“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” —2 CORINTHIANS 5:17

Several years ago I wrote a book called, “Alive in Christ” with my purpose being how to find renewed spiritual power. As I was concluding the book, my young daughter came into my study and asked, “What has happened so far?” She obviously thought I was writing a story, and maybe I was. Maybe we would find glimpses of our own lives within the pages, but in our journey with Christ, it is a good question to ask. What has happened so far?

We neither want nor need to imitate another person’s experience, nor reduce God’s dealing with them to a pattern we would superimpose upon ourselves or on anyone else. When we look for a pattern, God normally surprises us by dealing with us in unexpected ways that will often leave us in awe. If we are burned out, frustrated and dissatisfied with no conscious communion with God, then we must get hold of the principle that lies behind every expression of Christianity.

It is Christ as our Lord who makes the Christian life work. He directs us and as we live in submission to His authority and obedience to Him, it is His Spirit as our life that enables us. He is our power and strength and we trust Him, stepping into every new day and every new situation with the conviction that the One whom we obey is totally able by His indwelling Holy Spirit to accomplish His purpose in us and through us.
 
If this is not yet your story, regardless of what you have been and wherever you have been, as a child of God you are a new creation in Christ, and He has planned your future. David writes, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16). Just before that he says, “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (139:9-10). Do we trust God for this? Are we willing to let go of human logic and ability and depend on a God who created us?

The Christian life is a committed relationship with Jesus Christ and we cannot allow that to wane. All the resources we need are met in Him, not only for living but in all He has called us to do. 

Step out with confidence in Christ and together you shall make things happen.

Dear Heavenly Father, I am greatly humbled to know that I am always in your presence. Thank You for everything You have done to make that possible. Amen.

In what areas of my life do I need to depend on the Lord’s enabling more?

“…since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain… let us draw near to God with a sincere heart…” — HEBREWS 10:19-22

The writer of Hebrews says that it is through the blood of Christ we now have boldness to enter the Most Holy Place. This is not boldness born of presumption, but born in humility where we recognize there is nothing we can do but enter into what Christ has already done. 

We cannot earn or take credit for having access to God. We can only come to Him through Jesus Christ. Neither do we doubt that we stand justified before God and have cleansing for our sins. This is our experience in the courtyard of God’s tabernacle, and it opens the door for us. With confidence we may enter and find the bread of His presence to sustain us, the oil of His Spirit to enable us, and the aroma of Christ to distinguish us. 

This path we have followed through the tabernacle was the route taken by Aaron and the priesthood on behalf of the people. The ordinary citizen did not come himself. The priest was his representative, and his action was vicarious. We take the same path for we come with the same need, but we have a much better priest. “Christ came as high priest… he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle…. He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood” (Hebrews 9:11-12). This does not need repetition by Him; it needs only appropriation by us. 

Though many people are familiar with this spiritual journey, the reality is that the Most Holy Place seems to be curtained off. The presence of God is still only a taste, the power of God rarely evident, and the purpose of God in restoring us to His image seems little more than wishful thinking. There were times when the offerings and sacrifices of the tabernacle did not please God. It had become routine; an obligation. The attitude to the ritual was the symptom of the people’s attitude toward God. They wanted His blessing, but had vested interests of their own and mingled the two, placing their needs first. 

We may say our prayers, read our Bibles, attend church, engage in service, and cling to “the old rugged cross”, but remain barren and empty. These are all valid and necessary, but like the rituals, they are not the substance of spiritual life, but an aid to it. It is not the cross, but Christ who saves. It is not our prayers, but God who hears us; not our service, but the power in which we serve that will be fruitful, and it is not our church, but the centrality of Christ in our everyday lives that will keep us in the Most Holy Place.

Dear Heavenly Father, I am greatly humbled to know that I am always in your presence. Thank You for everything You have done to make that possible. Amen.

Am I dealing directly with Christ or hoping He will take notice of the things I do that I think will please Him?

“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” —MATTHEW 27:50-51

Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the altar of fragrant incense became soaked with the blood of the sin offering as Aaron poured it on the horns of the altar. That day, the smell of burning blood, mingled with the fragrance of the incense, brought a different aroma to God than any other day of the year.

On the cross at Calvary, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ brought all the rituals to fulfillment and to an end. As Christ, the aroma that delights God, was made to be sin and mingled His sinless life with the sin of the world, He cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). The tarnishing of the purity of Christ when the sins of the world were heaped upon Him and He was made to be sin for us brought to the Father an unpleasant smell, and heaven remained silent. The Father turned His head away and withdrew from His Son.

