There are times when God's grace leads us into the wilderness, much like Israel's story of bondage and slavery in Egypt to miraculous deliverance into the wilderness. The true deliverance, that of their souls, was to be accomplished in the wilderness. The wilderness was where they were to learn how to worship God..."let My people go, that they may worship Me."
The booty they fled Egypt with, the miracles that got them out by the skin of their teeth - were all just enough grace to convince them to actually leave Egypt. It's almost like a divine trick for our own good, because something very important is at stake: us and His heart. The principalities and powers are watching the mystery of God's wisdom unfold, they are watching to see if we'll persevere long enough to prove His heart is good. Out of all Creation we have been given the highest honour and the most difficult challenge: Everything Sonship offers has been extended to us, but will we persevere to win the prize? The challenge is knowing and trusting His heart enough in order to fling ourselves headlong into the agony and the ecstasy of refinement and restoration. God uses the wilderness to refine and restore and reveal the original creation that is us by stripping off layers and layers of skins. Since the fall, satan has been trying and succeeding at conforming us to his image. It takes some work to shed that image and reveal our original glory.
It is grace that leads us into the dark night of the soul, because without grace we never would have agreed to what got us there in the first place. We made the clincher decisions, because we thought they were good! They were. We just didn't think they were the "character-building" type of good when we wholeheartedly submitted to His leading (divine appointed blindness is also part of the grace package I found).
So where is the passion and joy now? Well, what's keeping us from running [away]? Pat yourself on the back, if your still in the race - that's passion. Passion has a focus and it is joy. His joy, which will also become our joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength. It's true. I've lived it, several times, while simultaneously feeling like puking, dying, falling off the grid, planning a visit to the Doc for some cocktail or daydreaming of a private room in a psyche ward. God is merciful. We are pig headed. When I yelled at God that I had trusted Him (that lovely grace) and that I was nowhere near the promised land, quite the opposite it seemed, He surprised me with His loving presence manifesting around me that turned my angst into calm. He led me into the wilderness and He was letting me know He was there, but it was up to me how long I would stay there.
Humility, I believe, is the only way out. Whether it's confessing one to another or confessing to God alone, it is the recognition of sin in our lives (which sometimes can only be pointed out by others if we were deceived/believed a lie) and repenting of it that ends the wilderness season. God desires to deliver us, His Beloved, from bondage and sometimes that means "wounding us to heal us" or "tearing us down to build us up". After repentance comes a miraculous change in perspective with the fruit of the Spirit accompanying and in some cases even change in actual physical circumstances occurs. One day there was angst, the next day there is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control. Last, but not least, you gain true spiritual authority, authority over that which you have conquered.
There is another side to wilderness that I will touch on. Sometimes the wilderness is a hiding place where God has taken you to hide you, protect you, feed you and strengthen you in preparation for the next season. This can feel lonely at times, but very special, as you truly are being fed in spirit, soul (and perhaps body too) directly by the hand of God. It is a very intimate place with God, a place where you feel His holy jealousy for you. It is a place of secrets and conception.
I will write 'Grace Part 3: Grace For Battle' in the coming weeks.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Grace Part 1: Guarding Our Grace
A friend once surprised me by her matter-of-fact statement, "We need to guard our grace". I pondered it for a bit because one usually hears about "protecting our rest" or "following our peace", but not much on "guarding our grace". After pondering this for some time I have come to the conclusion that grace is not properly understood, too often misunderstood, misused, abused, neglected, mislabelled and as a result not properly appropriated, thus the benefits of it are largely unseen in the Christian Church today. There. Shehbang.
In regards to rest and peace, what does it mean to protect our peace or to guard our rest? It means that we would guard against that which would rob us of it. It means we remain in, or go to, the place where it won't be disturbed, robbed or threatened. Sometimes we have to fight to remain in or regain our peace or rest. We work ahead so we don't have to work later. We turn down one job for another, even if it means less pay or prestige. If pain has touched us it can be a real battle to find peace and rest, for it comes through choosing to worship God, despite the circumstances. Sometimes we are not able to fight, so we need our family in Christ to fight for us; it is humbling to say, "I'm struggling and I can't do it, I need you". 'Bin there, done that, saw the victory. God gives grace to the humble hahaha yes!
Sometimes we lose our peace bit by bit and one day something (or Someone) awakens us to that truth and we seek to find out how this could have happened and how to regain what was lost. Why am I writing about peace and rest when the title of this piece is 'Guarding Our Grace'? Because, for now, we as Christians are more familiar with peace and rest; there is a method here. Later I will expound on grace, now back to peace. So we woke up one day and our peace was gone. How does one lose peace? Well, Peace is a person; the Prince of Peace, and He is personal to each one of us. In His Word God tells us that, as Christians we are in Him and He in us. Obviously then, somebody moved. He doesn't move without telling us (letting us know), we need to be listening. Sometimes, for some reason (I'm sure there are many) we miss the memo. He doesn't get offended; He just begins to move in the right direction, knowing we'll probably notice and follow suit.
