Last week I took a message that I shared at this year’s PH170 Recognition Ceremony, and elaborated on it a little more during my time over at our Sunday Service. I feel it was a message that was timely, in that I wanted it to give us a sense of meaningful certainty in these turbulent, uncertain times.
I shared a perspective for us to consider when it comes to talking about the Will of God. In our meditation we pulled up 2 Peter 3:9 and 1 Timothy 2:1-4… and from these passages we came up with a picture of God’s Will, and God’s heart for us – That is, that God wants us to know the Truth, that we would come to repentance, so we would not perish but be saved.
I presented the argument that the said there was a good picture of Truth in what followed 1 Timothy 2:1-4; Verses 5 & 6 specifically mentioned two things that satisfy what we plotted out as God’s will – Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures (So we would not perish), and Christ serves as the only mediator between God and man (So we would be saved).
I backed this up further with John 3:16-17, where it also mentions that whoever believes in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life, and that Christ did not come to condemn the world, but to save it.
Now that I have my mind all straightened out a little bit more, I think my point here is that Christ came to do God’s will, and He did it perfectly – because of Christ, we shall not perish, and we are saved.
But I also pointed out what Christ said in John 14:6 – Not only is Christ the Way and the Life, but in light of all we’re talking about here, I don’t believe Christ was reckless in also saying that He is the Truth.
If we wanted to do God’s will, we would do well to know the Truth, and if we wanted to know the Truth, look no further than Jesus Christ – and there you find out that it was Christ who did God’s will; by His death, we would not perish, and by His resurrection and ascension, He proved that we are saved… and as we behold the full goodness of God, and His everlasting love for us as demonstrated by Christ, we are led to repentance – that is, the changing of our mind, that we would believe right and live right – no, that we who believe in Christ are in Christ.
This is the Truth that sets us free:
Because of Christ, I am always in God’s Will.
Because of Christ, I am always loved by God.
I closed by saying that if you want to know what God’s Will is for your life specifically, look to Christ.
In the discussions that followed my sharing I thought the point that I left was pretty vague, or in my mind it seemed like what my people wanted was more… well, practicality. In other words, I failed to answer the question of how they could exactly apply this Truth into their own lives? And to that, I propose a simple answer – that is, that we should consider that if we are always loved by God, we are always with Him, and because we are always with Him, we are always in His will. Because we are always in His Will, this means that we are always in communion with Him – rather, we are in constant communication with Him.
And in a practical sense, I feel as if it was needed to share (first, with one of the elder sisters of the church, and then eventually to the rest of the congregation), that we exercise communication with our God by way of hearing Him and speaking to Him. And there should be no guesswork here, no special feelings, no prioritizing what we define as supernatural – The foundation is in the Word, and beyond what anyone can say, everyone hears from God through His Word, FIRST. The foundation is in prayer, and everyone speaks to God through prayer, FIRST. Christ is the Word of Life that adds Life to the Word we read, just as He is the Life in the Word we speak.
I think it’s important for me to tackle this moving forward – that is, the need to at least share how I apply these Truths that I share, in a practical manner. That’s my heart beyond it all. We’re starting a new month, and I think it’s just fitting that we kick off not just any series, but one I think we all need to learn from together, especially during these times.
I’m calling this series, our ‘Essentials’ – that is, what I want everyone within the sound of my voice to consider as Truth in their own lives – Truth that not only serves as a Foundation on which they stand no matter what happens, but also Power for them to make things happen.
With that said I don’t think it was an accident we did a ‘soft-launch’ of sorts by starting with Christ’s being God’s Perfect Will – The general Truth I wanted to share there is that Christ guaranteed that we are always in God’s will, no matter what happens to us, or no matter what we make happen. As such, I believe there should be a sort of peace behind our power to move, and a sort of power behind the peace we feel – well, at least that’s how it impacts me, personally.
I’ll end this recap with something I wrote sometime last week:
We’re so quick to act on some impulses, telling ourselves that these came from the Holy Spirit
On the other hand, we’re so slow to act on some decisions, telling ourselves that we wait for God’s Will.
Where is this coming from? I think part of it comes from the mindset that assumes we are separate from God.
Now, I’m not saying that we are God. I’m saying that Christ paid a great price that we would be as close and as united as we could be to Him.
We are alive in Him, and He is alive in us.
(Essential #1:) Christ is God’s Perfect Will.
We act in His presence, and He is with us in all our decisions. Let this be our inspiration to be more thoughtful in our decisions, and less reckless with our impulses.
