Marks of Maturity – Part 1

Most of us want to mature as Christians. I would venture to guess that the vast majority of believers do not want to stay immature and “baby-ish” in their walk with the Lord. And clearly the scripture gives us instruction about growing up in Christ. Paul, James and Peter exhort us over and over to be mature in our walk with Jesus.

So, here’s the question: What are the indicators of maturity in my walk with Christ? How do I know that I’ve grown? There has to be some measurable results which will tell me that I have progressed in the things of God. Over the next few weeks, we are going to be covering things that I like to call “marks” of maturity in the believer’s life. The New Testament has a lot to say on the subject, so let’s dive in…

The first concept that I would like for us to get into is perhaps one of the most important things that we can learn as Christians. Yet it is one that is either ignored or poorly taught on a wide scale in the Church world today. That is, being led by the Spirit of God. Of all the marks of maturity in our lives as Christians, this issue must have a high priority. As believers, we MUST be able to hear from God and allow what we hear to be the thing which guides and directs our decisions and lifestyles. In this is true maturity. Often times we place emphasis on things which are carnal as indicators of our walk with God. For example, we say things like “I haven’t missed a Sunday service in two years. My walk with God must be on point.” Yet when the scripture deals with our maturity in God, it always addresses internal things. Things like our love walk, or our ability to control anger and our sensitivity to God’s Spirit. Funny, how it never deals with our church attendance, or even (as ministers) our ability to preach a good sermon, or how many people we got saved last month. The scriptures indicate that internal aspects of our life are the things that are the most important. The book of Romans illustrates this for us perfectly.

Romans 8:14 states: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.”

Now there are two things to notice here. The first is the word “led” and the second is the word “son.” Both are critical to defining the meaning of this scripture and to understanding our discussion regarding maturity. The word “led” means: “To lead, by accompanying into a place; To conduct or bring.” So firstly we need to see that it’s God’s desire to lead us into His will and purpose for our lives through the working of the Holy Spirit. That means that the Holy Spirit can and will take you deeper into God’s heart if you’re willing to follow. The scripture says in 1 Corinthians 2 that “…The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God…” So The Holy Spirit is always exploring the depths of God’s will and if we’re willing to follow Him, He’ll take us with Him on that journey. He’ll literally lead us into the will of God.

There are so many practical applications in our lives when it comes to being led. For example, it’s possible for us to have a working knowledge of God’s will regarding our future and then make choices based on that knowledge. If you’re sensitive to God’s Spirit and to His leading, than He can give you insight about the future, He can tell you where to be or where not to be. So often, we blame the devil for causing things to go wrong in our lives, when in reality a simple obedience to a word from the Lord would have spared us the trouble. God’s heart is always good and loving. He wants to lead us into His plan for us which is perfect. It’s ALWAYS up to us whether or not we follow.

Secondly, the scripture uses the word “son.” Now this is an interesting Greek word, because it is not the same as the word in the scripture which describes us as God’s children. This word for “son” is not trying to tell us that we’re God’s kids. In fact, Paul already assumes that we know that we’re God’s offspring, so he uses this word “son” instead of “child.” The reason that this word is so awesome is because it denotes maturity. Everywhere else in scripture where you see the word “child” or “children” the Bible is reminding us that we’re God’s kids. We’re His offspring, we’re in His family. But this word “son” is special because it indicates maturity. And as we all know, not every Christian is mature.

You see, the minute we get saved, we become God’s “child.” But unfortunately, not everyone grows from a child to a mature “son.” Think of it in natural terms for a moment. When you’re a baby, everything is done for you. Mommy and Daddy have to feed you, and clothe you. They have to bathe you and help you learn to walk. But as you grow, the responsibility of life begins to shift from your parents over onto you. When you’re 35 years old, no one is changing your diaper anymore (hopefully). You now have the authority and ability to be trusted with things in your life. Like the ability to drive a car or own a home. But these were things that you never could do as a child. Right?

It’s the same in the Kingdom of God. We must develop and grow in the things of God and move beyond spiritual babyhood into maturity as a “son” of God. And one of the first ways in which we do that is by learning to be led by God’s Spirit. The way that we know that we’re mature is when we can follow God into uncharted waters based on what He has spoken to us, with no fear or concern for our surroundings. This is a mark of maturity. Sonship, not babyhood. Being one of God’s sons enables you to be entrusted with heavenly wisdom and foreknowledge of things to come. Babies always live in the moment, but sons always know what is on their Father’s mind and walk in a confident understanding of His will.

