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.

Knowing God?

I would like to write about a concept this morning that has extreme relevance to us as the church of Jesus Christ, and as a body of believers. This past week I came across a blog article by a Christian man who shall remain nameless, mostly because I can’t actually remember his name. HA! He was not a famous preacher by any means and most of us probably don’t know who he is, but he wrote a blog article which I found to be rather troubling. I would like to address the concept that he wrote about and then offer my thoughts.

The general premise of his writing was centered around the concept of people hearing from God and therefore understanding and knowing God. It was his argument that the idea of hearing from God was not entirely biblical. That people who have experiences where they hear the voice of God were either not being honest about their experience or that they imagined it and were, in his mind, discredited. I found these statements about hearing from God very troubling for two reasons.

The first reason is one that can be laid to rest rather quickly. And that is that God IS speaking to people ALL THE TIME. This is a point which almost needs no argument. There is a myriad of scriptures in both the Old and New Testament, which validate the reality that God speaks to people and that the more we listen, the more we’ll hear. Now, often times we charismatic folks get ridiculed for elevating our experiences to a height that reaches beyond the scope of scripture. And while I don’t agree with most of that ridicule, I do understand it. Because I have seen and heard things in charismatic churches which sometimes make me scratch my head. But let me emphatically say that this idea of whether or not we can and do hear from God is NOT one of those situations that cannot be proven in scripture. Hearing from God is NOT a charismatic abuse! It’s a reality which is taking place all over the world in the lives of Christians every day.

This leads me to my second reason for being troubled. I believe that this argument about hearing from God indicates a greater concern. And that concern is the argument over whether or not we can “know” God. You see, if I say that I hear from God, than I’m also claiming to “know” something about God. By saying that God is speaking to me, I’m also claiming to know that God speaks. By saying that God healed me is also implying that God heals. When our experiences with God become personal they indicate that we know something about God’s character, ways and motives. Knowing God is an issue which I find to be hotly contested in the church world. And that is the issue which I would like to talk about today.

After reading this man’s article this week, I was prompted to write the following as my status on Facebook: “It is dangerous to assume that we know everything that there is to know about God. This attitude will always lead to pride. It is however also equally dangerous to assume that God is somehow “un-knowable”. This is also pride, in the form of false humility. I’m not being humble when I assume that I can’t know God’s ways or desires. His Word is very clear.”

This idea of knowing God, is one that is fairly simple for us to understand. Yet it seems that people are so divided on the subject. So many people subscribe to the idea that since God is a sovereign being, everything that happens to them is somehow part of His plan. Therefore God’s motives and ways are un-knowable. He does what He does and we just have to live with it. While the other “half” seems to be so accustomed to receiving revelation that they get prideful about their knowledge of God. They look down on those who don’t have any revelation about God . They feel as though they have everything figured out and so they stifle themselves from ever learning more about God and His ways.

Interestingly enough, both of these views are heavily rooted in pride and are equally destructive. Unfortunately it’s rare to find a person who will admit to being in pride in either of these areas. That’s the funny thing about pride. It never admits to being wrong. Prideful people rarely consider themselves prideful. That would hurt their pride too much. HA! But all joking aside, both of these view points are very destructive to a person’s efforts to live for God. I should never assume that I know everything that there is to know about God. One of the reasons that this becomes harmful is that I cease to be vulnerable before God and I am no longer teachable. If I think that I have God figured out, I’ll close myself to the idea of learning more about Him. The scripture teaches us that God is not able to be contained by time and space. He inhabits and fills eternity. His Words are infinite and His power is without limit. Why would we think that we could cram all of His majesty into our minds? Our minds have natural limits, yet God is without limit. How could we possess unlimited resource in a limited container? I think the answer is obvious. There should always be a sense of wonder and amazement at the grandeur of God in the life of a Christian. We would be foolish to think that we have “arrived”. After all, we will spend eternity comprehending God’s awesomeness. Sounds like fun huh?

Of course this doesn’t mean that God is not able to be known. We must have a balanced perspective about this. As I stated before, thinking we know everything about God is a prideful position to take. The pride of that viewpoint is fairly obvious. But the other side of the coin is equally prideful, even though it can be a little harder to spot.

When I take the stance that God is “un-knowable” I am doing an injustice to the truth found in scripture. I hear many people quote these famous lines: “The Lord works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform…” People have based their lives on that phrase. They quote it when something bad happens to them and they don’t understand why. People believe that God is doing all kinds of hurtful things to them and all of these things just fit into His “mysterious ways.” Forget about the fact that this phrase is not in the Bible at all. It was written in the 1700’s by a guy named William Cowper, who I’m sure was a very devout believer.

The reality is that God doesn’t work in mysterious ways at all. In fact, God’s ways are always filled with purpose and are intentional. God doesn’t do things while being shrouded in mystery. He tells us in 1 Cor. 2:9-12 “But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man, The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

Sound mysterious?? I think not. The only times that God seems mysterious to people is when they are lacking in revelation from His Spirit. It’s quite simple really. The longer I walk with God, the more I should expect to learn and know about Him. Yet this is the opposite of many people’s experience. They walk with God for years and after all that time, they end up more confused than when they started. Let it not be so with us!

I remember learning this lesson one day when I was putting Claire in the back seat of the car and getting ready to drive into town. She was so excited to be getting into the car. She had absolutely no idea where we were going, but she was just glad to be along for the ride. I realized that since she is just a little girl and immature, she doesn’t understand my ways as her father. She didn’t know where in town we were headed, and she couldn’t give me directions even if she did know where we were going. This is how Christian’s start they’re relationships with God. We start off like little kids, not really understanding God. But we’re not supposed to stay that way… When Claire is 18 years old, I expect her to be able to know the directions to town from our house. Because understanding is a clear sign of maturity. As she grows, she will learn things. The more time she spends with me, the more she’ll know about my desires for her as her dad.

