Go Deeper - Part 2

 

Please, first read Go Deeper – Part 1,  before reading this post.

God calls us to go deeper into the river of His spiritual life. He wants an enhanced, more intimate relationship with us. The first step into the shallow water is to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior from our sinful lifestyle. We make Him the Lord of our life and desire to do only His will on a daily basis. Then we continue into ankle deep water and start the practice of weekly worship, daily devotional reading and prayer.

Some people fear the unknown and decide to live as shallow Christians rather than to totally surrender to the Will of God. It is so much easier to live in shallow carnality where we have more control over our destiny, than to trust God in the unfamiliar aspects of life in the Spirit (Galatians 5:15,25). However, God is calling us to go deeper. 

A few will slowly move deeper into the river. As the water rises up to our knees, it is darker here and murky. We cannot see where we are stepping or what is lurking beneath the surface of the water. At this level, we begin to exhibit faith in God’s faithfulness. We start attending more than one church service a week. We take notes on what we hear and we review our notes during the week. We attempt to allow the Lord to order our steps (Psalm 37:23). Many Christians want to hold onto their secret sins and they have no desire to go deeper spiritually. Yet, God is calling us even deeper.

As we get thigh deep in the river of our walk with God, we add a ministry to our weekly schedule. This allows the Lord to work through us to further His Kingdom. We are also more fully surrendering our will to the will of God and are guided by His peace, which transcends human understanding (Philippians 4:7). We find our true identity and self-worth in Him. Many Christians never go any deeper with the Lord. They just want to be fed by the Word of God. Their soul and spirit grow obese, because they continually feast at the Lord’s Table, without the exercise of giving back to the Kingdom of God. Nevertheless, God continues to call us deeper yet.

Those willing to follow God’s call this far find themselves waist deep in the river. Now, we start to spend quiet times with the Lord. We pray and listen to His voice. We praise and worship God for who He is without expecting anything in return. We fully submit our will to the will of the Father; and we relish our deepening personal relationship with the Trinity. Some people swell with spiritual pride at this point. They elect their self as judge and jury, and they constantly complain and criticize the church and its leaders. They do not want to go deeper, so they try to discourage others from going deeper as well. Nevertheless, God is calling us all deeper still. 

The water rises to our chest now. We start to lose our earthly footing as the natural buoyancy of the Spirit causes us to float. Our friends and family try to discourage us from continuing with our desire to cross the river into the Promised Land. Satan will also try to stop us at this point. He wants us to drift along in apathy. If he cannot convince us to go back to the worldly side of the river, he attempts to drape us with a complacent attitude of indifference. We dodge these arrows of the devil by putting on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6: 10-18).

As we continue to follow the Lord, the ground falls away from our feet. The water is over our head now. We must either go back to the bank, start to swim or drown. If we have the courage to swim across the river, we learn to pray without ceasing and to communicate to others what we learn in God’s Word (Hebrews 5:12-14). We may not be able to teach or to write, but we can share with anyone who will listen about God’s Truth and the peace He provides for us (John 14:27). We take up our cross daily and walk in tune with the Spirit’s direction each moment of the day and night (Luke 9:23; Galatians 5:16,25).

Incredibly, God’s Spirit leads us to go even deeper. We are almost to the Promised Land and we realize that we are either in a trial, coming out of trial, or about to go into another trial. Broken tree limbs, submerged and drawn by the current, hit us without warning. Rip currents, piranhas, eels and alligators threaten our life. We start to lose faith and spin into a spiritual spiral. As we start to drown in the circumstances of life, we totally give up our life and completely surrender to the Spirit of God. We realize that the only way to live is to die to our own desires, ambitions and goals, and to hide our life with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). It is then that we enter the Promised Land of oneness with Christ on a daily basis.

Prayer:

Father God, we trust in Your protection of us each day of our life. Life holds no surprises for You. Our committed walk unfolds before us in one accord with Your perfect will for each one of us. Even if we end up in a foreign country, in jail, in the hospital or in the nursing home, we completely surrender to Your will, because You have a ministry for us there. You are with us and Your Spirit will guide and direct us no matter where we live, or with whom we live, or even if we live quite alone. Your faithfulness gives us the faith to cross the river and to enter into this intimate union with You that is perfect and eternal.

Thought for the Day:

Will you accept the challenge and go deeper in your relationship with the Lord?

Go Deeper - Part 1

 

How long are you willing to wait for God? Wait…without being distracted by TV, radio, food, friends, family, the mall, work or any other created thing. Wait…for the Creator of heaven and earth to fill you through all of your being, with all of His fullness (Ephesians 3:16-19). It may take a day, a week, a month or a year. Are you willing to completely empty your soul of negative attitudes, beliefs and emotions and then wait for Him to entirely fill you up with His presence?

Wait… pouring out your heart to your Heavenly Father, praising Him for who He is and what He does for you. Then, sitting motionless, silent and listening we focus on God. What will distract you? Will the phone, hunger pains, stiff muscles, a headache, a knock at the door, sirens in the distance or any other diversion draw you away from sitting quietly before the Lord?

Having a relationship with Jesus Christ is much more intense than practicing a religion. What we do and say matters more than we realize. Our words and actions impact the lives of everyone around us. A curt word in place of encouragement, a smirk instead of a smile or a phony attitude rather than authentic interest will put a wedge between others and us. It will also negatively influence their relationship with Christ.

God is interested in us living in oneness with Christ. Our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. He lives within us. We are not our own, we are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:19). God wants us to break out of the status quo in our churches and in our lives. He calls us to go deeper into the water of His Spirit and to allow Him to carry us to unknown places of service and worship. God calls us to a deeper and deeper relationship with Him on a moment-by-moment basis. Let us set our affections on things above (Colossians 3:2), on the eternal aspects of life. Then we can rise above the limitations of this mundane earthly realm.

God directed Ezekiel to enter the river, rather than to continue standing on the bank. As the prophet describes his experience, the water gets deeper and deeper until he can no longer stand, but must start to swim (Ezekiel 47:1-12). Our natural tendency when traversing a river is to fear drowning or being attacked by some animal from under the water. It is so much easier to stand on the bank, so that we remain safe with our feet planted firmly in the earthly realm of existence.

If we have the courage to enter the river of life, we start in ankle deep water with a shallow relationship with God. We continue to a knee-deep obedience to the Holy Spirit; however, we still attempt to rely on our own works to accomplish great things for God. As the water rises to our waist, we are forced to make a commitment to go all the way with God.

Once our feet leave the ground in deep water, we must turn back, swim or drown. If we dare to swim, we enter into a place of complete surrender to God. This is where we reap the blessings of absolute unity with the Trinity. Our constant awareness of the Almighty brings us into a realm of oneness with Him. This total harmony leads to complete fulfillment for each individual willing to cross the river and enter into the Promised Land (Joshua 3, 4).

Prayer:

Father God, going deeper in our relationship with You is a fearful endeavor. There are so many unknown factors. We do not even fully comprehend the whole picture of what it means for us to walk more deeply in a relationship with You. Help us to have the courage to press on, to set our sights on the prize of Your high calling (Philippians 3:14), and not to get sidetracked or allow fear to deter us. Give us a vision of what it means to go deeper in a relationship with You.

Thought for the Day:

Would you like to go deeper in your relationship with God? Read tomorrow’s post in this blog for more details in: Go Deeper - Part 2.