The Presence
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| How the entirety of the life of the creature is wrapped up in its environment. Its breathing, its nourishment, its survival |
As it was in the biblical account after the resurrection, so it is today. There are many who, in the desire to grow spiritually, are still looking for the living among the dead. As it was with Mary, the searching is right but the setting is wrong. Genuine motives may be present for this quest, but the reality is that the seeking is taking place in the unlikely places. If one misinterprets his or her real needs in life, they are in danger of misdirecting their efforts to meet those needs.
If we look solely to relationships, we will easily be lured into a life of possessiveness or a crisis of dependence, when that foundation fails to deliver what we yearn for in our hearts. In this case, the problem begins where we see and use earthly relationships as a means to obtain that which can only be received from God.
The same applies to everything else our lives may be occupied with on a human level. There are multitudes of broken cisterns all around us every step of the way, designed for those who choose to live without actively pursuing His presence (Jeremiah 2:13). As it was with Israel, these cisterns form poor substitutes for the transformation that comes when we are immersed in the Fountain of living waters.
The same applies to everything else our lives may be occupied with on a human level. There are multitudes of broken cisterns all around us every step of the way, designed for those who choose to live without actively pursuing His presence (Jeremiah 2:13). As it was with Israel, these cisterns form poor substitutes for the transformation that comes when we are immersed in the Fountain of living waters.
We were never created for activities, achievements, success, or even for ourselves. We were created for Him. To live otherwise would be an error that results in the most tragic of eternal losses. By contrast, true seekers have a relationship with God has created the true form of ideals by which they live. This becomes the basis by which they perceive and respond to experiences on earth. Rather than conforming, they are able to transcend them by the power of His might!
Learning to abide in Him sets us free to live beyond our own limitations. It ushers us into the abundance of life into which we are called. We therefore need to come to that point in time where we lose ourselves in Him. It is key to our fulfilling our purpose. This is not to say that a believer’s life crumples to the floor like a coat waiting for someone to come along, pick it up and wear it. It does not mean we become passive and fail to make use of abilities He has given us. We will still think, decide and act but when we do, it is in order to express His thought, decision and action. We can only come to terms with all three when we are walking close with Him. He came to us and showed us how to eventually come to Him.
Personal Attitude
When it comes to prayer, there are certain guidelines we do well to pay heed to. We do not want to offer the sacrifice of fools that Solomon warned about, by not guarding our steps when as come before the King (Ecclesiastes 5:1). In Luke 14:26-27, Jesus taught on counting the cost of what it takes to be His disciple. The time has come to rid ourselves of all that can distract us from Him with such abandon and passion that affirms nothing else really matters!
David cast his royal dignity to the wind and abhorred his personal honour before an entire nation when he came before the divine Majesty. It was not particularly the style or form that made a difference, but the passion and attitude of devotion behind it. Moreover, God Himself declared that He would be found by those who would seek Him with all their hearts (Jeremiah 29:13). When we have the right attitude, the closet becomes a place where everything and everyone else is shut out and we only have one focus. The Saviour alone.
Again, this is not to mean we have been called to abandon our responsibilities as far as human relationships. God is love and He has appointed us to be channels of love to a dying world. The question that we should be asking ourselves here is not how we ought to cut off all relations with those close to us so that we may be spiritual. It is: where do our true values lie? What is the true object of our life's devotion?f anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. (Mark 8:34)
The bottom-line in the message of the cross is that there is an essential dying that must come before true living. When our lives demonstrate this message, it will be the wake-up call to the world and the nations will recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ is alive! But bearing our cross must be followed by a coming after Him. We bear our crosses not toward a doctrine, a program, a structure, an influential leader or religious group, but toward Him. This helps us not to put our trust in our own ability to make sacrifices for the Kingdom, but rather to humbly magnify the sacrifice He made by the way we live. Devotional prayer is key in this process.
Every one of us has a practical cross and as we learn to carry it every day toward Him, we can be discipled to learn from Him. Our sacrifice or even our suffering will not be worthwhile if it has not been done in Him and for Him, for it is into the fellowship of His sufferings that we have been called. If we are distracted when it comes to going after Him by loved ones, our lives or even by personal sacrifice, our discipleship is not yet fully complete. Our mission is to be so closely related to Him, that we are constantly being influenced by the motions of His heart and mind. This is the attitude we need to carry with us into the place of devotion.
