Tag Archives: Spirit

Asleep On The Battlefield

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ASLEEP ON THE BATTLEFIELD

Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Simon,’ He said to Peter, ‘are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Once more He went away and prayed the same thing.

When He came back, He again found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to Him. Returning the third time, He said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!’ (Mark 14: 37-42).

Agitated! You can feel it in His words and actions. Agonising prayer! Backwards and forwards to the sleeping disciples! Rebuke and warning! All the signs of someone who was restless and agitated, anticipating something and desperately wanting His disciples to be in it with Him.

And the disciples? They were oblivious to the impending tragedy that was about to overtake their Master and them with Him. Despite His rebukes and His warnings, they slept on. Not even the sound of His agonised cries in the silence of the garden could disturb their sleep. They were finished, exhausted beyond caring. O, they had felt His mood alright. They were aware that something was up, but somehow they just could not rouse themselves to be a part of it. They were beyond weary.  

Peter was the one who got the rebuke. He was always out front, leading both by example and by his big mouth. He should have taken the lead in setting up a watch so that Jesus could engage His Father in prayer knowing that His disciples were guardingHis back. He didn’t want Judas sneaking up on them and taking them all prisoner. It was His fight this time, and He had to do it alone.

There is a plaintive note in Jesus’ words to Peter. ‘Couldn’t you keep watch for me for just one hour?’ But Peter didn’t understand what he was to watch for. Had Jesus explained to them that Judas was about to break in on their company and arrest Him? Perhaps He wanted them to alert Him when they caught the first glimpse of the arresting mob in the garden – not that they came quietly, it seems.

Jesus had no intention of escaping into the darkness. He could have, but He didn’t. He could have slipped away long before the mob arrived. He knew what Judas was up to. He knew they would find Him there. Unlike any other villain who was always on the run, Jesus anticipated His arrest and steeled Himself for the moment. That’s what His prayer was all about.

Was He going to cringe and fight, or was He going to submit to the injustice and cruelty He knew was coming, in obedience to His Father? This was the moment for which all of the angelic hosts had waited; the moment towards which all of human history had pointed. He had to decide. Would He go through with it as a true son, or would He flinch and fail? His own destiny and the destiny of the human race hung on the next few hours. And the disciples slept!

All the lessons of His earthly life as a human being and the Son of God, a role He had never played until the moment when He burst in on human history, prepared Him for this moment. Unlike His disciples and as weary as He must have been as well, He could not sleep. He understood how vital it was to be fortified with the awareness of His Father’s presence and approval. Just as He was prepared for the conflict in the wilderness, so now He must be ready for the greatest conflict of all. Would He submit like a son or would He resist like a rebel?

And the disciples? They were asleep and so unprepared! Instead of catching the spirit of their Master and praying for strength to trust the Father in their time of testing, they were asleep on the battlefield. They were not even aware that there was an impending battle, for them as well as for their Master. They drowsed away the moments when they should have been praying.

How often we are also caught unawares because we are unprepared for our moment!  The tests are sprung on us unawares. God gives us opportunity, time after time, to trust Him in the ups and downs of life. Then there comes the storm, the one big, violent upheaval in our lives for which the many small tests should have prepared us. Have we learned our lessons well?

Jesus said, ‘Be alert! Keep watch!’ For what? For the unguarded moments when Satan slips in to trip us up. Don’t ever sleep on the battlefield. The enemy never sleeps!

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith . . . (1 Peter 5: 8-9a)

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

Failure

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FAILURE

When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet Him. ‘What are you arguing with them about?’ He asked. A man in the crowd answered, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.’ (Mark 9:14-18).

Jesus’ disciples weren’t doing very well, were they? The ones with Him up the mountain were hopelessly uncomprehending and the ones down below were out of their depth with a demon-possessed boy. They were supposed to be practising to be disciples but all they could produce at this stage was failure.

Imagine the disappointment and exasperation the father of the boy must have felt! Of course he understood that these men were followers of Jesus and that they, therefore, should be able to do what He did. But they couldn’t. The evil spirit just would not obey them. Didn’t the spirit know that he was supposed to get out when they told it to? Apparently not.

‘You unbelieving generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?  Bring the boy to me.’ (Mark 9: 19).

Jesus exploded! After all this time with them, all they could produce was unbelief and failure. What was wrong with them? How long would it take Him to convince these knuckleheads that He was who He was and that He had given them authority to do what He did? Exasperated, He called for the boy to be brought to Him. What was the use of having disciples when He had to do it all Himself?

What was their problem? His outburst, in the words of Eugene Peterson (The Message), reveal their mind-set, still stuck on their circumstances instead of being aware of God.

‘What a generation! No sense of God! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this?

In this outburst, Jesus revealed the difference between the attitude of the disciples and His attitude – God-awareness. Adam and Eve lost their God-awareness the moment they disobeyed Him and stepped out of His felt presence. They hid from Him because they were afraid. Why were they afraid? They were aware of their nakedness? What happened to change everything? Because of their rebellion, they became painfully self-aware and their self-awareness took over.

