01/28/2023
I was convicted this morning as I bore into my devotional thought. I was searching an inconvenient truth... there are times when I wound Jesus in my attempt to achieve righteousness. In those times I am similar to Saul, and face imminent correction.
“And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”
Acts 26:14-15 KJV
You are asking yourself how I could have done this terrible thing. You are probably thinking "I am glad I don't do that!" But, don't be too quick to claim the high ground. Let me explain, and then search yourself as I did.
My soul searching began after I read a thought by Oswald Chambers...
"Am I set on my own way for God?...
Obstinacy and self-will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set upon our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus...
The Spirit of Jesus is conscious of one thing only - a perfect oneness with the father" - Oswald Chambers
Wow... how many times have I set my own course? How many times have I made the determination regarding what would best serve the Father? How many times have I unintentionally let my will overshadow His?
Jesus was very conscious of the will of God and he yielded to it always. One of the greatest examples came in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prayed...
“Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”
Luke 22:42 KJV
But, there are other moving verses that lead us to realize Jesus' understanding of God's will in His life, and how that will should rule our own. John reminds us in these verses...
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:12-13 KJV
And...
“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”
John 5:30 KJV
We not only can't do anything of our own self, but we mustn't. If we place the will of God at the center of our lives, then skirting it becomes an affront, and most surely wounds the Spirit of Christ.
There was a time when I decided that I could be equally as close to God in a fishing boat. I would go fishing when in fact I was pushing the will of God into the background. The Lord was speaking to me about helping teach my Sunday school class, but I rationalized my way around that... "But Father, I see you so clearly in all that you have made! Surely this is where you would have me be!" In that act I was most certainly overshadowing God's will for me... did I feel close to God? YES! But that was not His will for me... I stabbed the Spirit of Jesus.
There are many, many, such examples; some large and some small, but they all revolve around the placement of my own self-will before God's. They are about not letting my will and God's become one.
Do you have similar examples in your life? Those times when God said go left and you went right? Stop for a few moments and be still. Think back to moments in your past when you went astray and had to ask forgiveness... sometimes for very small things that seemed so right and God serving, yet were more about your will than His.
We have wounded The Spirit of Jesus, but now is a good time to change the way we make our decisions. We are told to pray without ceasing for a reason. We do this so that we remain attuned to the will of God in our lives. Sometimes we are tempted to take the small things upon ourselves and only bring the big decisions before the Lord.
There is a well-known scripture that we quote often. We use it to remind ourselves that God is good and does good things for us, but there are two words that are very important and should be applied to God's desire for His will in our lives; "all things."
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28 KJV
God doesn't want our attention sometimes, He wants an ALWAYS relationship. he wants us to be one with His will in ALL THINGS. Listen to these verses...
“Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In every thing give thanks:
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Quench not the Spirit.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 KJV
Can you give Him your evermore? Your without ceasing? Your everything? Can you seek His will always? If you are answering "Yes" then "quench not the Spirit," and wound not the Spirit of Christ.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit who gives us remembrance and understanding of your will, and hear me as I ask your forgiveness for those times when I placed my own will before yours. Forgive me equally for those occurrences when I did this by absentia or out of ignorance, even as you forgive me those occasions when I knowingly argued my will over yours. Jesus, hear my sorrow and contrition regarding my disappointing you as I neglected the will of the Father... I hurt you Lord, and in this I beg your forgiveness. Teach me to always seek the will of God in everything I do, remind me that my prayers are to ever flow forth and ask the will of our Father to guide me. Let my will and yours become one, and through this I know that our wills will jointly become one with our Father's.
Rich Forbes