Abraham’s Life of Faith — Faith Always Bring with it Radical Changes!

He went out, not knowing where he was going —Hebrews 11:8

Oswald Chambers said  "Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason—a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world."

God has been keeping me on this holding and waiting pattern for so long that it is truly discouraging for any human being. If God has not put your whole life on hold to the point where you can see that your life is literally passing away right in front of your eyes, yet nothing, I mean absolutely nothing that you do works, then you have no idea what it means to wait on, upon and for God. For the past 15 years that I have been a Christian, any normal person would let go of Christianity. For me Christianity has been a synonym for being a “looser” big time. Sometimes, I feel I can’t even find the strength to think that God has not forgotten me. Sometimes I console myself with the idea that He put me on a fast track mode for a reason, because I cannot justify the lost, and the unending holding pattern. But, even when He shuts me out after I obey Him, I keep going forward with Him because I know too much to go back. When nothing makes sense and I feel like the biggest loser who has walked this earth, I keep going. When all my life is screaming that He has abandoned me, I keep going, knowing in His time, He will make everything right.

I have gone through phases with Him where He increased my faith more than I can imagine. You see, God has a pattern where He tests you and if you pass the test which means you make use of the amount of faith He allocates you, then He increases your faith. But lately, I have been asking Him, how come you stopped increasing my faith? Have I reached a plateau where I am not in your will or not trusting you enough? He did not answer me, however, a while after I inquired about my faith, He kept giving me a vision which I truly enjoy because it is so soothing to my soul. Today, as I read the devotional, I realized that He actually did answer my question. The visions that I have been getting are my answer to the question. The only thing is, through the vision, what I have been living in my soul is similar to some sort of higher sanctification stage. It is soothing because I can see how I am mellowing in His hands like I am disappearing slowly as He is increasing tenfold.  I can feel that the increase portion is His character being worked in me and I talked about that in my most recent posts.

Today, God opened my eyes to see that Oswald Chambers used the words that express all that I have been experiencing. I did not know this was the final stage of faith. I had tears of joy in my heart because as I reflect back, I know without the shadow of a doubt, that even when everyone told me that my situation could not be of God.  Even when I was told by leaders that I should take matters in my hands and make things happens, I always run things through God’s process and what I knew in my heart was right with the Holy Spirit. So today, I understand with a heart full of excitement, joy and gratitude what it means to walk a steadfast walk.

 True faith will always take us to a place where God calls us friend. This will not be a vague idea that you read about in the Bible or glibly repeat in a song. But the Holy Spirit will take pleasure to witness to your heart that you are now a friend of His. God, will not stop there, He will find an opportunity to share things with you that He would only share with a friend and when He does that, He will tell you that it is the privilege of being a friend of His.

True faith will lead you to a place where you know that it is not up to you to apply the characteristics of Christ within, but up to the Holy Spirit to do it. True faith will bring a radical change in your life and your heart. If it is not working out this radical change, then it is okay for you to question to what extend do you believe in God. A life of radical obedience will always lead you to a place where you can understand through your bones, every word of Christ’s crucifixion. True faith will always take you to a place where you stop imagining what God’s word means because you have become a living protagonist is the play. Until you become a protagonist, you have no idea what true faith means. Faith in God cannot be a vague idea and it cannot be our idea of what faith means. It has to be alive and leading your life because this faith we are called to live out in Him, is not our faith but Christ’s faith in us. Hence why, true faith will always take you through the same process that Christ went through and the same road. Anything short of that, then we can be sure that our faith is a blind faith. If it is a blind faith, it is not anchored in Christ.  Abraham started as a coward, yet he became the father of faith. TRUE FAITH WILL ALWAYS BRING WITH IT A RADICAL TRANSFORMATION.

OSWALD CHAMBERS "The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character, and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day—in and day—out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31). It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life of faith—a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God. . .” (Romans 4:3)."

