Categories
Preparing the Bride of Jesus Christ

Is it time to take stock of your Christian Life?

Every now and then we need to pause, to “be still” simply to reflect on our proximity to GOD and His will in our lives. That’s my way of bridging my relationship with GOD to the present day in the world. 

Is it time to take stock of your Christian life?

I spent a recent Saturday evening in my rocking chair by the gas fire, talking with GOD. I haven’t done that in a very long time, and it was the most wonderful evening I’ve had in a long while. There was no hype, no intensity, no burden. Just conversation with the most important person in my life: Adonai Elohim, Yehovah: my daddy.

Thank you GOD for showing up. Thank you for waiting for me. Thank you.

It is always time

I’ve just had a lovely conversation with a brother who is relatively new in the LORD. His hunger, enthusiasm, plethora of questions, is such a joy to engage. And the questions he has are full of sincerity, faith and passion for the Truth. He’s also asking questions about poverty, power and money. And so, invariably, there are some attitudes that the LORD will touch in this friend’s walk, as he steadfastly looks to Jesus.

But even when we have walked with the LORD for decades, it is always the time to draw close, always the time to ask questions, and always the time simply to rest in Him. He promised us the Sabbath rest… Not just on a Saturday but every day, as we walk with Him, we can live in the peace, grace and stillness of GOD. When we pursue Him, when we are still before Him, we will be changed into His likeness.

Yes, it is always the time to take time to grow in Him.

“In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.” (Proverbs 3:6)

Categories
Examining Biblical Scripture

Becoming like Jesus

How to become like Jesus:

As Believers in Christ, we are always “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

Through Christ, we understand we have the victory. But why then are we so often failing at living as Jesus lived: fully free, fully surrendered, fully empowered by Father God? How do we become like Jesus?

As the New Man, we have the authority and power of God in and through the humility and service of Jesus Christ. What does this mean? It means we live in the purity of Christ: pure power and pure humility.

First, the thoughts and responses that are negative within us are dead, not a part of who we are in Christ. Only the pure, only the life-giving emotions and thoughts are alive. When we surrendered our old selves to Jesus, we were reborn and became ‘the new man’. It is therefore possible to ignore the tug from negativity and simply allow it – and those dead thoughts – to stop, no longer to have influence in our lives or relationships. The New Man is well and can inhabit every fibre of our being, if we will allow him to. We must turn our back on the old man; he’s dead and his influence is only as strong as we allow him to be resurrected.*

Through this new life, demonstrated by this new man, we have prosperity, power and the presence of God in our lives. Joy fills us and we live in grace and purity toward others. As we grow in perfection, ‘being perfect as your father in heaven is perfect’ (Matthew 5:48), we live a balance between the two aspects of God’s character in us: authority and humility. There is no condemnation in Jesus as we learn to walk as the New Man, sometimes failing, sometimes overcoming, always persevering in our faith.

It is overdue for the body of Believers to live in the fullness of the new man, to thrive, rather than only to survive, to live in all the joy and fulfilment God has for us. Can we allow ourselves to live in the same freedom that Jesus had? Free from fear, free from worry, free from shame? We can. Let us do so, together. Let our lights shine brightly to the glory of our God.

Jesus gave up his will for the sake of the father. He waited on God’s will and for His timing. He followed God’s guidance in where he would go, what he would do, to whom he would speak. Can we be motivated to do likewise? As we surrender our agenda and our fears, we will recognize in us the freedom and the servanthood of Christ in us.

Let’s be grateful for all we have and all we are becoming.

My prayer is that, just as Jesus poured out himself for the sake of the father and for mankind, so too will we serve others with gladness and a pure heart, discovering the joy in absolute surrender and the power in absolute faith.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11)

Ready: Look at Jesus.

Set: Study him.

Go: Lose your grip by letting go.

Surrender to receive more of Jesus, with more energy, more joy, more purpose and more fulfilment. Ultimately, our lives are dedicated to God and He knows the way we take. When He has tried us, oh! How we will shine like gold.

 

*Thanks to Graham Cooke, for his insights on the New Man.