God’s assurance

When trouble comes and the danger is real, I want my first thought to be that this problem is not too difficult for God. He can solve it. His solutions will surprise me, but He is powerful and not limited by the enormity of the situation.

Tozer writes that one meaning of the word “power” is “ability to do.” This week, I’ve become more aware that part of that to-do list is helping me KNOW that He is going to do something.

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13)

I’ve been praying continually regarding a dire situation that I’ve been asked not to share. I’ve tried to worry and the Holy Spirit will not let me! He keeps guiding me to this: “I am in control and taking care of this situation. Nothing is too hard for me.”

This is a wonder — not just that God can do whatever is needed, but that he makes His will vivid to my heart and mind. He is not shouting, but His thoughts are clear, almost piercing and certainly beyond the limits of my intellect. He uses Scripture that pops into my head, and He brings to my recall past incidents that affirm where He is going with this.

This incredible communication with God begins with another experience, that of being made new, given new life, given His life. It is a mysterious event but nonetheless real. For me, it was even dramatic. It matches up to what Jesus told a Pharisee in His day:

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5–8)

What the Spirit does is not an imaginary or ethereal work. It is real. He does not give people a ‘zap’ but a new life that changes everything — from the attitudes of the heart to the actions of life. He changes the motivations and desires that are basic to humanity so they line up with the will of God. For some, this takes a while. For others, it is noticed immediately.

For me, learning how to hear the affirmation of the Holy Spirit began with total assurance that I belong to God and have eternal life . . .

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” (1 John 5:13–15)

 Confidence in answered prayer has taken longer, partly because I’ve been slow to listen to His voice and too quick to turn to my own thoughts and ideas. However, the Christian experience is as Tozer describes, “The Holy Spirit creates in us a new life and a new set of spiritual senses altogether, through which we discern, understand, and enter into the life of God and the spiritual realm.” This reality sustains my faith and gives me peace and assurance, needed this week more than ever.

^^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I thank You for a heightened sense of Your presence and for making clear to me that You are in control and hearing my prayers. You have given me that ‘peace that passes understanding’ even though the end of this crisis is not yet in sight. To God be the glory.

Sanctification involves living . . .

Ecclesiastes reads like a depressing rant about the futility of life, yet my perspective changed when a young disciple joyfully concluded that the writer of this book realized that life is meaningless, but he didn’t care because he lived it with God and he would die and be with God. To this young disciple, Ecclesiastes should be read with delight because the bottom line is the Lord.

I was thinking of him during my yearly ‘through the Bible’ reading in Ecclesiastes this morning. Then I turned to “My Utmost for His Highest” and read this . . . .

“God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” (1 Corinthians 1:28–31)

The meaning of life boils down to this: I am a sinner, low-born and distained by the world’s standards, but because of God, I am in Christ Jesus. That means that I have His wisdom, His righteousness, His utter devotion to God, and have been fully redeemed from my sin to serve the Lord. I can read the rant of Ecclesiastes with joy in my heart. Because of Jesus, my life is not futile or lived in vain.

Chambers singles out the topic of sanctification from these verses. Yesterday he discussed the ‘death’ to self aspect of it, and today he focuses on the ‘Life Side’ of sanctification. He says that the perfections of Jesus Christ are imparted to His people the instant we, by faith, become His children.

This is a mystery, yet it can be compared to being enlisted in the army. A recruit is instantly a soldier, but needs boot camp and training to function as a soldier. In the same way, when I was redeemed, instantly I became a child of God. I instantly have the holiness of Jesus, but it takes all of life to learn how to let His perfections show up in this mortal body.

As Chambers says, sanctification is “Christ in you.” When that happens, the saving power of God begins to make it real in my life. By the power of His Spirit, He uses His Word and the circumstances of life to bring out the holy qualities of Jesus Christ in me: His patience, love, faith, purity, and more.

Chambers also says sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation. I cannot merely copy Him or live along the line of ‘what would Jesus do.’ Imitation does not have the power of having the perfections of Jesus released in my life. For that to happen, I must get out of His way, stop all efforts of self-righteousness and simply confess my sin and inability to be or do anything close to what a sanctified person should be or do.

The Bible tells me that my part in this is mostly about confessing and repenting . . .

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

Think of a mirror with mud on it. Confession gives God freedom to wipe off the junk so that His reflection is far easier to see. That is sanctification!