Follow Me ─ How Do You Count The Cost? ─ Part Three

Most of us when we read in the Scriptures that  we have to count the cost to follow Christ, if we do not have any hindrances coming from families and friends because we decide to follow Jesus, the idea of counting the cost seems a little bit futile to us. In our mind, it remains something we read in the Bible. If you live in a country where you don’t have freedom of speech or choices, you understand first hand what it means to count the cost. You know right away that you might be killed for choosing to follow Christ. I have worked with people who have been totally banned from their families back home for having chosen Christianity, simply because God opened their eyes to the truth.

To me, counting the cost was not a big deal either.  A few years ago when God stirred up my heart and I was upset at all that I found in the Bible concerning His demands to live out true Christianity, I did not know it then, but that was His way of waking me up to the reality of what true Christianity means to Him. He knew even before I knew it, that I needed to learn what it means to count the cost and make the decision whether I wanted what He was offering. 

When I first surrendered all to Him I did it with all my heart, yet the Holy Spirit told me that I did not surrender my soul. I could not understand what He meant. I had that goofy look on my face and I was thinking “but, I am so sincere, what else does He want from me?” Then He set out to show me in the span of a few weeks, certain things that I needed to take into consideration before I could make a proper decision to surrender all to Him. These few weeks were so hard and even though I was experiencing Him, I was walking around feeling so sad and I felt I was carrying the world on my shoulders. I knew I had a decision to make but I simply could not say yes right away to Him because this time around, I knew the cost.

I found out there is a whole process and principles in counting the cost to follow Christ.

LOVE RELATIONSHIP: For instance, as you consider the cost, you find that the first commandment is not some light doctrine that we just file away with one of those things you hope to get right one day. It’s the reality of the Christian life and it is a real commitment that demands your whole life. There is a list of subtexts that you need to get acquainted with once the Holy Spirit illuminates you to understand the high standards of God vis a vis the first commandment. As you see and come to grips with His standards, it seems like you are completely annihilated.

COMMITMENT: There is a commitment that you know there will be consequences that your mind cannot even embrace yet, because it is about withstanding one spiritual battle after another and you cannot help wondering “why would I want that in my life?”

VOLUNTARY DEPENDENCE: that takes all your focus away from you and redirected toward Him. There is no room for substitution coming from your own mind anymore. It is as if God is going out of His way to somehow discourage you. Everything He shows you does not say anything about the good side of this relationship, except that you need to believe and accept the fact that, Him alone can sustain you.

The list goes on as you consider His idea of faith relationship and the cost that accompany faith through obedience and trust in Him. You know you are going to deal with the unknown and all you can do is wait, follow and trust. He wants some kind of integrity and this single-eye type of relationship that you have no idea as a human being you can pull that off.

While all these things are hard to take in, and you just don’t want to participate voluntarily in this kind of makeover party He is inviting you to. Strangely, as you go through the process of sorting things out, He sustains your heart to understand your only alternative is to say yes. He also helps you understand that the whole thing is about reaching your full potential in Him, which only Him knows the limit. In your mind, you know that you are embarking in one twisted and unknown adventure and a tiny bit of you, are curious to see where it leads. You are very well aware that it is an invitation to go forward with Him and to get to know Him. You are also aware that saying yes to Him is in itself a form of worship which causes you to be aware of the experience of worship you know so far is kind of hollow and here is your chance to step up and act upon this knowledge.

Through Him, I found the strength to say yes to Him and I know there is no adventure on this earth that could ever match the ride that He takes you on as you follow Him with full knowledge of what you signed on for. Perhaps because I have considered the cost and I knew there was pain awaiting me, although I did not know the extend of the pain that I was going to have to cope with, but, having counted the cost, helped me to walk faithfully, even when the pain was unbearable, I could not walk away and through His grace,  I am still going strong.

