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Deepening Your Relationship With God – part 3

We are creating a receptive mindset for experiencing God’s presence at a deeper level and for having a better understanding of His will in our lives. It is a meditative prayerful method to get to know Him; and in that knowing, we will have a greater understanding of ourselves. We are following the natural craving of our spirit, for connection with our Creator.

We can steep in the wonderment of our God, thankful that He put us here and that we have a part to play – through reflecting this deeper understanding of His love to everyone around us. It is God’s gift; but we can’t get it without working with Him, so as to receive a greater assimilation of Him, which also helps remove the shackles of our worldly thinking.

In other words, we need to get our old self out of the way, and let God fill us with Himself. God is always ready to spend more time with us. When we do that, we get a better idea of how He works through us, and how He works around us and for us. To facilitate this, we must practice the art of surrender, yielding ourselves to His love, that we may also greater exalt Him.

It is a time for ‘Spirit-to-spirit’ talk. We cannot learn it. It is an experience that is cultivated by staying in God’s presence. In that presence, we let go of all non-biblical notions of who God is – this indescribable force, who calls Himself ‘I Am.’ He is beyond description.

God is in continual conversation with all of His children and His potential children. We need to learn to listen; and to scrutinize our lives to see how He is working in them. All of this is revealed in our contemplative time with Jehovah God. We are allowing Him to remove the weeds in our soul that get between Him and the life that He has for us.

The more we fill ourselves with God, the greater our ability to serve Him – in a life where our vision is brought to greater acuity, so that we better understand how to advance His kingdom in all circumstances.

We have to steer our free will in the right direction, so as to make decisions congruent with our authentic self (that self who has God living in him or her, not some apparition that we have been calling ‘me’) – in step with God and in consonance with His truth.

“You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.” Lk. 9:55 NKJV

God is waiting for all of us to ‘clean house’ and invite Him in:

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

When your mind is clean, you are ready and prepared to serve Him. It is a humble walk that puts others before ourselves, relying on God to nurture us for the task. Love is not love if it is not shared, yes? It requires acts of contribution.

The love of God empowers us; and we know that God loves us:

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Rm. 5:5 NKJV

And in that love, we bring God with us when we serve, so that it transforms both who we are being and how we are acting:

…present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. And do not be conformed to the world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you]. Rm. 12:1, 2. AMP

Spiritual discipline is required to get closer to God. It takes godly thinking and acting, as well as having patience with God’s timetable. We must have faith that God knows what He’s doing, and not be vexed that His time span may not match our expectations.

Our journey to get closer to God will be interrupted at times by our humanity, with its inherent doubts, frustration, sins, egoist power plays, and uncertainty.

In the face of all that, we tough it out, (with His help), and continue to seek His will and drink in His love.

In this deepening of our relationship with God, we continue to apply our faith, even as it is being bolstered by our time with Him. It must be embraced in a fashion that supersedes our logic, knowing that our Father never lies.

“Whoever receives His testimony has set his seal [of approval] to this: God is true [and he knows that God cannot lie].” Jn. 3:33 NKJV

Faith builds the bridge between our spirit and His. It confers His likeness upon us so that we can meld with Him and comprehend what He would reveal to us. In that coalescing, we become beacons for His glory – radiating His loving invitation all around, fulfilling our heavenly mandate.

And all this comes to play when we spend more time with God, quietly listening for His will, asking Him how to carry it out, and jump into the chaos of the world with His peace.

As always with God, any interaction with Him begins with a relationship with His Son – our God-channel. Jesus makes that connection: Spirit-to-spirit. We must also exercise faith in embracing Jesus, who turns around and perfects that faith through the Holy Spirit. Indeed, God reveals Christ to us through the Holy Spirit.

It’s a three-sided relationship we are attaching ourselves to. You can know them all on the deepest level and your life will be changed in wondrous ways. But, it takes a commitment of your time, focused-listening with your heart, willingness and faith.

Prepare and receive…

Goodnight and God bless.

You Are Called to Advance God’s Kingdom

I don’t know how He’s going to do that for you, or what part God will want you to play; but call you He will…

Way back in antiquity, the earthly refection of God’s kingdom was in tatters:

The Lord saw that the wickedness (depravity) of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination or intent of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. Gn. 6:5 AMP

God’s initial thought was to wipe the earth clean of His wayward creations, and have a do-over. Yet God loved them so much that He decided to scan the planet to see if He could find anyone who might help Him further His kingdom. He still does this today:

God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. Ps. 53:2 NKJV

Fortuitously for us, He found one:

Noah was a righteous man [one who was just and had right standing with God], blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked (lived) [in habitual fellowship] with God. Gn. 6:9 AMP

This would infer that it helps us to be prepared for and active in our walk with God to be available for advancing His kingdom. Thank God, that Noah was available, giving God a vehicle (through Noah’s obedience) to give mankind a second chance to populate that same kingdom.

God called on Noah to build an ark to house him, his wife, his three sons and their wives, and a male and female of every living species of animal. Why? Because God said He’s going to flood the earth – an event that wouldn’t happen for another 120 years!

The inhabitants of the earth at that time had never witnessed such a phenomenon. Can you imagine the ridicule Noah and his family must have had thrust upon them by anyone who had met them during this construction period? In explaining their actions, they would have responded by effectively preaching the word of God – even if the hearers rejected it. How did Noah respond?

