No one is ‘my’ disciple

The more I walk with Christ and the deeper this relationship becomes, the greater my freedom to be the person God created me to be. I cannot prove that by observation or even by a sense of being increasingly spiritual or holy — I just know that it is true because the ideas and desires that once held me in bondage are falling away. This prisoner is no longer shackled.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

Paul said that we are slaves to whatever we serve. The overall picture is either God or sin, but sin takes many forms, some less obvious than others.

One yoke of slavery is the sin of living by and pushing my personal opinion. I can easily assume I am right (whether from education or mere pride) and that others don’t know what they are talking about. That is arrogance, and also bondage. For one thing, such an attitude marks me as unteachable and bound in narrow-mindedness. Other people sense it immediately and would say I was full of myself, or a know-it-all, thinking descriptions less polite.

Chambers says a spiritual minded person does not demand that others believe this and that, only that they ‘square’ their lives with the standards of Jesus. Christianity is not about believing the Bible, but believing the One whom the Bible reveals.

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5:39–40)

Believing what the Bible says is great, but as long as it doesn’t make me a dogmatic theologian who never spends any time with Jesus or tells others about Him. It is Christ who sets me free, not my doctrine. This freedom is about having a clear conscience. It is about living as a servant of Jesus Christ instead of a servant to sin.

However, when I start telling others what to believe and how to live, then I run the danger of interfering with how Jesus is managing their faith and their affairs. Chambers is right in saying that it takes God a long time to get us out of this notion that unless everyone believes the same as I do, they must be wrong.

Of course there are certain tenets of faith that are not negotiable, like Jesus is God’s Son, sent to die for our sin, was crucified, and rose from the dead. But if God is leading another person to a different style of worship, or ministry, or way of praying, I’ve no business telling them that they are wrong because they must do these things the same way I do them.

I’m to be patient and kind, not fudging the truth if another person is in error or confused, but sometimes it is me that is out of touch with God’s truth. The point is, each of us must let the Lord have His way in our own lives. In making disciples (a command from God) I’m supposed to teach them what He has taught me remembering that the idea is to produce followers of Jesus Christ, not convert people to my own prejudices and opinions.

The good news is not about me . . .

For years I’ve thought of salvation as an experience, and found it easy to share my experience of how Christ introduced me to Himself, putting the focus on what happened to me.

Chambers challenges that approach to sharing the Gospel. He says salvation is the great thought of God. While I wonder how that came from this verse, I know this devotional writer is proclaiming a truth that I need to hear . . .

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)

Salvation is a work of God. It is so incredible that most of who are saved can scarcely think about it for very long. It is something like trying to grasp the idea of an endless space and an eternal God. I’m not equipped to wrap my head around such a lofty concept.

Chambers says my ‘experience’ is merely the gateway by which salvation came into my conscious life. At those words, deep rejoicing comes into my heart! He also says not to preach (or teach) the experience, but the great thought of God behind it. That is, rather than proclaim how sinners can be saved from eternal damnation and be given a wonderful new life, I am to convey good news about God love for sinners and His grace to devise a way to draw us into His kingdom.

Again, the way of salvation is so incredible that even those who believe and accept it often shake their heads at the wonder of it. It is simple enough for a child to understand, yet deep enough to keep the most mature mind endlessly occupied.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:16–18)

Jesus also says about that condemnation: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:19–20)

This incredible good news about God is not rejected because it is too incredible to believe; it is rejected because no one wants to admit their need for it. Instead of realizing the element of judgment is a sign of God’s love, it is considered an indication of His ‘meanness’ and a reason to blame Him for our difficulties.

Chambers says to look past the reasons people give for their lack of faith; just tell them the good news about God and His great love in offering eternal life to all. The Spirit of God will show the hearers what is wrong and convince them of their need.

I need to remember that the test in preaching or teaching or sharing the Gospel is that everyone deserves judgment, including me. I cannot lord it over others or look down on those who reject this wonderful message. I also go my own way and resist God. Without His Spirit, I cannot yield in any obedience nor can I worship Him.  

Everyone needs Jesus, and as Chambers says, every element of self-reliance must be slain by the power of God. Complete weakness and dependence will always be fertile ground for the Spirit of God to manifest His power.

This is why the good news is news must focus on what God has thought and done, not about my experience with His saving power. My story is not the power of salvation. It is the story of Jesus Christ that brings people to their knees before God. 

A city on fire

Yesterday began normally for a city farther north in our province; blue sky, light winds, but very hot with low humidity. By mid-afternoon the winds shifted. Within minutes, a forest fire to the southwest doubled in size and came raging toward them. This is city houses many part-time workers in the oil industry varying the population from 50,000 to 100,000. The fire went wild and orders to evacuate certain sections began, but by suppertime, the entire city was told to get out. The four lane highway became a one-way and the smoke dropped visibility. Air quality went off the chart.

