Peace or Panic?

John 14:27 (NASB)²⁷ Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.              

Human nature is subject to fear which causes panic.  Every experience we go through leaves a mark on us that seems to be indelible.  The fear causes a panic which often is expressed in unbelief.  Our head knows that God is able, but past experience causes doubt as to His desire.  I am dismayed that the Israelites, daily exposed to the knowledge of God's Presence in the pillar of cloud or fire above them, could panic at every test they met.  Yet, it is the norm for every generation.  No matter how many miracles one sees, when a test hits our weak spots, panic is the reaction.  The only answer is His peace.  It passes understanding and makes people doubt their sensitivity or love. 
Jesus called this His peace and He could and would give it to the believer.   Jesus knew the Father and He walked in intimacy with Him.  He knew trust and faith and never doubted the Father.  His peace was secure in Him, and, up to that time, unique to Him.  But He shares this with us, just as He willingly shares every victory He won for us.  The only requirement is to trust in Him and lean on Him.
This peace is so total, you have to question yourself to see if it is passivity or peace, for the lack of panic is so unique to this realm that we miss the worry and wonder if there is something wrong!   The miracle of being a partaker of the victories of Jesus is more than the human mind can comprehend.  But God holds out to us the opportunity of living in His Kingdom now.  We do not have to wait for "heaven", for Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within your possibility.  It is NOW and is omnipresent when we walk in it.
The old hymn, Trust and Obey, is a song that should be sung often so we remember...."When we walk with the Lord, in the Light of His Word, and the glory He sheds on our way..."

 

 

Bottom Line in Identity

When the religious rulers had to "deal" with Jesus and His ministry, they found, individually, a certain curiosity about Him, mixed with their need to stay accepted by the "group".  A very human reaction and disclosed by the questions they used to trick Him.  Their opinion of the Law (of which they felt a certain ownership!) was very clear, but, though they could not fault Him in His action toward the Law, they felt uneasy about Him personally for they had no control over Him.  I see this particularly in Matthew 22:36-38 (ESV)

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment.  In a Bible Study last Wednesday night, our pastor was speaking of our life in relationship with God as having "the good and the bad" in it.  There has to be "bad" for two reasons.  One, we need to see how firm is our love for God and our trust in Him.  Second, God needs members in His Body on earth to do His Will in a hostile environment. 
God is love.  When you feel His love, you know it is His Presence, for it is so very different from the environment of this realm.  To feel surrounded by His love is the most awesome, comforting and secure feeling we can know.  But Satan is continually bombarding us with accusations against His love for us personally for He knows that connection is vital to our overcoming and our walking in Jesus' victory.
God is moving us forward in His purpose to make us in His image.  From the very beginning, obedience to God's Word was the proof of man's love for God.  It was in the written expectation of covenant that God handed to Moses.  It is the secret of our relationship with God.  There is no faith without love.  There is no love without faith.  It is the connection to God and with our fellowman.
Every test you go through, in every circumstance of your life, your love for God is the bottom line of your victory.  The more you love God the less critical you will be of your fellow members in the Body of Christ.  Jesus said we are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ as He loves us.  John 13:34-35 (NLT) ³⁴ So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. ³⁵ Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
Love Him now in exactly where you are.  Be thankful for the place and circumstance in which you stand.  God is in control and He leads you toward His promise for you.

Being Led

How do we identify with Jesus Christ?  So far, we have looked at attributes of God in Him and seen our need.  If we focus on our need and not on Jesus, we falter.  Satan's accusation against us in condemnation robs us of the energy to be strong in the Lord and so "take the land" that is given to us.  With our head we know what we should possess in Him, but until we walk in victory over that land, it is not available to use.  Paul's writing to the church at Rome, (with both Jew and Gentile believers) addresses this struggle.  As I read several chapters this morning and realized how much it applies to the church today, I saw the bottom line that was written in Abraham.  Without the law, and before the covenant was ratified, Abraham believed God.  Before he had made any covenant response, he believed.  Isn't that what happened when you first saw the light and accepted God's covenant provision in Jesus and became a new creature in God?  You did nothing to justify yourself, but the weight of darkness and sin rolled off and joy and love filled you.  You believed, no matter how great your sin and need was, He loved you and wanted you.  You may not have known it, but at that moment you identified with Jesus.

