That I May Know Him

Ps.27:4 - One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His temple.
Ps.27:8 - When Thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
Phil.3:10 - That I may know Him…

How can I proceed this year and make any glorifying progress in my pursuit of knowing Jesus, my Lord and Savior, deeper and more intimate? I guess the first things I must address are those things that hinder me in my spiritual journey, those things that sap my mental time and cause me to think and to dwell on things that do not edify. That can be a longer list than we think when we stop to take inventory.

Time. This is the precious commodity that we so often lavish on unproductive and meaningless things. Beside all the entertainment that comes in so many different forms, there is just the everyday noise of people and things that distract me from dwelling upon Jesus Himself. It doesn’t have to be something significant and important, it can be some minor and casual interaction that reappears within my mind and has me rehearsing the conversation and in that sometimes comes some evil surmising, but in that entire scenario my time is being wasted.

I have also purposed to use the internet in a more edifying and productive way. We don’t have to be looking at pornography to be wasting and misusing God’s gift of time on the computer, I have found much non-productive discourse and reading within the electronic walls called the internet. There is no accountability and against the massive amount of time spent perusing the different sites, reading the articles, and reading and posting our own comments, I feel especially this year that I have been dragged down rather than edified in many ways.

I know all I need to know at this point about the emergent/seeker/purpose streams of Christianity and I will continue to speak from the Word and contend for the faith. But I do not need to pile my mind and use my time to read what Rob Bell or Rick Warren or all the usual suspects are doing, it is enough that I desire no part of any of those movements. I reject them all and leave them to the capable hands of God Himself but I myself am putting away the wasted time reading about them and I will read about Christ. I am not judging anyone for what they feel led to do, and I will still address issues that the Holy Spirit lays upon my heart, but in 2008 I am going to seek Jesus in a more productive and focused way.

I will leave the comment section on Following Judah’s Lion open a little longer, but then I will close it. Why? Well let me honest, it isn’t that multitudes comment here so I am not closing the door to Noah’s ark and letting people drown. And let me also openly expose my hypocrisy for criticizing others for not having comment sections, I repent of judging anyone who does or does not invite comments. But my reasons are three fold. First, I want no part of man’s praise although I appreciate greatly what some friends have written, but I want to seek Him alone without anyone telling me how much they have enjoyed or agreed with what I have written. I want to hear God’s Spirit without the dilution of man’s well meaning praise, and to those who have encouraged me I say “Praise the Name of Jesus”. As John Newton once said, “I know only two things, I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior!”.

The second reason is that this last year I have found precious little edification in commenting. Not so much here because there is so little, but around the internet I personally have found the interaction non-productive. The back and forth, the point and counter point, the name calling and all the calling into question everything from someone’s integrity and salvation is not of God and edifies no one in my opinion. The substance of the discourse changes no one, compliments and supports those on the same side, and takes up volumes of time and thought which could be well used in a more productive pursuit of knowing the Lord Jesus. Much of it is adolescent and I have seen little fruit from it in my own life, as a matter of fact, there were times where it affected my negatively.

Thirdly I want to encourage anyone who reads what I write to use the time they may have commented to pray over what they have read and say a sentence prayer for me. Face to face dialogue and sharing is significantly more edifying than the commenting on the internet, so when and if you read something that ministers to your spirit, thank God and not me. You cannot speak with me face to face but you can to God Himself by the power of the Holy Spirit. Comment to God about what you have read and understood and you will be rewarded much more substantively than any comment you might have left here or anywhere else.

Discernment. I realize we are all called to identify and avoid those who teach things contrary to Biblical truth, but we are called as well to press toward the mark of God’s great calling. Knowing Jesus deeply and intimately requires much time and spiritual perseverance and when we get consumed with thinking about and regurgitating the redundant errors of others we lose the journey. I am not suggesting an ostrich approach, but I am suggesting that especially around the internet many have been captured by a chronic and spiritually draining pursuit of error and not Christ. Read the comment sections and you will be able to easily identify who stands where, and bloggers show up from all perspectives to defend themselves when attacked. It has become a sad game.

When the Holy Spirit enlightens us to error we should use that as a springboard to worship Him for His wonderful protection, and then we should pray for those who have been captured by these errors. That approach is liberating and spiritual, but so often when we see error it inspires a fleshly self righteousness about our own knowledge of truth. We will never be able to know the Lord Jesus in all His fullness while there is any pride dwelling within our hearts and it is almost impossible to be consumed with others and their sins and know him intimately. I know it is a delicate balance and I do not profess to know the exact line to walk, however I do know that many have sacrificed their prayer and fasting and seeking of Christ’s face on the altar of seeking error and the men that teach it.

