotes one of my favorites from C.S. Lewis: “The NT has lots to say about self-denial, but not self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.”
S.J. Hill says, “The belief that holiness and happiness are at odds with each other is a serious twisting of Christian truth…holiness can best be attained by finding our ultimate happiness and pleasure in God. Why do people sin? They sin because they enjoy the pleasures that it brings…The traditional approach to discouraging people from sinning is negative…but if a man’s heart is not being warmed by the passions of God’s personality, his heart will be captivated by the red-hot flames of temptation…just saying no alone doesn’t work. There must be something more appealing to which a person can say yes.”
The Transforming Power of Beauty
This “more appealing something" is the Person of God in all His beauty and holiness! David knew this and expresses it eloquently in Psa. 27:4, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”
This beautiful God is what we are made for, and He seeks for worshippers who will seek His beauty above all else. We need to help new believers step quickly into the wonderful discipline of meditating on and contemplating the beauty of God and His Word, because it is in this practice and habit of contemplating/beholding His Person that we are transformed (II Cor. 3:18).
At the end of this section of the chapter the author says, “Overcoming sin is not about gritting your teeth and holding on for dear life. The only way for you to successfully resist sin is by maximizing your pleasure in God.” While there is a place for making the hard core choice to say no, just saying no will not carry us into full transformation of our inner life. Only finding the higher pleasure (God Himself) will fully satisfy the human desire and need for pleasure.
I’ll close this week’s posting out with an admonition in relation to this. In this process of growing to enjoy God, you must allow Him to enjoy you. I want to reiterate what I’ve said before, which is that the flesh will protest His enjoyment of you, and you may not like hearing that He enjoys you in your immaturity and failings as well as when you feel you are doing well. In some ways it‘s much easier to declare my love to God than to hear Him say that He loves and even likes me.
A few years ago I was leading a small team of Bethany students on a 3-week short-term missions trip to Mexico. I have rarely been sick in my life and was taken by surprise by a reaction to an antibiotic that contained a substance that I was allergic to. It hit me so hard that I was sidelined the entire first week of the outreach; I was desperately ill one night in particular and hardly able to move. In the middle of that night I really thought I might die; in the face of that, things got crystal clear and I sensed the Lord asking me, “Nita, what is the one thing you are most sure of in life?” Without hesitating, I answered, “That I love You, Lord.” I sensed His smile over me in that answer, but then heard His tender and loving word to follow up on that: “There’s something greater and more fundamental/sure than your love for Me, Nita, and that is My love for you.” In that simple exchange between us, worlds of understanding began to open to me, and I haven’t stopped discovering the depths of the truth of I John 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved us.”
I think it’s perfectly ok to apply this truth of His being the Initiator in all areas and say, “I enjoy Him because He first enjoyed me…I am committed to Him because He first committed to me”, etc. It’s all in the cross where God took the initiative to do whatever it took to win our love, and the greatest human pleasure is to encounter this love firsthand!
A warning – the capacity to be enjoyed by God and to enjoy Him may take a long time to develop because of years of wrong thinking about Him and ourselves and the world, because of woundedness, because of unforgiveness and hidden bitterness, etc. You must be patient and persevering in your pursuit. God is patient, and we must agree with His patience with us, thanking Him that transformation is happening even if we can’t see the incremental growth going on in us.
God bless you and be with you this week…for next week, we’ll finish this chapter on Love-Empowered Holiness.
Chapter Six – Love-Empowered Holiness (through p. 105)
Jonathan Edwards: “…there is no man upon earth who isn’t earnestly seeking after happiness, and this appears abundantly by the variety of ways they so vigorously seek it (happiness); they will twist and turn every way…to make themselves happy…”
This chapter of Enjoying God is about discovering a life of holiness that is rooted in the love and joy of God. (By the way, I have come to understand that this kind of holiness is the only true holiness there is because it is how God is. That which is rooted in performance and religion isn’t biblical holiness; it’s contrary to the nature of God.)
The author points out that we Christians tend to shy away from the idea of seeking happiness. I would say that this tendency is for a couple of reasons at least. One is that we legitimately don’t want to be seeking our own comfort at the expense of others, but the other reason is that we have the erroneous notion that the most heroic and spiritual things are measured purely by the amount of pain and sacrifice attached to them.
As a preacher who I heard recently said (my paraphrase), “In the evangelical and missions world we believe that rather than pursue an encounter with God (which includes His coming to us with tender emotions that touch our emotions) we should be content to live and work without encountering God in intimacy.” This is how we tend to measure true faith; the less we feel of God, the more spiritual we are.
But we were designed to feel and experience God in all areas of our life. We can’t manipulate nor force this, but we can pursue Him wholeheartedly with our heart open to receive His tenderizing touch on our hearts. I’m not referring to “emotionalism” which is a state in which my emotions control me, but I’m referring to being fully alive – mind, will, and emotions. I don't want to be controlled by my emotions any more than I want to be controlled by my mind, but I do want to live with the faculties of my soul (mind, will and emotions) as fully alive and in touch with the Spirit of God as possible.