Faith is the key to identification with God.  Faith that is in Who He is and the great love He has for us, keeps our focus on Him.  It took faith for the disciples to leave their livelihood and follow Jesus.  It takes faith to leave behind all that we had trusted to sustain us, give us pleasure and "a place" of esteem, to just follow.  When faith waivers, we seek to "return".  We lose sight of the Lord and we have to find a substitute to follow.  Israel is such a good example, but the deception is, that it is just history being recorded and does not apply today.   Egypt meant bondage, but they desired to return and even wanted to make a god to lead them back.  That god was the same one Egypt worshipped.  When we pick up our own control and seek to return to the slavery of self, we use the same gods the world worships to lead us back.

Keeping step with Jesus is to follow through "richer or poorer, sickness and in health, through thick or thin, good or bad" until He leads us to His purpose for us.  He led Israel with a pillar of cloud and fire.  He leads us by the Holy Spirit that He gave us to dwell in us.  We don't have to understand the circumstance, but we do have to understand He will never leave us and nothing can separate us from His love.

More on "Keep in Step"

Psalm 40:16-17 (ESV) ¹⁶ But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!”  ¹⁷ As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me.  You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!

These verses reveal a dicotomy that is natural because of our human nature.  There is a joy in knowing how great is the Lord and a knowledge that our salvation is assured because of His unfailing nature.  There is also the battle with condemnation because of accusation.  It is this "accusation" that I want to discuss.  Because of our human nature, accusation has access to us.  It is Satan's greatest weapon in his war against the saints.  He uses it in a threefold manner.  He accuses us to ourselves in condemnation.  He causes us to find fault with others and he accuses us to God.  Revelation 12:10 (NLT)  ¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has come at last—salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ.  For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth—the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

We cannot accuse others without a certain amount of pride.  Even when we see a sin in one's life, we are instructed to pray for them, hating the sin but loving the person.  Fear of rejection often hinders us from reaching out, but both of these conditions are met by seeking humility.  True humility is bold to do what the Lord wants us to do.  Accusation is one of the things we must overcome in all of its forms. 

Keeping in Step

The secret of walking in step with Jesus is your focus.  Jesus spoke of the "love of the world" as a distraction.  He spoke of "mammon" and we limit this to money.  Fewer people love money as such than those who love what money can buy.  There are many who cannot buy even bare necessities but still love the "world".  Being poor does not change your focus, nor does being rich.  Only love for God can change your focus.  Jesus asked Peter, "do you love Me more than these?"  It was a lifestyle that Jesus was holding out to Peter, not just a fish.  Love for a career, for success, for recognition and appreciation can be as compelling as any love.  Many a marriage has suffered because work and the love for advancement has come between a man and his wife and family.  I have seen ministry cause marital problems because the ministry became more important than the family or even a relationship with God.  When focus slips away from your love for God and fastens to anything in this realm, it becomes idolatry.

I watched my grandson drive (he teaches driving!) and he may take a hand off the steering wheel (not like my "deathgrip"!) and pick up something, but his eyes are on the road.  He says you will go where you are looking!  Jesus said to put your hand to the plow and don't look back.  We sometimes sing a little song with the children, "be careful little eyes what you see".  Our focus is very important no matter what we do.  A singleminded focus is the reason for success.  Strangely enough, if your love for God is total, He will give you the ministry, the success, the happiness in all areas of your life.  Matthew 6:33 (NASB) ³³ But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  In the margin of my Bible, I have written, "this first before 7:7."  Matthew 7:7 (NASB)  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  Seeking Him first and putting His will before your own, is the key to having your focus on Him.  It will change what you desire, what you are asking and seeking.  It will reveal the door on which to knock. 