When a Christian has reached the level of becoming an avid commenter or even a blogger, he or she is usually entrenched in what they believe and is not open to any significant alterations in their views. And who gets all the ink? Those who are most caustic and vitriolic receive the attention on one side and those who are most liberal and careless receive the attention from the opposing side. Make no mistake, though, the posting and commenting venom is quite equal from all sides, and being like Jesus is rare. One side pronounces curses while the other side just curses. One side uses discernment as a self righteous club while the other side rejects any discernment except that which applies to the club wielders. It is time to bring discernment back to the personal level and incorporate it into a life of devotion.

Man. I have noticed a great slide toward the idolatry of man. Now we can be edified by the gifts God has place within men and women both alive and in heaven, but like choosing teams on a playground so many have their heroes that have become authorities and even doctrinal idols. It is unseemly and has the overall effect of blocking any progress to knowing Christ Himself. We have forgotten that only Christ was crucified not any man, and if we could pull Spurgeon out of heaven for ten minutes he would tell us to use his words sparingly and with great caution, never standing alone without the buttress of the Eternal Word of the Living God. He would tell us that he had many more faults and shortcomings than were ever made public and we should look upon him as an unprofitable servant. And just before he returned to glory he would rebuke us sharply for not seeking the Risen Christ and using his name so often.

That is what is again happening today. When John MacArthur comes to town he is treated like Moses in some quarters and when Rob Bell comes he is a rock star. These things should not be. Pamphlets and radio spots and internet announcements and church bulletins trumpet man’s arrival and people are enamored by the entrance of man while God was and is here all the while. Any, and I mean any, view of any man that holds his personage in admiration is idolatry and restricts the Spirit in our lives. We must be very vigilant about distinguishing the difference between being exhorted and edified by the ministry of the Holy Spirit through a human conduit and thinking too highly of the man himself.

Word. I will give more time and diligence to God’s Word without the distraction of others who either agree with me or disagree. I desire no unproductive discourse since praise appeals to my flesh and criticism tends to elicit some self serving response. The Word can only be the revelation it is to us personally if we seek it, read it, meditate on it, pray it, and all this while protecting the ministry of the Spirit through the Word. I have found it abundantly clear that discussion and dialogue is of little value and indeed many times is counter productive. It treats God’s Word as if it is a discussion topic and more seriously it allows those who are immature or liberal a forum to spread that which is an affront to Christ. I desire no dialogue with those who disagree with me and are entrenched. Did you hear that? Listen and be free, I have come to the place where I desire nor will I entertain discourse with any other professing believer who disagrees with me on almost anything. Wow, I feel so much better.

Call me closed minded and short sighted and anything else that makes you feel good, but I have tested discourse and I’ve found it overwhelmingly without merit. Now I will run to anyone who desires to be taught or who has an open spirit and needs direction, but I will no longer converse with those who disagree with me on just about anything. That doesn’t mean I cannot speak with and fellowship with my Calvinistic brethren for example, but I will not discuss or argue with them on any points of disagreement. They will write from their perspective and I will write from mine, both of us sometimes being a little strong, but I will not discuss anything like that with them. It brings bad feelings and does not edify.

And I will not speak with the emergent/seeker/purpose crowd about anything concerning doctrine at all, it serves no purpose. Nope, nothing. I am closed minded, closed ears, and closed mouthed. I have done no good in my many months of dialogue and commenting and conversing with people, and so I have retired from that venue. I desire to teach and be taught, but I do not thirst for any dialogue that has multiple points of view. To what end is that discussion? It is useless and is nothing more than endless chatter and stirs up within us the flesh and we think badly about the other person and more highly of ourselves. I do not like that feeling so I will avoid it.

So I can now study and consume the Word with the teaching of the Holy Spirit and without the human interaction that compromises the power, I wonder why I ever entertained such discourse in the first place. The Word of God must be our stronghold, our daily bread, and indeed our very life. It is our light and illuminates the paths for us to walk. And it is, along with prayer, the powerful conduit through which we can come to know the Lord Jesus Christ more and more intimately. I desire to protect the Word in my life and heart, and I will chase any fowl that seek to steal it. I am so liberated from the verbal pig pen that is so often exhibited on the internet, and since I will only visit one or two specific blogs I will not see what others say about me or about anything and that will provide for me a personal greenhouse that I pray will grow God’s Word in my heart. I suggest some form of that to you as well.