The same is true for our relationship with our Father God. As we walk with Him, the sense of mystery about who He is should fade. We should be learning things from His Spirit about who God is, and how He thinks. We should come into an understanding of Him the longer we’re around Him. Paul tells us in Philippians that he desires to “…know Him (Jesus) in the power of His resurrection…” And one of the most profound things about the New Covenant as stated in Hebrews is “…No man shall say to his neighbor ‘Know God’ for they shall all know Me, from the least to the greatest…” Personal revelation of God’s character, nature, motives and desires is a direct promise in the New Covenant.

So is God able to be known in His entirety? Certainly not. At least not at the moment. But does He desire to reveal Himself to us every single day? Absolutely. His goal is that we walk in stride with Him, so that He can teach us about who He is. Be sure that you remain teachable so that The Father can reveal Himself to you more fully. And always remember to live in the truth of the things that you have already learned! Never let what you know, stop you from knowing more! God is ready to reveal Himself to you… Are you ready to see and know?

Sustaining Victory

It was late last night and for some reason I was not at all tired nor ready for sleep. My eyes were not heavy like they usually are around that time so there was no way that I was going to go to bed. My wife and child however, were both fast asleep. So with no one else to talk to I decided to pull out my Bible and read a bit.

After what I considered to be a successful men’s Bible study earlier that evening, my mind was still wrapped up in the discussion that we had. I was thinking about Jesus’ triumph over sin at the cross and the efficacy of that triumph in my life. I began to ponder the reality of His total and complete victory over the works of the devil and over sin. 1 John 3:8 came to my mind, “…for this reason was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” The fact of the matter is that as a Christian I’m no longer held captive by the dominion of sin. Sin no longer has ownership over my soul. Without this vital revelation, Christianity has no foundation on which to stand. Triumph is the bedrock upon which The Kingdom of God has been established.

With that thought in mind, I began to think about how we sustain victory in our lives. Often times people live far short of the reality of victory at the cross. Even though our lives are no longer subject to sin, we still live as though they are. There are times when we wallow in the effects of yesterday’s mistakes and forget to live in the freedom of forgiveness. Sin consciousness grips our minds and paralyzes further growth in God. Because it’s impossible to progress in the things of the Spirit if you are constantly bound up in your thinking by every memory of past failure…

So the question remains: If Christ has made me free from the law of Sin and death, how do I sustain that victory in my life? If sin could not have dominion over Jesus, how can I live in that same reality in my own life? As I thought about this, my eyes passed over some wonderful scripture in Isaiah 40:28-29. It reads:

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.”

Did you just read that scripture? ……Are you jumping up and down with excitement yet? Maybe you need to read it again…. “He gives His power to the weak…” “He increases strength to them that have no might!!!” That same power that causes Him to “Neither faint, nor be weary” is available to you. Right now.

Are you struggling with sin/depression/strife/fear/etc? What is the answer?? Tap into the power of God which comes from heaven!!!! According to this last scripture it sounds to me like God is pretty willing to give of His resource to us, as long as we’re willing to receive. Now, we have to take a look at this word “power” in verse 29 because there’s more than meets the eye. This word here for power in the Hebrew is loaded. The definition for power is as follows: “Might; Strength; Potential to exert ability in performing a function; Authority; Vigorous and Robust Health; Resources; To be Qualified; To Shout.”

Now that is just downright awesome. God gives us might and strength to triumph in every situation. God gives us the potential to complete tasks and functions. God gives us His Authority making us more powerful than the devil, rather than the other way around. He gives us vigorous and robust health in our physical bodies. God gives me his wealth and resources in my life so that I have an abundance for everything that He has called me to do and be. God causes me to be qualified for the tasks at hand. And He puts a victorious shout in my mouth!!! How could anyone live a defeated life with that kind of power available from heaven?!?!?! Yet people do it every day. There are folks all over the world who don’t realize that God’s power is available for them at the asking. This scripture is the key to sustaining victory in our lives. Tap into the power of God that has been made available to you and you will undoubtedly live in a place of perpetual victory.

There is one more thing that I would like to highlight about this scripture. I want you to notice the method in which God gets this victory across to us. He gives it. He doesn’t sell it. He doesn’t barter with it. He’s not interested in making you work for it in any way… Rather He GIVES power to those who are in need of it. You and I must realize that there is nothing that we could possibly do to receive this power, other than to simply ask for it in our lives.

What are you facing in your life? Is there some sin that keeps clawing at you? Do you need God’s power to show up in your relationships? No matter how threatening the need is, the answer is simple, practical and obvious. Ask God to give you His power. Simply approach Him with your need and ask Him to empower you. He will not withhold His ability when you need it. He will not hang you out to dry and tell you that you need to “figure this one out on your own…” If you are in need of God’s ability in your life this morning, just ask Him for some.

The more that we learn to live in the power of God, the more that we’ll sustain victory in our lives. Contrary to what you might have thought, life does not have to be a victory/defeat roller coaster. Where one day with God seems good and the next seems to be a disaster. YOU CAN live in the reality of Christ’s victory and sustain that same victory in your life EVERY DAY. Let me say this next phrase with some emphasis: DO NOT LET THE DEVIL TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN’T DO IT. BECAUSE YOU CAN!!! Live every day in the reality of Jesus’ triumph over the devil by tapping into the power of God and do life the way that Jesus did life. Victoriously.

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.