So what does it mean to "guard our grace"? What is grace?
Grace, I believe, is one of the most powerful manifestations of God. When we are in His grace we have the power to persevere in the particular place he has called us to be in. Sometimes it seems His grace even blinds us to the things that would cause us to run from His purposes in a situation. Grace: we either have it, or we don't. When we don't have it our situation becomes so uncomfortable we either hide from it or change it. Hopefully we begin to seek the direction grace went, because He always goes with a purpose and a plan. We are promised in Jeremiah 29:11 that His plans for us are good, to prosper us, not to harm us, to give us hope and a future.
"My grace is sufficient for you."
His grace is all we need for every place, but we must learn to guard it. When His grace moves we must move with Him or we lose [time, sleep, joy, opportunities, blessings, etc.]. If we don't move with His grace we will begin to hide or strive in the flesh; both, I believe, are motivated by fear and paralyze us. They put our God-dreamed of destiny for us on pause. Where is passion? Where is joy? If those two are gone, chances are His grace has moved. Seek Him out and discern the spirits. Fear of the unknown can keep us in a place almost as powerfully as grace can, but it can't duplicate the fruit of the Holy Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. Sometimes we do forget that His grace is sufficient and we need to remind ourselves. When this was the case I would declare it (His grace is sufficient) and I found that the reminder placed me back into His peace (I was still in grace, but lost my focus (Him), thus I stepped out of peace).
If we are not hiding from our situation, but embracing it with a sense of purpose and we are experiencing the fruit of Holy Spirit, then we are in His grace. If not, we must seek Him, for He will be found, and follow. That, I believe, is what it means to guard or protect our grace, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
I have written two more pieces on grace and I will post them in the coming weeks:
'When Grace Leads You Into The Wilderness'
and
'Grace For Battle'
In regards to rest and peace, what does it mean to protect our peace or to guard our rest? It means that we would guard against that which would rob us of it. It means we remain in, or go to, the place where it won't be disturbed, robbed or threatened. Sometimes we have to fight to remain in or regain our peace or rest. We work ahead so we don't have to work later. We turn down one job for another, even if it means less pay or prestige. If pain has touched us it can be a real battle to find peace and rest, for it comes through choosing to worship God, despite the circumstances. Sometimes we are not able to fight, so we need our family in Christ to fight for us; it is humbling to say, "I'm struggling and I can't do it, I need you". 'Bin there, done that, saw the victory. God gives grace to the humble hahaha yes!
Sometimes we lose our peace bit by bit and one day something (or Someone) awakens us to that truth and we seek to find out how this could have happened and how to regain what was lost. Why am I writing about peace and rest when the title of this piece is 'Guarding Our Grace'? Because, for now, we as Christians are more familiar with peace and rest; there is a method here. Later I will expound on grace, now back to peace. So we woke up one day and our peace was gone. How does one lose peace? Well, Peace is a person; the Prince of Peace, and He is personal to each one of us. In His Word God tells us that, as Christians we are in Him and He in us. Obviously then, somebody moved. He doesn't move without telling us (letting us know), we need to be listening. Sometimes, for some reason (I'm sure there are many) we miss the memo. He doesn't get offended; He just begins to move in the right direction, knowing we'll probably notice and follow suit.
So what does it mean to "guard our grace"? What is grace?
Grace, I believe, is one of the most powerful manifestations of God. When we are in His grace we have the power to persevere in the particular place he has called us to be in. Sometimes it seems His grace even blinds us to the things that would cause us to run from His purposes in a situation. Grace: we either have it, or we don't. When we don't have it our situation becomes so uncomfortable we either hide from it or change it. Hopefully we begin to seek the direction grace went, because He always goes with a purpose and a plan. We are promised in Jeremiah 29:11 that His plans for us are good, to prosper us, not to harm us, to give us hope and a future.
"My grace is sufficient for you."
His grace is all we need for every place, but we must learn to guard it. When His grace moves we must move with Him or we lose [time, sleep, joy, opportunities, blessings, etc.]. If we don't move with His grace we will begin to hide or strive in the flesh; both, I believe, are motivated by fear and paralyze us. They put our God-dreamed of destiny for us on pause. Where is passion? Where is joy? If those two are gone, chances are His grace has moved. Seek Him out and discern the spirits. Fear of the unknown can keep us in a place almost as powerfully as grace can, but it can't duplicate the fruit of the Holy Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. Sometimes we do forget that His grace is sufficient and we need to remind ourselves. When this was the case I would declare it (His grace is sufficient) and I found that the reminder placed me back into His peace (I was still in grace, but lost my focus (Him), thus I stepped out of peace).
If we are not hiding from our situation, but embracing it with a sense of purpose and we are experiencing the fruit of Holy Spirit, then we are in His grace. If not, we must seek Him, for He will be found, and follow. That, I believe, is what it means to guard or protect our grace, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
I have written two more pieces on grace and I will post them in the coming weeks:
'When Grace Leads You Into The Wilderness'
and
'Grace For Battle'
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