In order for you and I to grow in our relationship with the Father, we must learn to be led by His Spirit. Maturity is found in your ability to hear God and then execute what you’ve heard. Notice that it’s not just in the hearing that we are matured. The scripture doesn’t say that all who hear God are the sons of God. It says, all who are led by Him are His sons. We must be willing to take instruction from God’s Spirit and then do what we’ve heard! This is maturity my friend. It’s not whether or not you attended every Bible study in the month of June last year or the fact that your family has attended the same church for 150 years. Those things are of little relevance when it comes to maturity. The question is: Can you hear God? And: When you’ve heard him, are you willing to do what He’s said? Those are the issues that truly indicate where you’re walk with the Lord is really at.

Are you hungry to be a mature son of God, or are you comfortable with having your spiritual diapers changed?

Running Around with Dad

Have you ever had one of those moments in life where something profound happened during a moment of silliness? I think that sometimes the Lord delights in showing us deep things when we least expect Him to. It seems that in His grand sense of humor, He finds ways to teach us during the times when we’re just “minding our own business” and having fun. God really is a funny guy, and I enjoy His interruptions… Something interesting happened to me this week. It might not seem that interesting to others, but it sure did catch me off guard and reminded me of a profound truth. I’d like to share that story with you.

It was about 7:30 in the evening and I was having a fun little time with my daughter Claire in our living room. We were on the floor playing with her toys and laughing. I had dressed her in her pajamas for bed and I knew that we had few more minutes before it was time to put her down to sleep. Now, our daughter has always been very good at going right to sleep when we lay her in her crib at night. Typically we never even hear a peep out of the kid. She just goes right to sleep. But being the innovative dad that I am (just kidding), sometimes I will try to wear her out a little bit before it’s time for sleep. I’m not sure if this is a good parenting tactic or not, but it seems to make sense to me. If I make her run around a little bit, it will tire her out and help her to sleep soundly.

So we started running around the living room. Myself on my knees and her in her adorable pink one-piece pajamas with the built in “feet.” I had made it my personal goal to chase her around the coffee table, eventually catching her and rolling onto the floor. This of course ended with much tickling, and lots of little toddler kisses. (Unfortunately, if you’re not a parent, you don’t have the slightest clue of how rewarding these moments really are. Solution? Get married and have lots of kids! haha.)

Amidst all of this fun and laughter, the oddest thing started happening. Instead of running away from me, my daughter changed her “strategy” and started running straight for me. As I said before, this surprised me and I wasn’t sure why she was doing this. But as I thought about it, the reality quickly dawned on me: She couldn’t wait for me to catch her. For her, the best part about the chase was when it ended. The real reward was when I “tackled” her to floor and tickled her until she squealed!

This experience became a new game in itself. We started lining up on opposite sides of the living room and began charging at each other, the anticipation building with each step. There was a delightful tension and expectation in her eyes. She could hardly wait for daddy to scoop her up and give her all the hugs and kisses that she could handle. It was like that feeling that you get when you arrive at the top of the roller coaster track, just before making that initial drop. You’re tense with anticipation and you can’t wait to go over the edge. It’s a wonderful feeling. And that’s what I saw in my daughter that night. Anticipation of being swept up by daddy. She was so enamored with the idea of me “catching” her that she actually altered her course of movement so that the payoff would come sooner. It was in this that God starting talking to me…

Now, I tell you this story at the risk of sounding cheesy. And even as I write this, it’s hard for me not to be overcome with emotion at the thought of how precious those few moments were for me. But as a dad, there’s simply nothing greater than the affection of your kids. No matter what age they are. These moments of love, affection and attention from your children are the things that help to shape your life. And we must never take them for granted.

As I thought about this experience with Claire, my mind was drawn towards a book that I read a long time ago by a man named Tommy Tenney titled “God Chasers.” In fact, the story that I’m telling you bears some eerie similarities with some of the stories of his book. I do not wish to copy or plagiarize his work, but it would seem that we’ve had some similar situations as fathers. And it seems as though God has taught us some similar lessons through our fatherhood experiences. As I sat there that night and contemplated the lesson that had unfolded in front of me, my heart was drawn to the following scripture, which is found in James 4:8. It says:

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

I have heard this scripture quoted many times and I have even preached it with vigor. But I have never seen it displayed so clearly or accurately until I watched my daughter charge at me in our living room that night. The lesson is clear. Often times we play our little religious games with God, trotting around and playing “tag” with the Holy Spirit. When the whole time God is wanting us to change our course of action and run at Him. He makes Himself available to us and asks us only to come after Him. God has made it easy for us to find Him, because He’s “hidden” in plain sight. Often times we just need to be like Claire and change our direction. We need to make a slight course adjustment and move in the path that leads straight to Him. We’ll find every time that He’s waiting to “catch” us.

