Knowledge of God in the Face of Jesus

My intent for the new few weeks is to share thoughts on particular aspects of God’s nature each week with the prayer that we grow together in discovering more and more about this unbelievable Person who, in A.W. Tozer's words, is “easy to live with”.

I’m finding in my own life journey with Him that the process of getting extricated from false religion is lifelong; one of the first and biggest hurdles to get over is to acknowledge how much religion there has been and is in me. As fallen humans we are strongly inclined towards this and severely deceived by it because its mask looks so much like the truth of Jesus.

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

The longer I live in God and discover the Person He is in truth, the more convinced I am that knowing and embracing the truth of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus sets us free, particularly from religion. Religion is humanistic in that it focuses on the human effort required to "appease" God, whereas the Scriptures focus on God as the One who bears the weight of bringing me into the fullness of relationship with Him that delights and pleases Him. The Holy Spirit goes to great lengths in the Word to show us what God is like so that we will trust Him to bring us into all that He intends for us and so that we will have correct perspective on His role and our role.

So my prayer is that the Holy Spirit will breathe on these postings and magnify Jesus (His favorite assignment). I pray that His light and His truth will lead us into the presence of the holy God (Psalm 43:3) where we see more light (Psalm 36:9) and more truth and are saved from half truths about the splendor and beauty of this Person we worship and love. May His grace empower us to receive light and truth even when it’s at the expense of giving up half truths about Him that we hold dear.

A.W. Tozer on the Hope of Jesus' Coming Again

A.W. Tozer:

"...affluence is only one cause of the decline of the apocalyptic hope (in the western Church). There are other and more important ones. The whole problem is a big one, a theological one, a moral one. An inadequate view of Christ may be the chief trouble. Christ has been explained, humanized, demoted.

Many professed Christians no longer expect Him to usher in a new order; they are not at all sure that He is able to do so; or if He does, it will be with the help of art, education, science and technology; that is, with the help of man. This revised expectation amounts to disillusionment for many. And of course no one can become too radiantly happy over a King of kings who has been stripped of His crown or a Lord of lords who has lost His sovereignty.

It should be noted that there is a vast difference between the doctrine of Christ's coming and the hope of His coming. The first we may hold without feeling a trace of the second. Indeed there are multitudes of Christians today who hold the doctrine of the second coming. What I have talked about here is that overwhelming sense of anticipation that lifts the life onto a new plane and fills the heart with rapturous optimism. This is what we today lack.

Frankly, I do not know whether or not it is possible to recapture the spirit of anticipation that animated the Early Church...Certainly scolding will not bring it back, nor arguing over prophecy, nor condemning those who do not agree with us. We may do all or any of these things without arousing the desired spirit of joyous expectation. That unifying, healing, purifying hope is for the childlike, the innocent-hearted, the unsophisticated.

Possibly nothing short of a world catastrophe that will destroy every false trust and turn our eyes once more upon the Man Christ Jesus will bring back the glorious hope to a generation that has lost it."

Oh Lord, would you come and do whatever You need to do to awaken Your Bride in the West to the reality of Your coming. Thank You that You love us too much to allow us to continue to hope in anything but Your coming as God's appointed Messiah; forgive us for placing our hopes in human governments and leaders and education and science and technology. You ALONE are able to establish Your kingdom on earth, so we place our hope FULLY on Your returning and cry out for Your coming. Strengthen the heart of Your Bride for the difficulties that are coming so that we aren't offended with You when human systems are falling apart. Remove "every false trust and turn our eyes upon the Man Christ Jesus" and help us "recapture the spirit of anticipation that animated the early Church". Give us child-likeness and innocent-heartedness to long for You to return and set up Your kingdom on earth. Come Lord Jesus!

Looking into the Face of Jesus: The Psalms and the Gospels

Frank Lake (from "Clinical Theology"):

"It is the purpose of the Psalms and the Gospels to destroy every ground of faith in ourselves so that we cherish no delusions on that score at all...The countenance of God, for which (the psalmist)looked so eagerly, has been revealed in the Face of Jesus Christ (II Cor. 4:6)."

One implication of Lake's words is that to look away from oneself in order to look into the face of Jesus is to refuse to put my faith in myself. Introspection is a subtle form of self-worship and self reliance, because what I give my focus and attention to is what I worship, and what I give my focus and attention to is where I am hoping to find the solution for my need.

As I age in the Lord, I gravitate increasingly towards the Psalms and the Gospels because it is wonderful material to help me "look away unto Jesus" the Messiah (Heb. 12:2). The Psalms express the human longing for God and the Gospels tell what He is like in Jesus the Messiah.