And so in talking about seeking happiness, the author is referring to how God created us for pleasure and happiness. Seeking pleasure is not sin; the places we go to get pleasure is where sin enters the picture. Adam and Eve were deliberately placed in a garden called Eden which means "delight". God wanted joy and pleasure for them, and as long as God Himself was the Source of their joy, they could enjoy fully the gifts He brought with Him for them. Their sin and misery came when they looked to another source for pleasure and peace.
Psalm 16:11 says, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” David knew the Source of joy and pleasures – the Father’s presence.
“No human relationship can ultimately satisfy us. Taking drugs…getting drunk…illicit sex can’t do it. Money can’t buy it. Only knowing and experiencing the Father can give us the happiness and pleasure that our hearts so desperately crave.”
The author quotes one of my favorites from C.S. Lewis: “The NT has lots to say about self-denial, but not self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to deny ourselves and take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.”
S.J. Hill says, “The belief that holiness and happiness are at odds with each other is a serious twisting of Christian truth…holiness can best be attained by finding our ultimate happiness and pleasure in God. Why do people sin? They sin because they enjoy the pleasures that it brings…The traditional approach to discouraging people from sinning is negative…but if a man’s heart is not being warmed by the passions of God’s personality, his heart will be captivated by the red-hot flames of temptation…just saying no alone doesn’t work. There must be something more appealing to which a person can say yes.”
The Transforming Power of Beauty
This “more appealing something" is the Person of God in all His beauty and holiness! David knew this and expresses it eloquently in Psa. 27:4, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”
This beautiful God is what we are made for, and He seeks for worshippers who will seek His beauty above all else. We need to help new believers step quickly into the wonderful discipline of meditating on and contemplating the beauty of God and His Word, because it is in this practice and habit of contemplating/beholding His Person that we are transformed (II Cor. 3:18).
At the end of this section of the chapter the author says, “Overcoming sin is not about gritting your teeth and holding on for dear life. The only way for you to successfully resist sin is by maximizing your pleasure in God.” While there is a place for making the hard core choice to say no, just saying no will not carry us into full transformation of our inner life. Only finding the higher pleasure (God Himself) will fully satisfy the human desire and need for pleasure.
I’ll close this week’s posting out with an admonition in relation to this. In this process of growing to enjoy God, you must allow Him to enjoy you. I want to reiterate what I’ve said before, which is that the flesh will protest His enjoyment of you, and you may not like hearing that He enjoys you in your immaturity and failings as well as when you feel you are doing well. In some ways it‘s much easier to declare my love to God than to hear Him say that He loves and even likes me.
A few years ago I was leading a small team of Bethany students on a 3-week short-term missions trip to Mexico. I have rarely been sick in my life and was taken by surprise by a reaction to an antibiotic that contained a substance that I was allergic to. It hit me so hard that I was sidelined the entire first week of the outreach; I was desperately ill one night in particular and hardly able to move. In the middle of that night I really thought I might die; in the face of that, things got crystal clear and I sensed the Lord asking me, “Nita, what is the one thing you are most sure of in life?” Without hesitating, I answered, “That I love You, Lord.” I sensed His smile over me in that answer, but then heard His tender and loving word to follow up on that: “There’s something greater and more fundamental/sure than your love for Me, Nita, and that is My love for you.” In that simple exchange between us, worlds of understanding began to open to me, and I haven’t stopped discovering the depths of the truth of I John 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved us.”
I think it’s perfectly ok to apply this truth of His being the Initiator in all areas and say, “I enjoy Him because He first enjoyed me…I am committed to Him because He first committed to me”, etc. It’s all in the cross where God took the initiative to do whatever it took to win our love, and the greatest human pleasure is to encounter this love firsthand!
A warning – the capacity to be enjoyed by God and to enjoy Him may take a long time to develop because of years of wrong thinking about Him and ourselves and the world, because of woundedness, because of unforgiveness and hidden bitterness, etc. You must be patient and persevering in your pursuit. God is patient, and we must agree with His patience with us, thanking Him that transformation is happening even if we can’t see the incremental growth going on in us.
God bless you and be with you this week…for next week, we’ll finish this chapter on Love-Empowered Holiness.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Enjoying God - Week #6
Chapter Five (2nd half) – The Affectionate and Approachable Father
This week we finish the chapter on God as the affectionate and approachable Father. The author writes about the Father’s embrace by using the story of what we commonly call the “prodigal son.” He says that this story is really about the heart of the father and his response to his lost son. It really is an amazing story of this father when you realize that in Jewish culture, for a son to demand his inheritance before the father has died was to wish the father were dead; likewise, it was unusual for a father to run like this one did upon seeing his son at a distance.
Hill makes an interesting observation: “…the prodigal had hit bottom. Yes, he was desperate. But he could have stayed where he was…What gave the prodigal the courage to return home? I believe that during his childhood the prodigal saw something in his father that let him know he would not be rejected if he returned home…he had a realistic understanding of who his father was. It empowered him to return home and be restored.”
