“It Is A Bad Thing To Be Satisfied Spiritually”

I read this sentence from Oswald Chambers devotional today. The idea behind his devotional is about God teaching us patience. Patience is the fruit of the Spirit and the other name often used to describe patience is long-suffering. Whether you say patience or long-suffering this fruit of the Spirit is not only essential in our Christian walk, but when you learn patience it brings endurance and it also says that you are not devoted to yourself or your idea of who God is, but you are devoted to the true God. It says that you now have true faith instead of having faith in your own belief. Believe it or not it makes a big difference because faith in our own belief never brings God close. The gift of patience conveys a steadfast walk with God.

 “It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually” In this small sentence there are two things to consider. One is being satisfied inwardly and the second one is the key word “spiritually” we cannot leave out this key word. Many Christians equate being satisfied with their Christian walk as in “working for God.” While some get involved in serving more in the Church and some actually go on their own without having the vision from Him, or if they have had the vision they did not wait for God, but instead, went ahead of God to realize the vision by creating opportunities for themselves. None of these things bring spiritual satisfaction. Spiritual satisfaction comes from pursuing God in a steadfast walk.

It is sad to be satisfied with less, when the God that we possess inwardly is so small. If your God is small, then you need to understand that you are not in God’s will because His will for you is to have Him in abundance. One of the most common things that cause us to live the Christian life with a miniature God in mind is that we are lazy. This laziness that I mentioned several times in different posts, is not something that one should be insulted when reading it. This laziness, even the most devoted Christians have to struggle to get out of this frame of mind to get hold of God. It forces us to get into the habit of doing Christianity while inwardly we are idle.

Many times, we have to bring ourselves up and struggle to keep cultivating the mind and heart and be willing to grasp more of God. Over the years I have come to understand not only we have to wait for God’s vision to take shape in our lives, to let Him prepare us for service whether here or in heaven; we also have to keep the vision of God every day of our lives to help us reach over and above what we know and understand. To keep grasping for more means we have to commit it all to God. We learn to commit to let Him be the Master in this relationship as we yield to Him. These things I mentioned in this paragraph alone, when you set out to do them, you will find it is easier to work for Him 365 days a year with no rest and no sleep, than to live out this kind of commitment to Him. Unfortunately unless we learn to grasp with our mind and heart through an unwavering commitment to Him through patience, then, intimacy with God will always be one more unattainable thing in the Christian life.  

I learned through the years, this command in James 4:8 “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” It is of the utmost importance because it keeps us close, it keeps our mind sharp even when life is totally foggy and God is nowhere to be found. It keeps us alert so the enemy cannot get the opportunity to invade our camp. It keeps us where we need to be as soldiers of His. Through the pursuit of intimacy, we are sustained in Him and it keeps us consistent in our constancy. It also helps us to remain connected inwardly to Him when laziness set in. So, we can't afford to be satisfied spiritually because as we do, we forfeit all while Satan is having a feast at our expenses.

Some of us are wasting time every day finding comfort in one verse or two and we high five other people we say Amen and we feel good. While it is good to keep the verses in our hearts but ask yourself, how has God’s Word changed me inwardly lately?  You want to make sure you go a step further than Satan and his legion of demons, by letting the Word of God changes you.

If you are not aware that the Word of God is having His way in you, then who is? Let go of your mini God and get hold of a God that is so big, so powerful, so majestic, and so sovereign that the universe is not big enough to contain Him. Can you see Him? Can you get hold with your mind and your heart of this God that is so humongous that He holds the whole universe in His hands? Let this God be yours and embrace Him with your heart. Go forth with one goal in mind “to make Him yours” and do not stop on your way, do not be content with what you have of Him. When you truly fall in love with God, you really do not care what’s in it for you. Calvary is already plenty. Please consider surrendering your whole life once again, dedicate all that you are for His glory. Ask Him to teach you how to keep your heart and mind open to Him and let Him have His ways in each itsy bitty part of you. He is your father, He loves you and there is no reason to fear the unknown with Him. He will be delighted and He will delight you in return.

It is okay to have fear of surrendering your all to Him, but it is not okay to let your fear cripple you to the point where you rather learn to be spiritually satisfied with less of Him. Stop repeating verses after verses of how much He loves you but prove it to Him that you truly believe His Word by surrendering your all. By passing your fear to surrender to Him because you believe He truly loves you, would be an example of the work of your faith in Him, a work pleasing to Him.

We are soldiers of the Cross, let’s not be lazy or the enemy will invade the camp!

Here Is Oswald's Devotional

The Patience To Wait for the Vision

05

02

2013

Though it tarries, wait for it . . . —Habakkuk 2:3

Patience is not the same as indifference; patience conveys the idea of someone who is tremendously strong and able to withstand all assaults. Having the vision of God is the source of patience because it gives us God’s true and proper inspiration. Moses endured, not because of his devotion to his principles of what was right, nor because of his sense of duty to God, but because he had a vision of God. “. . . he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). A person who has the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue— he is devoted to God Himself. You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it. Things come to you with greatness and add vitality to your life because everything is energized by God. He may give you a time spiritually, with no word from Himself at all, just as His Son experienced during His time of temptation in the wilderness. When God does that, simply endure, and the power to endure will be there because you see God.