I just spent a lot of time, simply to say that God is with us, because of Christ. He is with us no matter what we do, and no matter what is done to us – Christ paid the greatest price for us to receive and appreciate this. Much ado to simply say – Through Christ we are always in God’s presence, and God’s presence is always with us. The key word to God’s Perfect Will for us is Presence.
So if I want something imparted by our Worship Team, by our folks who help us over at the Kids’ Club, and if I want something shared aggressively, even to the children we may see once and never again in the Social Shelter, it’s that through Christ, we ALWAYS enjoy God’s presence.
So, Essentials. And the next Essential Truth I would have all of us subscribe to is that Christ is our Firm Foundation.
Today’s Scripture will first come from Psalms 94:17-23
If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.
Today, we’ll build up on what we discussed and later clarified, by seeing first through the Scriptures – That because Christ is with us, we know that even if we think we are slipping, God’s love is what holds us up. Christ is with us; When our hearts are burdened with the cares of the world, it’s God’s consolations that cheer us up. Other translations state that God’s comfort delight or even redeem our soul. I’m reminded of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:3 where he exhorts, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort‘ who not only consoles us ‘when the cares of my heart are many’, but also ‘comforts us in all our affliction’ (v4).
As early as here we establish that God is not merely with us as a spectator, nor is He merely with us just to be with us, but through Christ we see that He is willing to help; His love holds us up, and His comfort cheers us up.
Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?
They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.
Now I’m just going through these verses for now, with the hopes that I would have an idea of the Foundation we have in Christ. And through the rest of this Scripture I see that in our talk of Foundation it couldn’t be avoided that we talk about those who would call themselves our enemies. We see that they would come against us, whether they attack alone or band together. It’s most likely that they spurn justice, prioritizing their own gain – much so, that they do not only come to steal or destroy, but their sights are set on killing the righteous, going as far as not only killing their bodies but condemning them that they die in humiliation.
But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.
God our Father is our sure defense. Against such a brutal enemy He is our Stronghold – the word used in the Hebrew is misgawb (mis-gav), with connotations of altitude; that is, high and inaccessible. He is our Stronghold, and He is the Rock of our refuge. Psalms 9:9 says that ‘The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.‘; Those who declare themselves our enemies would try to impose whatever power they have to abuse us, and/or they may go as far as to bring us into not only single events of disaster, but straight up times of trouble.
But friends, it may be of value for some of us to know that no matter how we are assaulted, we are able to stand. Why? Because God is our high refuge where the attacks of the enemy cannot reach, a strong Rock on whom we have sure footing.
He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the LORD our God will wipe them out.
God is our Stronghold and our Rock of refuge, meaning we safe and sure in Him; furthermore, we have more reason to believe that no weapon formed against us would prosper. But it appears that God does not stop at being our Defense – for behold, He ensures that the same enemy that is propelled by injustice would also fall by their injustice – their iniquity will be brought back on them!
Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies.
He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made.
His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.
Psalms 7:14-16
Something of note here: This passage may give us more detail as to what it means for the Lord to bring iniquity back on the wicked, but did you catch something else here? Look at where it says, ‘He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made.‘ Friends, this gives us a sad picture of the wicked – They don’t just have shaky ground, but literal HOLES as their foundations, they have NO foundation to begin with. They dig pits for us to fall into only because they themselves have no solid ground to stand on. And we see here, what’s even sadder is that they’re the ones who would eventually fall into these pits they meant for us to fall in.
God will bring back the mischief and violence the wicked intended for His children… But what’s more is that He would ‘wipe them out’ for their wickedness; What a complete God we have, who not only protects His children, but wipes out those who would come against them!
Now what does all this tell me, from a wider perspective considering all we have talked about so far? Friends, we know God is with us, and we know that He is our Foundation – how so? Well, when we are brought off balance by our own thoughts, or we are weighed down by the cares we hold in our own hearts, God’s love holds us up, and His comfort cheers us up. And when it’s the world that is upon us and comes against us, God is our stronghold who protects us, and He is the Rock who wipes our enemies out.
Here is another essential for all of us. No matter what happens to us, or no matter what we make happen, whether it comes from the inside out, or from the outside in, Christ ensures that we have a Firm Foundation:
When we are in doubt and think we are slipping, let us remember God’s love which holds us up.
When we are overwhelmed by all the cares that build up in our heart, let us take a moment and allow the God of comfort to cheer us up.
When we are attacked and assaulted by the those who would call themselves our enemies, let us remember that God is our Stronghold; We are out of their reach, and we are safe.
When we are threatened and brought to fear by the wicked, let us take a moment and realize that God will wipe them out by their own iniquity, mischief and violence.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
Psalms 18:2-3
(To be continued)
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
Leave a comment