 

 

Identifying by Passion

We are all familiar with the movie, The Passion of Christ.  Easter ceremonies speak of the passion.  When I was very young I thought that word meant death and I suppose many people associate His death with that word, for the archaic meaning of the word is "agony".  We now identify it with any very strong, expressive feeling.  Zeal, also, is a word used to express a person who has a passion for a certain lifestyle.  Jesus told His disciples in John 4:34 what was His zeal.   (NASB) ³⁴ Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.  When Jesus cleansed the temple by driving out the moneychangers, His disciples remembered it in connection with Psalm 119:139.    John 2:17 (NLT)  ¹⁷ Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”  (Psalm 119:139 (NASB) ¹³⁹ My zeal has consumed me, because my adversaries have forgotten Your words.

If we are to identify with Jesus, there are some steps we must take.  First, we must know with Whom we are identifying.  John 15:7 (NASB) If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.   Abiding is dwelling, living, inhabiting.  Where you go to be yourself, kick off your shoes, fellowship with your family, find your comfort zone and rest.  It is part of your identity.  It is what the world sees when it no longer sees you, and it is where people know they can find you.  It is your abiding place.  If the Word has that abiding place in you, you know it.  If Jesus is your abiding place, you know Him.  His will is your will.  His passion is your passion.  Your "work place" should have "God and Sons" over it.  What drove Jesus was to do the Father's will.  What drives you?  I ask myself this on a regular basis.  I do a reality check.  Why am I here?  What am I trying to accomplish?  If the answer is an honest, to do His will, I seek the Spirit's guidance and do some time in conversation with my Boss, or it is repentance time until I get back on track.

Second, know what He is doing.  Jesus had a passion to do just what He was sent to do.  He could not do what He is doing now because the cross was His goal and that ended His earthly ministry.  Now, seated once more on His throne, He administers the Father's will through His Body on earth.  We cannot have a true passion to do the will of God and not have a passion for His Body on earth.  We must seek the blessing on the Body of Christ the same as we cry out for blessing on our own body.  We cannot identify with Jesus without identifying with His Body. 

Satan's attempt to thwart God is to get believers to criticize, judge, limit and neglect the other members of Jesus' Body.  The command we have in the New Covenant is to love one another as He has loved us.  His zeal to complete the work that He was sent to do has opened the door for you to become just like Him.  The only way we can see that accomplished is to give Him a covenant response and love.  Care for His Body as you care for your own.  The family is the vital unit in all that God has done, is doing and will do.  In our own home, the husband reveals Jesus to his family by loving his wife and caring for her as he does his own body and covering his household with faith.  The wife, the picture of the church, respects and loves her husband with a passion to please him and be the one to respond to his leading.  The children learn and follow in honor and obedience.  It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom!  Luke 12:32 (ESV)  “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Members of the Body of Christ

When we consider the Body of Christ, and we all believe in this, we find many opinions.  Some try to establish their place, but we are positioned by God.  Some may feel they are the least in the Body, but if we consider the lying accusation of Satan to all of us, we may all feel this at one time or another.  The important thing is not to look on someone else and consider this!  Jesus warned us about this attitude.  Matthew 25:40, 45 (ESV) ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

Jesus fulfilled the Law and then gave us a new commandment for the New Covenant.  John 13:34-35 (NASB)³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”   John lived out this commandment and knew how this had enriched his life so he exhorts us to love.  I John 4:7-12 (ASV)  ⁷ Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God.   ⁸ He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.   ⁹ Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.   ¹⁰ Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.   ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.   ¹² No man hath beheld God at any time: if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us:

Satan does not only accuse us to ourselves but he accuses others to us to make us critical.  Don't let an accusation become an opinion that will rule your reactions to a member of His Body.  We have to set ourselves to walk in God's love and let our lives reveal His love to all.

The Source of Our Victory

We live in a time when there is a consistant push to deny what God has accomplished in providing us access to Him and to His purpose for us.  Jesus is denigrated to the level of "other religious figures" and the highest praise accorded Jesus is that he was a good man.  All religions prevent man from becoming his full potential in God.  When the authority of the Holy Spirit to teach and lead into all Truth is ignored, the result is what we saw in the Sanhedrin that sought to kill Jesus because they did not recognize God.  We cannot be left to human reasoning or we will miss God.