“Though it tarries, wait for it . . . .” The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have already grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. The psalmist said, “What shall I render to the Lord . . . ? I will take up the cup of salvation . . .” (Psalm 116:12-13). We are apt to look for satisfaction within ourselves and say, “Now I’ve got it! Now I am completely sanctified. Now I can endure.” Instantly we are on the road to ruin. Our reach must exceed our grasp. Paul said, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on . . .” (Philippians 3:12). If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing. But if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation

If you are going through a time where you are not sure what is going on in your Christian walk,  inside you feel empty, sad, overwhelmed and depressed; all of the sudden the Christianity you thought you knew, the Christianity that brought you so much joy is far out of reach. You feel like you are on some kind of automatic pilot. Even faking a smile is hard for you. Then you are going through what Oswald called the discipline of dismay. The discipline of dismay lasts a little while. It is a dark period of your life that your soul needs to go through if your Christianity is to amount to anything to God.

Like Oswald said, we tend to look back on our time of obedience and our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for him strong (see Isaiah 50:10-11) One of the mistake we make is to try and find the enthusiasm back. We do not realize that God is not looking for that enthusiasm, He in fact does not care for it. He wants you to endure the inexplicable pain that you are in right now, while seeking His face and focus on Him like there is no tomorrow.

What Oswald did not know when he wrote that piece is that we are in a time where when the enthusiasm for God is gone, the younger generation falls back on Social Media to seek encouragement.  So they find comfort through those shallow comments these professed Christians have perfected over the years, but with no real meaning to their lives. I noticed as well the younger generation lack guidance and understanding coming from their own family. If they had parents living deeper Christian lives with Him, parents who have gone through the process with God, those younger people would have a better understanding of what is going on and would stop in seeking for the type of band-aid comfort they find on Social Media. 

What we do not realize, when God takes us through a time of dismay, it is indeed a good thing for our soul and our walk with Him. While we are there, it does not seem it is possible that any good can come of it because there is so much confusion just trying to understand why we are where we are with Him. But, it is good because God is taking you beyond a time where you can bypass the sense of self-satisfaction you get from your Bible reading, prayer time, and Christian activities. He is taking you deeper into Him. The sad thing is, until God takes you there, you would never realize that you have been living a self-satisfying kind of Christian life.

This phase is mandatory, the waiting process, His silence, the fact that you do not recognize Him and He is becoming more and more like a stranger to you. The protest that you will go through, the soul searching, the lack of answers from Him, are all part of the process. The attitude He is looking for is for you to surrender it all to Him, for you to stop protesting, for you to trust those words you have been reading in the Bible and trust that He is a faithful God. When you go through it with the right attitude, you position yourself to receive more of His grace.

It is a time of great depression and no matter what you do, your soul cannot get out of it. Don’t despair, and don’t panic. If you surrender through the process, I promise you, He will take care of you in the same way He took care of Elijah when he was running for his life and God sent an Angel to feed Him and care for him.  He will take care of you in the same way He took care of Paul who was so discouraged that nothing could revive his soul, God had to send an angel on three occasions to reassure him and strengthen him.

So, if you are going to a dark time with Him, I beg of you, stop seeking for temporary shallow satisfaction. It is a time to hang on to Him more than ever. It is the perfect time to test Hebrews 13:5 “I will never desert you nor forsake you.”  Trust in the God of your Salvation. Look to His Cross. It is hard to let go of all we know and to hang on to Him especially at a time where we have no answer and He seems more absent than we have ever experienced. But it is okay. It will feel as if you are asked to let go of something that is holding you nicely and help you stand up, for something you have no idea what it is, where it is, what it is made of. In fact within yourself, you have no desire of letting go of something you can see for something you cannot see. But, your soul needs to go through it all. Your soul needs to learn to trust what it cannot see

  

That’s exactly what He wants from you. Even though nothing makes sense to you, I beg of you to trust Him and He will not fail you.

In essence, what you are doing during this period, is giving up your identity to take on His!

Here is Oswald Chambers's devotion for today

The Discipline of Dismay

03

15

2013

As they followed they were afraid —Mark 10:32

At the beginning of our life with Jesus Christ, we were sure we knew all there was to know about following Him. It was a delight to forsake everything else and to throw ourselves before Him in a fearless statement of love. But now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is far ahead of us and is beginning to seem different and unfamiliar— “Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed” (Mark 10:32).

There is an aspect of Jesus that chills even a disciple’s heart to its depth and makes his entire spiritual life gasp for air. This unusual Person with His face set “like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7) is walking with great determination ahead of me, and He strikes terror right through me. He no longer seems to be my Counselor and Friend and has a point of view about which I know nothing. All I can do is stand and stare at Him in amazement. At first I was confident that I understood Him, but now I am not so sure. I begin to realize that there is a distance between Jesus and me and I can no longer be intimate with Him. I have no idea where He is going, and the goal has become strangely distant.

Jesus Christ had to understand fully every sin and sorrow that human beings could experience, and that is what makes Him seem unfamiliar. When we see this aspect of Him, we realize we really don’t know Him. We don’t recognize even one characteristic of His life, and we don’t know how to begin to follow Him. He is far ahead of us, a Leader who seems totally unfamiliar, and we have no friendship with Him.

The discipline of dismay is an essential lesson which a disciple must learn. The danger is that we tend to look back on our times of obedience and on our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for Him strong (see Isaiah 1:10-11). But when the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come the ability to follow Jesus truly, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy

Courtesy of: http://utmost.org/