4SpiritualSecrets

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.” (John 9:41)

Jesus spoke these words to the Bible experts of His day.  He had just healed a blind man and then preached, “I am the Light of the world.”  He explained that this Light He is gives sight to those who know they are blind and it reveals the hard reality that some who are proud of the fact that they can see are actually blind.

Let me illustrate what I believe Jesus meant: There was an explosion in a coal mine that trapped miners for many days.  When the rescuers broke through to the trapped miners there was much jubilation and celebration until one of the miners asked, “Why didn’t you guys bring any lights?” The rescuers had actually brought many lights.  This miner had been blinded by the explosion, but he did not know he was blind until the light came.

The intriguing part of the verse above is the declaration of Jesus that if they were blind they would have no sin.  This means His declaration that day was “No light, no sin.” By this He gave us a definition of sin.  Sin is a rejection of the light that was brought into this world by the One Who was – and continues to be – the Light of the World. Our response to the light we receive is therefore critically important.

We can conclude that it would be better for us to not receive light than to receive light and not respond properly.  You can see why Jesus taught that doing is more important than knowing (John 7:17).

Does the Light of the World cure or reveal your blindness?

“Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” (Mark 14:36)

Many people refer to the Disciple’s Prayer (Matthew 6: 9-13) as “The Lord’s Prayer.” However, the verse quoted above should be called “The Lord’s Prayer.” The Disciple’s Prayer was given with this instruction: “When you pray, you pray after this manner.” Jesus never prayed that prayer.  For example, He would not have asked God to forgive His debts or trespasses.

But Jesus did pray the prayer quoted above and that prayer is a model prayer for every believer.  God will often call us to do things that are difficult or even impossible.  He will call us to do things we do not want to do.  When that happens we should remember and then pray this model prayer our Lord has given us.

One of the Four Spiritual Secrets that form a grid through which I view my faith journey is based on this prayer of Jesus.  That spiritual secret is “I don’t want to, but He wants to.” The ignition that makes it possible to implement the answer to this prayer is “I’m in Him and He is in me.”

If you are facing a crisis today that involves doing His will, and not your own, I strongly encourage you to pray what someone has labeled “The Prayer that Never Fails.” Realizing and believing that God can do anything He wills to do, you have the right and a responsibility to ask Him to take this cup from you but then you must finish the prayer by surrendering to the prayer that never fails.  Pray that the important thing is not what you want, but what He wants.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55: 9)

In one of the most important chapters of the Bible Isaiah shared what we might call his “philosophy of ministry.”  Isaiah, who is called “The Prince of the Prophets,” declared that he preached the Word of God because there is as much difference between the way God thinks and acts, and the way we think and act, as the heavens are high above the earth.  Isaiah believed the Word of God can bring about an alignment between the thoughts and ways of God and the thoughts and ways of man.  Therefore, he preached the Word of God.

As an application to this profound declaration of Isaiah, Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, asked the question, “If our steps are ordered by the Lord, how can we always expect to understand the way we are going?” (Proverbs 20:24)

It is so very important that we have this profound truth declared by Isaiah engraved in our minds: God does not think and act as we do! This is especially true when we are baffled by events and circumstances that overwhelm us and have us obsessed with “Why” questions.

A devout Christian surgeon I know says, “The word we use most in this life is ‘Why.’ And the word we’re going to use most in the next dimension is ‘Oh!’”  That’s because when we have eternal perspective on this life we are now living, in time we will say “Oh” when we see why God’s thoughts and ways were higher and better than the way we think and act.

“I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years.” (Isaiah 38:5)

In the mid fifties I made a discovery about prayer.  When two or three of us were very concerned about Joe, who was not doing well spiritually, I observed God working in Joe’s life in dynamic ways.  I came to the conclusion that we are praying even when we do not close our eyes, fold our hands and bow our heads.  I discovered that prayer is the sincere desire of our soul no matter how we express it.