Hill goes on to make his point, which is so important: “For you to fully enjoy the Father, you need to have a deep understanding of His personality. If you’re continually afraid of being rejected by Him and you feel that He’s perpetually angry with you because of things you’ve done, how can you open your heart to Him? How can you freely give yourself to Him and obey Him?”
This is a fundamental reality – that to enjoy God we must know what He is truly like, and part of His nature is His affectionate heart and His joy over His children. When we begin to taste and see a bit of what He is like and how He feels about us, then we will find that the lesser loves and addictions begin to lose their hold on us as we believe His Word and Spirit and walk in obedience to that. “The only thing that will ultimately break the power of lust in your life is a revelation of the Father’s love.”
Speaking of the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son, the author says that because he was performance-driven, he couldn’t understand the response his father gave his younger delinquent brother. As I have mentioned a couple of times before, I am finding that my flesh is offended with the radical love of God, as was this elder brother. There have been times when I have allowed myself to ponder and meditate on the reality that God enjoys Nita Steiner that I have rejected that thought. I’m more and more accepting this, and it’s liberating me deep within from many fears.
Two reasons given in the book as to why we humans struggle with the unconditional love of God:
This week we finish the chapter on God as the affectionate and approachable Father. The author writes about the Father’s embrace by using the story of what we commonly call the “prodigal son.” He says that this story is really about the heart of the father and his response to his lost son. It really is an amazing story of this father when you realize that in Jewish culture, for a son to demand his inheritance before the father has died was to wish the father were dead; likewise, it was unusual for a father to run like this one did upon seeing his son at a distance.
Hill makes an interesting observation: “…the prodigal had hit bottom. Yes, he was desperate. But he could have stayed where he was…What gave the prodigal the courage to return home? I believe that during his childhood the prodigal saw something in his father that let him know he would not be rejected if he returned home…he had a realistic understanding of who his father was. It empowered him to return home and be restored.”
Hill goes on to make his point, which is so important: “For you to fully enjoy the Father, you need to have a deep understanding of His personality. If you’re continually afraid of being rejected by Him and you feel that He’s perpetually angry with you because of things you’ve done, how can you open your heart to Him? How can you freely give yourself to Him and obey Him?”
This is a fundamental reality – that to enjoy God we must know what He is truly like, and part of His nature is His affectionate heart and His joy over His children. When we begin to taste and see a bit of what He is like and how He feels about us, then we will find that the lesser loves and addictions begin to lose their hold on us as we believe His Word and Spirit and walk in obedience to that. “The only thing that will ultimately break the power of lust in your life is a revelation of the Father’s love.”
Speaking of the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son, the author says that because he was performance-driven, he couldn’t understand the response his father gave his younger delinquent brother. As I have mentioned a couple of times before, I am finding that my flesh is offended with the radical love of God, as was this elder brother. There have been times when I have allowed myself to ponder and meditate on the reality that God enjoys Nita Steiner that I have rejected that thought. I’m more and more accepting this, and it’s liberating me deep within from many fears.
Two reasons given in the book as to why we humans struggle with the unconditional love of God:
- Incomplete teaching about the nature of God, resulting in seeing Him as primarily a severe Judge without clear understanding of His goodness and affection for us.
- Our own awareness of our failures, so we attempt to overcome guilt by showing Him how genuinely sorry we are.
The Approachable FatherGod is not like the authoritarian father that is looking for perfection and pounces on anything short of that, always reminding the child of his failure or lack and thinking that will motivate him to do better.
I love this line by the author: “God is different than any authority figure you have ever known.” This is an important revelation to have since we all reflect onto God’s leadership what we have experienced from human authorities. Even the very best fathers and other authority figures taint our view of God since none are perfect.
“God is not an authoritarian Father. He doesn’t want you shrinking back in fear or apprehension of Him. He’s an approachable Father who loves you passionately…In ‘God in Search of Man,’ Abraham Heschel explains that the phrase ‘fear of God’ is derived from the Hebrew word ‘yirah.’ (Heschel) writes: ‘The word has two meanings – fear and awe. There is the man who fears the Lord lest he be punished in his body, family, or in his possessions. Another man fears the Lord because he is afraid of punishment in the life to come. Both types are considered inferior in Jewish tradition. Fear is the anticipation of evil or pain…Awe, on the other hand, is the sense of wonder and humility inspired by the sublime or felt in the presence of mystery…Awe, unlike fear, does not make us shrink from the awe-inspiring object, but on the contrary, draws us near to it. This is why awe is compatible with both love and joy.’”
Essentially the fear of the Lord is not something that makes us cower before Him in fear of punishment but is deep love for Him in His awesomeness that causes me to hate what He hates; anything that separates me from His love is to be feared and hated.
Even in His discipline of us, God doesn’t stop enjoying us as His children. In fact, His discipline and correction is because He loves us. Just like a good earthly father must discipline his child at times for his own welfare but never stops loving and accepting him, so the Father in heaven can separate me as a person from the behavior in my life that don’t align with Him. He doesn’t reject me as a person while correcting my behavior. “The Father’s correction is deeply rooted in His affection for us. Proverbs 3:11,12 admonishes us to ‘not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.’”
