On Becoming Fishers of Men – Part 1

Today I would like to begin a series of entries on evangelism that I have titled “On Becoming Fishers of Men.” In this series we will deal with portions of scripture that give us both instruction and inspiration regarding the Harvest and how we are to make ourselves available to reap it.

Before I get into this topic however, I need to make a quick comment. One of the things that I have found to be a great enemy of Evangelism in the Church world today is an overall sense of apathy regarding soul winning and the Harvest. It seems as though we are content to be saved and are grateful for the price that was paid by Jesus on our behalf. Yet that benevolence seems to stop with us, rather than continue to flow through us to someone else. I have found this to be true in my life as well as the lives of many Christian brothers and sisters. We tend to forget that someone ministered the Gospel to us and that there are many others out there who, like us a one time, are waiting to hear the good news. When you carefully study the book of Acts, you see that the thing which defined the early Church was their boldness in sharing Jesus with people. It was also the secret to their power. Unless you are bold in your expression of the Gospel to those who need it most, it’s doubtful that your shadow, like that of the Apostle Peter, will heal anybody. Let us not be stingy with the gift of Salvation that we have received. We need to proclaim the Gospel to every creature. It won’t make you popular on earth, but it will change the landscape of Eternity.

That having been said, let me move onto the concepts that I have in my heart to share.

In Matthew 4:18-20, we see Jesus walking along the beach when He comes upon two brothers, Simon (Peter) and Andrew who are fishing. Jesus makes a profound statement to these two men that still rings true in our ears today. He says: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men…” 

There are very few statements, in my opinion that are both as deep and as simple as this one. This concept that Jesus gives to Peter and Andrew is easy enough to be understood by a child, yet is still astonishing to the most seasoned of Christians. It’s a glimpse into the heart of the Father; an opportunity to see what God Himself is most passionate about. And we have the prestigious honor of carrying it out… To us, the task has been given of becoming a fisher of men.

There is much that I will say in the coming weeks about this phrase and about what it means to catch people for Jesus. But for the first installment I’d like to take a simple, and lighthearted approach to the subject. You see, Jesus introduces the idea of soul winning by comparing it to fishing. And as many people have come to discover, the act of fishing is an art. It is something that must be practiced in order to be mastered. For example, it is said that it takes years to become a good fly fisherman because of how complex the technique is. It seems as though, a good fisherman can hook a fish, even when the fish are not biting for anyone else. Where you and I might struggle to catch anything, a seasoned fisherman will have a cooler full of big beautiful fish. I believe that witnessing can be the same way. Anyone can and should do it, but there are those who reap more because they invest themselves into perfecting it.

That having been said let me share with you some things that I have learned about fishing that I believe we can apply to our witnessing. There are four all together. Let’s take a look.

1.) A good fisherman knows how to hook a fish, because he knows what the fish is looking for.

He has a good understanding of the fish that he’s trying to catch and so he knows what bait he needs to use. He knows exactly what the fish’s needs are and so he’s better equipped to provide the fish with the proper bait. If he’s fishing for trout, than he must not be fishing for swordfish, so he’ll use that bait that the trout needs rather than bait for a large saltwater fish.

The Christian witness should do the same. We are equipped by the Holy Spirit with discernment. Romans 8:11 tells us that we have the same Spirit within us that raised Jesus from the dead. He knows the hearts of people and He wants to communicate that to us. Therefore we have the spiritual equipment to discern what the needs of people are and minister to those needs. For example, there are certain people we encounter who are broken down by life. These need to be ministered to from a heart of love and compassion. We need to let the Word of God soothe their wounds and minister healing to them. Another example is a proud person, who seems to have all of their needs met and doesn’t seem to be concerned with God at all. This person needs the Word of God to correct their thinking and become repentant.

As “fishers of men” it’s our job to know the difference and minister accordingly. Have discernment. Know what the need is and minister to it.

2.) A good fisherman always goes to the lake with a full tackle box.

He prepares beforehand and gathers the things that he’ll need. It’s no use going fishing unless we’re prepared to catch something. Likewise, when we go into the Harvest we need to be prepared and make sure our spiritual “tackle box” is full. We should be prayed up and well versed in the Word so that we can adequately deal with whatever we come upon.