Martin Luther told us that the sigh of a believer is a prayer.  He meant that when we come to the end of our hoarded resources and throw ourselves across a bed and sigh, or cry – that is a prayer.

God sent the Prophet Isaiah to tell a sick King Hezekiah that he was going to die.  Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and cried.  When God saw the tears of King Hezekiah, God sent Isaiah back to him with the message, “I have heard your prayer.  I have seen your tears.” And God added 15 years to his life.

When we express the sincere desire of our soul, which is often too deep for words, in tears or a sigh of despair that is a prayer God hears and answers.  God has as much interaction with people in the waiting rooms of the operating theaters in our hospitals as He has in the sanctuaries of our churches.

Realizing your tears and sighs of despair are one of God’s prescriptions for authentic prayer, will you offer them to God as the prayer of your heart?  God will hear and answer those authentic prayers.

“If anyone chooses to do…he will know whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own…” (John 7:17)

When we find a verse of Scripture quoted we should always try to discover the context – or that which comes with the text – we are reading.  In the verse that precedes the verse quoted above (verse 16), Jesus made the claim that His teaching was not just the teaching of another Rabbi.  It was the teaching of God.  In verse 17 He is telling us how we can prove that is true.

Intellectuals often say, “When we know, we will do.” Jesus taught, “No, when you do you will know.” According to Jesus, when you apply His teaching to your life you will know by the way the truth He teaches changes your life that His teaching is not the teaching of a man but the very teachings of God.

In the spirit of this principle Jesus established a covenant with His disciples.  That covenant was, “Follow Me and I will make you.” (Matthew 4:19) The spirit of His covenant was –  “You follow Me.  That’s your part.  I will make you.  That’s my part.  You follow Me.  That’s your business.  I will make you.  That’s My business.” This parallels the teaching above that the doing will lead to the knowing.

In one word this process is called “apprenticeship.” The definition of the word “disciple” is “a learner who is doing what they’re learning and learning what they’re doing.”  The words “disciple” and “apprentice” are synonyms.

Have you made the commitment to let your doing lead to the experience of knowing that the teachings of Jesus Christ are the Word of God?  Are you willing to approach the whole Bible with that same commitment?

“Only let us live up to the truth we now have.” (Philippians 3:16 LB)

Paul had an experience on the road to Damascus.  He often shared the details of that experience as in the third chapter of his letter to the Church at Philippi. It was as if his accounting books were turned upside down – what had been in the gain column was now in the loss column and vice versa.

After his books had been turned upside down, or we might say right side up,  his ambitions totally changed in the gain column.  He wanted to tackle the purposes for which the risen Christ had tackled him. Now he only wanted to know Christ and the high calling of God to which Christ was leading him.

He claims that he has not attained these things in his new gain column, but he has learned a principle about knowing the will of God: if we want to know the will of God we must live up to the light or the truth God has given us at any given time on our faith journey.

We can take away from this a prescription for guidance.  If we want to see further ahead into the will of God for us, then we should move ahead into the will of God just as far as we can see. Like driving across country at night we can move ahead into the 100 yards of light our headlights give us – and that can lead us clear across our country. When we live up to the light we have, God gives us more light.

“…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…” (Philippians 1:6)

This is the first week of a new year.  A believer I know informed me that he no longer makes New Year’s resolutions.  When I asked him why he said, “My willpower is nearly always out of power.”

The Apostle Paul’s favorite Church was the Church he planted at Philippi.  Having brought scores and scores of people to faith in Christ in that city, he finds himself in prison and unable to have any physical contact with them.  As their pastor he cannot use his powers of reason and persuasion or his spiritual gifts of wisdom, preaching and teaching.  Yet he has an unwavering confidence that they will continue in their faith until Jesus Christ returns.

This confidence is not based on them or on himself.  He believes his positive and upbeat perspective about them because he knows that the One Who began a miraculous work in them will complete what He has started.