But a remarkable thing happened. As Jesus cried out on the cross and dismissed His Spirit, at that exact moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The curtain which had divided the Most Holy Place, concealing the presence of God, was ripped apart as a divine act, and it was ripped apart from the inside. God broke out! No longer was He to be approached in a building, nor through rituals and offerings that needed constant repetition. He had broken loose from the temple and its inner chamber to invade the lives of any man, woman or child who is willing to receive Him. They would now become the temple of His Spirit, the place He would make His home and the place from which He would do His work.

Beginning with Aaron, the priests knew that as the blood mingled with the sweet incense on the altar before the curtain in the tabernacle, they would at any moment be given access into the Most Holy Place where they would meet with God. The curtain would open and they would pass through. Since the Day of Pentecost when God poured out His Holy Spirit down from heaven, we have the divine privilege and invitation that is open to everyone – uninhibited, free and direct access to God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Dear Lord, thank You for the ultimate gift of your Son who died in my stead. And thank You for breaking free from behind that curtain so that everyone may come to know and experience You. 

Am I utilizing and enjoying free, uninhibited access to God through prayer?

“For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” —2 CORINTHIANS 2:15

The final piece of furniture before the curtain which separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy place was the altar of incense. This was where fragrant incense was to be burned every morning. No other kind of incense was to be used on this altar, and no burnt offering, grain offering or drink offering was ever to be offered here. Only once a year on the Day of Atonement, as the priest made his way onto the Most Holy Place, was he to sprinkle blood from the sin offering on the horns of the altar. 

The chief function of this altar was to offer an aroma, and it was an aroma for God. God has a sense of smell, but we must ask: what aroma is pleasing God? To what do His senses respond with joy and delight? Paul writes, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2 Corinthians 2:14). Putting it frankly, Paul is saying that to God we smell of Jesus.

What this means practically is perhaps made clear from another statement in the book of Revelation. When the angel opened the seals in heaven, it says, “the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand” (Revelation 8:4). If we are the aroma of Christ to God, and the prayers of God’s people ascend to Him as the smell of incense, then combining these two would suggest it is our fellowship, intimacy, knowledge and communion with Christ that derives from prayer, which brings the pleasure of a sweet aroma to God.

If this is true that through our union with Christ, which is brought about and made real by coming to the cross of Christ in repentance and faith, then the goal to which this leads and brings joy to the heart of God is that we know and love His Son. To know the Bible, Christian doctrine, the church and service, but not have a growing and deepening knowledge of Christ Himself will be ultimately futile. 

Herein lies the crux of the matter. The Lord Jesus Christ is our friend, our Saviour, our Lord and our Life. We know Him and we are known by Him. We love Him and are loved by Him. We trust Him, obey Him, worship Him and want to please Him. All divine truth will lead to this, and all spiritual reality will derive from this.

Precious Lord, I pray for a work of your Spirit that will freshen and deepen our relationship more every day. Thank You, Lord.

Am I living in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ? 

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” — JOHN 8:12

Opposite the table of bread, on the south side of the Holy Place, was a seven-pronged lampstand. It was trimmed and lit every evening and through the long hours of the night threw back the darkness and gave light. The source of the light was pure olive oil, freshly pressed, which had to be renewed every day. Not only did it have immediate benefit in the light it gave, but the Lord said to Moses about the lamp, “This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come” (Leviticus 24:3). Here, there is a message designed for all time.

This can only be a picture of the Holy Spirit. Oil is a consistent symbol of the Spirit right through Scripture, and it is the Spirit who illuminates and gives direction. It is our life “in the Spirit” that needs to be renewed everyday and as Christians, we are the lampstand in whom the light of God is to be seen. True as it is that we are to be lights, there can be no light without oil. The lamp is merely the vehicle through which the oil can express its capacity and release its energy. The lamp has no capability of its own, and is not the source of light. It is the Holy Spirit; the dynamic of God, whose life and energy is expressed through God’s people.

Paul’s command is to “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise, but as wise… Do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is… Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:15, 18). For every child of God, being filled with the Spirit is His will. To not live in the fullness of the Spirit is not only foolish, but disobedient. There can hardly be a greater judgment of God on His people than that threatened in the letter of Jesus to the church in Ephesus. He said, “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Revelation 2:5). 

The church in Ephesus had been grieving the Holy Spirit, and so quenching His role among them in that the light of which He was the source, was in danger of being snuffed out. When we quench the Holy Spirit, we drive God out, not in relation to our salvation, but in relation to our usefulness and fruitfulness. Just as the oil in the lamp had to be renewed every day, we need to come to Christ every day with a fresh and new expectancy of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, so that we may become better conduits of His light.

