If you stop noticing sunsets you quickly forget the wonders that surround you. This is the reality of our ever changing relationship with Jesus. In the carnality of our thinking we lose our spiritual sensitivity and the things of this world look more and more attractive. Before we know it we stop seeing the miracles and signs that surround us; we stop seeing Jesus in our day. We will continue to go through the motions but now it is only religion and the relationship is lost. How can it be?
We are like spoiled children, so use to all our privileges that we lose the wonder of them. Sometimes we need to spend some time in the Old Covenant scriptures to be refreshed in our privileged reality. Psalm 61 is an example of this refreshing. The writer needed help. He needed protection and he sought the Lord. He needed to be encouraged and strengthened. He needed the presence of the Lord:
God, listen to my cry;
pay attention to my prayer!
When my heart is weak,
I cry out to you from the very ends of the earth.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I am
because you have been my refuge,
a tower of strength in the face of the enemy. (Psalm 61:1-3)
The writer only needed to experience the presence of Yahweh to receive all that he wanted. And when he experienced it he desired never to leave his presence:
Please let me live in your tent forever!
Please let me take refuge
in the shelter of your wings! (V. 4)
Unlike this psalmist, this experience is available to us every single day of our lives, all we have to do is open our eyes to it. Jesus never wants us to be outside of the experience of his presence. He is always with us, as he promised, but it is up to us to decide to be sensitive to him. If we keep our mind and heart occupied by the things of this world, things contrary to his character, we will grow insensitive. There is nothing else for it except for us to decide every morning to love him with all our passion and to expect him to do great things through us every day.
We are a privileged people and the psalmist, prophets and all other people found in the old covenant could only dream and long for what is ours every day. So don't waste it. Live for Jesus to the fullest of all your passion and walk with him daily.
Showing posts with label sensitivity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sensitivity. Show all posts
Monday, February 9, 2015
Friday, June 6, 2014
How To Destroy A Complaining Spirit
We all want to experience the presence and power of Jesus in our lives every day but then we work against it. We want it but we don't realize what we have to set aside to experience it. Our behaviour and attitude have a big role in our sensitivity to the Spirit. Jesus is always with us, he promised, but it doesn't mean we are cultivating a relationship that makes us sensitive to this presence. Let's pick on one thing today, that we all do, which acts as a dampener to sensitivity.
We may be surprised to discover how much we complain in a day. It would be interesting to track it one day, just to note every time we complained and then add it up at the end of the day. For some of us complaining comes as easily as breathing. Even when we try to hold it in it always finds a way of coming out. We complain from the weather right up to complaining against Yahweh and everything in between. We are not alone as complainers.
The Israelites were huge complainers after Yahweh had rescued them from Egypt. They complained about the food, the water, the leadership, about Yahweh himself. It was enough to make any leader quit. Worse than that, it led that generation to rebel against Yahweh when they were told to enter the Promised Land and possess it. Their complaining revealed a dissatisfaction and mistrust of Yahweh. That entire generation died out in the desert and the generation that emerged was the strongest generation Israel ever produced, and they were non-complainers.
Jesus also received his unfair share of complaints. Every time he did something great, like heal a man with a withered hand, there were people there to complain about it. There was one incident where a chief tax collector was trying to get close to Jesus. Obviously Jesus offered something the man felt was lacking in himself. Jesus accommodated this by pointing Zacchaeus out and then inviting himself to his home for a meal. This man's life was about to be changed for the better and what do we hear from people nearby:
But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” (Luke 19:7)
Praise the Lord, he still has meals with sinners and how glad we all are for it. These people would try to dampen the sensitivity of Zacchaeus to Jesus but he would have nothing to do with it. In the face of it he stood and demonstrated evidence of salvation as he pledged restitution for any evil he may have done. That's how we need to deal with any complaints within ourselves, stand up against them with a demonstration of love.
