RELEASING OUR FEARS

RELEASING OUR FEARS

O Lord, when I consider how fragile and uncertain my world is, I realize that there is no real refuge but You. I make my plans, dream my dreams and hope for things whose outcome is uncertain. I cannot control this day or any other day. I am often frustrated by disappointments and setbacks and uncertainties. It is only when I turn back to You and release my fears and concerns to You that I will discover real peace. Therefore, I will be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving I will let my requests be made known to You. And I know that as I do this, Your peace will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. For You are my confidence and stronghold, and You never change. You always want what is best for me, and in spite of the difficulty of the journey, You will bring me safely home.

THE PROMISES OF GOD

     Executing the Truth  2 Timothy 2:15

Depending on the complexity of a person’s last will and testament, the duties of the will’s executor can be significant. The wheels begin turning when the execu-tor receives in the mail the “Letters Testamentary” from the probate court or other judicial authority. This document empowers the executor with appropriate authority to carry out the last wishes of the deceased. Because he answers to the judge, the executor should be prepared for a serious investment of time and en-ergy.

Next to the probate court judge, who do you think traditionally keeps the closest eye on the work of the executor? Without question it is the heirs, or anyone who is affected by the contents of the will. The executor stands as the link—for good or for ill—between the desires of the deceased and the fortunes of the living. Nothing like being in a family’s spotlight to make you read and act carefully!

Paul reminds Timothy of a similar responsibility in his role as a purveyor of the truth of God. Interestingly, we call the record of the giving and explanation of the gospel of Jesus Christ the “new testament.” Those who study the content of this testament, and share with others the “good news” contained in it, are acting much as an executor would. But Paul wants Timothy to know that this is not a task to be taken lightly. Timothy must “do [his] best,”  to seek God’s approval in his work. In fact, he must labor at his task as a workman would, handling the content of the testament in such a way that he is not ashamed when it is read and explained.

The Scriptures contain God’s desires for the human race, much as a will contains specific desires for certain individuals. If the task of executor is important be-cause of the disposition of worldly goods, how much more critical is being an executor of the word of truth—when eternal souls are at stake? If you are a be-liever, God has named you to share his good news with the rest of the world. Do your best to be approved!

God’s Promise to You: “I have entrusted my words of truth to you.”

THE PURSUIT OF GOD—PART 1

This new Reflections series is based on my 11-part CD teaching series on A. W. Tozer’s spiritual classic, The Pursuit of God.

     Following Hard After God

As the deer pants for the water brooks,
so my soul pants for You, O God.” (Psalm 42:1)

     The Question

 “What do you want more than anything else in the world?” The question is always there. It ignites the wish behind every birthday candle ceremony. It enchants the dream ex-pressed in every child’s Christmas list for Santa. It informs the hope that accompanies every wedding toast. It breeds the expectation that attaches to each new birth. It fuels the yearning that erupts in a mid-life crisis. It colors our understanding of every promise in Scripture. And it articulates the imbedded anguish in every prayer request. It is the ques-tion: “What do you really want?” “What do you really want from God?” “What do you really want from God, more than anything else in the world?”
 
Aiden W. Tozer’s answer to that profound question is elegant simplicity itself. More than anything else in the world, he wanted God, God alone. And so he chose to order his life around that one single pursuit – the pursuit of God. And he penned a classic little book that invites us to join him in that holy pilgrimage. In 1948, he offered The Pursuit of God as a “modest attempt to aid God’s hungry children so to find Him.”
 
In many ways Tozer was a modern-day prophet as well as a down-to-earth mystic. He was a self-educated man, forced by his home situation to forfeit the formal education of either high school or college. Yet, through years of diligent study and disciplined prayer, he prepared himself for the God-ordained role of calling the modern Church back to the practice of godliness. With no teacher but the Holy Spirit and many good books by an-cient spiritual masters, he looked up from his lifelong posture of kneeling and cried out for others to follow him in the only pursuit that truly satisfies. He was convinced that a life given to seeking God first does not constrict one’s life, but enlarges it beyond one’s wildest wishes, hopes, and dreams.
 
Tozer was not a man who spoke of God by way of hearsay, like those religious leaders of his generation, for they hungered not for his presence, but for his presents. But he spoke of God as one who spent extended time with God. He knew God as an intimate friend. To highlight the difference between the two, he takes us back to Mt Carmel where Elijah is doing battle with the prophets of Baal. In Tozer’s retelling, he pictures the religious lead-ers as those who have carefully laid out the stones for the altar, and have precisely di-vided the sacrifice into parts. But instead of calling down God’s fiery presence from heaven, as Elijah did, they are caught up with the ritual of counting the stones, arranging and rearranging the pieces, as if that is what will please the Lord, oblivious to the fact that God is not there.
 
