There is a difference between covenant response and a covenant result in the covenants mankind has with God. Because covenants are the means by which we attain to the purpose of God, God is interested in the result of our covenant response. God has a goal in mind for us. That goal is for us to be in His image. On the day of judgment, it will not be our works that are judged but what we have become. When each of us stands alone before Him, He will seek to see Himself in us. That is what I mean by a covenant result.
The fourth chapter of John is a teaching chapter on worship. It shows our human response to the subject of worship for we tend to view place and circumstance as important to worship. God has established a path to salvation and to the knowledge of God. We tend to interpret that path in many diverse human ideas. But Jesus said very clearly that the path God had established would open to the path of spirit and truth. It is up to us if we seek to travel that path. Many are content to "worship" on the "mountain" or "in Jerusalem". John 4:23-24 (NLT) 23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
We speak of worship as an act or an identification such as "Christian", "Judaic", "Morman", "Buddhist", or "Islamic". This tells us that we regard the importance of our worship as a way of life-style that is as important as our race in identifying us. But this type of worship is a religion that can be followed by manner of dress, habitual practices and rituals. Jesus is speaking of true worship that results from giving to God the response His covenant requires.
Praise is a part of worship but worship is not necessarily a part of praise. If we only follow a ritual that signifies we have "worshipped", we do not understand true worship. The same word is used for both the ritualistic worship and the worship in spirit and truth. How do we worship in spirit and truth? Pilate asked Jesus, 'What is truth?' That question is still being asked. Jesus said, "I am the Truth...." Truth is not a fact that is learned, it is a Person. Jesus came the exact representation of the Father so we would know what a man in God's image would be. When He left to go back to the Father, the Spirit of Truth came to dwell in us. We make room for Him to dwell in us, to teach us, to lead us into all Truth. John 16:13-15 (NASB) 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.
Jesus did nothing as God, but was constantly calling Himself, the son of man. He came to take our place and our punishment so we could become as He is. The Spirit takes what was committed to Jesus and all His victories and discloses this to us. The Spirit speaks to us, "This is the way, walk in it." We do not have a list of expectations in the Covenant Jesus has cut for us, but we have the Spirit to lead us if we will listen. We follow the Spirit of Truth as Jesus walked out the way for us. When we yield the control to Him, we walk in Truth. We worship in spirit and truth. We learn to control our tongue and our steps by yielding the control to the Spirit. It does not matter if we are in church or in a store building. We can be on the highway or in bed. We are worshippers. Constant obedience to the Spirit creates worship in our spirit. When it is in our spirit and not an action on which we rely, we worship God in the flow of spirit. It is the one activity we enjoy here that will be with us in all eternity.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Praise a Covenant Response
I have used the term "covenant response" many times as obedience to God's covenant expectation from those who are in covenant with Him. I will be exploring this aspect of covenant at a later time. But for some time I have been considering praise as more than an obedient response. Yes, the Scriptures do encourage our praise. But praise does not seem to flow freely from some that I know honestly feel they belong to the family of God. This has been a concern to me and one I ask the Spirit"s help. I believe there is a response to a covenant that goes beyond fulfilling a covenant expectation.
To see this, we have to understand with Whom we are in covenant. Jesus gave us God's pattern of our response when He said for us to "ask, seek and knock". It goes beyond reading the Bible and praying. It becomes feeding on His Word, meditating on His Word until it fills our conscious and unconsicous reactions. Our desire to know Him alienates us from this realm. We become strangers seeking another City. We become seekers.
The more we know Him, the more we view those around us in the eternal view of God. Speaking of His love and mercy to those who have no hope becomes second nature. It is not a conscious effort to win the lost, but a natural compulsion to introduce them to the One Who loves them unconditionally.
It is no longer a covenant response for me to respect my husband. It is in my spirit and soul. It is in my very nature to do so. This to me is the true source of praise. Constant contact with the nature of God produces reverent praise. It comes from the knowledge of His love and the response to that love. It becomes a part of your nature to praise Him. It is that intimate relationship that mutual love produces.