Dear Lord, I pray for a daily renewal of the work of your Spirit so that your light may be seen in me. Thank You, Lord.

How can I brighten the light of Christ in my life?

“For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” —JOHN 6:33

Having passed by the altar and the basin, we enter from the courtyard into the tabernacle. In the first section, called the Holy Place, there were three pieces of furniture which one would pass by before gaining access to the inner room, the Most Holy Place containing the Ark of the Covenant. On the north side, to the right when entering, was a table on which the “bread of the presence” was placed. This bread was twelve loaves in two rows of six, freshly renewed every Sabbath day. Aaron and his sons were to eat the loaves as part of the ritual of the offerings. Here, they would find sustenance and strength.

God does more than justify us by the blood of Christ and keep us clean. We need strengthening and sustaining. The bread is described as the “bread of his presence”, because it is Christ Himself who is our strength. He said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry” (John 6:35). It is not fellowship with other Christians, not good teaching, doctrine, great experiences or even the Bible that is the bread that sustains and strengthens. These are all good and valid and may be a means of bringing Christ to us, but they can never be a substitute for Him. We could hear many sermons and expositions on the Word of God, but if they do not leave us with Christ, they will not sustain; they will only perpetuate spiritual immaturity and leave us dissatisfied.

This is the primary reason we are to read the Scriptures. It is through the written word that we discover the Living Word, for the supreme revelation of Christ is in the Bible. If we read the Bible for the primary purpose of getting to know it, it will have little true value or effect in our lives. It may make us biblically literate and doctrinally aware, but will leave us spiritually poor. It is Jesus, alone, who satisfies.

To the Samaritan woman, ostracized by her community and in the heat of day, retrieving water from a well, Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14). Whatever our need, whatever our prayer, Jesus not only quenches our thirst, but is the bread of life that sustains, satisfies and fills us.

Thank You, Lord, for being in me the bread of life. I ask that You continue to nourish me in such a way that I will be filled with You. 

To what degree am I drawing my daily sustenance from Christ? 

“They washed whenever they entered the tent of meeting or approached the altar, as the LORD commanded Moses” —EXODUS 40:32

Between the altar and the entrance to the tabernacle was a bronze basin which held water for washing. This was exclusively for the use of the priests who washed their hands and feet before entering the tabernacle and handling the utensils at the altar for burnt offerings.

The requirement for entering the presence of God and for handling the things of God is cleanliness. A person is justified when one comes to the cross in repentance and faith. That never needs repetition. It is a completed act and has become one’s standing before God. When we come in repentance and faith, God imputes His righteousness to us and “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). However, there is an ongoing need for cleansing.

This is best illustrated in the Upper Room when Jesus took a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet. “You shall never wash my feet,” Peter said. When Jesus insisted, Peter swung to the other extreme. “Then Lord… not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus then said, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean” (John 13:9-10). The basin Jesus used would seem to relate to the basin in the court of the tabernacle. The Cross of Christ is our bath! It is there we are cleansed and justified, but we still sin. We still get our hands and feet dirty.

We live in an ongoing battle of the Spirit against the flesh and we fall and we sin. We do not need the bath of justification again, but we do need the basin of cleansing again and again. John writes, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). As the Levites washed their hands and feet at the bronze basin before entering the tabernacle, so we need constantly to come before God for forgiveness and cleansing.

It is interesting to note that in Exodus 38:8 we are told the materials used to make the bronze basin and its bronze stand were from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. The utensils originally manufactured for the purpose of turning attention on themselves were instead converted to an instrument for turning the attention to God. If we become introspective about our spiritual lives, we are almost certain to get frustrated and discouraged, but turn any mirror on Christ, and in keeping our focus on Him, we will find our true purpose and significance.

Lord, may I never take for granted the fact that I stand justified before You. Keep me mindful to come to You for forgiveness and cleansing. Thank You, Lord.

Do I continue to bring my sin before God in repentance?

“The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves.” —HEBREWS 10:1

In the Old Testament, there are many foreshadowings of Christ, but contained in the Ark of the Covenant are three essential ones which encompass the full orb of God’s dealings with humankind.

The Ark of the Covenant represents the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the presence of God among His people and the place where they would meet with Him, and God would speak to them. Later the Tabernacle was replaced by the temple built by Solomon. This was God’s home, and was designed by God as a “shadow of the good things that are coming.” God has abolished the temple as His home and now lives in the heart of every Christian. Paul writes, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). 