Of course there are days and moments when we don’t feel as prepared and we haven’t spent as much time in the Word or in prayer as we would like. Sometimes that can shake our confidence. I’m not making light of those moments, because the Holy Spirit is always available to make up the difference in every area that we might lack. But it’s still good practice to be prepared. Did it ever dawn on you that your quiet time spent with God may not just be for you and you alone? Perhaps there are things that God is preparing you for when you’re alone with Him that will make a change in a person’s life later on.

As “fishers of men” it’s our job to stock our spiritual “tackle boxes” beforehand in prayer and in the Word. Let’s prepare for the Harvest and go get it!

3.) A good fisherman always makes sure that the fish doesn’t see him.

One of the things I learned from the time I spent fishing for grouper in Florida is that like most fish, grouper are very keen sighted. And if they see you or your shadow, they’re gone. Knowing this, we would always go out of our way to make sure that the grouper didn’t see where we were standing. We didn’t want to spoil the catch by letting ourselves be seen.

We should take the same care when witnessing to people. We must strive to ensure that Jesus is the only person that people see. You and I apart from Christ have nothing to offer to hurting humanity. Therefore we must rely on the anointing that comes from Him and ensure that Jesus is the only one who is seen.

As “fishers of men” we need to have our lives hidden in Christ. Let Jesus shine through everything you do and every word you say. After all it’s the love of Christ that leads a man to repentance.

Finally….

4.) A good fisherman loves “the fish” more than he loves “to fish.”

At the end of the day, a fisherman is after the fish. It’s his prize. It’s the one thing that he desires. As much as he may enjoy the rush of casting a line, setting the hook and reeling it in, ultimately it’s all about the fish itself. When you see a bass fisherman win a tournament, he always holds up the fish in victory. You never see him hold up his rod and reel. He’s not up there celebrating his technique or his boat. It’s all about the fish.

It’s the same for us. It’s not about the ministry, it’s about the people. We have a way of getting so enamored with ministries that we see functioning around us. This has a way of taking our attention off of the thing that’s most important, the people. We must prize the people. Fall in love with the lost. We must recognize that after the thrill of the chase is over, it’s people that are at the Heart of God. Love will drive you to see past the imperfections and vain arguments of people and minister their needs. Love will cause you to see people through the eyes of the One who died for them. This will protect you from offense and cause you to desire “the fish” more than “fishing.”

As “fishers of men” we need to love the world around us and make reaching the lost our goal.

Let these thoughts settle in your heart and shape the way you relate to the Harvest around you. I’ll be back on Wednesday to continue our series.

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 3

This morning we dive back into our series of blog entries centered on The Secret Place. I want to again reiterate that—if you have missed any of these entries, or are reading this blog for the first time; you should go back to the previous weeks and get brought up to speed.

Today we are going to discuss the third “access point” into The Secret Place: Studying the Scriptures. It should come as no surprise to us that this is indeed one of the ways that we enter into The Secret Place. In fact, one of the main reasons why I believe that Lord commissioned me to create this blog was to give people more access to The Scripture. There must be a hunger in our hearts, to the point of craving for the Word of God. We as Christians should constantly have a desire to read and consume the Word and endeavor to put it into practice in our lives.

Now there are a lot of different directions that we could take this morning as we discuss the power of God’s Word. We could talk about The Bible being the final authority in our lives. We could talk about how James tells us to be “doers” of the Word, or how John describes Jesus as the Word in John chapter one. There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of scriptures that highlight the value and importance of the Word of God in our lives. But for our purposes today in discussing The Secret Place, I would like to concentrate on one aspect: Study. You see the idea of studying the Scriptures takes things from a somewhat casual level and really dials up the intensity. It’s possible for us to cruise through the scriptures and not really get a whole lot out of them. If our reading of the Bible never gets passed the point of browsing and surface reading, than we’re going to miss a lot that we could have gotten.

Now, I’m not trying to say that you can’t ever read the Bible in a relaxed manner. Certainly, we should read the Word as often as possible. And there are times when it’s wonderful to let the Word speak to you by just simply reading and absorbing it at face value. There are times when I like to simply read one of King David’s Psalms, or read through one of Jesus’ sermons. It’s delightful. So, I’m not trying to hinder us from simply reading the scripture, but rather to highlight the importance of studying them in their depth as well. As my dad has often said, “Studying the Bible is like playing in the ocean. You can water ski on top or scuba dive below. Both are fun, but one allows you to see things you would otherwise miss…” My purpose today is to challenge us to “scuba dive” into the Word. Let’s dig deeper than we ever have before. When we do, we’ll be sure to find things we’ve never seen before.