Sometimes this can be difficult for us, because many times life gets in the way. Our passion for God gets mixed with the cares and obligations of life. It happens to every single on of us at various times in our lives. But the good news is that it’s easy to diagnose and just as easy to fix. Let’s take a look at this same scripture again from the New Living Translation. I like the simple way that this verse is translated in the NLT. It reads:

“Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

Notice that last phrase: “…your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” Wow. That’s an intense accusation, but yet it’s one that most of us live with much of the time. That word loyalty is powerful. It speaks of our heart’s constant desires. It represents which direction we gravitate to when life is in its normal routine. It’s easy to cling to God when life is bad, in the same way that it’s easy to grab a life boat when your sinking in the ocean. But that word loyalty….that word changes everything.

Loyalty indicates a consistency that is maintained regardless of the situation. Meaning that I’m moving in God’s direction at all times. Now this doesn’t mean that I can’t be committed to the world. There are responsibilities that all of us have in the world. We have jobs, social commitments, mortgages, etc. that we are committed to and there’s nothing wrong with that. Because I can be “committed” to my job and still be “loyal” to God. The difference is found when we look first at our hearts and second at our priorities. If my heart is putting God first than my priorities will be filtered through my heart’s desires and my actions will reflect my priorities. Make sense?

We must realize that we can chase after God all the time. James 4:8 diagnoses our problem for us. Much of the time our loyalties are divided between God and the world through the choices that we make. Every day we have a choice to either “Draw near to God” or not. And our priorities and actions will always be a clear indicator of where our loyalties really lie. The way we live is always a very good test of where our hearts are at. You see, God designed us this way. He made it very easy for us to diagnose areas for improvement in our lives. The quickest way to adjust my lifestyle is to get close enough to God so that He can change my heart’s condition. Which is why the scripture tells us to draw near… The more that I draw near Him, the more He changes me, which causes me to draw even closer to Him. It’s perpetual. Closeness with God always results in even more closeness with Him.

When my daughter runs at me, the world stops spinning. My heart is drawn to her as her father in an even stronger capacity. Time with one another strengthens the bond that we have and always leads to us spending even more time together. As Christians, we should be known for our closeness with God. The world should look at us and notice that we are infatuated with Him. Our relationship with the Father should be reflected in every arena of our lives. But much of the time it’s not. Often times I find myself repenting for not putting God first. Some days it seems as though I “wake up” or “snap out of” my little bubble and realize that I haven’t been charging at God in an area of my life. It’s not something to feel guilty about. It just simply requires a course adjustment. We just need to repent and start to give those areas to the Lord.

My prayer for you as well as for me is that we would define our relationships with God the same way that my daughter defines her relationship with me. And that is persistent pursuing. May we always be people who find the greatest joy in the moments when we are “caught” by God because we charged at Him and He charged at us. Remember to keep your loyalties directed at God and not at the world. My daughter can’t run around the living room with me, if she’s busy coloring or playing with one of her toys. Neither can we run with God if our loyalties become skewed. Put Jesus first in your life. Make Him the priority of every day, no matter where your other “commitments” may take you. Charge at Him with reckless abandon and you’ll find that He’ll “catch” you and overwhelm you with His Presence, Love, Grace, Mercy, Joy and fulfillment.

Access into The Secret Place – Part 5

Good morning readers!!! We have made it to the last entry of our series on The Secret Place. I don’t know about you, but this study has been truly life changing for me and I know that I will never be the same. God has been releasing revelation to His children about living the life that He has called us to live, and it has been exciting. I hope that this series of entries has served to stir you up internally and help to propel you into the destiny of God on your life.

Before we get into today’s lesson, let me share something with you. In studying the will and purpose of God in His church, one thing has remained very clear to me. And that is, that whenever God calls people, He ALWAYS equips and provides for the task ahead. That means that God will never call you to do a task that He has not given you the spiritual equipment to carry out. A while back I was taking a look at the word “provision” and something jumped out at me. Part of the word “provision” is the word “vision.” It struck me that whenever the Bible speaks about the provision of God, there is always a “vision” attached to that. And so I decided to look up the prefix “pro” in the dictionary, and what I found was astounding to me. The prefix “pro” means “to propel, or to force into.” So the word provision takes on a new meaning! God’s provisions are those things that He releases to the church in order to propel them into His vision! Provisions are vision equipment. They’re resources given to you to propel you towards the vision that God has prepared for you to walk in.