The first step in dealing with this is to admit that we do it. Yes Lord, I am a complainer. I complain against my neighbour, my friends, my church, my government, even you Lord. Then ask that he would renew your heart, to remind you again of his great mercies. Worship also helps to kill a complaining Spirit at the roots but make sure it is worship that springs forth from the Word. Worship Yahweh for who he is not for who you think he is. Ask that he would renew his love in you for other people, especially sinners, and you will begin to see things change. Then face that complaint and pour love all over it. Love Yahweh with your all and love your neighbour and you will have no room for a complaining Spirit and you will again experience sensitivity to his presence.
We may be surprised to discover how much we complain in a day. It would be interesting to track it one day, just to note every time we complained and then add it up at the end of the day. For some of us complaining comes as easily as breathing. Even when we try to hold it in it always finds a way of coming out. We complain from the weather right up to complaining against Yahweh and everything in between. We are not alone as complainers.
The Israelites were huge complainers after Yahweh had rescued them from Egypt. They complained about the food, the water, the leadership, about Yahweh himself. It was enough to make any leader quit. Worse than that, it led that generation to rebel against Yahweh when they were told to enter the Promised Land and possess it. Their complaining revealed a dissatisfaction and mistrust of Yahweh. That entire generation died out in the desert and the generation that emerged was the strongest generation Israel ever produced, and they were non-complainers.
Jesus also received his unfair share of complaints. Every time he did something great, like heal a man with a withered hand, there were people there to complain about it. There was one incident where a chief tax collector was trying to get close to Jesus. Obviously Jesus offered something the man felt was lacking in himself. Jesus accommodated this by pointing Zacchaeus out and then inviting himself to his home for a meal. This man's life was about to be changed for the better and what do we hear from people nearby:
But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” (Luke 19:7)
Praise the Lord, he still has meals with sinners and how glad we all are for it. These people would try to dampen the sensitivity of Zacchaeus to Jesus but he would have nothing to do with it. In the face of it he stood and demonstrated evidence of salvation as he pledged restitution for any evil he may have done. That's how we need to deal with any complaints within ourselves, stand up against them with a demonstration of love.
The first step in dealing with this is to admit that we do it. Yes Lord, I am a complainer. I complain against my neighbour, my friends, my church, my government, even you Lord. Then ask that he would renew your heart, to remind you again of his great mercies. Worship also helps to kill a complaining Spirit at the roots but make sure it is worship that springs forth from the Word. Worship Yahweh for who he is not for who you think he is. Ask that he would renew his love in you for other people, especially sinners, and you will begin to see things change. Then face that complaint and pour love all over it. Love Yahweh with your all and love your neighbour and you will have no room for a complaining Spirit and you will again experience sensitivity to his presence.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Longing To Sense The Presence Of Jesus
"I want to sense the presence of Jesus." It is a desire I hear expressed often. It is a desire I have expressed often. Jesus promised us that he will always be with us. He sent the Holy Spirit to fulfill that promise. There is no doubt that he is with us and we operate in this truth, in faith, but it would be nice to actually experience that presence. Yet, we are not willing to take the sacrificial steps necessary to make this a daily reality in our lives.
Imagine listening to loud music non-stop ten hours a day for a couple of years. You are going to cause some damage. Our hearing is pretty sensitive. Normally we detect the smallest whispers but after such an abuse of our hearing we are going to damage the sensitivity. The whispers will still be there but we won't be able to hear them.
Our sense of taste is a fantastic instrument. We can detect even the slightest subtleties in flavour. But when we load our diet with sugars and hot spices we are abusing our taste buds and overloading our sense of taste. Soon most foods taste bland without adding things like salt, butter and various spices. Gone is our ability to enjoy the fantastic flavour of a garden fresh tomato. Spirituality works in the same manner.
The Western society is a thrill seeking society. Pleasure is the single greatest driving force in our life. Bigger is better in everything. Bigger TV's, bigger stories, bigger noise, bigger food, bigger thrills. At one point murder was an implied thing on television. Now we want to see every gory detail. It used to be that sexual immorality was never displayed but only implied. Now we are not satisfied unless we see all the details of what those people are doing in bed. Evil was only ever implied; now we want to see if personified. All of our sensitivities are being overwhelmed and dulled. This is not even saying anything of what pornography is doing to relationships.