2 Timothy 2:15 states: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.”

I must admit, I haven’t used the word “needeth” in a while, and what does it mean to “rightly divide” the Word? Sounds painful. (ha!) Let’s take a look at this scripture in the Amplified version. I love how the Amplified breaks this one down for us. I think you’ll find it rather practical.

“Study and be eager to do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.”

There are a couple things that I would like to highlight in this passage. In place of the word “study” here, The New King James Version of the Bible says “be diligent.” Now, I really love that because it adds a new dimension to our interaction with The Bible. Part of studying the scriptures involves diligence. It requires us many times to move beyond a place of comfort and enter into a place of profound revelation.

The biggest fish are the ones that swim the deepest. Therefore they are many times the hardest to find. And they require more work to capture. You see there are certain things in God’s Kingdom that require some diligence from us. Jesus said “Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door shall be opened to you.” So there are some things that come at the asking. Like salvation for example. Then there are certain things in the Bible the require seeking. The treasures of the Word are things that must be sought after. And still there are other things that require knocking, or persistence.

Have you ever been around a person who seems to have so much more revelation of the Word of God than you do? I know I have. Sometimes you talk to certain people and it seems like they just have this infinite depth of understanding concerning The Bible. They talk about a scripture that you’ve read a thousand times and they seem to know way more about its meaning than you do. I am very familiar with this feeling….

Why do you suppose that this is? I believe that it’s because that person has paid the price to dig deep into God’s Word and has developed a richness in their understanding of it. They have elevated the importance of The Bible in their lives and have devoted themselves to being a student of that Word. They have discovered the value of diligence when it comes to God’s Word. So is it any wonder why they have this revelation? Of course not. God does not like them more than He likes you. He doesn’t play favorites like that. They have simply dedicated themselves to study and are reaping the rewards of that lifestyle.

So how do we study The Bible then? Do we have to be of a certain pedigree? Do we need a seminary degree? Of course not. All we need is some persistence, method and direction. You see, the idea of study is methodical. There’s a method to doing it. There is also direction. For example, you must define what it is that you seek to know about. And of course there is persistence. Many times it seems that people have one or two of these qualities, but all are necessary to really get the most out of Scripture. Sometimes people have the method and direction but not the persistence. Or perhaps they have the direction and persistence but not the method. For example, they know that they want to study and learn more about Grace, and they are excited to do so, but they have no idea how to study. They lack the method.

Now there are a multitude of principles to know when you are studying The Bible. I could literally type the equivalent of a small novel about how to study the Word and you would most likely be sound asleep before I finished. But I will say this to hopefully simplify things for you. One of the greatest principles that I rely upon when studying is this: The Bible always confirms itself. If you are studying a certain subject in scripture or if you happen to see a passage in a new light; make sure that you check what you’ve discovered against the rest of The Bible. The Scripture is inspired divinely by God and there are no loopholes in it. So one of the ways that we can remain accurate in our study is to let the Word confirm itself against itself. For example, if I am studying the subject of “Covenant” I must be sure to consider a large amount of scripture from both the Old and New Testament. This will give me a better overall understanding of the subject as well as a broader knowledge of God Himself.

Something that I have also found to be true is that as you study The Word, things begin to unravel faster. It seems that the more you study diligently, the more you understand and the quicker it seems to happen. It’s a snowball effect. As you study specific subjects in The Bible, your overall knowledge base grows and as your overall knowledge grows it causes perpetual growth to come in other areas of specific study at an accelerated rate. Revelation begets revelation. Receiving revelation from God increases your capacity to receive the next time around. It’s astonishing how quickly it can happen. That’s why there are people who have been saved recently who seem to have a greater history with God than people who have been saved for 30 years. God honors their desire and persistence by rewarding them with increased revelation.

Finally the scripture says that we would be “workmen who need not be ashamed.” As we learn to diligently study the scriptures and find our way into The Secret Place, the treasures of heaven will be opened to us and we’ll find that we walk in new levels of boldness concerning The Word. The more that you know of God, the bolder you’ll be about Him. As I study the Word, I access a greater understanding of what I believe and why I believe it. For example, if I study and learn that God is a loving God, it makes it all the easier to minister His love to people because I have a greater understanding of that love. I have experienced that Love first hand in His Word and I am now equipped to be God’s ambassador.

