Tag Archives: resist

HOW CAN WE LIVE CLOSER TO JESUS?

Christian Life,

I can hear, echoing in my memory, the haunting sounds of the old song,

“Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, let it be…
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.”

As emotional as the words of this song may be, they don’t accurately reflect the message of Scripture.

What do we mean when we sigh, and yearn, and pray to walk closer to the Lord? Is there something we expect the Lord to do to draw us “closer” to Him? What do we mean by “closer”?

Jesus placed the requirements and the initiative squarely on us. Too often we cry and moan and pray that the Lord will draw us closer to Him when, in fact, He has done everything necessary to remove the barrier and open the way to fellowship with the Father and with Himself. He leaves it up to us to take the initiative.

Let’s see what the Bible says and follow this way instead of waiting for God to do more than He has already done.

First, He has given us a new status! He has dealt with our spiritual condition that blocked our way to Him. He has made us righteous, freed from guilt and shame through the blood of Jesus.

He has drawn us to Jesus. He has opened our hearts to the message of salvation and even given us faith to receive the truth.

John 6:44 NIV
[44] “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

It’s the Father’s initiative to draw us to Jesus.

He has brought our dead spirits back to life.

Ephesians 2:1, 4-6 NIV
[1] “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins..
[4] But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, [5] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. [6] And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…”

He has seated us next to Jesus on His throne in the closest proximity possible. We are as close to Jesus in spirit as we can ever be. In fact, we have become one with Him through the Holy Spirit in us.

Did you get that? God did something we could not do! He brought our dead spirits back to life, joined us to Jesus, and seated us with Him in the heavenly realm. So, where are we now? Seated with Christ in the heavenly realms! Can we be any closer to Him than that?

Second, we have an open-ended invitation.

Hebrews 10:19-22 NIV
[19] “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, [20] by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, [21] and since we have a great priest over the house of God, [22] LET US DRAW NEAR to God 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.”

Again, did you get that? Now, the initiative is ours! It’s up to us to act, by faith, on what God has done.

James 4:7-8 NIV
[7] “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Submit…resist…come near! These are all attitudes we must adopt, mindsets we must cultivate, truths we must believe, not to FEEL near to the Lord but to LIVE near to Him. Paul said, “We walk by faith, not by sight (or by feelings)”.

One thing blocks our fellowship with the Father…sin! Sin, in its many forms… thoughts, attitudes, words, deeds…puts up a barrier between us and others, and between us and God. Sin, in its worst form, is doing anything without reference to the Lord. If we make choices and decisions without communicating and doing what Jesus tells us, then we have taken control and He is no longer Lord for us.

John wrote…sin is the barrier to fellowship. Deal with it!

1 John 1:5-10 NIV
[5] This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. [6] If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. [8] If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

God has provided the solution to our lack of transparency. Forgiveness! Use it! As long as we are harbouring sin, we cannot function in the realm of closeness to the Lord.

Jesus has a solution to our desire for closeness…

John 15:4-5 NIV
[4] “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. [5] “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Remaining in Jesus is a choice we must make and an attitude we must cultivate, based on what He said. We cultivate the awareness of His presence by choosing to believe that it’s true, and by communing with Him in our hearts continually.

How do we maintain this union? By “walking in His commandments”. What are His commandments? “Love one another.” It’s as simple as that.

Romans 13:8 NIV
[8] “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”

How can we know that we are close to the Lord? He has given us one simple test…His peace! When we have peace in our hearts, we know there is no barrier between us and the Lord.

Colossians 3:15 NLT
[15] “And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.”

Do you get it?

The most powerful and accurate monitor of our closeness to the Lord is His peace in our hearts. Keeping our thoughts aligned with His Word and our attitudes and actions towards others loving, we can know and experience His closeness to us.

Philippians 4:6-9 NLT
[6] “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. [7] Then you will experience GOD’S PEACE, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. [8] And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. FIX YOUR THOUGHTS on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. THINK ABOUT things that are excellent and worthy of praise. [9] Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then THE GOD OF PEACE will be with you.”

Once again, God has given us, in His Word, the way to cultivate and experience the closeness to Jesus that we desire. He has done His part. Now it’s up to us to do our part. As we position ourselves, by faith, in union with Jesus, in the realm where He is sovereign, His peace guards and protects us from all the dangers and challenges the enemy uses to lure us away from that place of perfect peace.

Isaiah 26:3-4 NLT
[3] “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! [4] Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.”

A Futile Objection

Bible Study, , , ,

A FUTILE OBJECTION

“One of you will say to me: ‘Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist His will?’ But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this’?” Does not the potter have the right to make of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? What if God, although choosing to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the objects of His wrath – prepared for destruction? What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory, even us whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?” Romans 9:19-24.

“He made me do it!” Ever heard that objection from the mouth of a little kid just caught with his hand in the cookie jar? What a futile objection.

It’s the kind of argument Paul envisaged from someone who was trying to wriggle out of taking responsibility for his wicked actions. “It’s God’s fault,” he insists. “He made me like this.” Really! Like the young girl who finds out she’s pregnant after a one-night stand and whines, “Why did God allow this to happen?” Did God take her by the scruff of the neck and force her into a promiscuous lifestyle?

But is goes deeper than that. As much as we dare not blame God for our sinful behaviour, how can we scrutinise His justice and find fault with Him when we cannot fathom the depths of His nature or understand His ways? Of one thing we can be absolutely certain: God cannot do wrong. If He were able to act unjustly, He would no longer be God and He would not be eternal because injustice is sin which leads to death.

So what exactly is Paul telling us? Firstly, it is God’s prerogative to choose what kind of vessel to make when He begins to mould the clay. The clay is His and so is the choice of design and purpose.

Secondly, He creates each vessel according to His purpose. He always has the bigger picture in mind. He is writing His story – the one that puts His glory on display for the entire universe to see. Every detail must fit into His purpose and every character in the story must play his part in displaying God whether through His wrath or through His mercy.

Thirdly, God always takes into account His gift of free will to every human being. That does not make God subject to our choices but, in a mysterious way that we will never understand this side of heaven, God’s sovereignty overrides even our free will. Yet, at the same time, He holds every person accountable for his choices. He does not make us disobedient, nor does He want us to be disobedient just to carry out His plans but, at the same time, our disobedience is put to good use in the plot of His story! How does that work? I don’t know but God does!

Peter put these two ideas together with great skill on the day of Pentecost when he explained the strange goings-on to the astonished crowd.

“This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.” Acts 2:23.

Here was Peter, placing the responsibility for crucifying Jesus squarely on the shoulders of his hearers, seeing God behind it all and, at the same time, offering them repentance and the opportunity to change and be a part of God’s story! Wow! How is that for a matchless story-line?

How can we marry these two ideas? God creates some vessels for wrath and yet He gives them opportunity to change their minds and waits patiently for them to receive His mercy. But He also knows they will refuse, and He writes them into His story – like Pharaoh… like Judas…! Is He unfair? Is He unjust? No way!

What’s the point? It’s not about pointing fingers at God and demanding “How could you do that to him?” but it’s about falling on your knees before him and weeping in gratitude, “Thank you, Father, for your mercy to me.”

Have you done that?

Acknowledgement

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