April 29, 2019

From groaner to anointed one…

“It is a sad thing when you hear Christians with a groan in them. When I meet the groaner, I say in my heart, “God, move that man on into the place where he comprehends what Christianity is.” – John G Lake

“Christian” – in Greek means “follower of Christ”, “anointed one”.

Ever heard people say that they experience Christians to be sad, without joy and mostly depressed, not great people to do business with?

Well, let’s face it. Being a follower of Christ means we chose Him to be Lord of our life. Making that choice we step into a new world of battles and challenges as well as victories. Many ups and downs. Sometimes it is almost like fasting: Denying yourself the privilege to respond to issues the way the world would in order to follow Jesus. Choosing to persevere and push through, bite the bullet. Yes, it is many times stretching and difficult, but it’s what we chose when we chose to follow Christ. “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

When we find ourselves in such a season then the world views us a sad, unhappy, stressed or depressed. When fasting, Jesus told us to do the following…

Matt. 6:17,18 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

God sees your sacrifice, your suffering when you go through it and He also sees that you still choose Him in the midst of it. You still choose to follow Him even though you are being stretched and challenged to what feels like your limits. And for that, you will receive your reward – the result of what you have been praying for or trusting God for. Heb. 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Gen.15:1 “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

Our suffering is between us and God. The idea is not to put on a happy face like a hypocrite and act like everything is okay, rather, it is to get back to the feet of Jesus and ask Him to “anoint our head and wash our face”. Reading Matt.6:16 reminds me of Psalm 23 where David writes “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me. All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”

Psalm 91:1 (msg) “You who sit down in the High God’s presence, spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow.”

When we sit down in the High God’s Presence He clothes us with Himself, He keeps our fire burning, He leads us in wisdom… I love Habakkuk’s attitude and he is only one example of many in the Bible who chose to turn to God in the midst of suffering and loss, choosing that God will give him new strength and joy even if the breakthrough is not there yet. He did not only live that to the outside world, but he also wrote about it. Thinking about this I get such a sense that Habakkuk was walking in deeper freedom than we even understand… trials and tribulations did not dictate his walk and talk. He still allowed God to be in lordship of his life and emotions. To him, God was no “genie in the bottle” who is only called upon when in trouble and in need of a miracle and then dismissed when the miracle happened. God was more to him. God was Friend, Father, Lord to him. Kind of gives a new definition to relationship with God, doesn’t it?

Hab.3:17-19 “Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.”

We do our challenges and difficulties and exhaustion in our room with Jesus in the morning… “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” Matt.6:6

When we leave our room for the day, we go out into the world with a washed face and a head anointed with oil, shining His light in a world so desperately in need of it.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matt.5:16

Notice: it does not say “when things are going well and you are in an easy season feeling great and everything is going your way”! It simply says “Let your light shine…” It is a choice we make to meet daily with Jesus and whether or not we do will be evident in our lives through the fruit we produce.

“The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.” Luk.11:34-35

Know who you are… “you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” 1 Pet.2:9

And know Who He is in you and what He is capable of when we allow Him and make Him part of our day…

“The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.” Rev.21:23

“No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.” Eph.4:14-16 (msg)

This is what maturity in our relationship with Christ will look like: living from the Truth and not from reality. Truth is what God says, Who He is to us – today. Reality is our circumstances. What the world sees and experiences about us will all depend on if we have relationship with Jesus.

Stability comes from relationship, relationship involves communication and communication happens during daily meetings.