ABIDING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

Saint’s, we are a habitation of God, a walking... talking... breathing temple of the God who chooses to indwell the hearts of His children. The Holy Spirit of God Himself, a comforter identical to Jesus, lives within our bodies of flesh, manifesting the Christ-Life within. Christ is within us and we are within Him, baptized into His body, and Christ is in the Father and the Father is in Him... He and God are one. We are within Christ in the Father… we are in the Father! The Father is within Christ in us… the Father is in us! Picture a glass filled with sea water then submerged into the ocean. We – I, you, and every saint of God -- are the glass, and the Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- are the ocean... we are filled by God and submerged in God. God occupies and envelopes His temple… our physical bodies. We don’t need a visitation from God... He is here. We don’t need the Holy Spirit to come... He is here. We don’t need to seek God’s presence... He is ever present. “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” We exist saturated by and surrounded with the presence of God.

In Psalm 139 David ponders the impossibility of separation from God’s omnipresence... wonders at His omniscience... marvels at His omnipotence. Our God is everywhere, knows everything, and has infinite power. Remember the old Invisible Man movies, where the Invisible Man puts clothes on to be seen. It’s just that way with God. He is always present with us and sometimes clothes Himself with our feelings so we can “see” – perceive -- Him. Feelings are a product of our emotions... but God’s abiding presence is an indisputable fact for the born-again Spirit-filled saint of God. Seeking God’s presence is Old Covenant, but in the New and Better Covenant we acknowledge God’s abiding presence: Whether we feel anything or not... He is with and in us! We should be comforted we are filled and surrounded by such a God. We should be star-struck with awe and wonder that our God chooses to dwell in us. We should rejoice that we are never ever alone... never ever forsaken. The enemy wants to rob us of the peace and joy of dwelling in the presence of God, But God’s presence is our inheritance... our birthright, and we must claim it to walk in it. We should proclaim, by faith, that we walk in the abiding presence of God... for we do. God is with us... always with us!

SATURATED BY AND SURROUNDED WITH GOD

(1 Cor. 7:19-20; 2 Cor. 6:16; Acts 17:28; Jn. 14:10-11, 20, 23; Jn. 15:4-5; Jn. 17:21, 23; 1 Jn. 4:13, 15; Ps. 139; Eph. 1:13; 4:6; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3-4)                                                                   

WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

It’s Sunday morning in America and in churches all across the land pre-christians have chosen to accept God’s gift of grace.  Kneeling beside these God-seekers at the altar some well intending brother or sister whispers in their ear, “we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death.  God gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will be saved.  This is God’s gift to us, eternal life.  So if you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.” This is all in accordance with God’s word. Then this “new Christian” will be “discipled” on how to become a “good Christian” with a list of “do’s”: do pray, do attend church, do study the Bible, do be water baptized, do follow church doctrine, do fast, do tithe, do serve in the church, etc., and a list of don’ts”: don’t commit fornication, don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t dance, don’t cuss, don’t gamble, don’t watch movies, etc.  These lists will vary depending on the Christian denominational “flavor” involved; they may be formal statements or verbally transferred, but the point is the same. These lists become formulas for the new convert’s discipleship -- the way to live the Christian life. And when they don’t work -- when life gets tough, and it will -- they are told to try harder, pray more, study more, be more faithful, serve more, give more, etc., as if God is displeased and man’s self-righteous works will appease Him.

Laying aside the question of who actually chooses who at salvation, what is missing here is the main point. There is no mention of the most basic, most fundamental and certainly the most central theme of the whole bible: God wants to have an intimate relationship with man!  We have condensed the self declared God of love into a set of tenets, “do lists”, and “don’t lists” -- formulas for Christian living. Discipleship is a courtship between The God of Love and the object of His affection... Man, a love story in the making. We have missed what Christ declared as the Greatest Commandment, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, which is impossible outside of intimate relationship. The heart that loves God will align itself with the heart of its Beloved: Out of this intimate relationship righteous works will flow empowered by love as we seek to more fully know and be a delight to the Great Lover of our Soul. To miss this, is to miss the whole enchilada! So, what’s love got to do with it? Everything…

“BUT THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE”

DRAWN AWAY

We sin, when we are drawn away by our own lust... Lust is the bait, and ensnared by it. Lust appears as a thought tossed into our head by the powers of darkness who have been studying mankind collectively from time eternal, and each of us individually from birth. They know what will entice each of us to sin. When we dwell on the thought, and think or do things that support or enhance the thought, we only add fuel to the fire of lust.