As the down payment of God’s gift to us, the presence and “sealing” of the Holy Spirit is the deposit, assuring us of what is to come. God’s purpose is to lead us into fullness and fruitfulness. It is the contents of the ark that represent the nature of true spiritual experience as they portray what we have received in the Lord Jesus Christ. There was the golden jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that budded and the two tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God. 

The reality of God’s presence is portrayed in His gift of manna to the people. It sustained them in the desert, but did not satisfy, because God did not plan to satisfy them outside of Canaan. The supernatural life in Aaron’s staff that budded, blossomed and produced almonds, portrays the supernatural life of God in every Christian. It is only as we live in obedience to Him and dependence on His power that we will see His life expressed in fruitfulness. The law on the two tablets of stone was God’s revelation of His own character in which He created us. The law exposes our failures, but the end product of the work of Christ is that He fulfills the law in our own experience by restoring to us the godliness we were originally created to express.

Entering the land of Canaan is symbolic of entering into the fullness of Christ, where we are not only satisfied, but richly provided for with all the resources of Christ. The manna typifies the presence of God in every true Christian. Aaron’s staff that budded demonstrates the power of God, which is to be at work through every Christian, and the law reveals the purpose of God that He has determined for every Christian.

Dear Lord, I know that I am incapable of expressing your character, and thank You for your indwelling presence and power that enables me.

How do I most experience the power and presence of Christ in my life?

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” —GALATIANS 2:20

In the shadows of the Old Covenant we find hidden the realities of the New Covenant. Although we are given “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19), we enter it not glibly or cheaply, but through a predetermined pattern that God gave Moses on Mount Sinai. This pattern is now obsolete but the principle remains the same.

The most visible feature in the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle was an altar where sacrifices and offerings were made to God on a fire that never went out. There were two purposes in this. There were the burnt, guilt, sin and fellowship offerings that atoned for sin. These were mandatory. Through the shedding of animal blood, sin was covered and the guilty were set free. This did not take away sin, but covered it until the blood of the unblemished Lamb was shed for every sin ever committed. The altar points to the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

On the Cross of Christ two things took place: Christ died for us and we died with Christ. We identify ourselves as “crucified with Christ” as a present status. With my sin atoned for, I now consider there to be no value in my sin, so I must also consider there to be no value in myself. All that derives from the old nature is as condemned as my sin is condemned, for as Paul says, “I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature” (Romans 7:18). Anything that has its origin in me and not in God is of the flesh, and the flesh cannot please God. The reason I recognize myself as crucified with Christ is because Jesus is not only my substitute in death, but in life. 

In addition to sacrifices and offerings atoning for sin, there were also grain offerings, which were brought voluntarily. This represents the offering of the person, their body and possessions. These were generally presented along with an animal sacrifice in order to show the connection between forgiveness for sin and the full consecration of the person to God. This was the twofold function of the altar: the blood offering to deal with sin and the grain offering to deal with self. It was at this altar that any approach to fellowship with God could commence. Under the New Covenant, it is the Cross of Christ that is the starting point of a relationship with God. In availing ourselves of the full measure of the cross in regard to both sin and self, we will begin to experience the fullness of God’s purpose for us and in us.

Dear Father, thank You so much for the Cross of Christ where we are forgiven and cleansed to live a new life in You.

Do I live with the realization that my sin and old self has been crucified with Christ?

“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.” —1 CORINTHIANS 3:5-6 

Every stage of the process that leads to mature fruit can be seen on Aaron’s staff. Some parts were just beginning to sprout, some formed into buds, others were in full blossom, and others ripened into almonds. 

The fact that God has called us will ultimately be expressed in fruit. We can be confident of this even when the fruit is not as fully evident as we would like to see. “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it,” Paul says. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose – to produce fruit. In whatever God has called us to do, we can rest assured there will be fruit that will please Him.

We should not, however, be unduly elated by visible evidence of God’s fruit, nor be unduly discouraged by lack of evidence that relates directly to our obedience to God. It is not the apparent fruit that is of prime concern, but the root from which the fruit derives. If the root is right and we are living in dependence on Christ, then the fruit will look after itself, whether it seems visible or not. We should not measure the value or significance of our work by its apparent results, but by its cause. 