Praise no longer becomes something we are supposed to do. For many Christians, praise is programmed by their church. No matter how meaningful a song is to you, if only sung in church when the program announces it, praise is limited. God receives the praise we give Him, but it does not create within us that intimate relationship with God. God does expect us to be grateful to Him. An example that comes to mind is the reaction of Jesus when nine of the ten lepers that were healed did not come back to thank Him. It is an expected reaction. Generally, praise is a thankful reaction to a blessing. This is an element of praise that is a covenant response that we are conditioned to give as children of God. We do not drop this element of praise because our praise deepens into true worship. Thankfulness robs doubt of its hold on us. Being thankful and praising God through the testing that comes to all of us, robs the darkness of the testing. When we are focused on our own self and our reactions to the testing, we grope to find a way out.
Praise is the gateway to the faith that produces our entrance into His Rest.
To see this, we have to understand with Whom we are in covenant. Jesus gave us God's pattern of our response when He said for us to "ask, seek and knock". It goes beyond reading the Bible and praying. It becomes feeding on His Word, meditating on His Word until it fills our conscious and unconsicous reactions. Our desire to know Him alienates us from this realm. We become strangers seeking another City. We become seekers.
The more we know Him, the more we view those around us in the eternal view of God. Speaking of His love and mercy to those who have no hope becomes second nature. It is not a conscious effort to win the lost, but a natural compulsion to introduce them to the One Who loves them unconditionally.
It is no longer a covenant response for me to respect my husband. It is in my spirit and soul. It is in my very nature to do so. This to me is the true source of praise. Constant contact with the nature of God produces reverent praise. It comes from the knowledge of His love and the response to that love. It becomes a part of your nature to praise Him. It is that intimate relationship that mutual love produces.
Praise no longer becomes something we are supposed to do. For many Christians, praise is programmed by their church. No matter how meaningful a song is to you, if only sung in church when the program announces it, praise is limited. God receives the praise we give Him, but it does not create within us that intimate relationship with God. God does expect us to be grateful to Him. An example that comes to mind is the reaction of Jesus when nine of the ten lepers that were healed did not come back to thank Him. It is an expected reaction. Generally, praise is a thankful reaction to a blessing. This is an element of praise that is a covenant response that we are conditioned to give as children of God. We do not drop this element of praise because our praise deepens into true worship. Thankfulness robs doubt of its hold on us. Being thankful and praising God through the testing that comes to all of us, robs the darkness of the testing. When we are focused on our own self and our reactions to the testing, we grope to find a way out.
Praise is the gateway to the faith that produces our entrance into His Rest.
Posting questions
For some time I have been trying to get comments posted on this blog and have not been able to do so. If you have questions type them in the "comments" and I will include them in the blog and answer your question with the invitation for others to agree or disagree. It seems the only way we are going to have a "classroom" discussion! Thank you!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Now or Deception?
I Peter 1:5 (NIV) who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
Without a doubt, the early apostles felt they were living in the last times. But moved as they were by the Holy Spirit, their words are as viable for us as they felt they were for their day. For over 80 years I have heard the teaching of the end as though it were possible at any hour. This is a very healthy concept for we should always live with that expectation--it is called hope! But in studying God's covenant ways, we see that certain expectations of God must be met. The Church must return to, and go beyond, the early Church, for they did not fulfill all the prophecies given by the prophets under the Abrahamic covenant. There remains a Rest for the people of God. Jesus moved in this Rest. He had that contact with the Father that we are yet to come into. Jesus came as the exact representation of the Father. This gives us the goal the Father has to make man in the image of God. The same Spirit that lived in Jesus without measure, abides in us. He allowed the Spirit full control over all His thoughts and actions. We must set this as our goal so we can see the full measure of our doing the Father's will and the same oneness Jesus had. We will have the full measure of this as we come into oneness with each other and with Jesus, through the oneness we have with the Holy Spirit.
When we rely on our human nature (capabilities, experience, education or desires) to accomplish any thing regarding the fulfillment of God's expectation, we fall short. We must learn to rely on, and communicate with, the Holy Spirit. Learning His Voice is only the first step. We must learn instant obedience and have the faith to move in that obedience. Having oneness with one another has to be the work of the Holy Spirit in us. So much yielding of our emotions, natural responses and control is required to achieve this. All the polite response to our cultural demands cannot achieve oneness. Our thoughts and emotional responses have to be surrendered to the Holy Spirit. Our obedience is not made complete until our thoughts and imaginations are brought under His control! Apostle Paul addresses this in the tenth chapter of Second Corinthians. But he not only addresses our obedience of bringing every thought captive, but shows us the path to oneness with God in resisting the fortresses of Satan and all opposition to God. So when Jesus prayed for our oneness with each other and with Him in the Father, that is a goal for the Church. The emphasis on becoming like Jesus in our nature, our relationship with the Father, and our ministry on earth doing the Father's will, is an important step toward entering that Rest.