Jesus was so God-conscious, so one with the Father, that He did everything in God. There was no situation too big for Him to handle because He and the Holy Spirit were one. Yes, Jesus was frustrated with His disciples and yet, failure was as much, if not more, their training ground as success. Isn’t it true that we learn more from our failures than from our successes?

Jesus was annoyed but not fazed by their inability to drive out the demon. He knew that when the Holy Spirit fell on them, they would be launched into a new kind of life, filled with revelation and authority way beyond their wildest dreams. This is still boot-camp. They were still battling with the basics, but their time was coming.

So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

Jesus asked the boy’s father, ‘How long has he been like this?’ ‘From childhood,’ he answered. ‘It has often thrown him into the fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. ‘If you can’? said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’  (Mark 9: 20-23).

Now we are beginning to understand why the disciples failed with this boy. This was a particularly stubborn and defiant demon. It even tried to resist Jesus. It had been squatting in this boy for years and was not about to give way without a fight.

The father’s wistful request brought an indignant retort from Jesus. “If you can”? He echoed. Of course He could. He would never ignore a cry for help. But His mercy needed trust. If the father trusted Jesus, it would happen.

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’ (Mark 9: 24).

Now it was all coming together – God-consciousness that made them more aware of God than the circumstances, and the authority that flowed from that God-consciousness; and confidence that Jesus could do it. This was a lesson the disciples had to learn. It was not about them. It was about Him. They could do it because He said so and He had confidence in their confidence in Him.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

 

Tested!

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TESTED!

At once the Spirit sent Him out into the wilderness, and He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended Him. (Mark 1:12-13).

Mark’s version of this phase of Jesus’ training to be a son is quite sketchy. He gives no details about this event and yet, according to Matthew and Luke, it was a significant encounter with His arch enemy and one that would set the direction of His mission to reveal the Father as the perfect Son from here on.

He had always lived in fellowship with and obedience to the Father from birth even in an obscure village in Galilee as the son of a peasant carpenter. The Father testified to this at His baptism. But from now on, He would be facing the enemy head on, living in a fish bowl in the public eye, and open to public scrutiny from both supporters and enemies.

The success of His mission depended on declaring and demonstrating who He was – not the son of Joseph and Mary but the Son of God. He came as an accurate representative of the Father to reveal the true nature of their God to His people who had lost their way over centuries of rebellion, punishment and the influences of the surrounding nations.

It was time for them to know who their God was and to return to Him in repentance and trust. Jesus came to show them the way and to pave the way by removing sin and reconciling them to the Father. But how was He to do this? Before He ever opened His mouth to proclaim the good news that God was still in charge and that He had sent His Son to bring them back to Himself,  He had to be sure of His modus operandi. How was He going to convince the people of His identity?

The Holy Spirit had a bold plan. He didn’t send Him into the wilderness to study in a “Holy Spirit School” for forty days. Instead, He let the devil loose on Him just as He had done to His people centuries before when they came out of Egypt. As God’s “son” they had to endure the inhospitable and dangerous environment of Arabia as their classroom in their “school of learning to trust God” for forty years. Jesus must be put through His paces in the equally inhospitable wilderness for forty days.

Isn’t this a rather drastic way to further His education? Why not just sit Him down and give Him some guidelines for conducting His public ministry? No, that was too easy. He had to thrash out His trust in and loyalty to the Father in the “school of experience.” We have to turn to Matthew and Luke for the details of this clash. What was the devil’s plan? To get Him to cut loose from the Father just as he had lured Adam and Eve to do.

Three subtle suggestions – one goal; break the unity between the Son and His Father by getting Him to go it alone. After all, if He was who He said He was, the Son of God, did He not have the authority and power to act as God? If He was hungry, could He not just do a little magic like turning stones into bread? No one would notice and that would deal with His immediate need. It was just a small thing, really – like eating a bit of forbidden fruit.

“No way!” Jesus retorted. “It’s much bigger than you are suggesting. If I did what you are telling me, I would be putting myself under your authority and that is unthinkable.”

“What about getting God to do what you want? Jump and let the people watch a miracle.  After all, didn’t He promise to send His angels to guard you when you fall?”

Jesus saw through that one as well. “Are you crazy? I live under the authority of God’s word. I don’t use it to get my way.”

“Okay, so why don’t you just bow down to me? No one will see you and you can have the whole world without a fight.”

Jesus was adamant. “Get lost, devil! Who do you think you are – God? I will never put myself under your authority. I know who I am and nothing will change that.”

Round one – Jesus, one; Satan, nil. When He left the wilderness, He knew like never before who He was and how He was going to beat the devil. He would trust and obey the Father, no matter what. That’s what sons do.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

Let Us Draw Near

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LET US DRAW NEAR

The Holy Spirit also testifies about this. First He says: ‘This is the covenant I will make with them, after that time,’ says the Lord. ‘I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.’

Then He adds: ‘Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’

And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary (Heb. 10: 15-18).