The reason that I am mentioning this is because the principles that we have covered in the last several weeks are things that are given to us by God as provisions. Renewing the mind, Worship, Studying the Scriptures, Prayer and today’s topic, Faith based action, are not just disciplines in the believer’s life, but they are also weapons in the arsenal of every believer to execute the will of God in the earth. They are provisions given to us that serve the purposes of God in our lives. And we should treat them as such. So, that having been said, let’s jump into today’s topic. I will do my best to keep it short, sweet and to the point.

Faith Based Action

In the last several weeks we have discussed the various “access points” into The Secret Place that Holy Spirit highlighted to us. I would classify these topics to have been very “spiritual” issues. Meaning, they are most times very private, intimate experiences with God which are geared at strengthening our spiritual walk with the Father. Today’s topic however, takes things from the prayer closet to the public arena. It would be outrageous for us to assume that our spiritual lives would start and end in private. And one of the most destructive things that religion has done in America is to take the things of God and bottle them up into a quiet church service. Religion has created a mindset that compartmentalizes our lives. In other words, we treat church like a club on the weekends where we have our little time with God and everything else in life fits neatly into its own little individual box. We keep things very organized and one area of life never crosses over into another. We must realize that our relationship with God was never designed to work that way. Rather it was designed to fill every box of life. My relationship with Jesus should be the dominating motivation in my marriage, parenthood, job, social experiences, etc. And if we ever compartmentalize God out of one area of life, than we have closed off an area of our hearts to Him and we’ve entered into idolatry. (Yikes!)

We should never be afraid to express our love for God at any time and in any place. Religion has cornered us and made us defensive rather than offensive! God has called us to be on the offense, meaning He has called us to spearhead His mission and run into the world, boldly proclaiming the truth of His word. True Christianity is not passive. God is always moving forward and therefore His church must be willing to move with Him.

This is where faith based action comes into play. God once spoke to me profoundly and said “I want to use you in the market place, but I first have to meet you in The Secret Place.” You see, every great move of God starts in His Presence, but it never ends in the same place it started. Part of the reason that we meet God when nobody is looking is so that we can put Him on display when everybody is looking. Every outward action that Jesus did in His ministry began on the mountaintop in prayer with the Father. And while it started with prayer, it never ended there. Jesus simply took the things that He received from God and turned them into action in His life. Many times the church refuses to walk in the power of God because we are more comfortable being at home in prayer, worship or study. And it’s true, those things are access points into The Secret Place, but we were meant to take those things and turn them into corresponding action. James says that “Faith, without works is dead.”

Many times, we think that we are walking in a certain dimension of God that we really are not. Let me give you an example. Let’s say that I am reading and studying on the Love of God. I spend weeks in prayer and in the Word studying on Love. And when I am through I close the Bible and continue to live my life as though nothing had changed. I now THINK that I learned something about Love, however, since I have not done anything with what I have learned, the knowledge I’ve received becomes useless to me and to God. Sure, it feels good to know something about scripture, but if we’re not careful to put what we know into practice, than we’ll actually enter into spiritual pride and we’ll think we know more than we do. Revelation is not revelation until it causes you to DO something.

Action is required to release faith into our lives. You cannot be in faith and have a passive attitude at the same time. Faith is constantly taking ground. A Christian’s attitude should be that of a conqueror. To quote a famous minister “When God puts His Spirit on the inside of you, He expects you to take what you’ve been given and go out and conquer something.” There’s a reason that we’re called to be world changers. It’s because we have Him inside of us and we actually have the potential to change the world!!!

Now, there’s a reason that I have titled faith based action as an “access point” into The Secret Place. It would seem as though we go into The Secret Place through prayer or worship. We then receive things from God and then leave The Secret Place and take what we got to the world. This however is not entirely accurate. You see we were never meant to leave The Secret Place. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons why people’s ministries are ineffective many times is because of this compartmentalization. We think that we should go before God and get something and then leave God behind while we go off to minister. This however will never work. The reality is that when we go off to minister, we are to take The Secret Place with us!

This is how Jesus operated all the time. He was constantly aware of the Father’s Presence. So His actions had very powerful results. You see, He put God’s Kingdom on display at all times because He never left The Secret Place. So His actions were based on Faith and empowered by the Presence of God that He was dwelling in. He never left the Father’s Presence to minister, but rather He invited others into God’s Presence and it was when they entered that they were changed. How else could it be that He healed the woman with the issue of blood? The power that was on Him was so strong that she was healed and Jesus wasn’t even paying attention! (See Mark 5:25-34) Remember Psalm 91:1 – “He that dwells in The Secret Place of The Most High shall abide under the Shadow of The Almighty…” Jesus dwelt under that Shadow and when He ministered to others, He simply exposed them to the Shadow that He lived under and they were set free from whatever bound them. Even Jesus had to rely upon a constant connection to the Father to minister effectively.