If God has placed us in a specific role, then we can afford to go forty years like Jeremiah, and not see any tangible evidence of success. But like Jeremiah, it is not how people respond to what we say, but the origin of what we say that is important. When Jeremiah complained to God that he did not know what to say, he tells us, “The Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘I have put my words in your mouth’” (Jeremiah 1:9). Then Jeremiah knew that people did not have to respond in order for him to know he had followed God’s calling. In fact, the people did not respond and Jeremiah became discouraged and even died discouraged. Yet today we are still benefiting from God’s words spoken through Jeremiah. This is the fruit, and Jeremiah could be sure of it, not in measuring the immediate results of his ministry, but in the cause from which the ministry sprang.

Though we may not see the end result of our calling, we can be sure that we are links in a chain of events that will bear fruit for God. The planting, watering, nurturing and harvesting may take many different hands over lengthy periods of time, but at some point, the seed will sprout in the heart of a believer when it is sown in the roots of God.

Dear Lord, help me to always stay rooted in You, and be the means by which the seed I sow, water or nurture will bear fruit. Thank You, Lord.

Do I become concerned or discouraged when I am not seeing results in my witness for Christ?

“The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.” —NUMBERS 17:8

Following a rebellion that took place in the wilderness, opposing the leadership of Moses and Aaron, God said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name…. Place them in the tent of meeting in front of the ark of the covenant law, where I meet with you. The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites” (Numbers 17:1-5).

The staff was not simply a walking stick, but represented the authority, status and ministry of the tribe. This had always been its meaning. Jacob, in blessing his sons before he died, said to Judah, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come…” (Genesis 49:10). This is clearly a messianic statement when the ruler’s staff would come into the hands of the Messiah. The people had been grumbling that they could do the job as well as Moses and Aaron, and the object of the exercise was to show who God had chosen for the priesthood.

All twelve staffs were taken into the tabernacle, placed in the Most Holy Place and left overnight “before the LORD”. The next day Moses saw Aaron’s staff, representing the house of Levi, had not only sprouted, but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds. There was life in the staff, evidence that Aaron was the man God had chosen for the priesthood. This was, of course, supernatural. The life in the staff had a divine origin, which could not be explained by anything Aaron did, but by what God did. 

The reason Aaron’s staff budded and blossomed is because God, having called Aaron to the priesthood, would take responsibility for the work. God was committed to no other staff in the tabernacle, for no other staff was there by His appointing. If any other man took the role of priest, regardless of how sincerely motivated and qualified he was, God had no commitment to his work. Aaron was His choice and through Aaron, He would work. This does not mean that God is committed to a few selected people; He is committed to every one of us in whatever role He has given us. If we are going to produce fruit, we cannot think purely in human terms. Only the life of God perpetuates the work of God, and we must not only expect the supernatural, but be dependent upon it.

Keep me mindful, Lord, that You are the means and the power behind anything You have called me to do. 

Am I dependent on divine power for what God has called me to do? 

“The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.” —NUMBERS 14:7-8

Why are so many people tempted to view faith as something we do rather than letting God do something for us? The Hebrew people, in their rescue from Egyptian bondage, had ample evidence of God’s intervention and utter sufficiency on their behalf. The tragedy with the Israelites, as it is for many of us today, is that we try to live by human effort and reasoning, rather than trusting God.

As soon as the Israelites reached Kadesh-Barnea, they sent twelve spies out to survey the land God had promised to give them. What were the people like? Are there many or few? Are the towns walled or unwalled? Is the soil fertile or poor? The spies surveyed the entire land and came back with pomegranates and grapes so heavy it took two men to carry a cluster on a pole. The land of Canaan was everything God said it would be, but there was a problem. The inhabitants were powerful, some of them giant-like, and the towns were well fortified with trained armies and weaponry. Ten of the twelve spies agreed it would be impossible to conquer the land. Only Joshua and Caleb believed God would honor His promise and give the land into their hands. But they were outvoted and the Israelites gave up before they even started.

What the people failed to realize was that conquering the land was not something they would do, but God would do for them. He would give them victory, which He did, but a generation later. Under the leadership of Joshua, God caused the walls of Jericho to come crashing down. Hebrews 11:30 says, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell.” The Israelites had detached themselves from living in dependence on God, and trusted more in human reasoning and effort. For forty years they wandered the wilderness.

If we can explain our lives and circumstances purely in human terms, how different are we from the Israelites wandering the wilderness? One of the features of the Christian life is that our lives become explicable because God is doing something. We can adopt the idea that the work of God in having saved us is to give us instructions, and that is true, but the most fundamental of all instructions is to acknowledge and recognize that without Christ we can do nothing. What may seem insurmountable to us is often God’s means of showing us that by faith in Him, He is the one who makes the walls of Jericho in our own lives conquerable! 