“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:13-16) Notice the eight steps outlined in these verses: (1) Tempted: A soliciting thought appears. (2) Drawn Away: Our response fuels the thought, dragging us away. (3) Desire: Lust, strong longing for something.  (4) Enticed: Baited and ensnared by lust, as our will weakens. (5) Conceived: Taken hold of and controlled by lust. (6) Sin: Consummation of desire, missing God’s mark. (7) Fully Grown: Habitual, to bring sin to maturity. (8) Death: Separation from God, the fruit of habitual sin.

All sin is premeditated... a planned event, an informed path willfully traveled. The step from desiring a drink... to sitting in a bar ripe roaring drunk does not happen instantaneously, and there are many steps from seeing an attractive woman to ending up in the back seat of a car with her on some deserted rural road... committing adultery. Ditto the steps from “wanting” things to creating idols out of our possessions, our bodies our intellect, our job, our hobbies, etc. Likewise the steps from “pleasure” to pleasure seeking, becoming lovers of pleasure, are many. Temptations come in many colors, and we will all be tempted. The critical step is step two, Draw Away, how we respond to the initial temptation. If we fondle and caress it, focusing our mind and thoughts on our desires... we become Dead Men Walking! But, if we set our mind on things above, we can bring the tempting thought into captivity into the obedience of Christ.

SIN IS A PLANNED EVENT

AN INFORMED PATH WILLFULLY TRAVELED

THORNLAND: THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE

Saints, we all must go through the thorns; it is part and parcel with spiritual transformation -- our wilderness experience -- but we are not supposed to live there. Thorns are tools of deception, and deception is, literally, mental blindness. The thorns of this world create toe-holds in our heart, places we have given to the enemy... doors of access. At first we struggle, then we acquiesce, then we embrace our love for “other things”, the things of this life. It is, ultimately, our lust that bates and ensnares us. This is how we fall away... one thorn at a time, till we are so thorny we no longer perceive God. “Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh” having an earth-bound mindset, what the Apostle Paul called walking according to the flesh... carnally minded and under the law of sin and death:  The Sower Parable (Matt. 13:22; Lk. 8:14; Mk. 4:18, 19; Rom. 8:1-11) describes four specific categories of thorns:

“Desires For Other Things”: “Other things” here are not Kingdom things.  This is materialism warring to draw our desires away from spiritual things.  “Desires” is the Greek word eipthumia and means to desire greatly, longing, lust and strong passion in the mind... a lusting mindset. In (1 Jn. 2:16) it is the lusts of the “eyes”, “flesh”, and “pride” in opposition to Jesus’ command “do not love the world or the things in the world” (vs. 15).

“Deceitfulness Of Riches”: Wealth and the power it produces are addictive.  “Deceitfulness” is the Greek word apate and means deceptive, seducing propensities which induce to sin and lead to disappointment. Remember the camel and the eye of a needle: This is talking about a real camel and a real sewing needle.  

“Cares Of The World”: “Cares” is a synonym of the Greek word for worry, the   most prevalent sin of the 21^st century church. The anxiety of worry brings disruption to mind, heart, soul and spirit, driving away the peace of God, and causing sickness and disease. Worry is unbelief pure and simple, and habitual worry is to treat our Savior’s sacrifice as a common thing, insulting the Spirit of grace.

“Pleasures Of Life”: “Pleasures” is the Greek word hedone which means sensual pleasure, physical gratification, enjoyment, lust, and in a broader sense the desire for pleasures.  James speaks of our “desire for pleasures” that war in our bodies (James 4:1-3), and Paul speaks of the ungodly in the last days as “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Tm. 3:4), showing pleasure seeking to be enmity against God.

Thorn cluttered hearts divide our mind, distracting us from God’s purposes while leaving us worried, unstable and anxious. Thorny hearts may have good intensions but they are deceived, thinking they can co-habitat -- abide in Christ and abide in the world -- the very thing Christ died to save us from.  Thorns “choke the Word”, suffocate the Christlife within...

The “Thorny Heart” is a picture of twenty-first century Christian life... fruitless Self serving lives enamored with life in this world. Saints are not supposed to stay in the thorn bushes, but merely travel through them, being in the world but not partakers of the world. The only antidote for “thorns” is transformation, the willingness to die to Self submitting to Christ’s Lordship, and be renewed in mind... reflecting the passionate desires of God’s heart. Christlikeness, the goal of all true saints, is an outward reflection of an inner reality, a replacement process where we reckon bits of our Self nature dead and Christ replaces those pieces with bits of His nature. A heavenly mindset keeps this goal in sharp focus while giving no “place”, or toe-hold, for thorns or any “lusts” to spring up in our mind.  People of “One Thing” have made God the centerpiece of their heart... their mind... and their existence. “Come out from among them and be ye separate.” People of One Thing no longer dwell in Thornland!

“COME OUT FROM AMOUNG THEM, AND BE YE SEPARATE”