Immaturity is not the same as rebellion even though it may appear the same in a person’s behavior. God has no problem with our being immature (when do we ever know when we’re “mature”?). He will not tolerate rebellion but immaturity is another thing. He deals with us according our heart of sincerity and repentance, so “as we set our hearts on obeying Him, He will make loving adjustments in our lives until we come to maturity.”
Jesus’ dealing with Peter exemplifies how God feels and deals with immaturity. Peter’s failure of the Lord left him full of shame, and Jesus restored him to confidence through love (John 21). He knew Peter genuinely loved Him in spite of his weakness and failure, and Jesus’ leading him to confess his love to Jesus broke the power of shame over Peter.
In conclusion of this chapter, the author says, “Once you begin to understand the depths of God’s love for you and the nature of His heart, then you’ll be able to be transparent with Him. Intimacy requires communication, vulnerability, and honesty…Like Peter, you may still be carrying the shame of your past failures and may be having a hard time forgiving yourself. You may have even become accustomed to a second-class relationship with the Lord because you’re afraid you might fail again…You can trust the Father. He fully understands…” And knowing all, He loves you and me radically to the point of death!
Rejoice in such extravagance this week! For next week, read the first part (up to page 105) of chapter 7, Love-Empowered Holiness.
To comment on the blog, click on this link and then click on "Comments" at the bottom of Nita's "words" for this week.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Enjoying God - Week #5
Chapter Five (first half): The Affectionate and Approachable Father
I remember so well what a preacher said a few years ago: “The worst case scenario is to be a Christian and not be able to enjoy God!” I’m discovering more all the time that God, like A.W. Tozer says of Him, “is easy to live with” and I’ll add that He’s enjoyable to be with.
And the reason I find Him increasingly enjoyable to be with is that I’m grasping a tiny bit of the reality that He enjoys me! I’ve studied the nature and character of God all my life, both in formal studies but also in my own personal study and mostly through walking intimately with Him, and that has fed and nourished me for years. But until I began to look more deliberately at the emotional part of His makeup, my relating to Him was without full confidence and joy. Not that I didn’t love Him nor even that I didn’t experience Him in all my being – heart, soul, mind, strength – but I lacked the abandonment to love that comes with seeing His jealous love for me, His weak child.
Consequently, I was still caught in the people-pleasing (fear of man) trap. What has lifted me out of that horrible pit has been the revelation of His love and enjoyment of me. It has also given me the courage to act in obedience to His voice of correction and conviction. This revelation hasn’t come in one fell swoop but over time as I have chosen to practice His presence and listen to His affirmation of me.
This chapter, in contrast with the previous one which spoke of broken human fathers, is about our heavenly Father and His affections and approachableness.
Romans 8:14-16: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
In relation to this passage, I’ll quote the author:
“The word ‘abba’ is equivalent to the word ‘papa’ and carries with it the idea of intimacy, dependency, and vulnerability. The concept of God as ‘abba’ was a revolutionary one at the time Paul wrote this.
“Drawing on his experience with Greco-Roman law, Paul used the analogy of adoption to describe the Christian’s relationship and position with God. The legal status of a son in early Roman times was not much better than that of a slave. A son was the property of his father. A father was entitled to his son’s wages. A father could transfer ownership of his son at will and, under certain circumstances, even have him put to death.
“In contrast, the legal status of an adopted son actually put him in a more secure place than that of a son born into the family. He was no longer legally bound to old debts, andif he was a slave, he was set free the moment he was adopted. He had complete access to the father of the family and was guaranteed a position in the family as well.”
The book includes an interesting quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones who emphasizes the experiential nature of the above Scripture from Romans 18:
“What the apostle Paul is emphasizing here is that not only must we believe this doctrine and accept it with our minds, but we must also be conscious of it and feel it; there must be the Spirit of Adoption in us as a result of this work of the Holy Spirit…Paul is really telling us that we are to feel – and I am emphasizing feeling – in this sense, what our Lord Himself felt.”
S.J. Hill encourages us to believe and receive the truth that like a child “you can crawl up into ‘Abba’s lap’ and experience the warmth and security of His loving embrace. You can know the pleasure of His heart as you allow your emotions to be bathed in the revelation of His love for you.”
Hill then speaks of the affectionate Father, giving the testimonies of men such as Charles Finney and Dwight L. Moody who experienced wonderful encounters with the affections of God. Then he gives a graphic description of the sufferings of Jesus on the cross (taken from an article by C.Truman Davis). Looking at the indescribable suffering of the Lord in His crucifixion speaks loudly and dramatically of the Father’s passion for a Bride for His Son.
We wonder and marvel at stories we hear about someone taking great risks to save the life of another person; and the reality is that we all have this story – a Man has died for me! Only ravished and jealous love will do such a thing, and Jesus has done it for all of us who are in Him and part of His Bride. (See Song of Songs 8:6.)
Just this week a young man was sharing with me the bit of revelation he’s beginning to have about God’s emotions and how that is revolutionizing his view of God and of himself. He’s been spending time in the book of Hosea, meditating on the fiery jealousy of God for His people and how emotional God is about us; our God is not a passive God at a distance but fights to win our affections and to deliver us from lesser loves.