Dear Lord, I know that nothing is impossible with You. Help me to be totally dependent upon You in every circumstance. Thank You, Lord.

What are the walls of Jericho in my life the Lord has helped me conquer?

“Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.” —PSALM 126:6

Jeremiah is known as the “Weeping Prophet”, and is one of the Major Prophets, having written two books: Jeremiah, followed by Lamentations, which means weeping or a cry of sorrow and grief. 

A man of melancholic temperament, Jeremiah needed friendship. He talks about the warmth of sitting by an open fire, lighted candles, and was the prophet who asked God more questions about ‘why’ than any other prophet. He would have wanted to marry, but God said to him, “You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place” (Jeremiah 16:2). Marrying and having children would have sent a message that Jeremiah believed in the future, but the message God wanted to send was that Judah is coming to an end. Jeremiah was told to not even attend parties or feastings, because that would give the impression there was something to celebrate when Judah was going to be destroyed, because of the people’s evil and idolatrous ways. 

Jeremiah carried that as a deeply embedded pain in his heart, but in his loneliness and isolation, he could speak in a way he never could have had he been married with a loving family. Called to the burdening task of announcing the destruction of the kingdom of Judah, Jeremiah’s message was that sin offends God. He was required to wear a wooden yoke around his neck, demonstrating that Judah was going to be yoked to Babylon. A false prophet broke it off, but God had Jeremiah replace it with an iron yoke. Persecuted, shunned, mocked and frequently imprisoned, Jeremiah was relentless in his calling from God. 

One would not argue that this was not a life of pain and suffering. Jeremiah reveals what would have been harder for him. He writes, “Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” (Jeremiah 20:8-9).

For Jeremiah, God was ultimate, and though timid by nature, he received the Lord’s assurance that he would become strong and courageous. God’s frequent affirmations of his divine calling as a prophet made him fearless and faithful. What we learn from Jeremiah’s story is that when our love for God and His will are paramount in our lives, there is nothing we need fear, because God Himself becomes our means, our strength, our great reward. And nothing less than what He has called us to do will satisfy.

Precious Lord, grant me that fire in my bones like Jeremiah, and use me, Lord, I pray.

Do I have a burning desire to serve God?

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with…” —ROMANS 6:6

Access to God begins with the shedding of blood, the laying down of life in payment for the penalty of sin. The Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the indispensable starting point for everyone. There are three aspects of the cross we must recognize if we are to fully appropriate its benefits in our lives.

Firstly, the Cross of Christ is substitutionary. It was our death Christ died and our penalty He incurred. Though we stand responsible and guilty of sin, we owe God nothing for it. Jesus paid it in full! As a consequence of our repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ, we become indwelt by His Holy Spirit and are brought into union with Him, which includes union in His death. Paul says, “We have been united with him like this in his death…” (Romans 6:5). In other words, in Christ, God saw me die with Him, and the penalty of my sin fully dealt with. We may be debtors to God’s mercy, for His love alone initiated salvation, but we are not debtors to His justice, because God’s just demand for punishment has been met and satisfied… for in Christ I died, and God sees me in Him.

Secondly, the Cross or Christ is satisfactory. God requires nothing more. That is why penance of any kind is unnecessary. Any need to take further punishment, to pay a fine or to run around the block ten times may ease our consciences, but does nothing to win favour with God. To be given only a conditional discharge whereby God forgives me now, but will punish me later if I do the same thing again, immediately undermines the quality of Christ’s death and the value of His blood.

Thirdly, the Cross of Christ is sufficient. There is no depth of depravity for which the blood of Jesus has not atoned. No one is in an unforgivable state, and no sin can be committed so many times that we become irredeemable. To believe so would be to blaspheme the cross, and to doubt the possibility of complete and total forgiveness is to deny the effectiveness of the cross.

Without the confidence that we stand justified before God on the sole basis of the death of Christ, we cannot know God or enjoy His presence. The Cross of Christ is the starting point, and is God’s remarkable gift in giving us the only means possible by which we may have access to Him – through the cross.

Thank You, Lord, for dying on the cross for me, and then giving me your life, the only means of having access to God and being reconciled to Him.

Do I realize that I cannot add anymore to the Cross of Christ to further my standing before God? 

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” —HEBREWS 1:3

As Jesus Christ is the Truth, what is He the truth of? He is firstly the truth about God. God is nothing that Jesus is not, and everything Jesus is, God is. We do not come to know God simply by learning propositional facts about Him. We can certainly believe that God is all powerful, all knowing, omnipresent, unchanging and eternal, but that will not make us love Him or get excited by Him. The more we come to know and love Jesus, the more we come to know and love God. In fact, we cannot come to know God except through Jesus. 