A manifestation of His Presence will flood into our lives if we learn to be persistent in our study of God’s Word. The Bible provides for us a glorious access into The Secret Place, the place where God reveals to me His treasures. May we always have a desire for His Word, and may our hearts never grow satisfied with the things of this world. There is a divine discontent with anything less than God’s best in our lives as we continually expose ourselves to the truth of God’s Word. I pray that you will discover all the treasures that await you as you dig deep….

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…

Dwelling in Secret. Covered in Shadow.

Sorry if this morning’s post sounds a little mysterious. To me it sounds like something out of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But I’m not trying to be Gandalf this morning. In fact, by the time you’re finished reading today’s post I believe the title will be very clear.

Today I have a scripture in my heart that is so profound that it has forever changed the way that I look at life, much less ministry. The scripture that I’m referring to is found in Psalm 91:1 and it reads:

“He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the Shadow of the Almighty.”

Now I have read that scripture and heard it quoted, literally hundreds if not thousands of times throughout my entire life. Growing up, Psalm 91 could be heard frequently in our home because it was and still remains to be my mothers favorite Psalm. She would quote that verse to  my sister and I all the time. So needless to say, I’ve heard it before. And while I feel blessed and very thankful to have grown up around so much scripture, I also have to make sure that I stay alert regarding scripture. You see, one thing that seems to happen is that over time we have a tendency to become “mentally” familiar with certain scriptures that we have read and therefore we can become lazy and stop searching those scriptures for revelation. The minute that you stop digging for gold is the minute that you stop finding it. Thankfully, God has the ability by His Grace to snap us out of our familiarity and show us something that we have never seen before. May we never stop searching His Word for revelation.

Recently, this scripture has come alive to me in a whole new way. And there are two parts that we will deal with. The first being “The Secret Place of The Most High” and secondly “The Shadow of The Almighty.”

The Secret Place of The Most High

Most of us have heard this concept mentioned before. The Secret Place. It’s an idea that gets presented repeatedly in both the Old and New Testaments. David talked about it and so did Jesus. So it seems to be something that we should understand. For most of my life, I have thought of The Secret Place as a quiet place in my home where I go regularly to seek God. Whether it’s a closet, basement, office, attic or some other quiet place in my home, I have thought of The Secret Place as being “my spot” where I go to meet with the Father. And while that is not a bad concept by any means, recently I have realized that when the Bible deals with The Secret Place, it’s not necessarily talking about a physical location where I go to find God. Instead it’s a place in the Spirit where God dwells. It’s The Secret Place “of the Most High” it’s not “my secret place” it’s His. So, I can be driving in my car on the highway and still be in The Secret Place. It has less to do with where I am physically and more to do with where I am spiritually.

We can understand this a little better if we realize where the concept of a “Secret Place” comes from. It’s an old Middle Eastern/Asian tradition from ancient times. In those days a home would have a hidden room known as the “secret place” of the house. It was usually somewhere in the middle of the house and it was kept under lock and key. In fact the only people who had access to the home’s secret place were the father of the house and the chief servant. The only way that one was able to access the secret place was if you were invited in by the father. Wow. There are so many spiritual parallels going off in my head right now, it’s not even funny…

Now the special thing about the Middle Eastern tradition of the secret place was not just the fact that it was a “super exclusive” place in the house. But the thing that made the secret place so special was what was found in it. For it was the place where the father of the house would keep his most valued possessions. It was where the family treasures were kept hidden and protected from the world. No one knew the full extent of vast treasures of the secret place except for the father and those with whom he chose to share it.

Something interesting to note is that the only people who got invited into this place were people whom the father trusted and people that would value what they found in the secret place. If the father had a child who didn’t care about what was in his father’s secret place, than the child never got invited in. And as such, he never got to enjoy the treasure that was inside.

The spiritual similarity is quite simple and easy to relate to. We have been invited by God the Father to enter His Secret Place at any time and enjoy the vastness of the treasure that is found there. I believe that what the Bible refers to as The Secret Place is like a spiritual “Cave of Wonders” (think Aladdin) to the believer. All of the treasure of Heaven is found in The Secret Place of the Most High and it’s available to us at any given moment. We have both the right and ability to access The Secret Place whenever and wherever we are. So this means that we can access all of the power and potential that God has made available to us if we are willing to enter into His Secret Place.