I have been strengthened and healed by studying and believing the emotions that God has towards me. The Gospel is an unbelievable reality!! The longer I live, the more I realize how radical the Gospel of Jesus Christ is; worship and the offering of my life to Him is the natural overflow of this.
The Father looks at you with affection; you are His beloved and adopted child…May the grace of the Spirit rest upon us this week to believe and receive what His Word says about His feelings toward us. Blessings on your week in Him!
For next week, let’s finish chapter five on the affectionate and approachable Father. (Please see my note from last week's posting about when we will begin the next book...)
I remember so well what a preacher said a few years ago: “The worst case scenario is to be a Christian and not be able to enjoy God!” I’m discovering more all the time that God, like A.W. Tozer says of Him, “is easy to live with” and I’ll add that He’s enjoyable to be with.
And the reason I find Him increasingly enjoyable to be with is that I’m grasping a tiny bit of the reality that He enjoys me! I’ve studied the nature and character of God all my life, both in formal studies but also in my own personal study and mostly through walking intimately with Him, and that has fed and nourished me for years. But until I began to look more deliberately at the emotional part of His makeup, my relating to Him was without full confidence and joy. Not that I didn’t love Him nor even that I didn’t experience Him in all my being – heart, soul, mind, strength – but I lacked the abandonment to love that comes with seeing His jealous love for me, His weak child.
Consequently, I was still caught in the people-pleasing (fear of man) trap. What has lifted me out of that horrible pit has been the revelation of His love and enjoyment of me. It has also given me the courage to act in obedience to His voice of correction and conviction. This revelation hasn’t come in one fell swoop but over time as I have chosen to practice His presence and listen to His affirmation of me.
This chapter, in contrast with the previous one which spoke of broken human fathers, is about our heavenly Father and His affections and approachableness.
Romans 8:14-16: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
In relation to this passage, I’ll quote the author:
“The word ‘abba’ is equivalent to the word ‘papa’ and carries with it the idea of intimacy, dependency, and vulnerability. The concept of God as ‘abba’ was a revolutionary one at the time Paul wrote this.
“Drawing on his experience with Greco-Roman law, Paul used the analogy of adoption to describe the Christian’s relationship and position with God. The legal status of a son in early Roman times was not much better than that of a slave. A son was the property of his father. A father was entitled to his son’s wages. A father could transfer ownership of his son at will and, under certain circumstances, even have him put to death.
“In contrast, the legal status of an adopted son actually put him in a more secure place than that of a son born into the family. He was no longer legally bound to old debts, andif he was a slave, he was set free the moment he was adopted. He had complete access to the father of the family and was guaranteed a position in the family as well.”
The book includes an interesting quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones who emphasizes the experiential nature of the above Scripture from Romans 18:
“What the apostle Paul is emphasizing here is that not only must we believe this doctrine and accept it with our minds, but we must also be conscious of it and feel it; there must be the Spirit of Adoption in us as a result of this work of the Holy Spirit…Paul is really telling us that we are to feel – and I am emphasizing feeling – in this sense, what our Lord Himself felt.”
S.J. Hill encourages us to believe and receive the truth that like a child “you can crawl up into ‘Abba’s lap’ and experience the warmth and security of His loving embrace. You can know the pleasure of His heart as you allow your emotions to be bathed in the revelation of His love for you.”
Hill then speaks of the affectionate Father, giving the testimonies of men such as Charles Finney and Dwight L. Moody who experienced wonderful encounters with the affections of God. Then he gives a graphic description of the sufferings of Jesus on the cross (taken from an article by C.Truman Davis). Looking at the indescribable suffering of the Lord in His crucifixion speaks loudly and dramatically of the Father’s passion for a Bride for His Son.
We wonder and marvel at stories we hear about someone taking great risks to save the life of another person; and the reality is that we all have this story – a Man has died for me! Only ravished and jealous love will do such a thing, and Jesus has done it for all of us who are in Him and part of His Bride. (See Song of Songs 8:6.)
Just this week a young man was sharing with me the bit of revelation he’s beginning to have about God’s emotions and how that is revolutionizing his view of God and of himself. He’s been spending time in the book of Hosea, meditating on the fiery jealousy of God for His people and how emotional God is about us; our God is not a passive God at a distance but fights to win our affections and to deliver us from lesser loves.
I have been strengthened and healed by studying and believing the emotions that God has towards me. The Gospel is an unbelievable reality!! The longer I live, the more I realize how radical the Gospel of Jesus Christ is; worship and the offering of my life to Him is the natural overflow of this.
The Father looks at you with affection; you are His beloved and adopted child…May the grace of the Spirit rest upon us this week to believe and receive what His Word says about His feelings toward us. Blessings on your week in Him!
For next week, let’s finish chapter five on the affectionate and approachable Father. (Please see my note from last week's posting about when we will begin the next book...)
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Enjoying God - Week #4
Chapter Four: The Audience of One
The author begins this chapter with a fable which tells of a spring of pure water with miraculous healing properties, and whoever drank of it was healed instantly. As word got out, people came from near and far to drink of this spring, and eventually, all kinds of businesses and homes were built around this spring to support the multitude of visitors coming. In time an entire city was built.