Secondly, Jesus is the truth about humanity. When the writer of Hebrews says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory” he is not only speaking about His deity, but His humanity. In the beginning, God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26). If we were to look at Adam, we would see what God is like, but then Adam sinned and fell short of the glory of God. In Jesus, we have what Paul calls, “the second man”, the “last Adam”, because He is the truth about humanity in which we were created to be a physical and visible expression of the moral character of God.

We all fall short of the glory of God, but the marvelous thing is that not only is Christ the radiance of God’s glory, but bringing God’s glory to earth was the objective of His work and ministry. Hebrews 2:10 says, “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.” That does not mean bringing many sons and daughters to heaven. In evangelical slang, the word ‘glory’ has often been construed to mean heaven, but it is the character of God, His glory.

John writes, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son…” (John 1:14). What they saw in Jesus was the way He lived; His selflessness, kindness, compassion and the fact that He is love. In all Jesus did, they saw what God is like. In Him, we have the one whose goal is to bring many sons and daughters to glory; to put back into humanity what was lost in the Garden of Eden and restore to us the glory of God for which we were created.

Dear Jesus, help transform my heart into a heart like yours; one filled with love, compassion and kindness toward everyone I meet. Thank You, Lord.

In what area of my life do I need the Lord’s help most in reflecting His character?

“You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” —JOHN 5:39-40

The letter to the Hebrews is believed to have been written to a group of Jewish converts who were tempted to either revert to Judaism or Judaize the Gospel. They were so wrapped up in all the true things God had revealed through Old Testament Scripture that they had missed the truth to which it all pointed and centered on.

The popular world view today is that there is no absolute truth; there are only opinions. If there are only opinions, then one person’s opinion is no more valid than another person’s. Most discussions about Christ will simply be an exchange of opinions. The idea that there is truth has become alien to much of our thinking with the criteria being if it seems to be good for me, then it must be true. And whether it is true or not, we then measure the benefit of a religion by the good it does its followers.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Peter said, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus Christ is superior to all that preceded Him, not because what He said was better or more complete, though it was, but because He is Himself the message and has absolute unmatched supremacy in God’s revelation. 

When Jesus criticized the Jews for studying the Scriptures, He was not undermining the authority, inspiration or integrity of Scripture, but explaining that it was not the truth; that it points to the truth, which is who He is. That is why the writer of Hebrews says, “Fix your thoughts on Jesus,” (3:1) and “fix our eyes on Jesus” (12:2). Truth is decapitated when we sever it from Christ, which is what the Pharisees did, and consequently, knew nothing of spiritual life.

We can know the Scriptures inside out, but detached from Christ, and it becomes a dead book. It would be like having a manual on a new car we have bought. We do not read the manual for the sake of reading. Rather, we want to get to know the car and be able to use it to its full potential. We are given the Bible so that we can know Christ and all that is made available to us in Him. There is an old hymn, ‘Break Thou the Bread of Life’, which has the great line, “Beyond the sacred page, I seek thee, Lord.” From Genesis to Revelation, every verse ultimately leads to Christ, and it is knowing Him that matters.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the wonderful revelation You give us of your Son, but most of all, thank You for allowing the written word to become the Living Word within me. 

Has the truth of Scripture become the living, active Truth within me?

“But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” —ROMANS 7:6

A young woman falls in love with a wonderful man. He is the most perfect man. He cannot be faulted for anything and people respect him. The couple gets married. His name is Mr. Law, Mr. Mosaic Law. She loves him dearly and feels secure in his disciplined life. 

When they come back from their honeymoon and he goes to work, the first day he says, “While I’m away, I want you to behave exactly as I behave. I am giving you a list of things I want you to do. When I get home, I am going to make sure you have done everything on this list.” When he comes home, he does not ask her how she is, nor does he give her a kiss. He says, “Bring me the list. Let me see how you’ve done.” Looking at the tasks he has given her, he says, “This one looks okay, but most of them have not been done very well. Tomorrow I am going to give you the exact same list and you’d better do them well, because I’m going to check it when I get home.” 

This goes on for months where he does not show his wife any love, but only makes demands. She becomes exhausted, develops a huge inferiority complex, and is plagued with guilt and failure. Then one day, Mr. Law dies. She is polite about it, and mourns properly. But what a relief! 

