08/20/2018
When we have fully accepted the Holy Spirit to reside within us we are declared to be a child of God... not by human birthright, but by power which comes through the resurrection of Jesus. It is at that moment in which our spirit receives the entirety of the power promised to us. Are you prepared to submit fully to The Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and our Father’s will?
“concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,”
Romans 1:3-4 ESV
We are meant to be of one mind, and to travel in one direction. The Bible speaks to this in several ways, it does so in a forthright manner in the first of the Ten Commandments when we are commanded...
“"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ESV
There is no wiggle room in this commandment. The word “all” followed by the three parts which make us up as beings communicates the entirety of God’s desire for us.
Then there is another example in which God commands us to be single minded, by using cattle and weaving cloth as an instrument of instruction. He is demonstrating a consistence of purpose to us, and as in the parables of Jesus which will follow, he teaches us a greater meaning through a simple and seemingly unrelated instruction.
“"You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.”
Leviticus 19:19 ESV
And, what occurs when we live this duplicity? How does God approach us when we have attempt to mix a life of living in the flesh with that of living in the spirit, when we alternately place our allegiance in the world, and then in God? We read the answer in Revelation and it is completely without reservation...
“"'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
Revelation 3:15-16 ESV
So, as we pray, and seek the presence and power of God, is there any wonder that we fail until we are ready to commit ourselves fully? This can be perplexing in application, especially when we read scripture in which Jesus says such things as this...
“Show me the coin for the tax." And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."”
Matthew 22:19-21 ESV
How is it that we are to focus all our desires on God, and yet Jesus tells us to still honor Caesar, the world? The answer is in the scripture regarding the cattle, and in the weaving of cloth... we must keep the two separate. God made this world for us and placed us into it, and then we fell... we defiled what He had made. So to fix this situation requires a delicate operation, but our God must always be our preference, and our King; separate and above the world. It is like sticking a beautiful gold chalice into a pot of tar... you can pull it out, but the tar is going to have stuck to it, and removing it entirely from the chalice will take much effort and time... yet our goal is to return our treasured piece to its pure and clean form. Caesar is like the tar, and we are still cleaning that tar from ourselves today. We might live in this world, but we mustn’t be of it... we are different, and separate.
Read these two verses as Jesus speaks with God about us. They are part of one conversation but show us the difference between being “in”, and “of” the world...
“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.
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
John 17:11, 14 ESV
We have tar on us because of where we reside, but that tar is not who we are... it is not a part of us... we are no longer immersed in the world.
So how do we perfect ourselves as children of God? How do we receive the power of God as Jesus did? How do we have a pure and shining relationship with the Father? We spiritually separate ourselves from the sinful world, and as the Holy Spirit rubs itself on us and removes the tar that has already adhered to us, we are to resist dipping ourselves back into the pot again, and remain separated with Jesus Christ.
I was reading Andrew Murray today, and he puts it this way...
“With your whole heart try to grasp this truth: the will of God accepted without condition is the power of holiness. As long as the believer is living the mixed life, part in the flesh and part in the spirit, with some of self and some of Christ, he seeks in vain for holiness.” - Andrew Murray
We need to give ourselves over fully to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We need to stay focused on the fact that we might be in the world right now, but it is not in us... we are no longer children of the fallen world, but of our Heavenly Father. Are you prepared to separate yourself, and to give yourself over completely to Jesus, and God? If so then be prepared for power in your prayers, and God’s presence in your walk.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for lifting me up out of the world, and setting me apart. I thank you for the ongoing process of perfecting me. Lord, I thank you for the power that returns to my prayer life as I stay focused on you, and your Son Jesus. Living on this world amidst the sin and fallen souls is difficult Holy Father, but by keeping my spirit separated, and not becoming a part of it once again, I find peace in my close relationship with you, and in you I find my eternal home. Help me Father as I resist the temptations of this world, and strengthen me as I give myself over to you in my entirety. Let my heart, my soul, and my mind be forever yours, and your will to be my will. You are my Great God, and the Center of my life. In you I place all of my hope, and in you I trust always. Praised be your name Merciful Father, and Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who lifts me from the sin that is in the world, Holy are you whose power races through the veins of my spiritual being, and manifests itself in my prayers.
Rich Forbes