Sometimes we think that Jesus did everything that He did because He was God. But in actuality, He ministered as a man. Everything that He did in His earthly ministry, he did as an ordinary man. The Bible tells us that He laid aside His deity, and became like one of us. So He had to rely solely on His connection to the Father to minister. And so must we. He understood that the power that He walked in came, not from Him, but from the Father. We must have this same mindset. We have to stay in The Secret Place and stay connected to God when we go out and act on our faith. Otherwise we will not have results. We must begin in private before God and finish in public without any interruption. The beauty of this is that when we are in private we can be in The Secret Place and when we are in public we can still be in The Secret Place too! We never have to leave! We can remain aware of God’s Presence and Shadow dwelling over us all the time. And when we do, we’re going to have the same kind of results that Jesus had. It starts and ends in The Secret Place…

I hope that you have enjoyed this little mini series regarding The Secret Place. As I said before, it has truly ministered to me, beyond my expectations. I have learned as I have shared and it’s been a wonderful experience.

I’ve got some new stuff on my heart for the coming weeks. So stay tuned. And if you don’t have a home church, please come fellowship with us at High Country Christian Church on Sundays. In the coming weeks we’ll be beginning a new sermon series at church regarding our Authority in Christ titled: “Honey, I shrunk the devil…” It’s sure to be a good one, so stay tuned and stay connected to Jesus!!! Talk to you soon.

Access into The Secret Place – Part 2

This morning I have the esteemed privilege of writing to you from my home. It is a rainy, wet, cloudy day here in the high country. A perfect day to stay indoors and read/write/sleep/eat/pray/drink tea. Normally at this time on Wednesdays, I’m sitting in a coffee shop typing up my weekly entry. But on this day, my beautiful wife Brianne is home from school on her Easter break and our baby girl is taking her morning nap. All is quiet.

So, let’s pick up where we left off, the week before last. We have been talking about accessing The Secret Place of the Most High and I would like to continue in that vein. I listed 5 different “points of access” to The Secret Place and they are as follows: 1.) Renewing the Mind  2.) Worship  3.) Studying the Scriptures  4.) Prayer  5.) Faith based action. Now we have already talked about Renewing the Mind and if you didn’t catch that entry, I would strongly encourage you to go back and take a look. Not only is it one of the ways that we enter into The Secret Place, but it’s one of the most vital keys to living the Christian lifestyle. We MUST allow the Word of God shape our thought life. It’s the only way to live…

The second area or “access point” that I am going to deal with today is Worship. Worship is one of the primary practices of the Christian person and is something that we seldom truly understand. A lifestyle of perpetual worship to God is absolutely normal in the life of a Christian. Total and complete surrender to God at all times is the way that we were created to live. Sadly, most Christians fail to recognize that. Most folks identify worship as the “slow songs” at church on Sunday. We think that worship is the latest album by whatever Christian artist is hot right now. And while those things fall under the umbrella of worship activities, they do not define what worship is. We must understand what real worship is in order for us to practice it and get the most out of it.

I would like to define the word worship as it is found in the New Testament and discuss that for a moment and then we’ll look at some scripture on the subject. The word for worship that is most commonly used in the New Testament is the word: Proskuneos (pros-koo-nay-ohs). It’s a fairly simple word with a powerful implication. Firstly, the prefix “Pros” is translated in English as “towards.” Secondly the word “kuneo” is translated as the verb “to kiss.” So when you combine the two, what you are left with is a word that literally means “To come towards or lean in for a kiss.” Now this is a far cry from what most people experience in their lives when it comes to worship. Again, let me state emphatically that worship can not be defined as a slow song or the portion of service before the preaching, etc. To define it as such would strip it of it’s true power and intention, which is intimacy and exchange.

Firstly, worship is designed to be intimate. It’s the connection of your heart with God’s. It’s not ritualistic. It’s never routine. True worship is that cry from your heart that draws you up and connects you to Him. It’s real and it’s raw. Your worship can never be duplicated, packaged, processed or sold. Because it functions like a fountain of water. It erupts from your heart and flows straight to God. It can not be stopped by the devil, because it exists in an area that he has no access to, your spirit to spirit relationship with God your Father.