I watched the ‘breaking news’ on television and began to pray. That quiet voice of the Holy Spirit immediately told me to think before I opened my mouth. My first thought was: what is God doing by allowing a fire like this? I know He controls the weather so why so hot and dry, so vulnerable? This city is known for lots of money; have people become more interested in making money than anything else? I felt like crying at those questions; these people are fleeing for their lives without much more than they can fit in a suitcase or their cars. I don’t know much about them, yet stopping to think about the will of God affected the way I prayed.

In today’s devotional, Chambers says to guard against bringing personal sympathies to God with a demand that He does what I ask. This writer uses verses that remind me of the only reason I can pray in the first place . . .

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:19–25)

My approach to God can only happen because of His Son’s sacrifice; I have confidence in prayer because of the blood of Jesus. He died for my sin, and that makes prayer a humble privilege, not a spiritual right. God is still God, not a genie in a bottle. He tells us to pray according to His will. That is vital.

So is intercessory prayer, yet Chambers says another vital thing: I can think that parts of my life are not in need of the blood of Christ because I am doing just fine in those areas. With that view, it is easy to overlook the common needs of every sinner, particularly if they seem to be doing just fine. If I do that, then intercessory prayer is easily discarded. After all, if I am ‘okay’ then others are too and I don’t need to concern myself with them.

This attitude has other symptoms. One of them is getting annoyed with God because He does not have the same sympathy toward the needs of others as I do. I think they should be healed; He does not heal them. I think they should not suffer; He seems to ignore their struggles.

I want to pray for a miraculous storm to rise out of that cloudless sky (those ‘clouds’ are smoke) and pour rain to douse the fire and save the homes. The horror of the scene overwhelms objectivity; I want God to stop this tragedy. But what if God is answering someone’s intercession, someone who has asked Him to awaken souls to their need of Him? Or what if His church in that place has slid into a ‘living for worldly pleasure mode’ and He is going beyond mild discipline?

Our Father God isn’t into comfort like most of us. He loves the Son, yet to save sinners, He put His dear Jesus to a horrible death. It is with “much tribulations” that we enter the kingdom of God, and after getting there, we are not immune to pain and loss. Paul suffered the loss of all things that he might know Christ. Peter also wrote to persecuted believers:

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:10)

Unless He reveals otherwise, I can only guess what God is doing, but I know that He is in charge of the wind and the rain, and can control which homes stay standing, and which burn to the ground. He can also reach the hearts of needy people.

The trauma of this massive fire is extreme, but so is the realization that I need to be on guard that my natural sympathy for human suffering does not overwhelm me and prevent me from seeking the will of God and how to pray. This does not mean to drop compassion. It does mean yielding to the right and power of God to bring people into His kingdom — and into a deeper and fuller obedience — in whatever way He decides.

I’m stressed, as is everyone watching this terrible event. How can the will of God be discerned when my stomach is in a huge knot? When this happens, my hubby often offers this quote: “If you don’t know for sure between judgment and mercy, it is better to err on the side of mercy.”

God’s words echo in my heart today: “Be careful how you pray” but also “Blessed are the merciful . . . !”

Be wise with prayer requests

My hubby and I get together twice a month with another couple to pray for our adult children and our grandchildren. We have done this for many years and agree that the changes in our family are slow. The great change is in us and how we pray. Our requests once concerned temporal needs. Now it is for spiritual needs and eternal well-being.

The Apostle Paul seems to have learned this much quicker than we did. He prayed continually about the spiritual needs of the churches and people under his care, and gave instruction for prayer, even personal prayer requests.

. . .  take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:17–20)

Paul was in jail. The natural inclination would be prayers for his release, but in his letter to the church at Philippi, after lengthy prayers for their well-being, he said:

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. (Philippians 1:12–14)

Paul saw God’s hand in his situation. Even though he was in a horrible place that was nothing like the prisons of today, he realized that God was using this for good. Had his Christian coworkers prayed for his release, they would have been asking out of God’s will.

Chambers makes an easy connection to my prayers; praying in the will of God could means hardship for others. If I intercede in sympathy with their trials, I could be messing with God’s plan to lift them to a higher level. For instance, if my prayers have been for someone’s salvation, God could be answering that prayer with trials, sickness, or other hardships. I need to seek His will before quickly praying the usual request for comfort.