One day a visitor came looking for the stream; not finding any signs, he asked a resident where the famous stream was, and after hesitating a moment, the resident answered with embarrassment, “I don’t even know. In all of our activity – our building and moving – we’ve somehow lost sight of the healing stream.”
This fable reminds me of the experience I had as a young missionary in Puerto Rico many years ago. In my regular devotional time, I was reading through the Scriptures and was in the book of Judges reading about Samson. When I got to chapter 6, I read of his being seduced by Delilah into telling her the secret of his strength…you know the story.
When I got to Judges 16:20, it was as if the Holy Spirit took out a bright highlighter pen and underscored the words as I read them: “He did not know that the Lord had left him.” A holy fear entered me that morning that has remained with me since. I saw clearly that Samson was anointed and called and chosen by God for a particular purpose in Israel’s life and destiny; he was doing the will of God by defeating the Philistines. But along the way, he allowed himself to slowly be drawn into compromises until one day he woke up from a night’s sleep to find himself stripped of his God-given strength.
What most hit me in that story that day was not the sin and compromises, but the fact that the sin and compromises had so dulled him that when Delilah wakened him to warn him that the Philistines were coming, he jumped out of bed with the same thought he had had the other times she had tried this on him: “I’ll show them…let me at them!” The Holy Spirit’s commentary on Samson at that moment was, “He did not know that the Lord had left him.”
And I realized that the worst part of it all was that this anointed servant of God had reached such a point of dullness in his walk with God that he had no clue that God was not around. I cried out to the Holy Spirit that morning to never allow me to get so engrossed in ministry and doing the work of God that my heart grows cold and hard and dull to the presence of the One I’m serving and I find myself one day unaware that His presence is missing and I’m just going through the religious motions as Samson was doing.
This chapter deals with religious busyness and the spiritual poverty many believers live in because of seeking the approval of men; I hope you can read it for yourself. It’s fairly lengthy and in the interest of keeping this to a reasonable length, I won’t try to cover all of it.
The author says, “Religious busyness drives us to develop programs and machinery that propel an institution rather than promote a relationship with the Lover of our hearts. It takes away the ability to sit at the feet of Jesus. It opens the door to performance-based faith and undermines what Christ did for us on the cross…We then begin developing our own substitutes – settling for good rather than God…We try to satisfy our hearts with the water of obligation and duty, and yet we remain thirsty for something more.”
I’ve spent my entire life within Christian community, particularly within Christian missionary community both as a daughter of missionaries then as an adult missionary among dedicated and genuine followers of Jesus; I count myself one of these. In more recent years, my heart has been given permission (through circumstances the Lord has orchestrated) to run fully with what I was always drawn to as a young woman: a wholehearted, lovesick pursuit of God, and this pursuit has bumped up against human and religious systems that were happier with me being in compliance with them. But the encounters I’ve had with the living God have ruined me for anything less, and I live my days more interested in His praise and affirmation than in that of others around me. (I’m not claiming to do this perfectly, but I’ve lived it enough now to never want to go back to people-pleasing.)
The human heart was made for wholehearted love for God, and I believe the Holy Spirit is stirring desire for God among His people more than ever now. I travel a little to share with different groups about these things, and in the past year or so I’ve seen a marked difference in how God’s people respond to these truths…our desire for Him is overcoming the obstacles that have hindered our seeking him with our whole heart.
The Gospel and the Word of God is given to us to free us to love the Father with all our hearts! That’s what we were created for and that’s why He has given us His Son and the Scriptures.
The great men and women of God have always understood the priority of loving God above all else, even above ministry to people (Mark 12:29-31; Revelation 2:2-5, etc.). The author quotes Watchman Nee in this chapter:
"Work for the Lord undoubtedly has its attractions for the flesh…you may be thrilled when crowds gather to hear you preach…If you have to stay at home, occupied from morning to night with mundane matters, you think: How meaningless life is…If only I were free to go around preaching…
But that is not spirituality. Oh, if we could only see that very much work done for God is not really ministry to Him!...The thing I fear most is that many of you will go out and win sinners to the Lord and build up believers without ministering to the Lord Himself. Much so-called service for Him is simply following our own natural inclinations. We have such active dispositions that we cannot bear to stay at home, so we run around for our own relief…
Many of us can enjoy working among people, but how many of us can draw near to God in the Holy of Holies?...Ministry that is ‘unto Me’ is in the inner sanctuary, in the hidden place…people may think we are doing nothing, but service to God within the Holy Place far transcends service to the people in the outer court."
Another well-known man of God, Oswald Chambers, said this:
"The only way to keep true to God is by a steady persistent refusal to be interested in
Christian work and to be interested alone in Jesus Christ."
S.J. Hill says that the biblical view of success for humans is the realization that we are loved by God and that we are lovers of God. In other words, our whole identity is wrapped up in God, just as the Apostle John’s was. He never names himself “John” in his gospel, but rather refers to himself always as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” I love that!
