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?