Secondly, worship is designed to be an exchange. You can really understand this when you think of worship in terms of the Greek definition of leaning in for a kiss. Think about it. When I kiss my wife, not only am I connecting to her intimately, by showing her that I love her. But there is also a simultaneous exchange of intangible things. Stuff like germs, perfume, lip gloss (ha!) skin cells, etc. You get the point. Whenever there is intimacy there is always an exchange. There is inevitably a residue left behind from the experience. If my wife has a cold and I kiss her, I am making myself vulnerable to the thing that she has. Likewise, if you “lean in for a kiss” with Father God you are making yourself vulnerable to catch whatever He’s got! Imagine if you lived your life in a perpetual state of worship. A place where you are continually contracting God’s germs. A place where you are always face to face with His glory and majesty. Would it ever be difficult to minister to someone? Would there ever be a problem too big? I don’t know about you, but I would much rather be infected with Heaven as a result of my intimacy with God. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trying to be irreverent. We have to fully realize just how powerful our worship to God is. God is not looking for an opportunity for you to enlarge His ego by worshiping Him. That’s not the character of the God we serve. Rather He’s seeking an opportunity to rub off on you. He’s looking for a chance to leave an impression. He wants you to be exposed to His goodness and then go release it onto someone else. Simply put, worship connects you to the heart of God and releases His desires into your life. And then it leaves you with His residue. His characteristics rub off on you and leave a mark. His power and glory are left on you to remain. If you have a problem with sin in your life, learn to worship continually. Because you can’t be in worship and be in sin at the same time. Let God infect you with himself and watch the change take place….

Now let’s look at some scriptures that further explain worship to us. This passage is found in John 4:23-24, where Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well:

“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24) “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus is speaking here and he makes some very strong statements. The first thing He speaks of  are “true worshipers.” This phrase has always been very challenging to me because it reveals to us that if there are true worshipers out there, than there must also be false worshipers too. Meaning there must be people who have the appearance of worshiping God, without the intimacy. An outward form without an inward exchange. Their “worship” is mere actions revealing themselves to man, rather than revealing themselves to God. Have you ever gone to pick up a box that you thought was going to be really heavy and instead it turned out to be empty? That’s the best analogy that I can think of to describe false worship. It’s advertising, without substance. You expected to really feel the weight of the box. Your muscles were tense, your knees were bent. You were ready for that box. And then when you picked it up, you almost fell backwards because the box was empty. The thing that you expected to be heavy was full of nothing. That is what false worship really is. Nothing. It’s just a bunch of noise. Lacking any real power. It leaves your heart as empty as it was to begin with.

Now, I’m not saying this so that you can go to your next church service and start looking at everyone around you to try and judge who’s for real and who’s not. That’s not the point. The only person that this should have an effect on is you. We’re not trying to pinpoint our neighbor here, so don’t do that please. Rather, be honest with God and ask Him to show you any areas that may need to change. If you’re being real and honest before God in your worship than you have nothing to fear…

The next thing that Jesus says is that we must worship the Father in both spirit and in truth. Now these words get tossed around a lot in our churches, so we need to make sure that we truly understand them. First of all, to worship God in spirit means simply that my worship is coming from my spirit. It’s coming from the purest place in my heart. It’s an extension of my love for Him. Next, to worship God in truth means that I am being true in my worship. I am not holding anything back. I’m not trying to hide anything from God during my worship. You see, worship should be the most honest experience that we have. When I come to God in truth, than there is total exposure to my life. The book of Hebrews says that we are “all naked in the sight of God…” Nothing is hidden from Him and therefore my worship should reflect that reality. Remember, intimacy implies exposure to God, so we can not have true worship without willingly revealing everything to God.

Notice that Jesus uses the phrases “true worshipers” and “spirit and truth” in the same sentence. The purpose for worshiping Him in spirit and in truth is to keep our worship true. It’s to keep us from being that empty box that we talked about earlier. If my worship is coming from my spirit and it’s based on truth and honesty before God than I will always be a true worshiper. And therefore I will always have the intimacy with God that I desire. This is why worship can never be simply a form or a routine. Because a routine is something that often lacks meaning. It’s something that you do, just to do it. The minute that my worship becomes a routine, is the minute that it ceases to be worship. The box becomes empty again.

That’s why we can never boil worship down to a singular experience like a slow song, an album by our favorite singer or even a quite time. Because worship, like its counterpart love, is not an experience. It’s a way of life. Worship is something that should pour out of my heart for God at all times. Worship can be expressed in so many different ways. For me it’s often singing because that’s something that I love to do. I love to sing. But what’s more is that I love to sing for Him. My song takes on a new dimension when it becomes a gushing river and an expression of my love for Father God. It’s no mistake that the whole time Jesus is teaching about worship in John 4, He is standing next to a well. Our worship is a fountain of living water that springs up on the inside of us and becomes a perpetual flow of love and adoration for Him.

Finally Jesus says that the Father is seeking those who would worship Him this way. We often talk about the importance of seeking God in our every day lives, but I think that it’s also important for us to understand that He is seeking us too! It’s His desire to be intimate with us all the time. In fact, He desires it more than we do. He craves fellowship with us.