We see how people develop a language to express what they believe until it often becomes so accepted by those who use it that others do not really know what they are saying.  I was born into a Christian home, actually I am a PK (preacher's kid) as is my husband, and I grew up with phrases I never heard outside the home and church, such as "born again", "joy from above", "soon coming king", and other such expressions.  When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus of being born again, Nicodemus could not understand.  Jesus explained to him what He meant.  We have so accepted the term that I wonder if we have underestimated the true meaning.  Jesus told Nicodemus that unless he was born again he could not see the kingdom of God.

As expressed in the title above, I want to talk about the source of our victory.  Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life."  He is indeed the source of our victory.  But we need to know beyond all doubt this source for the world around us is eroding this knowledge.

Jesus is the second Adam.  He was not born of man.  He was not created, He was begotten.  He was born of God.  The Body of Christ is not created but begotten of God.  Being born again is being born of the Spirit and receiving a new Life.  I Peter 1:3 (Young's Literal Translation)  ³Blessed [is] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to the abundance of His kindness did beget us again to a living hope, through the rising again of Jesus Christ out of the dead,


I John 5:1 (YLT)  ¹Every one who is believing that Jesus is the Christ, of God he hath been begotten, and every one who is loving Him who did beget, doth love also him who is begotten of Him:  This is the identity of the Body of Christ.  You cannot join it through accepting membership, you cannot fake it nor can you desire it without the Holy Spirit's work in you.

The Body of Christ was not begotten until the work of Jesus was completely finished.  It took the work of Jesus on the cross and the triumph of the resurrection for our redemption.  But it took the ascension back to the throne of God for the body of Christ to be completed, begotten, empowered to do the will of the Father on earth.  We are not a concept, a religious phrase, a vague institution of believers.  We are a threat to Satan, a part of God's eternal plan, begotten of God to reveal His Glory to a world that does not know Him and a Light to the darkness of this realm.  We loose a power greater than anything man can devise.  We are the hand and foot, voice and heart of God walking among men who have no hope.  We are connected to the Head by the Holy Spirit Who always knows the Father's mind or will.  We are governed, empowered, directed and instructed by the Head, Who sits in victory on the throne of heaven, having completed all that we need to share in His victory and joy.

Keeping in Step

I have often wondered at the Sanhedrin's reception of Jesus.  Why, knowing the Law and the Prophet's words, did they hate Jesus so much as to harbor murder in their hearts?  They, as people, are no different than people of today.  They represented, as does the church, the holders of God's Word and actions of Love as He reaches to redeem and connect to mankind.  I have come to a few conclusions that I consider a warning to myself.
They were locked in to a past revelation of God, but had not let that inspire them as individuals to press forward to seek to know God.  They studied His Words and knew what the prophets said, but the connection to God's heart was not a part of their collective intention.  A group of people can study the Bible and all the books written explaining it, and still not have as their goal to know God's heart and what He is presently doing.  There seems to be a desire to know what God has done and a fascination with knowing the future, but a reluctance to be a part of the I AM's present action.  Jesus did not measure up to the Sanhedrin's idea of the Messiah.  They were so busy measuring His visible history and ministry that they could not hear the Voice of God in Him.  Their opinion of the prophetic word concerning the Messiah had prevented their perceiving the reality of God's action.
The warning that I have taken to heart is to keep in step with Him as He unfolds His continuing manifestation to draw us closer to Him and to His purpose.  No one has all the answers or knows completely.  None has known His heart or understands His holiness and Being.  We all have had only glimpses.  Only One knew and understood and followed exactly.  John 6:46 (NASB) Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.   John 5:37-40 (NLT) ³⁷ And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face, ³⁸ and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me—the one he sent to you.  ³⁹ “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! ⁴⁰ Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.
Today God does not move through just one man or one denomination.  Jesus is the Head of the Body of Christ.  The body is one unit with one Head.  Ephesians 4:4-6 (NASB) ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
I Corinthians 12:12-13 (NLT)  ¹² The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. ¹³ Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.
Because this is the present work of God and there are many scriptures concerning this, the ministry of the Body of Christ is a consuming study.  I would like to touch on some parts of this as it concerns each of us, so will go in more detail in future blogs.  I would be very interested in your comments.  I have not been able to get them introduced into the page of the blog, but I do get them and appreciate them.  I will copy your comments on this subject into future blogs if you give permission.  Thank you in advance and may the Lord bless you.