The more I believe and receive this truth that my success lies in who I am in Him (dearly beloved) and Who He is in me (my First Love), then I can do what He gives me to do with confidence, because I begin successful before I do anything and don't need to prove anything with what I do...it's simply the overflow of a lovesick heart.
Hill finishes the chapter talking about God the Father’s affirmation and blessing of His Son Jesus and points out five main parts that there are to full blessing that a human father can give to his son or daughter, which is seen in God’s blessing of Jesus at His baptism. (He takes this from Gary Smalley’s book The Blessing.) I will simply list the five components for you:
1. Meaningful touch
2. Affirmation or spoken message
3. Attaching high value to the one being blessed
4. Portraying a specific future for the one being blessed
5. Being actively committed to fulfilling the promise of the blessing.
“Many believers try to serve the Lord without having experienced the Father’s affirmation and blessing.” Our heads may know this but it must be a revelation to our spirit or we serve the Lord with insecurity and in fear of man.
I want to encourage you, as I have done before, to study the emotions of God’s heart in the Scriptures; and then take the time to be with Him without doing anything but having your heart open to Him. Sing to Him and listen for any word He may want to whisper to you or He may simply enjoy being with you in silence. As you give Him the chance to speak, He will affirm you in His love and with His affirmation, you will grow in confidence and minister to others without fear.
This is a life-long process. For some of us the healing that will come by simply being affirmed and blessed by God the Father will take a long time; but even after the healing of past issues, we will always need His affirming words in order to navigate a performance-driven world and church. As an adult woman, my earthly father's affirming words were super important to me; I never outgrew wanting and needing to be affirmed by him.
Living before “an audience of One” (for His praise alone) is only truly possible as we know how ravished He is with us. The Lord bless you and may His bridegroom zeal go after all the obstacles that are in the way of our experiencing His love! I don’t have the energy nor zeal to do this for myself, but I can say “yes” to His doing it on my behalf.
Next week we will cover half of chapter five (to the bottom of page 81): The Affectionate and Approachable Father. We are now a year into this book club, and there are a number of people reading it regularly. Thank you for sharing these books with me. When August comes, I’m going to take a break and not blog about a book but rather make a couple of postings during the month of simple and short words of encouragement. Then in September we’ll go back to a new book.
With this in mind, I’m going to take the remaining three chapters of Enjoying God at a slower pace, spending two weeks on each of these chapters. These chapters are quite lengthy anyway and this topic of the lavish love of God for weak humans deserves to be gone through slowly.
God bless you this week!
The author begins this chapter with a fable which tells of a spring of pure water with miraculous healing properties, and whoever drank of it was healed instantly. As word got out, people came from near and far to drink of this spring, and eventually, all kinds of businesses and homes were built around this spring to support the multitude of visitors coming. In time an entire city was built.
One day a visitor came looking for the stream; not finding any signs, he asked a resident where the famous stream was, and after hesitating a moment, the resident answered with embarrassment, “I don’t even know. In all of our activity – our building and moving – we’ve somehow lost sight of the healing stream.”
This fable reminds me of the experience I had as a young missionary in Puerto Rico many years ago. In my regular devotional time, I was reading through the Scriptures and was in the book of Judges reading about Samson. When I got to chapter 6, I read of his being seduced by Delilah into telling her the secret of his strength…you know the story.
When I got to Judges 16:20, it was as if the Holy Spirit took out a bright highlighter pen and underscored the words as I read them: “He did not know that the Lord had left him.” A holy fear entered me that morning that has remained with me since. I saw clearly that Samson was anointed and called and chosen by God for a particular purpose in Israel’s life and destiny; he was doing the will of God by defeating the Philistines. But along the way, he allowed himself to slowly be drawn into compromises until one day he woke up from a night’s sleep to find himself stripped of his God-given strength.
What most hit me in that story that day was not the sin and compromises, but the fact that the sin and compromises had so dulled him that when Delilah wakened him to warn him that the Philistines were coming, he jumped out of bed with the same thought he had had the other times she had tried this on him: “I’ll show them…let me at them!” The Holy Spirit’s commentary on Samson at that moment was, “He did not know that the Lord had left him.”
And I realized that the worst part of it all was that this anointed servant of God had reached such a point of dullness in his walk with God that he had no clue that God was not around. I cried out to the Holy Spirit that morning to never allow me to get so engrossed in ministry and doing the work of God that my heart grows cold and hard and dull to the presence of the One I’m serving and I find myself one day unaware that His presence is missing and I’m just going through the religious motions as Samson was doing.
This chapter deals with religious busyness and the spiritual poverty many believers live in because of seeking the approval of men; I hope you can read it for yourself. It’s fairly lengthy and in the interest of keeping this to a reasonable length, I won’t try to cover all of it.
The author says, “Religious busyness drives us to develop programs and machinery that propel an institution rather than promote a relationship with the Lover of our hearts. It takes away the ability to sit at the feet of Jesus. It opens the door to performance-based faith and undermines what Christ did for us on the cross…We then begin developing our own substitutes – settling for good rather than God…We try to satisfy our hearts with the water of obligation and duty, and yet we remain thirsty for something more.”
