4SpiritualSecrets

“Let us cross over to the other side…” (Mark 4:35…)

Jesus Christ was the greatest Teacher this world has ever known. On this occasion He wanted to teach the apostles about faith. When we take science courses today there is a combination of lecture and laboratory learning. On this occasion the laboratory of Jesus was a great storm. His lecture was a great question He asked the apostles in the middle of that great storm. In one translation that question reads, “Do you not even yet believe in Me?”

We read that these men came to Jesus where He was asleep in the back of the boat when the storm was at its worst and asked Him, “Do you not even care that we are all going to drown?” Jesus had told them they were going to the other side of the Sea. He had also told them so many things about who He was and about the kingdom He was establishing on earth and the part He wanted them to play in that kingdom. His question implied that they believed He, along with themselves and the kingdom of which He was teaching them, were all going to end at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee!

Jesus has promised to take you and me to the other side of life into the eternal dimension. While He is taking us there He told us we would have many storms. Sometimes those storms are great storms. You may be in the middle of a great storm right now. If you are you are in the laboratory section of the school of faith. You must remember the great question of Jesus that can turn your great storm into a great calm: “Do you not even yet believe in Me?”

“In everything … with thanksgiving tell God every detail of your needs … And the peace of God which transcends human understanding will stand guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 4:6, 7)

As I have tried to apply what Paul prescribes in the verses quoted above (in the NIV and the J.B. Phillips), I have found this prescription for peace to be more helpful than any other spiritual discipline. According to Paul, an attitude of gratitude leads to the therapy of thanksgiving as we apply thanksgiving to our stressful circumstances.

Be sure to make the observation that Paul does not prescribe giving thanks for all things. He instructs us to give thanks in all things. When we do this it automatically moves our mindset from the negative to the positive. The apostle promises that the peace of God will protect or stand guard (like the soldiers chained to Paul as he writes these words), over our hearts and minds as they rest or trust in Christ Jesus.

Our circumstances are not always determined by God but may be caused by evil people who are persecuting us. We cannot always control our circumstances – but we can control the way we respond to them. Paul is telling us to respond with thanksgiving, because if we do, we will find this response to be God’s prescription that will bring the peace that can contribute to our victory over those circumstances.

When a pastor asked one of his members how they were doing, their response was “Pretty good pastor, under the circumstances.” The pastor responded “Whatever are you doing there?”

The therapy of thanksgiving can lead us out from under our circumstances and into the peace of God.

“When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished!’”
(John 19:30)

These last words of Jesus are actually one word in the original language. This word was written over the record of a prisoner who completed their sentence in a Roman prison. They were written above the cross of a prisoner crucified by Rome. What a providential irony that Jesus would choose this word at the end of His suffering for your sins and mine.

What He meant was that He paid in full a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay. Theologians refer to this as the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. One thought is that we cannot possibly add anything to what He finished for us there on that cross. A more profound thought is that we must put our faith in what He did for us there.

Still another thought is if we could add anything to what He did, or be forgiven on the basis of our own good works, then Christ did all that suffering for nothing. In the garden He sweat great drops of blood as He pleaded with the Father to let this cup pass from Him.

The Father’s response was that there was no other way, so He had to go to and through the suffering of the cross. To think that we could save ourselves by works is like saying to the Father and to our Savior “You really didn’t have to go through all that suffering because I can save myself by the good works I am doing.”

The response we must make is to believe in what He finished.

“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the works which You have given Me to do.” (John 17:4)

Jesus was obsessed with the works His Father gave him to do. Doing those works was more important to Him than food. When He came to the end of His perfect life all He had to do was die. The night He was arrested, in deep prayer to His Father he prayed the words quoted above.

In these words He not only gave a capsule summary of the meaning of His perfect life, He showed us all the purpose of our life. “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” That’s the way a catechism devout parents have taught their children states the purpose of life. By example and precept Jesus stated the purpose of a purpose driven life for all of His followers for all time. Our purpose is to glorify God.

He also showed us how to glorify God. We glorify God by finishing all the works He has given us to do for Him. When I was thirty years old I had an accident that I miraculously survived. Many asked me if I had been terrified that I was about to lose my life. That was not my concern. My concern was that I had not finished the works I knew the Father wanted me to do for Him. I had not even found those works at that point in my life. Forty-nine years later I feel much better about that life goal.

Are you glorifying God by finding and finishing the works He wants you to do for Him for His glory?

“I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. The night is coming when no man can work.” (John 9:4)

The Gospel of John gives us another window into the way Jesus felt about the works God wanted Him to do. According to this vision statement of Jesus He knew the reality that He had less than three years to do those works.

In 1956 the famous missionary Jim Elliot was speared to death, along with his four colleagues, by the tribal people they were trying to reach with the Gospel. Jim was a passionate follower of Jesus Christ. About four years before he died, he wrote in his journal, “When it comes time to die, make sure all you have to do is die.”

We can’t understand how God decides the day of our death. We don’t know when our own finish line will come. But we should all live in such a way that when we come to the finish line of our life there will be no unfinished business, no works our Father assigned to us that we’ve left undone.

Do you have the magnificent obsession of Jesus to work the works God has assigned to you while it is day not knowing when the night is coming and you cannot work anymore? Can you accept the challenge of being like Jesus in your attitude toward the works God wants you to do?

“Jesus said to them, ‘my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. ‘” (John 4:34)

When Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well in Samaria He sent the apostles into a nearby village to buy food for their lunch. When they returned with the food He refused it and spoke the words quoted above. He obviously wanted to have a private interview with this woman.