Sometimes real depth in prayer can be hindered by a lifestyle of earthly dependence. This is not just in matters that are secular or carnal in nature. It can be idolized relationships. It can even be the salient weakness of relying on signs and miracles, talents and gifts, spiritual books, sermons, church activities, inspirational music, charismatic leadership, or even Christianity itself, more than the Saviour. A thing does not have to be inherently evil to qualify as an idol in our lives, or to take His place. In contrast, our prayer life becomes rich and meaningful when we strip ourselves of all distractions and give ourselves wholly to His presence.
The Lifeline
We may look back over the years and see we've used every method we knew to overcome a particular moral failure or some weaknesses, but were again and again subject to frustration. This is a sign for us to grow beyond the mastering of methods and yield to the Master Himself! Cultivating real spiritual dependence and abandonment to Him begins with a distrust in self.
As long as everything in our lives is beautiful and comfortable, we rarely sense the desperate and critical state we are in as creatures whose very survival depends on the connection with our Maker. However, when things we have invested time and effort to build collapse around us, we start to understand that as long as it’s still on the earth, there is no human enterprise or undertaking that is immune to loss or spiritual sabotage. We begin to see our only real security is Him alone. Unless we take His yoke and humbly learn from Him, deception can delude and derail us. Our work is not to be built upon concepts or principles, even those that are spiritual, but on Him.
Though we teach and use spiritual principles, there is no place in scripture where we have been instructed to abide in them. We are to abide in His presence. Only then can we appropriate the full potential contained in these truths such that it becomes the life we actually live. It is His mercy that creates room for us to grapple practically with the results of weakness in our lives. As with Adam in the garden, He could have easily prevented us from failing badly in times past and making some woeful choices in our lives, but He chose not to. This too was His mercy. “How so?” You may ask. The answer lies in the fact that through such experiences, we have the chance to develop the distrust in ourselves and the dependence on Him which our calling requires.
In the light of the king’s face is life, And his favor is like a cloud of the latter rain. (Proverbs 16:15)
Times of refreshing will come upon us as we continue to behold and walk in the light that radiates from the King’s presence and as we seek His face. The renewing of His Spirit is His favour extended to us in a time of weariness and moral aridity. Think of a single fish swimming with a shoal out there in a freshwater body. See how the entirety of the life of this creature is wrapped up in its environment - its breathing, its nourishment, its survival! This fish does not need to work up a special program or organized system which it has to follow in order to stay alive because water its very element. Life comes to it naturally when it is there.
Because of man's spiritual constitution, the presence of his Maker is his primal and natural element. Therefore he will do what every other creature would when estranged from his original spiritual habitat. He will begin to struggle. He may cover up his frantic activity and grappling by calling it preoccupation with needs, urgencies or emergencies. The truth still remains that his critical environment is the presence of God, apart from which there is nothing but meaningless toil and regret. Struggle is often evidence that there has been such a departure. The only way to discover ourselves and to understand what life is really all about, is in Him. It is only in Christ that we can find the way, know the truth and live the life.
We are really going through a tough time if we are in it alone. But once we have experienced the might and awesomeness of His presence, we can face the contradictions of this world with renewed vigor. It is through our God that we shall do valiantly. The battle belongs to Him!
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
All the economies and socio-political systems of the nations of earth may collapse into oblivion, yet His purposes will remain unthwarted. In an instant, chaos and confusion may sweep over the planet but His plan will still emerge undefeated. He does not depend on what there is. All there is depends on Him. In Him, through Him and by Him are all things. Despite the situation, the outcome will still be to His favour. He remains sovereign and in full control. Our own positions may change, but He is changeless. He is all in all. That’s why the apostle Paul, when referring to Him used such terms as the mystery of the ages. He is a Glorious Enigma, a Wonder that will take eons to even start to understand. Let us not be deceived. Our survival in this age will not come about through human reasoning or clever ideas but by abiding in Him.
