Recovered In Christ

Thursday, July 19th, 2012

What if I told you you were going to be sick, poor and ugly for the rest of your life? And single? And barren? Would you still love God? Would you still bring a pen and notepad to church and take notes – just for the sake of memorizing the words of your Lord, with no chance of using them as an incantation for success? And no matter how much your pastor reassures you that it will ‘turn around’ for you and no matter how many C.D’s of your favourite Christian life coach you listen you – God reveals to you that you will not be getting your way in this life. No matter how much you try to Christianize the principles of “The Secret”.  And it’s not because God is cruel, or because He can’t heal you, or because you don’t pray enough, it’s just because that’s the way it is going to be for you. Would you still pursue Him??

And what if I told you that just as you were getting used to that – or just when your identity began to draw power from it, you are suddenly elevated to great wealth and success and your life was filled with blessings so brilliant that you never thought to even ask for such over the top demonstrations of Divine favor. Would you be able to enjoy it – drink it in – and still pursue the Lord with a desperate thirst in your soul for Him??

And he wouldn’t be doing it because He is ‘playing’ with you, or is unfair and a power tripper. He is doing it to teach you the most valuable thing you could ever learn – the ONE thing that could have averted the fall of mankind. Obedience.

Obedience. One of the ugliest words I had ever heard of as a non-Christian. To me it meant to become a slave. Automaton. Non-entity. I wanted to think for myself!! I had to learn (the hard way) that I had to first Obey God in trust in order for him to teach me HOW to think for myself. For him to divest me of all of the mind control devices of this world and undo the brainwashing that rebellion and hardness of heart brings about. Then and only then could I begin to grasp what the origins of the word obedience hints at: it means to Listen, to hear. In it’s simplest form it means to Listen completely. It also means to comply with, to follow, to carry out instructions through action. I had to take a leap of faith in God – enough to HEAR Him out, to Listen. And then only God had the Power to win my complete and total obedience all the while renewing and regenerating my active and independant intelligence.

Wow! What a God!! To be so Incredibly Awesome as to win my complete allegiance and willingness to submit and defer to Him – to OBEY Him completely in the face of all that opposes Him – using my Free Will. The Will that He freed for me!

Most people will be too busy in the chatter of their minds, trying to show me scriptures that tell them God “wants” them to be successful, or that God “wants” them to make a religion out of poverty and charity to really understand why I’m asking these questions.

To the the degree that you pursue what you “think” is important in your life is the degree to which you live in the “flesh”, which is the ground floor of your “building”. Level “flesh” of your temple. Even your “spirituality” can come from that place. Someone who is living in and living OUT of, coming FROM deep within the Temple of His God – who’s prayer really and truly is to “dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” is going to have an ENTIRELY different experience. An entirely different life.

“…Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: 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 inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord…) (Psalm 27:3-6)

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Amen.