His interview has been summarized by a riddle. “The SW met a SW at a SW. The SW became a SW and went on to become a great SW.” The explanation of the riddle is as follows: “The Savior of the World met a Samaritan Woman at a Samaritan Well. The Samaritan Woman became a Saved Woman and went on to become a great Soul Winner.”

When the apostles returned they marveled that He was speaking with a Samaritan woman of questionable reputation. Earlier in this chapter we are told that Jesus was just passing through Samaria. He wanted to reach this woman who would reach all of Samaria for Him after He left. We’re told that she did this for Him.

He told the apostles that this was the work of God for Him. And doing the work of God was His food. The magnificent obsession of Jesus was to do the work of God. Is the work of God a magnificent obsession for you? If you are serious about being an authentic follower of Christ it should be.

“… Remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35)

This has been called the ninth beatitude of Jesus. Jesus began His greatest discourse with a check-up from the neck-up. He shared eight beautiful attitudes with His disciples that can make us the salt of the earth and the light of the world. His ninth beatitude can transform and revolutionize our relationships.

If you are in a relationship, like a marriage, for what you can get from that other person, Jesus has a challenge for you. For one week, instead of thinking of what you are going to get from the person, ask yourself continuously what you can give to that person. I have given this assignment to many married couples and I have seen the challenge revolutionize their marriages.

You see, if you are in a marriage for what you can get from each other, neither of you is receiving anything because neither of you is giving anything. The relationship is a sterile empty vacuum. But this one attitude can completely transform your marriage. This attitude can transform any relationship if one or both of the people in that relationship will dare to accept this challenge from Jesus.

There is no place in the Gospels where Jesus speaks these exact words. However, in addition to having this quotation of Paul, the spirit of this beatitude characterizes all the relationships of Jesus we read about in the first four books of the New Testament.

I exhort you to accept this challenge of Jesus for one week! If you do, the impact it will have on your relationships will convince you that this is the Word of God. You will also prove in experience that there is in fact more happiness (which is what the word blessed means), in giving than in getting.

“… I being in the way the Lord led me…”

(Genesis 24: 27 KJV)

When we discover the context of these words of Scripture we realize they are teaching us a principle of how God often works in the lives of His people. It is easier to steer a moving vehicle than one that is stationary. God can sometimes steer us more easily when we are moving. That’s why we will find that one step frequently leads to the next step when we have faith to be led by the Holy Spirit.

The words above were spoken by Abraham’s servant who was commissioned by Abraham to travel to the land of his people to find a wife for Isaac. As he journals the events of his search he writes that while he was in the way the Lord led him he encountered the family of Rebekah. When he met her he knew that his search had ended.

We who are committed followers of Christ were commissioned two thousand years ago to go to all nations and make disciples for Jesus Christ. A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Like the servant of Abraham, as we embark on the adventure of obeying our great commission, we should expect that each step will lead to the next step.

We don’t always have to know where the road leads as long as we know it is the right road. While we are in the way our Lord has commissioned us to go we must have the faith to take that first step and then, one step at a time, expect our Lord to show us His will about the next step.

“I have brought you out that I might lead you in…”
(Deuteronomy 6:23)

There are times when God wants to do a new thing in our lives. To do this new thing God faces three challenges. He has to get us out of the old place and that is not easy because we love the security of where we are. God therefore has to blast us out of the old place. That can happen in many ways. We could be fired, or we may just know in our knower that it is time to make a change. The call of God is often made up of a pull from the front and a boot from the rear. That can happen when God wants to do His new thing in our lives.

The second challenge God faces is that He has to keep us going so He might pull us through the transition time between the old place and the new place to which He is leading us. Transition times can be very difficult! The verse above describes the way God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt that He might bring them into the Promised Land. Their transition time involved crossing a desert, which should have taken eleven days. They went around in circles for forty years! That was a very difficult transition time for them.

They circled that desert because they did not have the faith to invade the land of Canaan. When God wants to do His new thing in our life do we go around in circles because we do not have the faith to enter into the new place to which God is leading us?

The third challenge God faces is that He has to make us right so He can settle us into the new place He has for us. One translation of 2 Corinthians 6:1 reads that we are ‘co-operaters’ with God. When we realize something of what God is trying to do in our life it would help Him and could be helpful to us if we would give God a little cooperation.

“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done…” (Matthew 6:9)

A second step that will lead us into the will of God is perhaps the most important base we need to touch when we are seeking divine guidance. The bottom line is that God will not reveal His will to people who are not going to do it when He reveals it to them.

When Jesus TAUGHT His disciples how to pray, He taught them to pray, “Thy will be done.” When Jesus SHOWED His disciples how to pray He sweat drops of blood as He prayed, “Not My will, but Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10; 26:39; Luke 22:42-44). In John 7:17, Jesus gives us a principle that shows us how we can know His teaching is the teaching of God. This principle also applies when we are seeking to know the will of God. The principle is simply this: If any man wills to do, he will know.

God has placed in our hands a key that can unlock His will for our lives. According to Jesus and Paul, knowing the will of God for our lives does not have to be difficult or complex. God does not deliberately complicate or obscure His will. The difficulty is not the will of God, but your will and my will. As Paul tells us how we can know “the good, acceptable and perfect will of God,” he begins his prescription for knowing God’s will by telling us to throw our hands up and offer an unconditional surrender of our will to the will of God (Romans 12:1, 2). The unconditional surrender of our will to the will of God will make our quest to know His will significantly less complicated.