Two kinds of joy?

 

According to these verses, I’ve understood that being filled with the Holy Spirit is accompanied by the fruit of the Spirit:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22–23)

Today’s reading has me carefully defining joy. First, the joy of the Lord is not like regular happiness or elation. It does not depending on circumstances. Sometimes this joy is obvious and almost hyper, but on many occasions, it is deeper and comes bubbling up even when a normal person would be experiencing the opposite. In other words, God’s joy is there no matter what, but with this caveat: if I have unconfessed sin in my life, it eludes me. Loss of that joy is a signal that I need to confess something. Usually I know right away what it is by the absence of joy and other fruit of the Spirit.

Also, this does not mean that I’m no longer a Christian or united to Christ. It is simply His signal to me to keep short accounts with the Lord, much like a few of the psalms where the writer expressed how he felt because of his sin. However, today’s reading says this:

“People who live in their emotions feel at one with Christ that they look no farther than this feeling. They often delude themselves with thinking they have come into the divine union, when all the while their nature and dispositions are still under the sway of self-love.”

While the author goes on to say that emotions are untrustworthy and are largely the result of our physical condition or our natural temperaments so It is a fatal mistake to make them the test of our oneness with Christ, I say this ‘joy’ cannot be the same joy that the Holy Spirit produces. God’s joy gives me no delusions about my union with Christ. How do I know that? Loss of His joy drives me to acknowledge and confess sin while loss of the human emotion of joy simply raises more human emotions such as anger, annoyance, or efforts to ‘fix’ it by changing my circumstances.

Certainly my union with Christ is a fact, even one of those salvation truths that produces joy, but that joy is not about the union but about how I am living out that union. It makes no sense to be one with Christ and act as if the world’s way or sinful ways are going to make me happy. This is putting the source of that union on my ‘works’ instead of on the grace of God and the redemption that is in Christ. This union is not broken by sin. However, the joy of the Lord takes a blow when I let sin tell me what to do instead of following the leading of God’s Spirit. If my focus is on being filled with Him, I will discern the difference between my emotions and His.

Actually, the reading is warning against thinking I am a Christian because of my emotions. My understanding about joy is a different barrel of apples. I am a Christian because of Jesus, not because I feel joyful. I am filled with the Spirit and feel His joy when I walk with Him. Joy is not a test of unity with Christ in salvation, but it is a test of unity with Christ in the way I live as a Christian. Can I say what Jesus said?

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. (John 5:19)

In case I think this is not important, this is what Jesus said about the value of doing what God says over the value of merely being a joyful person:

If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:37–38)

PRAY: Jesus, it seems to me that Your joy is a test of my obedience. But You also teach me that I cannot make joy my focus. Up front, obedience often does not seem to be something that will give me joy, but that is not the kind of joy You give — as a reward. Instead, it is a joy that is like peace, beyond understanding yet evidence of You in my life and always there to give evidence that I united to You.

United with the Holy Spirit!

January 8-9, 2018

These devotionals on the Holy Spirit are delightful and bringing me into a deeper awareness of what it means to be a Christian.

Apparently, it is easy to get the wrong idea. For instance, some think that Christians have no fun and are compelled to do things they do not want to do, something like becoming a robot. This passage has an element of that ‘robot’ thing in it:

“And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:23–28)

However, being a child of God is no more about being a robot than our kids are robots. It is a unity that Tozer tries to illustrate with heat and a rod of iron, but I relate more easily to water and Kool Aid powder. God makes us new and His like we put the water and powder together; both obviously still exist, yet a new thing is created in their unity.

No illustration can perfectly describe how the Holy Spirit penetrates our spirits. I remain myself, and the Spirit remains Himself without any destruction of substance as each remains a separate being as before. As Tozer says,  the difference is that now the Spirit penetrates and fills our personalities and we are experientially one with God. I am in awe of that!