I never fully understood this until I became a dad myself. Not too long ago I was reflecting on how intense my love is for my daughter. When I’m not around her, I miss her. I realized that especially this last trip that I took to Florida. Being apart from your child is no fun!! It’s the same for God. When we are not around, He longs for us. When we are busy with life, He craves our love. I have such joy when I scoop my daughter up off the floor and hold her. In fact, she will usually see me coming and put her arms up above her head, signaling me to pick her up. As a dad, there is almost no greater joy in life than holding your child. We have to understand that God feels the same way. He wants to have this intimacy with us. It’s His greatest passion. So it needs to become ours as well….

I think that it’s obvious to us that worship is one of the great “access points” into The Secret Place. Not only is it an entry into His Presence but it’s also a practice that keeps us there. I find my way into the heart of the Father by worshiping and I stay perpetually connected to His heart by doing the same.

Access into The Secret Place – Part 1

Last week we began talking about the importance of what the Bible calls The Secret Place. I gave you a little background on the subject as to its origin and the concept behind it. And we looked briefly at the results of a life that is lived in The Secret Place. But as I concluded writing last week, it became very apparent to me that we needed to spend a bit more time talking about the  subject. In particular, I would like for us over the next few weeks to look at how we access The Secret Place in our lives every day. And also identify things that can be a hinderance to us in our quest.

First off let me lay a foundation for the rest of our discussion. We MUST remember that as we discuss these principles that I would characterize as primarily “spiritual”, it becomes important for us to base all of our findings on the foundation of Scripture. Since the Bible is the only ruler by which we measure our accuracy concerning spiritual things, we must make it our dedication to have our minds renewed to it. Amidst a culture that continues to emerge as doubt filled, we have an obligation to stand on the Word. We are not like the rest of the world; the majority of whom still have no idea what they believe. We have the Word to teach us and the Holy Spirit to confirm those things that we’ve heard. It’s a foolproof system. So at the end of the day, one of the most important aspects of the Christian lifestyle is that we maintain a willingness to let the Bible shape our thinking. This is what it means to have our minds renewed to the Word. Incidentally it’s also the first method for accessing The Secret Place that we’ll discuss.

But before I get into that, let me list the concepts that we’ll be discussing in the next few weeks. I’ll call them “access points” in to The Secret Place. They are as follows: 1.) Renewing the Mind  2.) Worship  3.) Studying the Scriptures  4.) Prayer  5.) Faith based action. With the exception of number one, these are in no particular order. And as you can see, there’s no mystery to accessing God’s Presence and Power. These points are things that I, along with countless ministers are always telling people. I have preached many messages centered on these principles. They have stood the test of time. They have always been and will always be points of access for us into the Presence and Power of God.

So let’s get back to it. 1.) The Renewing of our Minds. I listed this one at number one for a reason. It’s not that I devalue any of the other points at all. But I have found that without our minds being renewed to the Word, we have a hard time practicing the other points. For example, if my mind is renewed to the Bible concerning Prayer, then that means that I have let the Bible shape my thinking about the subject. Once my mind is made up, I’m much more likely to walk in the power of Prayer because I have an understanding of what it is and how it works. This holds true for any one of these principles.

Now there are a lot of scriptures that we could use to discuss our minds being renewed but my all time favorite comes out of Romans 12:1-2. Let’s take a look.

“1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Let’s analyze what Paul is saying. Firstly, he instructs us to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. This is one of the first parts of renewing our minds, because it is an act of obedience. When I am ready to have my mind renewed, I must let go of control over my life and submit it to God. It is impossible for our minds to be renewed to the Word of God without us first letting go of control. God will never force himself or His Word into the mind of a person who is not willing. And this first verse illustrates that perfectly for us. You must present yourself before God and surrender yourself to Him in order for you to be in a position for your mind to be renewed. One of the most frustrating things that I have ever had to deal with in my life is when a person is stubborn about something that they don’t fully understand. They are very passionate and very sincere. But unfortunately they’re sincerely wrong. And there are many people today in the world and in the Body of Christ who are sincere about what they think, but they still live in darkness. They won’t let the Word renew their minds because that would mean that they would have to let go of what they’ve thought is true and adopt a new way of thinking and living. We MUST always remain in a place of surrender before the Lord and be tender in His hands. The Bible has the right to correct me and my thinking whenever it needs to! And as long as I am presenting myself to God as a living sacrifice, I am leaving the door open for Him to make all necessary adjustments.