Prayer. This area will be my biggest challenge. I desire a much greater work of sacrificial prayer in my life, one that rises early and stays up to pray and listen to God’s voice. I must be free from all unforgiveness, and I must learn to pray for those who have strayed from God’s way. I must learn supernatural perseverance and to speak from my heart and not my mind. I need to more fully surrender to the Spirit’s direction in my prayers, and I desire not just to present God with some laundry list of requests, but I want to offer my prayers as worship before Him as I acknowledge my complete and utter dependence upon Him alone.

I am seeking the Spirit’s correction in my mind so instead of carelessly driving and working and going about my business in my life, I will pounce upon opportunities to pray throughout each day. That is in addition to the times I set aside to do nothing but be with Him and like Mary bow before Him and listen. I want both to pray as I go and also break open the alabaster box of my life, separating myself to Him alone, and offer up before His regal presence a sweet smelling fragrance of my prayers. Not some “polly want a cracker” prayer closet, but a supernatural time of intimate refreshing that is so Biblical and so experiential that people will see that I have been with Jesus. When I leave His presence His presence goes with me in such a way as to make me decrease and Him increase.

Humility. I find such disgusting pride within me sometimes. Oh don’t worry, I can hide it because I know people will see it and disapprove. But what about God’s disapproval, am I disturbed about that? Do I think highly of myself? And if indeed God grants me these other things and does a dramatic work of grace in my life, will I be puffed up about it either openly or in secret? Will I use that platform to judge others or will I be totally subservient to Christ and in fact feel more unprofitable than when I started?

Humility is a very elusive aspect of a Christian’s life. Not just a little timidity, but an abject humility that regards not our own lives. The greatest man that was ever born of a woman, John the Baptist, gladly receded into a prison of obscurity when he knew Jesus had come. He was bold but humble. The self monikers that some give themselves that make their positions lofty and exalted are disgusting in God’s sight. We are all unprofitable servants before our Lord, and who among us can gaze at the cross and claim we have been proportionately faithful to that sacrifice?

I know I have hidden pockets of self righteousness and pride, and I realize that my flesh will attempt to protect those caverns. But I desire the Holy Spirit to filet my inner man before Himself and me, painful and embarrassing, and by His powerful grace help me to repent and turn away from myself and fully unto Him. When I think of who He is and who I was and even who I am, I am undone. But that attitude is fleeting when challenged and I seek a more firm and unshakeable foundation of humility both before men and before my Lord. I readily admit I have an incomplete assessment of what that will take by God’s Spirit to accomplish.

Love. The greatest commandment of them all is to love God with everything and love our fellow man as well. Before I can even set my compass toward that goal the Spirit will have to more fully illuminate me as to the depth of its meaning. I do not understand how fully I love myself and how incomplete I love God and my neighbor. All these things will not be accomplished in a week or a month, and when the doctor gives you a bottle of pills we do not take them all at one time. So it is with the things of the Spirit, they are powerful and yet delicate, spiritual and yet substantive, in the moment and in the journey, and ours is a calling to faithfulness.

To love God is to hunger and thirst for His presence. Do we seek God and thirst for His presence like we do for water? Or as for a separated fiancée? Or for a mate who is overseas? Do we love God enough to freely acquiesce to His every desire and allow our lives to be changed according to His will? Does His love burn within us so that only His presence will satisfy? And is our love so sacrificial that it spills over into a love for those whom God Himself loves, friend and foe alike? And if not, how do we proceed in seeking that kind of love?

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These are few thoughts about this coming year, I humbly offer them to you as well. As I said I will continue to accept comments for a couple of days but then I recommend all of us repent significantly and seek God’s face without the distractions that we bring upon ourselves. I may open the comments for one post in six months for testimonies about God’s working in our lives. This will be my last e-mail to let anyone know of a new post. I will gladly reply to e-mails if you so desire, however, I will delete without reply any negative e-mails at all. Sorry. I pray my writings will edify and encourage you to desire to know Jesus to a greater and more intimate way, a way that we’ve never known and that will lift Him up high through our lives.

May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering through our crucified lives. Oh that I may know Him.