I’ve spent my entire life within Christian community, particularly within Christian missionary community both as a daughter of missionaries then as an adult missionary among dedicated and genuine followers of Jesus; I count myself one of these. In more recent years, my heart has been given permission (through circumstances the Lord has orchestrated) to run fully with what I was always drawn to as a young woman: a wholehearted, lovesick pursuit of God, and this pursuit has bumped up against human and religious systems that were happier with me being in compliance with them. But the encounters I’ve had with the living God have ruined me for anything less, and I live my days more interested in His praise and affirmation than in that of others around me. (I’m not claiming to do this perfectly, but I’ve lived it enough now to never want to go back to people-pleasing.)
The human heart was made for wholehearted love for God, and I believe the Holy Spirit is stirring desire for God among His people more than ever now. I travel a little to share with different groups about these things, and in the past year or so I’ve seen a marked difference in how God’s people respond to these truths…our desire for Him is overcoming the obstacles that have hindered our seeking him with our whole heart.
The Gospel and the Word of God is given to us to free us to love the Father with all our hearts! That’s what we were created for and that’s why He has given us His Son and the Scriptures.
The great men and women of God have always understood the priority of loving God above all else, even above ministry to people (Mark 12:29-31; Revelation 2:2-5, etc.). The author quotes Watchman Nee in this chapter:
"Work for the Lord undoubtedly has its attractions for the flesh…you may be thrilled when crowds gather to hear you preach…If you have to stay at home, occupied from morning to night with mundane matters, you think: How meaningless life is…If only I were free to go around preaching…
But that is not spirituality. Oh, if we could only see that very much work done for God is not really ministry to Him!...The thing I fear most is that many of you will go out and win sinners to the Lord and build up believers without ministering to the Lord Himself. Much so-called service for Him is simply following our own natural inclinations. We have such active dispositions that we cannot bear to stay at home, so we run around for our own relief…
Many of us can enjoy working among people, but how many of us can draw near to God in the Holy of Holies?...Ministry that is ‘unto Me’ is in the inner sanctuary, in the hidden place…people may think we are doing nothing, but service to God within the Holy Place far transcends service to the people in the outer court."
Another well-known man of God, Oswald Chambers, said this:
"The only way to keep true to God is by a steady persistent refusal to be interested in
Christian work and to be interested alone in Jesus Christ."
S.J. Hill says that the biblical view of success for humans is the realization that we are loved by God and that we are lovers of God. In other words, our whole identity is wrapped up in God, just as the Apostle John’s was. He never names himself “John” in his gospel, but rather refers to himself always as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” I love that!
The more I believe and receive this truth that my success lies in who I am in Him (dearly beloved) and Who He is in me (my First Love), then I can do what He gives me to do with confidence, because I begin successful before I do anything and don't need to prove anything with what I do...it's simply the overflow of a lovesick heart.
Hill finishes the chapter talking about God the Father’s affirmation and blessing of His Son Jesus and points out five main parts that there are to full blessing that a human father can give to his son or daughter, which is seen in God’s blessing of Jesus at His baptism. (He takes this from Gary Smalley’s book The Blessing.) I will simply list the five components for you:
1. Meaningful touch
2. Affirmation or spoken message
3. Attaching high value to the one being blessed
4. Portraying a specific future for the one being blessed
5. Being actively committed to fulfilling the promise of the blessing.
“Many believers try to serve the Lord without having experienced the Father’s affirmation and blessing.” Our heads may know this but it must be a revelation to our spirit or we serve the Lord with insecurity and in fear of man.
I want to encourage you, as I have done before, to study the emotions of God’s heart in the Scriptures; and then take the time to be with Him without doing anything but having your heart open to Him. Sing to Him and listen for any word He may want to whisper to you or He may simply enjoy being with you in silence. As you give Him the chance to speak, He will affirm you in His love and with His affirmation, you will grow in confidence and minister to others without fear.
This is a life-long process. For some of us the healing that will come by simply being affirmed and blessed by God the Father will take a long time; but even after the healing of past issues, we will always need His affirming words in order to navigate a performance-driven world and church. As an adult woman, my earthly father's affirming words were super important to me; I never outgrew wanting and needing to be affirmed by him.
Living before “an audience of One” (for His praise alone) is only truly possible as we know how ravished He is with us. The Lord bless you and may His bridegroom zeal go after all the obstacles that are in the way of our experiencing His love! I don’t have the energy nor zeal to do this for myself, but I can say “yes” to His doing it on my behalf.
Next week we will cover half of chapter five (to the bottom of page 81): The Affectionate and Approachable Father. We are now a year into this book club, and there are a number of people reading it regularly. Thank you for sharing these books with me. When August comes, I’m going to take a break and not blog about a book but rather make a couple of postings during the month of simple and short words of encouragement. Then in September we’ll go back to a new book.
With this in mind, I’m going to take the remaining three chapters of Enjoying God at a slower pace, spending two weeks on each of these chapters. These chapters are quite lengthy anyway and this topic of the lavish love of God for weak humans deserves to be gone through slowly.
God bless you this week!
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