I want to share my quiet time from last week out of the Living Life, which is the book I use for my time with the Lord.
If you were to read Job 3:25 and sit on it, meditate on it, and reflect on it, you get the sense that Job lived in constant fear and tension. There was no freedom in him. He was a man who was doing everything he can to please God so nothing would happen to his family! His own words tell us that he lived in fear, in anxiety and in dread! God honored his intensions but I believe God wanted to move Job from life of anxiety and tension to a life of freedom in Him!
Tension and anxiety filled life goes against what Jesus gives us [John 10:10].
For those of us who are taking my discipleship... find freedom as we study the word together. The goal of discipleship is not for you to live in tension and anxiety but to set you free to live intimately with Jesus, our beautiful Savior! The homework, reading, Q.T., and other things I share with you will build a framework which will help you to do this but do not let it trap you and enslave you!
There is a story of Jesus going to the Pool of Bethesda. Surrounding this pool are hundreds of diseased and sick people waiting to get healed. But Jesus steps over all of them and healed only one. Then he left! What? I personally think that most Christians will stay around that pool until the sunset and they'll call people to bring more lights around the pool so they can heal more people! Then they will go to bed exhausted, thinking they did God's work by meeting the needs of people. But when I read the Bible Jesus had no problem with just healing one that day. I believe, Jesus went to bed in peace that night.
Here is the key: Do not move because of need but move because of call!
Jesus said that he only does what the Father tells him to do; which is to say unless the Father prompts him, he will do nothing. Another way of putting this is if you were to do something Father did not prompt you, that would be done in flesh and that would be sin! I hope that makes sense. I’ve seen Christians do this. Does Father want me to do that? Heal him? Heal her? Constantly moving in tension! No, the Bible promises abundant life! Living in constant tension is not abundant life; it's a life lived in fear!
This is the reason why living intimately with Jesus is most essential aspect of our life. We move because Jesus prompts us through the Holy Spirit! We walk and talk because of the prompting of His voice! Friends, have compassion for the lost, the sick and the down trodden but move in the call of God not on the base of need!
Galatians 5:1 | Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law [NLT].
Paul says you are free in Christ! In fact Christ came to set you free from the law! And Paul goes on to say, “Make sure that you stay free!” Why? Cause we have internal mechanism that is messed up; and this mechanism presses us to do things so God would love us more. So we end up doing everything 'we' think we ought to do, yet still find ourselves out of sync with Jesus. We have lots of activities without intimacy!
Here is an illustration I heard recently that made lots of sense to me.
Imagine going to a upscale restaurant. You watch the waiter and waitresses working really diligently to get the orders. Everyone of them were in perfect sync with the customers as they served food. In your eyes, everyone is doing a great job! But let's say for our illustration sake, one of the waiters was told by his boss to take care of the restroom all night; making sure the restroom is clean and smell good. But because the waiter did not like to deal with the restroom, he wonderfully bussed tables all night! Did he do a good job? Of course not! In our eyes perhaps, but in the eyes of his boss, he was not doing his job at all! He was resisting his boss.
God wanted to move Job from this life of tension and fear to the life of freedom! Job’s fear comes from his misunderstanding of God! God wants to make sure Job knows that He is God of love who does not consume us; whose compassions never fail! Not only for a day but this love is renewed every morning! And this love is not dependent on you and I but it’s all on God! Oh how faithful is our God! So move in the Spirit and leave the rest to the Father!
I pray as we spend time reading, writing, learning and growing in the discipleship class; we will learn to move in greater freedom! Blessings. Share your thoughts...
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