With the sacrifice of Jesus, God put a full stop at the end of the prophetic sentence. Everything was complete with that one sacrifice – justice satisfied, sin atoned for, forgiven and removed as far as the east is from the west, the new covenant brought into effect, with better provisions based on better promises and mediated by a better high priest.

God was now free to put into effect what He had planned and set in motion at the beginning – a family of sons and daughters who would relate to Him as a Father and who would live with Him in intimate fellowship with nothing between us to obstruct our relationship with Him.

No longer do we need to go to the priest for instruction in God’s word, He has written it on our hearts and in our minds – not just the words but the spirit of His word, His nature, who He is and who we are in Christ. We are no longer slaves but sons, and the Spirit of sonship witnesses with our spirits that we are, indeed, sons and daughters of God.

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children (Rom. 8: 15-16).

The completion of Jesus’s work brings us into a new realm of living – in God’s presence – because all obstacles have been removed. We are no longer shut out by a heavy curtain beyond which we are not permitted to go. We no longer need to rely on an earthly high priest to mediate for us. We have a permanent high priest in the presence of God, who presents His own blood as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. We no longer have to wait for another Day of Atonement before we can receive the assurance that our sin has been forgiven for another year. Our sin has been removed – forever.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is His body, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water (Heb. 10: 19-22).

At last! This is what God has been waiting for – from the moment Adam sinned – His children restored to fellowship with Himself. What an invitation!

The Creator God of the universe, King of the nations, extends His sceptre towards us with the unconditional invitation to draw near. And yet – how few accept that invitation and truly draw near! We come with our crises; we come with our grocery lists of needs; we come with our gripes and complaints; we even come pouting, with our mistrust and suspicion, and we hope to get a reply by next week, or immediately if we need His intervention now! Is that what He means by drawing near?

David, a man who was still part of the old system, who did not know Jesus, who walked with God under the provisions of the old covenant, understood what it was like to draw near.

One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple (Psa. 27: 4).

Something happens when we draw near and gaze on the beauty of the Lord. We are transformed – like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon after weeks of resting – metamorphosed into something ethereal and beautiful.

And we all who, with unveiled faces, contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3; 18).

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublshing.com and order from your branch.

 

You Reap What You Sow

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YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW

“Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with his instructor. Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good for, at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially those belonging to the family of believers.” Galatians 6:6-10.

Have you ever heard this saying? “A fool is a person who keeps on doing the same thing but expects a different outcome.” It’s the same as saying that a fool is someone who sows weeds and expects to reap wheat. Just as God has laws in the natural world that never alter, so the laws of the spiritual dimension are equally stable.

What was Paul talking about here? The law of the harvest applies at every level, but Paul had something particular in mind when he penned these words. In the Mosaic Covenant, God taught His people how to apportion their crops, not by fixed amounts but by percentage. Everything belongs to God. He had the right to tell His people how to use their resources.

At the end of each harvest, wheat, barley and whatever else they grew, and the increase of their flocks and herds, they were to give away approximately 20% and keep 80% for their own use. They had a responsibility to care for others as well as themselves and their families; their high priest; the priests and Levites; their own future, and the poor, the widow, the orphan and the foreigner, out of the 20% they set aside for this purpose.

Although the New Testament does not repeat these instructions, the principles are still the same and still found in the new covenant. Our responsibilities to other people have not changed. Many believers argue that we are now under grace, not under the law. That may be so, but everyone, including those for whom we are responsible, still has to live. God has never improved on His economic policy because it’s not about law; it’s about wisdom.

Left to ourselves because we argue that we are no longer under the law, we usually give less and less because of our innate reluctance to part with our money. We argue that we are being led by the Spirit. But what spirit? The old greedy nature still lurks deep inside us. We think that what we earn and what we own is ours. No, it is not. We are stewards of God’s property which we have on loan. We are accountable to Him for how we use it. When we use it for ourselves instead of obeying Him, we must not be surprised if our resources run out. Why should God give us more when we are unfaithful to Him with what we have?

In this passage, Paul talked about money and possessions – as simple as that! The law of the harvest applies to our money as much as it does to anything else. He urged the Galatians to take care of those who taught them the word. They have as much right to financial remuneration as those who work to earn a living. Whatever they sowed, they would reap. Paul talked about “sowing to the flesh” in the context of money.

According the Eugene Peterson’s “The Message”, we cannot make a fool of God. He established the law of the harvest and it has never been changed. When we are selfish and greedy with the resources God has entrusted to us, we will reap destruction because that is the pre-determined harvest of the “flesh”. Conversely, if we sow generosity, we will reap eternal life which is the outcome of righteousness.

“Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” 12 Corinthians 9:10, 11.

Because the law of the harvest never changes, there will always be a harvest of more of what you have sown. Just as selfishness will multiply in your life if you are selfish, so generosity will break the cycle of greed in you and set you on the road to real prosperity – not just in financial sufficiency but in the growth of your character to become more like Jesus.

Like everything else in life, generosity is a partnership with God. He will ensure that we are never in need when we obey Him by taking care of the needs of others.

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or “What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:31-33.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.