By faith [with confidence in God and His word] Noah, being warned by God about events not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his family. By this [act of obedience] he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith. Heb. 11:7 AMP

So, we also see that having faith in God, is necessary for us to be candidates for furthering His kingdom. The fact that you and I are here, is testimony of Noah’s right preparation and actions in advancing God’s purpose.

Ten generations after Noah, God called upon Abraham to enlarge His kingdom:

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing…and in you all of the families will be blessed.” Gn. 12:1 – 3. ESV

This is an enormous test of faith. God is telling Abraham to take his wife, his nephew and a few of his servants, and leave all that he’s ever known – to make a 1500-mile trek to Canaan, a land that he’s never seen, to be part of God’s seminal nation, to propagate it. Mind you, he and his wife were in their 70’s, but Abraham takes God at His word, i.e. exercising more of that kingdom-advancing faith.

Abraham, who is considered the biblical paragon of faith, did waiver in his faith a few times, but he always got back on track. This should give us encouragement, knowing that God will strengthen our faith (if we ask Him to) so that we can transcend our shortcomings.

There was also the matter of Abraham’s promised child. He waited 25 years for that promise to be fulfilled. Like Abraham, we too need to keep faith in that God is using our efforts to promote His plan, knowing that we have no idea when we will see the fruits of our labor.

Now, let’s consider Moses. He had escaped Egypt to flee the wrath of Pharaoh, settling into a new life as a sheepherder in what is now modern-day Saudi Arabia. As you know, one day Moses is out tending his sheep when God manifests Himself to him as a burning bush; and He charges him with the task of freeing His children from the Pharaoh’s oppression and leading them to the Promised Land.

Moses immediately lets fear lead him to resist God’s imperative. He wails about what He should do if the people don’t believe that he is representing God. God in turn displays miracles for Moses to convince him of His power, as a demonstration of what He will do through Moses, to convince His children.

Unconvinced, Moses pleads with God to send someone else because he is not a good public speaker. God tells Moses that He will teach him how to be. Moses still doubts, and God grants him a slight concession by sending Moses’ older brother Aaron to speak for Him.

What is God doing? He is equipping Moses with the skills and power to accomplish His purpose. God takes this frightened sheepherder and transforms him into a leader, who, through God, frees His children, performs a plethora of miracles while leading them to the Promised Land, and Holy Spirit-inspires Moses to write the first five books of the Bible.

God worked all of this through someone who was deathly afraid of answering God’s call. There are several other examples of this in the Bible, but I believe we have a good picture by now. The question is, ‘Will you answer God when He calls?’

We’ve seen that God can use anyone, at any age, with whatever fears they may have, to accomplish His kingdom purposes. One reason that is possible is that God has already equipped us to do so:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Eph. 2:10 NKJV

We are all part of God’s plan. He makes sure that we are up to whatever task He assigns to us. Still, to best serve God, we must prepare our awareness, so that we can hear His summons. We do that by becoming intimately related with Him through His word:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Tim. 3:16, 17. NKJV

God would never ask you to walk a path (your part in His plan) that you could not traverse to attain His end goal. He will supply the faith that you need through His Son (Heb. 12:2); and through Christ, He will give you every skill and power to make it happen. (Phil. 4:13).

God will call each and every one of us. It may be at a time or in such a way as we never would have guessed; it may be a task that seems overwhelming, or what appears to be simple yet vital for the completion of the kingdom of God. And if we keep our spiritual eyes and ears open, we can be ready when He calls…

“Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther. 4:14 NKJV

Goodnight and God bless.

When God Calls

When God calls you, it will be to serve His purposes in you – to do His will. Whatever that will is at the moment, we are called to humble ourselves in His presence and cast away anything like pride or the dictates of the present social order. God must be the epicenter of our focus.

It requires our total trust in Him, regardless of what out human logic wants to impose. Trust is faith, and faith brings the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit, as we begin the journey of our transcendent path of spiritual realization. We are becoming what we were originally conceived for.

God shows you the direction, equips you for the task, you perform that task to the best of you ability, and you leave the outcome to Him. Moreover, those outcomes are faith-builders. When we make the decisions to be part of this process, we gather the strength to subjugate our flesh to the Spirit, whereupon we begin freeing ourselves of the knee-jerk reactions of the mind and its preoccupation with the world.

God’s calling will necessitate the shedding of our old self to become a new person in Christ. (Eph. 4:17 – 24). Thankfully, He continually helps us with that:

And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord [who is] the Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:18 AMP

To answer God’s call then, takes rigorous self-examination with regards to one’s alignment with His word, so that he or she are in a state of preparedness And when we rest in God’s will, we come to know the goodness that He implanted within in us, and can subsequently tap into it to bring forth the fruits of our calling. We radiate His image, and our lives are grander for it.

God trains you for your calling, and some of that ‘training’ can be painful. It may even feel punitive, but it’s not. He is coaching you, developing your spiritual integrity and fortitude by removing layer after layer of worldly pollution.

When we are called, we will encounter obstacles, because our adversary tries to thwart out efforts. Yet God would not call us to strive for something that we could not do (because He backs us up). Our successes in Him builds our faith in our ability to be used by Him for each ensuing task upon our path.

When we answer the call of servitude, we are one with God and simultaneously set free from the world, and from the leash that it has tried to strangle us with. It is a joyful state as we come to realize that our calling also includes one that will culminate in His eternal presence through the grace of our Blessed Savior…

Goodnight and God bless.

Serving God

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