Follow Me ─Why Do So Many Give Up? ─ Part two

"If anyone would come after Me, he must
deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow Me." Luke 9:23

A lot of us tend to look at this verse and conclude that it is mainly about the missionaries in the field and about sharing the gospel.  What’s wrong with our view of discipleship is that we equate discipleship mostly with work. But, being a disciple simply means you are a learner and you are learning from Him. We must learn self-denial, waiting, patience, surrender, abide, complete obedience, humility and endure trials, etc, all the while, we are to cultivate a contempt for the world. There is no question that without the inward work done for us by the indwelling Spirit, the workers get easily discouraged and often give up because they are working out of their own self-interests and are unable to renew their strength in Him. 

So, as we focus on discipleship, if all we see is the outward work that can be done FOR God then, there is a strong chance that we have not learned to give up self interest yet. Because, as we learn to die to self, we learn to also get to know ourselves and we have a better understanding of the Holy Spirit’s challenge in making us His true disciples. The point is, Christ had so much more in mind when He told us to come after Him or to become His disciple. If we do not let the Holy Spirit influence the way we live out this life and it make sense that we get stuck and discourage and quit the process.

Christ has given us so much to ponder in verse 23. First we are to count the cost of our decision, second we are to learn to deny self, third we are to take up the cross He put in front of us” (not our own man made idea of what the cross should be) then we follow. Christ wanted to make sure those following Him understand what He was offering. By saying they needed to take up the cross and denied self, He was indeed saying, while at first this life might seems exciting because of the miracles, the word that seemed out of this world, and the power etc, but it would take more than mere curiosity or enthusiasm based on our own self-interests, to truly follow after Him.

Let’s think about it for a moment, any true Christian has one goal which is to follow Christ wherever He leads and where He is leading is none other than His Kingdom of course. A true Christian knows you cannot take your own navigation tools and decide you know a better way. God has never changed and He still wants us to do things, His way and it is only in learning things His ways that we can succeed. Most of the time, His way will not be the easiest one. For instance we see Him taking the Israelites by the longest route. In reality, He could have taken the Israelites by a different route and they would have gotten in the Promised Land in a few days. But that was not His plan and He had a good reason for it too. He needed them to learn to know Him and learn the art of fighting.  

What happened to the Israelites in the wilderness? First their enthusiasm gave in, then, resentment and disobedience set in. What was the result of it all? They were fascinated by the life of Egypt. In the Bible, Egypt represents sin and the world and even though they could not go back to Egypt in person, but God could never have their minds and hearts. Right until the end, in Jeremiah's book you can see the Israelites have never been able to give God their undivided attention, and truly consecrated their hearts to Him.

  

Personally I found when you count the cost of Christianity; the next step is the willingness to die to self. The biggest shock to my system was when one day it dawned on me that Christianity was not like that social club I thought it was. Then I thought to myself why is it this person told me at the beginning that I have nothing to do and I belong to the group going to heaven? Why is it the Bible shows there is much more to it? Even though I did not understand what that much more meant I knew I was lied to and the person who lied to me did not do it on purpose either. He simply never learned to count the cost, or learned to die to self.  Then I began to study the Bible just so that I could see what were asked of me, should I decide to follow. This is when I got upset and stopped making notes from my findings. It felt as if God was dangling something unattainable in front of me. I actually accused Him of being unjust. The only response I got from Him was: “well, surrender to me” That too was a few months of agony to get there.

Later on, I found out, He is the architect and He is the only one who possesses the plan as to what the building is going to look like when it is finished. As workers, all we can do is, to do as we are told and true Christian workers take their leads from the Holy Spirit directly. When we have not learned to count the cost and be led by the indwelling Spirit,   we go around saying that we are Christians, yet we have no idea why other people are making our lives miserable with stuff like higher life, dying to self etc. That is because we convinced ourselves the outward work and appearance are good enough and we have no solid foundation.  