This relationship is not like the cartoon with an angel on one shoulder and red, fork-wielding devil on the other either. It is not a split-personality in any shape or form. Instead, being a child of God is almost like a dual personality, with me listening, the Spirit listening, both of us chatting and determining what comes next. If I pay attention, He guides me throughout the entire day, sometimes with humor (or is that me?) but always with wisdom.

The joy and the secret of this wonderful intimacy is paying attention. He is always there to speak, but I can be distracted. For years, most distractions were the idea that “I can do this myself” but there is nothing like a stint in the hospital (Yes, I am still in the hospital) to reveal and remove the very last bit of that out of me. Right now, the distractions are more like forgetting how often I need to stop for a chat. And this is a real conversation, nothing at all like a text message!

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, intimacy with You involves the Holy Spirit who always speaks of You and glorifies You. Forgive my slow and stubborn heart for taking so long to really ‘get’ this because I’ve too often simply had my own agenda. Tonight, I am moving slow, and for once I see that as a good thing!

NOTE: Tired tonight, but there is hope I can go home tomorrow.

Praying in His will

After 44 years of marriage, I’m far better at anticipating what my husband wants, is going to do, what he will say. I better understand his ideas on most topics and issues. Even with the usual husband/wife misunderstandings, he has become better at communicating himself to me, perhaps because I’ve become a better listener. I’ve also learned something about timing rather than asking important questions when he is busy with something else.

Chambers didn’t use the marriage relationship as an illustration, but he parallels it by saying the more unity I have in my relationship with Jesus, the greater my understanding of His will and what He is doing. Certainly that involves being a better listener. It also involves timing.

“In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:23–24)

“In that day” refers to the union of God’s people with Jesus Christ, made possible by His death, resurrection, and ascension. With His life in my life, I first had lots of questions, but the more I realize my union with Him, the less I ask and the more I simply trust. Chambers calls this “the place of entire reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus,” a reliance that brings me into a “perfect contact” with God’s purposes.

I don’t think I am totally there yet, but I do know that I ask fewer questions, and when I ask in the name of Jesus, I have greater confidence in God’s answers. Part of this is because He helps me understand what is going on and how I can pray to fit in with what is going on. Even if I don’t know and all seems dark, I am far better able to trust Him anyway because I am certain that He is good, He is involved, and His will is going to happen.

Chambers’ challenge involves listening and timing. If anything is a mystery and it comes between me and God, then it isn’t because I’m stupid or ignorant. I need to pay attention and consider the reasons I’m not able to grasp His will or at least trust Him even if I cannot figure out what He is doing.

As Chambers says, the solution is looking for the areas of my life that are not submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ. If I’ve not come to a place of total trust, how then can I ask anything in His name? Jesus makes it clear that when I sense a distance, it is not God who moved away. He also made clear that when there is no distance between the Father and His child (because we are made one), then in that day I will ask Him no questions and trust will come easily.

My issue is recognizing when I am out of harmony and getting that taken care of before praying and expecting to receive from Him.

United and kept by the power of God

Upgrading software often interrupts my quiet time with God because my devotional book is on my computer. While waiting for the upgrades to finish, I turned to a research paper that I’m supposed to read and write about for this week’s class. It is difficult reading. The author shows how Jesus could be fully God and fully man, without one compromising the other. He uses language and ideas that are foreign to me and my head began to ache as I tried to figure out the gist of his words.

This course (eight weeks) is crammed with assigned articles much like this one. They are thoughtfully selected so students might better understand biblical truths, particularly about Jesus. For me, some sections have moved me to tears with their expression of the beauty of Jesus Christ and the amazing things He has done.

Today’s devotional reading is much simpler but no less amazing. Consider this: Jesus Christ prays to His Father to keep His followers secure in Him and united to other Christians -- that we might demonstrate to the world the oneness that is between of the Son and the Father.