I see the result of that Rest in Jesus' complete confidence in completing the work He was to do.
Mark 4:37-40 (NLT) 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. 38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” 39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Jesus knew that nothing could hinder His accomplishing the Father's purpose for Him.
This is the salvation yet to be revealed, that we, the Church, move into the Rest of knowing we are vessels in His Hand to accomplish His will and nothing can prevent His Word from coming to fulfillment. This is a Church without blemish or wrinkle, prepared as a Bride for her Bridegroom, clothed in the garment that God has prepared for her to wear! A Church moving in the Resurrection anointing to be witnesses of His Resurrection! We have to shake off the passive response that everything is as it was from the beginning. (Second Peter 3:3-4) We are moving upward and onward! We are not just waiting for the end! We are a part of the Day of the Lord. Let us be alive with hope and faith to do the will of the Father!
Without a doubt, the early apostles felt they were living in the last times. But moved as they were by the Holy Spirit, their words are as viable for us as they felt they were for their day. For over 80 years I have heard the teaching of the end as though it were possible at any hour. This is a very healthy concept for we should always live with that expectation--it is called hope! But in studying God's covenant ways, we see that certain expectations of God must be met. The Church must return to, and go beyond, the early Church, for they did not fulfill all the prophecies given by the prophets under the Abrahamic covenant. There remains a Rest for the people of God. Jesus moved in this Rest. He had that contact with the Father that we are yet to come into. Jesus came as the exact representation of the Father. This gives us the goal the Father has to make man in the image of God. The same Spirit that lived in Jesus without measure, abides in us. He allowed the Spirit full control over all His thoughts and actions. We must set this as our goal so we can see the full measure of our doing the Father's will and the same oneness Jesus had. We will have the full measure of this as we come into oneness with each other and with Jesus, through the oneness we have with the Holy Spirit.
When we rely on our human nature (capabilities, experience, education or desires) to accomplish any thing regarding the fulfillment of God's expectation, we fall short. We must learn to rely on, and communicate with, the Holy Spirit. Learning His Voice is only the first step. We must learn instant obedience and have the faith to move in that obedience. Having oneness with one another has to be the work of the Holy Spirit in us. So much yielding of our emotions, natural responses and control is required to achieve this. All the polite response to our cultural demands cannot achieve oneness. Our thoughts and emotional responses have to be surrendered to the Holy Spirit. Our obedience is not made complete until our thoughts and imaginations are brought under His control! Apostle Paul addresses this in the tenth chapter of Second Corinthians. But he not only addresses our obedience of bringing every thought captive, but shows us the path to oneness with God in resisting the fortresses of Satan and all opposition to God. So when Jesus prayed for our oneness with each other and with Him in the Father, that is a goal for the Church. The emphasis on becoming like Jesus in our nature, our relationship with the Father, and our ministry on earth doing the Father's will, is an important step toward entering that Rest.
I see the result of that Rest in Jesus' complete confidence in completing the work He was to do.
Mark 4:37-40 (NLT) 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. 38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” 39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Jesus knew that nothing could hinder His accomplishing the Father's purpose for Him.
This is the salvation yet to be revealed, that we, the Church, move into the Rest of knowing we are vessels in His Hand to accomplish His will and nothing can prevent His Word from coming to fulfillment. This is a Church without blemish or wrinkle, prepared as a Bride for her Bridegroom, clothed in the garment that God has prepared for her to wear! A Church moving in the Resurrection anointing to be witnesses of His Resurrection! We have to shake off the passive response that everything is as it was from the beginning. (Second Peter 3:3-4) We are moving upward and onward! We are not just waiting for the end! We are a part of the Day of the Lord. Let us be alive with hope and faith to do the will of the Father!
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