This makes prayer a deeper challenge. I need to be sure of God. I can sidetrack my relationship with Him by sin, but also with personal sympathy and prejudice. Sympathy has this ‘I will not allow that thing to happen’ way of thinking. It is like Peter’s statement to Jesus when He said He would be crucified:

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:21–23)

This strong rebuke shows the importance of God’s will in our prayers. Jesus called Pater ‘Satan’ and exposed a fleshy focus that was sinful. I don’t want to pray that way for myself or others.

Chambers also says that if I am an intercessor, then I will not have time or inclination to pray for my own ‘sad sweet self’ because I will not be thinking about myself at all. If that were not challenge enough, Chambers also says that the discernment that God gives is always a call to intercession, never to fault finding. In other words, having a critical spirit also messes with the will of God because it usually prevents me from praying at all. Without prayer, I have stepped away from my most vital connection to Him.

Reaching for God

God’s man Habakkuk was given a vision. At first he was totally dismayed. How could God use wicked people to judge people more righteous than themselves? Essentially, God told him to be patent . . .

For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. (Habakkuk 2:3)

Sometimes patience is confused with ‘I don’t care.’ It is easy to be serene about a thing if it doesn’t matter. However, this is not the waiting that God was asking for. It carries the idea of endurance, staying power, and in this case, keeping eyes on the vision that God had given. Because God is a solid rock who keeps His promises, patience finds its source in Him, in His very nature and faithfulness. The New Testament writer said of Moses: “By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.” (Hebrews 11:27)

For the people of God, patience is closely tied to faith. We can wait on those promises and for those visions because we trust Him to keep His word. The next thing God said to Habakkuk was a judgment against his enemies, and encouragement to trust Him.

Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4)

Habakkuk was dealing with a national issue, but living by faith is for personal issues too. Years ago, God revealed something to me concerning the salvation of a family member. Looking for signs of that happening is easy, but when I do that I am not walking by faith or waiting on God for the reality of that vision. Walking by faith means trusting that God will do what He says, regardless of what I can see or not see. This means being devoted to God, not to the issue at hand. It also means I might go through a time of “temptation in the wilderness” where I get no word from Him, but I can endure that dark spell if my gaze is on God and not on what I want Him to do.

Sadly, much of my faith has depended on seeing God at work rather than seeing God, but today’s devotional reading points to a deeper truth. As Chambers says, trusting God is like reaching out for more than I have ever grasped. It is never being quite satisfied spiritually along with the idea that I can endure because I know God will eventually satisfy me, not so much with what I think I want, but with Himself. Paul knew this reaching, but he also knew the prize; it was the upward call of God, not anything to do with his spiritual growth or sanctification . . .

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. (Philippians 3:12–15)

Chambers says if I have only what I experience, I have nothing. But if I am inspired by the vision of God Himself, then I have more that can be experienced. For me, this is a deep and profound challenge.

Walking by Faith

Now and then I shut my eyes and walk about my home as if I were blind. Odd, I know, but this does produce an appreciation for sight. It also makes me more aware of what it means to walk by faith . . .

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:6–7)

However, walking by faith is not the same as blindness. When blind, nothing is visible. All is dark and other senses heighten so the blind person can function, but still must depend on dogs, canes, and other people.

Faith does not need eyes or smell or touch. Yet “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) Without being able to hear the word of God, faith would be impossible.

Problems arise when I become overly-dependent upon those other senses. I want to see what God is doing, hear His voice, be aware of His presence in my situation. Verses that tell me to walk by faith, not by sight, are reminders that I must continue doing as He asks even though there is no spiritual insight or sense of Him at work. When that happens, I feel as if I am ‘plodding’ along in pitch darkness.

Chambers refers to this as a discipline. He says that God is at work trying to make me do my duty without fanfare, a sense of inspiration, no halo about my head, no high-flying spirituality. Those things feel good and make me want to serve God, they easily side-track me. Instead of walking in obedience, I want those emotional and physical rewards, and if they are not there, I start thinking God is not with me and I cannot carry on. This is not walking by faith.

For most of my Christian life, I’ve looked forward to those high spots, the times of God’s blessing, answered prayer, events that I can tell others about where God made His presence and power known. While this is part of Christian living, it cannot be the focus. If I want to walk with God, sometimes that walk will be in darkness. My eyes will be shut to eternal matters and I might not sense His hand in mine. There may not be any answers to prayer, or at least answers that I can see.

During these dark spells, heaven seems to be shut and yet the Word of God says it is not. God may seem as if He is gone, but He said He would never leave me or forsake me. If I fall into walking by sight and wanting evidence that God is with me and doing something, then I need the discipline of darkness, of walking by faith and depending only on His Word and His promises.

Sometimes the learning curves are so steep and the darkness so gloomy that I feel I will fall off the curves and get lost in the blackness. But no matter how I feel, God is there – faith tells me so.