The next thing that Paul says is so powerful. “…which is your reasonable service.” This always makes me excited because it reminds me that submission to God is reasonable. The word “reasonable” means that something is within the scope of reason or in short it “makes sense.” You see, submission to God and to His Word is very reasonable. At the end of the day, it just makes sense! Let me illustrate this to you: Let’s say that you have two options regarding a new job. You have been offered two positions at two different companies and both of them seem good. There are pros and cons with both positions and you’re not sure which one to take. So you have a choice. You can: Submit yourself to God, let your mind be renewed, pray and hear from the Holy Spirit exactly which job to take -OR- You can take a guess and wing it.

Which option makes more sense to you?

Letting our minds be renewed is always a more reasonable choice. And it will always lead us towards the purposes of God. Next Paul states the purpose for mind renewal, which is what I want to highlight this morning. Paul says not to be conformed (or molded) to the lifestyle of this world. This one is huge. I have talked with many different people and I have heard many different theories on what this Christian life is supposed to look like. For many, the jury is still out on that question. But I can tell you what our lives are NOT supposed to look like. Worldly.

Now this might sound like an old fashioned soap box and maybe it is, but it’s true none the less. Paul tells us here that we should have lives that are transformed rather than conformed. You see, the world is always working to try and make you more like itself and the people in it. But we have been given a higher mandate. We are in this world but not of this world. Our job is not to blend in. Christianity is not camouflage. Rather we should stand out in society by the fact that we have been transformed by God and by His power. One of the saddest occurrences I can think of is when someone discovers that a person is a Christian after knowing that person for a long period of time. If you have worked at your job for the past 5 years and your co-workers still don’t realize that you are passionately in love with Jesus than something is wrong.

Again, sorry for the soap box (not really) but I’m so tired of seeing people who are Christians that want to see how close they can get to the world without getting burned. Listen folks, this is not giving God Glory! I’m not saying that we can’t be “normal”, but if being normal ever gets in the way of the Power and Presence of God in my life, than “normal” has gone too far.

One of the principle reasons for renewing the mind is that we become transformed as a result. And according to Paul’s next statement, only transformed people are able to do the will of God. Look at what he says: “…that you might prove, what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” The emphasis of this scripture is found in the word “prove.” I have heard many people teach this scripture and put emphasis on the words “good, acceptable and perfect.” I’ve heard people mention that there are levels to the will of God. A good level. An acceptable level. And a perfect level. And while that might be true, this particular scripture is not a very good one to use, if you’re trying to prove that point. Paul lists three attributes of the will of God, he’s not talking about three different wills of God. Just because the hair on my head is curly, short and black doesn’t mean that I have three different heads of hair. You see what I’m saying? Again, I’m not trying to refute the teaching that we may have heard about the will of God. But rather say that the real point of this scripture is found in the word “prove.” You see the purpose of my mind being renewed is that it gives me the power to prove or act out God’s will in my life. That’s the emphasis of Paul’s argument.

In the light of our discussion on The Secret Place this becomes important. Having my mind renewed is critical because being in The Secret Place carries with it a new mindset. People who are in The Secret Place don’t think in natural terms. People in The Secret Place look at life from Heaven’s perspective. You see, people who are bound up with the cares of life, who’s minds are torn between believing God or believing the world are not going to be proving the will of God. But a man or woman who has had their mind renewed and is living in The Secret Place is in a position to see things from God’s perspective and demonstrate God’s will.

We will find that the longer we spend in The Secret Place, our minds will be renewed by that experience but we also have to understand that it takes having our mind renewed to get into The Secret Place to begin with. I have to condition my thought life to remember that I have an open invitation to The Secret Place at all times. I need to make up my mind that no matter what life may throw at me, or no matter how many mistakes I have made in the past, The Secret Place is still open and available for me to access. That’s the mind renewal that I’m talking about.

So often, we are conditioned to reflect on our past sins and therefore we consider ourselves unworthy to enter The Secret Place. But for those moments when you have sinned, don’t run from The Secret Place, run to it. The door to intimacy with God doesn’t close just because you have made a mistake. Rather that is the time to run to the Presence of God. Boldly declare that you missed it, obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb. 4:16)

We need to make up our minds that no matter what, we’re going to live in The Secret Place at all times. That is the definition of having our minds renewed. We study the Word to discover that Heaven has been made open to us, then it transforms how we think and how we live. Mind renewal is meant not just to change how you think but it’s meant to change how you live. God is interested in people who act like He acts. It was God’s original intention to have people who imitated Him. When God created Adam and Eve he said “Let us make man in our image and in our likeness, and let him have dominion…” When you give you life to Christ and are saved, you’re made in His image. But it’s not until you’re mind is renewed that you’ll start to have dominion and act like He acts…