The word “perspective” means “to look through to the end.” At the starting gate of a New Year it’s so very important to have healthy perspective.  I’m not thinking about willpower driven resolutions but spiritual goals that only the risen, living Christ can make doable.  I’m talking about what you would like to see Christ do in your life this year.

I have recently learned a new formula for setting goals.  In the context I have established, let the letters BHAG stand for Big, Hilarious, Audacious, Goals.  As you set goals for the New Year make them big enough to let Christ in.  Watch Him work because you have set BHAG that only He can accomplish!

“So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)

There is an extremely equitable generosity expressed by God every year.  He gives every one of us 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week, and 8,760 hours a year.  The thought Moses expressed above is that we should cherish our 24 hour days and pray that we have wisdom about the way we live out each day.

There are many metaphors about life in the Bible.  If you examine them all, you will find that they tell us life is brief as a smoke-like vapor.  Life is uncertain like a thread that is about to be cut by a Seamstress and we have no control over when that thread will be cut.  Life is a transitory experience like a ship that fades out of sight as it passes beyond our horizon.  Our life is like a tale that is told and forgotten by the time others have told their tales.

Life is like a sleep when we wake up.  Only the Bible would call life a sleep and death the waking up. The hard reality that we only have 70 or 80 years of life because we are all going to die should lead all of us to wear watches and cherish our days, one day at a time.  The last days and hours of an old year should therefore be a time of reflection, and the first days and hours of a new year should be a time of revelation and resolution.

In light of the Bible’s message, a thoughtful wish for the New Year is:

“May you have a spiritually prosperous and fruitful New Year.”

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20)

The risen living Christ sends a letter to a Church in Laodicea, as recorded in Chapter Three of the Revelation.  The whole Church of Jesus Christ has been reading that letter for 2000 years.  The risen Christ wishes they were hot, but if they are not going to get hot He would rather they be cold.  Because they are neither cold, nor hot, but lukewarm – they make Him want to throw up!

He then tells them how to have a Christmas that is and can be all day long, every day of the year.  It is as if their life is a house and their heart is the door to that house.  He is knocking on that door.  He is patiently waiting for them to open that door and invite Him into all the meaningful areas of their life.

Verse 19 makes it clear that His knocking is chastisement which He wants to grow into repentance.  His inspired metaphor illustrates and demonstrates repentance.  It would seem there is no latch on the outside of the door.  The door must be opened from the inside.

Martin Luther wrote a Christmas carol that uses a similar metaphor: “Holy Jesus, precious Child make Thee a bed soft, undefiled, within my heart that it may be a quiet chamber kept for Thee.”

In our church on Christmas Eve children sing: “Christmas isn’t Christmas till it happens in your heart.  Somewhere deep inside you that’s where Christmas really starts.  So give your heart to Jesus.  You’ll discover when you do, that it’s Christmas, really Christmas for you!”

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus…Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4: 14, 17-18)

The essence of the Christmas that was is that God intersected human history when He became a man.  There is also a Christmas that shall be when God is going to intersect human history again.  He has told us about this future Christmas 318 times in the New Testament where whole books like the one referenced above have this teaching as their primary subject.  And it is prophesied many times and by many prophets in the Old Testament.

In their inspired writings, the apostles call it the only hope of the world and the blessed hope of the Church.  Hope is the conviction God puts in the hearts of people that something good is going to happen to them.  Sociologists, clinical psychologists and psychiatrists who study suicides believe people take their lives when they no longer have this hope.

It’s possible to respond to the only hope and the blessed hope like the priest who let unbelief shut his mouth.  Like the mother of God we can be so holy we ponder these things and keep them in our heart.  Or we can be like the shepherds and tell everybody about the very good news that God is going to do Christmas again!

If you believe in the Christmas that shall be are you willing to give hope to hopeless people? Or has unbelief shut your mouth?