Holy Spirit of Jesus, thank You for the Scriptures that You have given, all of which points to Jesus our only Hope and Salvation. Thank You for the Psalms, the expression of the human longing for intimacy with God; and thank You for the Gospels where we see what the Father is like in the God-Man. Would you set Your Word on fire in our hearts so that we are warmed by Your affections for us and in turn we burn in affection for You; and would You cause Your Word to be like a hammer that breaks off the strongholds of half truths in our minds so that we see the true and living God for Who He really is. We love Your work even when it causes pain...increase Your work in us for the glory of God the Father and the Son! Amen.

Is Introspection Profitable?

In his book, "Spiritual Knowledge", Watchman Nee has a chapter on the importance of "self-knowledge" in spiritual maturing. But he warns that introspection is NOT the way to self-knowledge:

"Not only does the Bible not contain any command for introspection, but in addition our experience tells us how impossible introspection is. As far as spiritual life is concerned, introspection is very harmful. It may produce either one of two consequences: ...self-contentment (pride) because of reckoning oneself as being quite good after self-examination; (or) despair because of finding himself full of flaws...

"'Looking unto Jesus' (Heb. 12:2)...should read 'Looking away to Jesus' (Nestle's Interlinear Greek-English NT). The idea is that before you can look to Jesus you must first look away from what you should not look at. Our spiritual life is based on looking to Jesus, not on looking into ourselves...Whenever we turn to look at ourselves we are immobilized and cannot advance; but if we look at the light of God, we shall unconsciously move ahead."

Corrie ten Boom had a wonderful little saying:
"Look around and be distressed;
look within and be depressed;
look to Jesus and be at rest."

Holy Spirit, as we draw nearer the end of the age and the accuser of the brethren increases his lies and accusations of the saints of God, we ask that you would empower our hearts to fight to look away from ourselves to the One who is altogether lovely and who only has the ability to tell us who we truly are and where we need affirmation and/or correction. Only You know us and only You have the love and power to transform us as we behold/gaze on You. By Your grace we will turn away from self-worship to look to Jesus and worship only Him! Thank You for helping us with this, dear Divine Helper!

Pain, Escort into Intimacy with Jesus

Speaking of pain, Shelley Hundley says that pain is the "escort" into intimacy with Jesus. She goes on to say the following:

"For all of eternity we will be face to face with the beauty and splendor of our God; only during my lifetime in this fallen age do I have the opportunity to romance His heart in the midst of darkness, accusation and blindness. I have the chance only today to love Him in the midst of my current prison...where my heart feels nothing and sees nothing yet I move in love toward the One I cannot see. His heart is most undone. (I feel nothing; He feels everything.) I Peter 1:8,9; Songs 4:9"

Lord Jesus, strengthen Your people to persevere and endure to the end by giving us a glimpse of how Your heart is deeply moved by our worship and love in the midst of our pain and affliction and inability to see clearly. We love You, Jesus; our hearts are Yours because You've given us Your heart first. Thank You both now and forever! Amen!

Knowing God through Prayer

The quote for this week's posting comes from Watchman Nee's book, "Spiritual Knowledge." In his chapter entitled "Knowing God in Prayer", Nee says the following,

"Many hardly have any experience of God answering their prayer. I do not mean they do not pray. I only mean their prayers are ineffective...The problem is that many know prayer only through the Bible; they do not know prayer in the presence of God...you may pray fervently or casually, pray at length or briefly. Yet the strangest thing is, you never think of knowing God in such a time of prayer...Through this time of prayer you (should) come to know God a little more. Our knowledge ought not to come from reading the Bible alone; we must have it also directly from God."

Lord, thank You that prayer is about relating with You. Thank You that you want us to know You through prayer and that every time we pray, it is an opportunity to know and understand You - what's in Your heart and what You're thinking. Oh Lord, teach us to pray in such a way that we are continually going deeper into union with You. You are what we want; reveal Yourself to us in prayer for the sake of Jesus. Amen.

Our Accountability to God

Arthur W. Pink says in his book, "Our Accountability to God":

"The theology of the last century has failed lamentably at two essential points, namely, its teaching concerning God and its teaching concerning fallen man. As one writer expressed it, 'On the one hand, they have not ascended high enough...on the other hand, they do not descend low enough.' God is infinitely greater and His dominion far more absolute and extensive than more theologians admit, and man has sunk much lower and is far more depraved than they will allow."

Dear Lord, thank You that You do "not deal with us according to our sin nor repay us according to our iniquity"; increasingly open my eyes to see Your greatness and my utter lostness so that I may live in continual awe and gratitude and radical worship; deliver me from lukewarmness which comes from lack of revelation of how high You are and how low I am apart from You. Thank You, thank You, thank You for so great a salvation!