Our spirit yearns for fellowship with our Lord but we have lost all sensitivity and have lost the way to an intimate relationship. We go through the motions. We do what is expected. We attend church, participate in worship, try to read our Bible, try to be kind to others, but it just doesn't seem to work for us. The reason it doesn't work is because we are too dull in our spirit to detect his quiet whisper or sense his delicate touch or see his gentle leading. Our ears are too full of noise, our eyes to full of images, our mind too full of deceit, and our heart too full of sin. the psalmist wrote:
I will set nothing wicked before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not cling to me.
A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will not know wickedness. (Psalm 101:3-4)
The intimate relationship we want with Jesus requires some decisions on our part. As long as we are overwhelming our spiritual senses with wickedness we will fail in our relationship. We don't have to participate physically with these things but allowing the images, the ideas, the emotions of it to fill us all the time makes it impossible for us to enjoy the rich fellowship of Jesus. We have to make the decision to set nothing wicked before our eyes. We have to allow the Spirit to develop in us an allergic reaction, where we will abhor the things that abhor our God. This is what Jesus taught on the matter:
The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23)
Jesus desires intimacy with you today and every day. He wants to direct your paths and lend you strength all the time. He wants to see you succeed. The question is: What do you want? And how bad do you want it? Bad enough to make the decision and to take the action to set nothing wicked before your eyes? What is the greatest desire in you because that is what your heart, and then your actions, will follow? You can't have two masters.
Imagine listening to loud music non-stop ten hours a day for a couple of years. You are going to cause some damage. Our hearing is pretty sensitive. Normally we detect the smallest whispers but after such an abuse of our hearing we are going to damage the sensitivity. The whispers will still be there but we won't be able to hear them.
Our sense of taste is a fantastic instrument. We can detect even the slightest subtleties in flavour. But when we load our diet with sugars and hot spices we are abusing our taste buds and overloading our sense of taste. Soon most foods taste bland without adding things like salt, butter and various spices. Gone is our ability to enjoy the fantastic flavour of a garden fresh tomato. Spirituality works in the same manner.
The Western society is a thrill seeking society. Pleasure is the single greatest driving force in our life. Bigger is better in everything. Bigger TV's, bigger stories, bigger noise, bigger food, bigger thrills. At one point murder was an implied thing on television. Now we want to see every gory detail. It used to be that sexual immorality was never displayed but only implied. Now we are not satisfied unless we see all the details of what those people are doing in bed. Evil was only ever implied; now we want to see if personified. All of our sensitivities are being overwhelmed and dulled. This is not even saying anything of what pornography is doing to relationships.
Our spirit yearns for fellowship with our Lord but we have lost all sensitivity and have lost the way to an intimate relationship. We go through the motions. We do what is expected. We attend church, participate in worship, try to read our Bible, try to be kind to others, but it just doesn't seem to work for us. The reason it doesn't work is because we are too dull in our spirit to detect his quiet whisper or sense his delicate touch or see his gentle leading. Our ears are too full of noise, our eyes to full of images, our mind too full of deceit, and our heart too full of sin. the psalmist wrote:
I will set nothing wicked before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not cling to me.
A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will not know wickedness. (Psalm 101:3-4)
The intimate relationship we want with Jesus requires some decisions on our part. As long as we are overwhelming our spiritual senses with wickedness we will fail in our relationship. We don't have to participate physically with these things but allowing the images, the ideas, the emotions of it to fill us all the time makes it impossible for us to enjoy the rich fellowship of Jesus. We have to make the decision to set nothing wicked before our eyes. We have to allow the Spirit to develop in us an allergic reaction, where we will abhor the things that abhor our God. This is what Jesus taught on the matter:
The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23)
Jesus desires intimacy with you today and every day. He wants to direct your paths and lend you strength all the time. He wants to see you succeed. The question is: What do you want? And how bad do you want it? Bad enough to make the decision and to take the action to set nothing wicked before your eyes? What is the greatest desire in you because that is what your heart, and then your actions, will follow? You can't have two masters.
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