Go Ahead and Try to Fight It

GO AHEAD AND TRY TO FIGHT IT

There are literally hundreds of thousands of born again believers in America who are now having an internal struggle. These are not just pew dwellers or “I said the sinner’s prayer once” type of believers. These are people who truly love Christ and their lives have been changed forever. They do not waffle on the Word of God. They have a genuine heart for souls and they support missions. They are followers as well as believers. But as I said they are having quite an internal struggle within their own hearts.

Many of us have experienced the same kind of struggle. I believe God’s Spirit is quietly and not so quietly moving and trying to move in perhaps millions of believing hearts across America and into Canada as well. This is not a struggle between faith and unbelief, but this is a struggle to seek the mind of God on a variety of subjects. Some of us were so comfortable with what we knew and what was right and what pleased God. The last thing we needed was the Holy Spirit of God upsetting our Biblical apple cart. But He came in and little by little began to create a holy unrest with the status quo and in a very short time we began to question things we had assumed were settled law.

We did not question the person of Christ or the exclusivity of His redemption. We did not question salvation by grace through faith alone or the supremacy of the written Word of God. We still believed in heaven for the redeemed and hell for the lost. Yes, all the usual orthodox doctrines remained intact. Some of us toyed with some aberrant avenues along the way, but we never gave ourselves completely over to them. Some dabbled with the prosperity nonsense; some tried a little Rick Warren; some tasted a little of this and a little of that. But this was different.

At first it was just a little hint and we did sentry duty so as not allow the doors to swing too far open. After all, we did not want to be some kind of fanatic or worse yet, a liberal. So when we first heard the voice of God’s Spirit question the value of all this political mess, we kept most of it unspoken. I mean people would think we were some kind of evangelical hippie. But the Spirit remained relentless. And although we were at the door, it continued to open a little more each month. Sometimes each day. Sometimes each moment. Sometimes a thought or question would enter our minds that seemed so radical and out of the accepted path of western evangelicalism that we fought it.

But soon our questions had such a ring of truth, and soon our eyes began to be opened and we saw things in a different light. Some of the things we saw were so startling we wondered how we could have ever missed them. Some of us had a mate or a friend with whom we could share our questions and thoughts. Sometimes they were encouraging just because they listened without condemnation. But sometimes they said “What!?” Suffice to say peer pressure was certainly an obstacle even coming from some family members. This was not a journey we asked for or sought, but there was no turning back now.

Some of you may just be beginning such a journey, while others of us have many years behind us. Be advised - you will make mistakes. Your greatest fight will be against your own self righteousness and impatience toward others. I can remember the Spirit allowing me to escape some bondage I had embraced, and when I shared it with others I was soundly agitated because not only did they not share my perspective, they summarily dismissed it. I had to learn to be content and praise God for what He had done without demanding a like minded audience.

But for those of you who are just testing the water, you are about to walk a path much less traveled. You may be tempted to fight it is since your familiar path has many more friends and not nearly as many questions. The only problem is that you cannot grow in Him if you turn back and settle into the spiritual hammock which allowed you to be spoon fed by others. If you had only refused to entertain that first inkling of something not quite right.

But here you are now confronted by all kinds of swirling questions. You cannot even listen to your pastor’s messages without hearing things that now seem antithetical to Scripture. Wow, and only a few years ago you swallowed everything without even chewing! Within your heart there is an unsettling about issues, and the list of issues is growing since they seem to be interconnected. Patriotism, tithing, debt, politics, war, salvation for gays, capital punishment, and others are now part of the list of considerations. We all might not agree on all those issues, however all of us who are on this journey no longer look down our noses on others. But after a few small questioning steps, the way back seems like a closed door. Can you unravel your mind? Can you deny what you have seen and pretend you never were enlightened to anything?

Do not be afraid, there are many, many believers who are somewhere on that same path upon which you walk. Look down and you may see the footprints of a no body like me. Yes, I walked where you are walking. In fact you may see some disturbed dirt where I resisted God and He showed me great love and patience. But please do not get the impression that I have arrived or I am better than those believers who might never even walk this path. I am not better and neither are you. We are all just servant disciples.