Is this not often true of many of us? We take such delight in bringing our sacrifice and in building our altar to code, and yet seem unable to reconcile ourselves to the continued absence of fire. He cites biblical teachers who, while satisfied to teach the biblical fun-damentals of the faith year after year, seem strangely unaware that there is no manifest Presence in their teaching, nor anything with the mark of the divine in their personal lives. People come longing to meet with God, but leave with that longing still in their breasts. Still there are those few who “are athirst to taste for themselves the ‘piercing sweetness’ of the love of Christ.” 

     How God Grows a Saint

 In Robert Clinton’s book, The Making of a Leader, he lays out a process by which God often grows his spiritual saints. It includes 6 developmental phases: (1) Phase 1 – Sover-eign Foundations; (2) Phase 2 – Inner-Life Growth; (3) Phase 3 – Ministry Maturing; (4) Phase 4 – Life Maturing; (5) Phase 5 – Convergence; and (6) Phase 6 – Afterglow.
 
During the Sovereign Foundations phase, God providentially works through a person’s family, environment, and life events in such a way as to woo them, court them, and draw them unto himself in the “in-Christ relationship.” For instance, if you were to think back over your lifetime, you would realize that your life is much like a story, with certain ac-tors, a unique plot, riveting drama, ongoing narrative, captivating suspense, and surpris-ing resolution. No two people have life stories that are identical. Everyone who is “in-Christ,” was brought into that relationship in a different way. For our infinite God has an infinite number of ways to connect with each of his unique children.
 
After the Sovereign Foundations phase, comes the Inner-Life Growth phase. Here God’s emphasis is on growing the interior life of the believer. One learns the importance of un-derstanding and obeying God’s word, of becoming fluent in the two-way dialogue of prayer, of trying and testing one’s ministry muscles for the first time. For just as a new-born will naturally progress from infancy to childhood and on to adolescence and adult-hood, so the new believer should intentionally progress beyond spiritual infancy. The ab-sence of such growth is what appalls Tozer, as it ought to shock us. A baby acting like a baby is cute. But a mature adult functioning like an infant is not cute, it is tragic. But it is infinitely more tragic in the spiritual life of the believer.
 
Next comes the Ministry Maturing phase. Here, the task is to grow up with respect to serving God by developing your exterior “ministry proficiency.” As a maturing person, you must discipline yourself in the realm of biblical knowledge, ministry skills, proven techniques, and valuable resources. This is the season where you should begin to recog-nize and express the unique way in which you have been designed to contribute to the Body of Christ. As you integrate all of God’s good gifts (i.e., your deepest convictions, your unique enablement, your providential life experience, your educational background, your network of relationships, your complementary skills, etc.), you should sense a grow-ing clarity regarding God’s sovereign call for you.
 
For example, if God has gifted you to teach, you should be aware of several things by the time you reach this phase. First of all, you should have observed that your gift of teaching has been present within you from your earliest days, albeit sometimes cloaked in not-so- obvious expressions. Secondly, you should have recognized that your gift of teaching is highly conditioned as to what topics you prefer to teach, what ages you are most comfort-able teaching, what environments motivate your teaching, what teaching style comes most naturally to you. And finally, you should have sensed that your gift of teaching ex-presses itself as something you “love to do” and “do well,” as you define well. This means that it is much more than something you “can do” or even something you “can do well.” It will feel more like a mission, a destiny, a calling, a “must do.”
 
Furthermore, as you continue to express your teaching gift, you should become very aware of your dependence upon God. For even though teaching gift is God given, it still must be God powered to be pleasing to him. You must recognize that your effort alone, no matter how disciplined and committed, is not enough to meet the needs of those who come hungry for God. Thus the stewardship of your gift must involve extended time on your knees in communion with him. But what happens after you’ve taught for a while? You’ll be tempted to depend upon your technique and experience, rather than the power of the Holy Spirit. And the day you stop being totally dependent upon the Spirit is the day you stall out in this phase and fail to progress to the next phase.

ENJOYING GOD

Father of lights, teach me to enjoy You as never before. I want to delight in Your goodness, glory, grace, beauty, perfection, wisdom, justice, holiness, compassion, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, majesty, truth, love, patience, transcendence and immanence. Teach me the wisdom of acknowledging You in all things, including Your often-overlooked tender mercies in the small things of life. May I celebrate Your many gifts and graces and delight in Your will. I affirm that my service to You is perfect freedom and that delighting in You is so much better than delighting in passing things. May I will to do Your will, love the things You love and desire what You desire. Only as I do this will I find the true fulfillment You want for me, because all good things come from You, and in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.