Now this is a very powerful reality on its own, but Psalm 91:1 takes it to the next level. It states that for anyone who learns to “dwell” or live in God’s Secret Place something awesome would happen: We would also abide under God’s shadow. We have this awesome opportunity available to us. If we could only learn to live in The Secret Place than it means that God’s shadow would constantly be over us. Which brings me to my next point.

The Shadow of the Almighty

For me, this is where this scripture really gets exciting. Traditionally I have seen the shadow of God mentioned in this scripture as meaning His protection. Which it certainly is. But it’s also more than that. When the scriptures talk about God’s shadow, most of the time they’re referring to God’s creative power. There is no greater example of this than Mary the mother of Jesus.

If you look at Luke chapter 1 where the angel Gabriel appears to Mary to announce the birth of Jesus he says something very interesting. He says “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and that which will be conceived in you will be holy and will be called the Son of God.” Now this has tremendous significance when you view it in light of the 91st Psalm. Notice he angel’s language, he mentions that “the Holy Spirit will come” and “…the power of the Most High shall overshadow you…”

It was only after the Holy Spirit had come upon Mary that God’s power could overshadow her. And it was only after God’s power overshadowed her that Jesus was conceived. Are you seeing where I’m going with this? It’s when we are under God’s shadow that things begin to be placed inside of us. It’s only when we’re under God’s shadow that we begin to be impregnated with realities from Heaven. Like with Mary, The Holy Spirit desires to come upon us and manifest the creative power of God inside of us. After Mary encountered God, she walked away with more than she come with. A piece of Heaven was deposited in her after God’s creative power overshadowed her. And the same should be said of us today.

Putting the two together

So what can we conclude then? If we will learn to dwell in The Secret Place of The Most High, then we’ll get access to the treasures of the Kingdom. And as long as that is happening, we will find that we are living under God’s powerful shadow. Of course when we’re under His shadow, we’ll find things popping up inside of us that were not there before. God is able to demonstrate and create in us and through us as we dwell in The Secret Place and under His shadow.

Why was Jesus so effective in His ministry? Why is it that every time He prayed for someone they were healed? Was it because He was super special and we’re just normal? Of course not! Jesus walked in the power of God the way that He did because He understood this principle. He lived in The Secret Place with His Father at all times so when it came time to heal the sick or walk on water, the power was already overshadowing Him to do so. When it was time to heal the man with no eyes in the temple, all Jesus needed was some dirt and spit. The power was already there because He spent His ENTIRE LIFE under the shadow of God.

In the book of Acts we read that Peter’s shadow healed people. How can that be? Peter was just walking down the street and all people had to do was stand next to him to get healed. How is that possible? It’s simple. Peter lived in The Secret Place and under God’s shadow. So when it came time to heal people, Peter’s shadow became and extension of the shadow that he was already under. Make sense?

The disciples in the New Testament lived in this reality constantly and that’s why they had such success. We are able to have these same results and have this same power available to us if we want it. I’m saying that it’s possible for everyone that you pray for to be healed. It’s possible for everyone in your family to walk in the power of God all the time. But the ball is in our court. We have to find our way into The Secret Place.

Often times we feel the need to manifest the power of God on our own. We think that if we could just preach the right sermon, sing the right song, or pray the perfect prayer that God’s power would be displayed. But it’s not our responsibility to produce the power. That’s God’s job. We actually have the easy part, which is to simply spend time in The Secret Place. After that, the shadow of the Most High invades our world and He does the rest. When we perpetually live in The Secret Place with God all of the pressure is gone and God is able to move in and through us as He desires. And life and ministry become easy. You won’t be afraid to lay hands on someone and pray for them because you’ll recognize that it’s not you who produces the power. It’s the shadow that you live under that does the work….

Church, we need to live this way. I believe that God is stirring up the hearts of men, women and children around the world to begin to tap into the finished work of Jesus and manifest their God in the earth. I want to encourage you to begin to spend time in The Secret Place with God. You’ll find that when you do, the heavens are open to you and the only thing that’s above you is the Shadow of the most High. I feel in my heart that we need to spend more than just one blog entry on this subject. So next week we’ll talk about how we access The Secret Place in our every day lives. Until then, go and be who you’re called to be. You’ve already got everything that you need…..