 As for denying the self, books have been written about it but it is a life where you are aware that you are dying slowly as Christ is taking over more and more. (He must increase, I must decrease) My point here is to show you first off, the work that is involved in following after Him is actually harder than being a missionary overseas, or going abroad preaching the gospel. The real work is the inward work we are called to let the indwelling Spirit do with us in order to get us where Christ intended for us to be. The more we keep insisting on doing things our way, we only set ourselves up for disappointment. 

Walking With God

Walking with God leads to receiving his intimate counsel, and counseling leads to deep restoration. As we learn to walk with God and hear his voice, he is able to bring up issues in our hearts that need speaking to. Some of those wounds were enough to break our hearts, create a rift in the soul, and so we need his healing as well. This is something Jesus walks us into- sometimes through the help of another person who can listen and pray with us, sometimes with God alone. As David said in Psalm 23, He leads us away, to a quiet place, to restore the soul. Our first choice is to go with him there-to slow down, unplug, accept the invitation to come aside. You won't find healing in the midst of the Matrix. We need time in the presence of God. This often comes on the heels of God's raising some issue in our hearts or after we've just relived an event that takes us straight to that broken place, or waking as I did to a raw emotion.

Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever. (Ps. 86:11-12)

When we are in the presence of God, removed from distractions, we are able to hear him more clearly, and a secure environment has been established for the young and broken places in our hearts to surface.

Courtesy of : the Ransomed Heart Minitries  http://ransomedheart.com/

When Nothing Makes Sense To Us, Praise Him!

John 9: 1-3 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Nobody will ever outgrow Scriptures. I have read John 9 countless times. Yet today was different. First of all, the whole chapter gave me goose bumps and teary eyes. But the things that struck me was the fact that this man or his parents have done nothing wrong. (This does not mean they were sinless)  It was decided since he was in the womb to be born blind because God had a plan that He shared with no one. His plan was to use this man years down the road to open his eyes and redeem his soul. He also wanted to share with those willing to believe, that He was indeed the son of God.  He also wanted to share with his disciples, use it as a stumbling block to the Jews who were dead set against His teachings and also share with us today so that we might be comforted and learn to trust His plans for us. Without knowing what God was doing in the background, this man was called to live out a lifelong blindness as a beggar, with no hope.

But, imagine being this man’s parents to find out your beautiful baby boy is born blind. The pain this must have caused them and all the unanswered questions they must have had. There is no doubt since the Jews regarded this as the effect of sin, that they had no compassion for the man and perhaps people were pointing fingers at the parents too. This man’s life has been affected completely since he grew up with his blindness well through adulthood.  

I guess the reason I had teary eyes and goose bumps was the display of God’s sovereignty, the way He design things for us, through us and in spite of us. We are wrong to think God NEEDS us to receive glory because if we do not do it because of our love for Him and gratefulness for who He is, then the stones will cry out. (Luke 19:40)

Sometimes we cannot explain why life is what it is. Our endless trials and grievous calamities have purposes we have no way of knowing the impact and the depth unless we keep going on, in faith and steadfastness. We can find strength to go because we know He is Sovereign, He is a just God,  His goodness is beyond measure and His compassion limitless. In His appointed time, He will bring it all together for us.

 So, would you please find the strength in Him to hang in there even when nothing makes sense to you? In Him there is healing and there is hope.

Prayer:

Holy, Lord God Almighty, Heaven and earth are full of your glory. We praise you and worship you. We give you thanks for who you are. You are worthy to receive Glory and honor. Great are the works of your hands, Hosanah in the highest. Lord I pray that you would bring relief to the heart of those who are in pain. I pray that you would put your healing touch on them, and give them the patience needed to go through it all. Please give them such confidence in you that they would not be able to deny your presence. May your grace fall upon them. May you guide their actions, protect them from the evil one who is able to use their sorrow against them and against you. Through the darkness that surrounds them right now, may you become their light and allow them to see you through their despair. Most of all my Lord may their sorrow be used for your glory. To you be the glory my redeemer and I love you with all that I am, so please hear my plea. 

“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