In fact, the more I walk, the more I see just how far short I am in accurately reflecting the power and the Person of the Lord Jesus. There are many believers who read this obscure blog who can say amen to that. That is one of the greatest as well as painful residual effects of having the Spirit open your eyes to idolatry and compromise. The more your eyes are opened to other things, the more they are opened to your own discipleship which seems very incomplete. You used to consider your spiritual walk as imperfect but within acceptable parameters when compared with others. However now you cannot even fool yourself into believing that pitiful comparison, and what others do or do not do can no longer be a cover for our own sin.

Yes it is painful, but it also glorious. Those of us who walk this path rejoice in God’s correction and His consistent and patience circumcision of our hearts. God’s Spirit is faithful to remind us where we came from and He infuses our hearts with love for our brethren, a kind of love that has never come naturally to us. And because we are questioning things that the local organized church energetically protects, we must walk in uncommon forgiveness when we sense we are being marginalized and rejected. Oh, and by the way, that walking in forgiveness thing? We have had different levels of success in that. But now we can no longer get away with it like we did before.

But now I have come to the main course so to speak. After you have repented concerning some issues whether they be nationalism or money or any number of things. After your comfort zone has been invaded, and after you have been broken, after you have experienced a breath of fresh spiritual air, something much more wonderful happens. In the midst of this issue transformation, you suddenly are graciously ushered into a fresh and thrilling view of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh yes, this is the coup de grâce of all things spiritual. Assuming we ardently reject any sense of spiritual superiority, the Spirit leads us into a deeper and more glorious revelation of our Wonderful Redeemer and Lord. It is difficult to put into words, but it is nothing short of miraculous.

To be honest I did not fully expect it. Yes I was being released from things that had me bound and I was feeling a sense of freedom in my own spirit. But I should have known that was part of a much greater divine plan. The Spirit so desires to speak of Christ that He is willing to use any means to eventually get us to open our eyes to Him. The freedom from certain issues was just a vehicle to allow our hearts to more fully embrace Him. And again, words cannot describe what unspoken glory is unleashed when we worship Christ in spirit and in truth. Sometimes I feel as though I cannot help but sink to my knees in utter brokenness and humility. Sometimes I do just that. The things of this world seem to disappear and I desire nothing, nothing at all but Him.

Please do not see me as special. I just share this to exhort you. All of us still deal with the temptations of the temporal, but still there is more, much more than some are experiencing in the Kingdom of God. This spiritual kingdom does not worship creeds and laws. No, it is the Kingdom of God’s Dear Son. When will we realize that it all begins and ends with Jesus? Who redeems us? Who sets us free? Who guides us? Who loves us? Who is coming for us? Is it creeds and doctrines or is it He Who gave His life for us? Who do the angels worship? Whose light illuminates all of heaven? Who sits upon a Monarch’s throne? Who alone is worthy to be worshiped and praised? Oh please my dear brothers and sisters, do not turn the body of Christ, the church, into an organized collection of rules and cultural emulations.

It is Jesus, it is Jesus. Again I say, it is Jesus. Shuffle off all the chains of religion and culture and the systems of man and allow your spirit to soar with Him! Yes, the path to a fresh awakening does not lead to a club comprised of us who have seen the truth in these things. God forbid it! This path leads to Jesus. And when you realize that, your entire being is undone. You are being shaken by the Spirit and instead of heaven being consumed with the issues about which you are tempted to be self righteous, you now realize that is all about Him. Oh how can our lips express what we feel about His grace? I am such a stupid man with absolutely no wisdom of my own, and yet God showers me with His grace and I am allowed to enter His presence and worship my Lord. I often do not want to even be in my own presence and yet here I am in His.

How often do I think more highly of myself than I ought. How often am I impressed with my own writings and yet they are all nothing but gifts of His grace. How often do I succumb to the flesh and yet He embraces me. How often do I entertain feelings of superiority and yet I am nothing but a being of His grace. How often do I teach and yet I am aware of my own need of teaching. I have come a long way but I have much further to go. But I have come to am place from which I will not, I cannot, be moved.

This place is built and lives upon the Rock. I must not be distracted by politics or wars or boycotts. I must keep looking unto Him. I had lost it for too many years to return now. I will publicly reveal that rejecting politics or nationalism or bloodshed or moral hubris was easy compared with being like Jesus. I am so often not like Him even though I remain free from some of the issues I mentioned. Yes, I am so unlike Him, but I do not wish to remain so.

So go ahead and try and fight it.

You will be losing out on a journey filled with a glory which cannot be spoken.