And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. (John 17:11)

Kept secure is a big issue in itself. Because of my union with Christ, I have eternal security. However, because God is sovereign and has good plans for me, I am secure in the events of this life too. That does not mean perpetual smooth sailing, but it does mean I am never out of God’s purposes for me, nor outside of this promise:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

Unity with other Christians is another big issue. I’ve met believers from all over the world and from all walks of life and that unity comes to the forefront almost immediately. (It can be blocked only by sinful attitudes in me or in them). I think of the Korean airline stewardess who made sure we found our hotel, and the chain store manager I sat beside on a flight from Chicago, and the smiling girl who worked in a small restaurant in China, and the many we have enjoyed fellowship with in churches across North America. The Spirit of Christ who lives in us also links us heart to heart. It is a beautiful thing.

My course is about the unity of one God in three persons. The concept is most difficult for our human minds. The course endeavors to clarify this reality, using both the Old Testament and the New to show that if all passages are taken into consideration, there is no other way to think about God.

This takes me back forty plus years to my conversion. I was reading in my living room and came across a verse from the Bible. In a moment of time, the Spirit of God opened my heart so that I understood immediately that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. I had not taken a seminary course or sat under anyone’s teaching. This understanding was from God to me, without study and without a headache! At the time, I would have been hard-pressed to explain how I knew that was true, but I did know and that knowledge still fills me with joy.

Now, as I read the explanations and the attempts at explanation of that same reality, rejoicing pushes hard against that headache. What God has done in Jesus Christ is a beautiful thing. He has changed my life because of His life and promises to pray for me forever, asking God to keep me in Him, and to keep me united with other Christians and with Himself. Again, this is a beautiful thing!

Jesus’ last blessing

In the Old Testament, the priest and father of the family blessed his children particularly when it was time for him to die. Jacob is an example. He was old and about to be “gathered to his fathers,” so he blessed Joseph and his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh…

And he blessed Joseph and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” (Genesis 48:15–16)

This was a prophetic and patriarchal blessing, but Jacob could not bless as God blesses. As my devotional reading says, he could speak the words of blessing, but he knew that the effect, the real blessing itself, depended on God, so his words were like a prayer.

This rite points ahead to Jesus whose care and love for His people was expressed in a prayer of blessing just before His death. Prior to this prayer, Jesus, “having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love” by washing their feet as a servant. (John 13:1). Then, in His prayer, He expressed what He desired for His followers…

And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. (John 17:11)

While we look at the disunity and factions in the church, God the Father hears the prayer of His Son so we can have unity of spirit in His name. In the heart of God, we are not to be the fragments visible, but united by the invisible power and Spirit of God. This means that whatever we do, it fits with His plan, a unified and perfect plan.

In His prayer, Jesus asked for oneness would be like the oneness between the Father and the Son. This is a unity that is difficult to imagine. The image that comes to mind is from those verses that describe how God, “before the foundation of the world” planned salvation, the redemption of His sinful and fallen creation. In that plan, the Father sent the Son, and the Son was completely willing to come to earth and die on a cross. With their heads together, there were no arguments, no plan B proposals, no fudging or hedging. Jesus would die for us and this would happen because they agreed together. They were and still are united.

As for the Body of Christ, our arms, legs, eyes and ears often squabble over the methods and means. Yet if we set aside all our denominations and differences, our hearts are united concerning His plan. We know what God did and what He desires. His goal is to redeem sinners. We are to cooperate by telling others about the marvel of the plan, that Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead to bring us into a saving relationship with Himself.

When Jesus prayed that we be kept in God’s name and for our unity, He had in mind that the glory the Father had given Him would also be given to His followers. This glory would unite us so we, despite our varying methods, would work as one body “so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:22–23)

When Jacob blessed his son and grandsons, he wanted his name to be carried on and his people to multiply and fill the earth. Jesus had the same thing in mind. He desires that His name be known by us, in us, and through us so we fill the earth with people who know His love and who work together with us to love and follow Him.

Unity is about that goal, about being lights in a dark place and demonstrating the love of God to those who have no idea that their Creator longs for a deep and saving relationship with them.