Later, she meets another man, and he is just as perfect as Mr. Law. They fall in love and get married. His name is Mr. Life, Mr. Resurrection Life. He also makes demands and his standards are the same as Mr. Law’s, but he says, “I want you to know you cannot do this alone. We can do this together because I am able to infuse inner strength into you.” Sometimes she fails, but he does not condemn her. He says, “There is no condemnation in this marriage. In everything, I am here to help you.” She is relieved and Mr. and Mrs. Resurrection Life live happily ever after. 

This portrays what Paul is teaching when he says, “We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” Is the law sin? Certainly not. Is Mr. Law a bad man? No, he is a good man. The law, although it reveals the character of God, is totally insufficient for our needs. All the demands of the law, which expose our sin and failures, were crucified with Christ, and the goal of Mr. Life is to restore the character of God, which Mr. Law reveals.

Dear God, thank You for sending your Son who exemplifies your character, and is always patient and loving with me. 

Do I tend to depend on Mr. Law or Mr. Resurrection Life?

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” —MATTHEW 10:16

When sheep and wolves meet it is normally the sheep that are vulnerable. In our discipleship for Christ, we are the sheep, but who are the wolves? Before sending His disciples out, Jesus identifies three packs of wolves, which are still with us today.

There is the religious pack of wolves. Jesus said, “Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues” (Matthew 10:17). Of all people who should know better, it is those meeting in the synagogues with open Scriptures who become the first source of opposition. Today, the work of God has to grow against opposition from organized religion at large, but also from within its own ranks. There are those who are blinded by prejudice, and lack sensitivity to God in understanding and recognizing His work.

Secondly, there is the government pack of wolves. “On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:18). James was the first disciple to die at the hands of government leaders. By the year 64 A.D., Christians had been singled out as the enemy of the Roman Empire, and were ruthlessly persecuted. In many parts of the world, Christians are still being persecuted because of legislative laws, but it is interesting that historically the church has generally grown best when persecuted. This is not to encourage persecution, but to be realistic in seeing that when the church is not under pressure, it is in danger of being superficial.

Thirdly, there is the family pack of wolves. “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child…” (Matthew 10:21). This is probably the most distressing of all opposition where members of our own families will alienate and disown us because of our faith. Subsequent history has proved the truth of these warnings, and shown the cost of true discipleship. There is no promise of an easy road. Paul tells Timothy, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…” (2 Timothy 3:12).

Jesus tells us, “Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” Snakes do not go looking for trouble, but if they perceive it, they will respond, which is why Jesus said, “Be on your guard against men.” When trouble comes, we are to be “as innocent as doves”. The innocence and clean living of the Christian will mean that when people start throwing mud, it is given little reason to stick! The reality of what we are will carry more influence than the cleverness of anything we might say, because it is Christ Himself who will be revealed through us.

Dear Lord Jesus, grant me your strength and courage to be a bold and faithful disciple for You. 

How would I respond to persecution in my witness for Christ?

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” —ISAIAH 6:1

There are times in the lives of many Christians when they allow something or someone to create a barrier between themselves and God. This may have been what happened to Isaiah in the beginning of his ministry. The reference to the year King Uzziah died is not merely dating the event, but more likely the event of his death became the means that brought Isaiah into this extraordinary encounter with God. 

King Uzziah’s life was both exciting and tragic. At 16 years old, he became king and reigned in Jerusalem 52 years. God gave him victory not only in warfare, but in building up the land of Judah. His fame spread and he became a hero to the people and a role model for the youth of Judah. Then something went wrong. We are told, “But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense” (2 Chronicles 26:16). This was something only a priest was allowed to do, but thinking the rules did not apply to him, Uzziah ignored the priests’ warnings. The Lord struck him with leprosy and he lived the remainder of his days in isolation.

There are two possible explanations why Isaiah did not have this remarkable vision of God until after King Uzziah died. Perhaps he was unaware Uzziah’s leprosy was a judgment from God. He had grown up under his reign and his own dealings with God may have become second-hand through Uzziah whom he had looked up to as a great spiritual leader. The other explanation may have been that Isaiah did know Uzziah’s leprosy was God’s judgment, and his own confidence was shaken. When Uzziah died, Isaiah then saw the Lord where He has always been – seated on the throne. This is a fresh vision for him as in his mind it was Uzziah on the throne. 

Seated on a throne is being seated in a position of authority and power. High and exalted is a position of supremacy and sovereignty. This presents a problem for many people in that they feel inadequate or even intimidated to deal directly with God. They think it much safer to latch onto the coattails of someone they greatly admire in ministry or to a close friend or family member who has a much stronger faith. What they fail to realize is that God’s position of authority, power, supremacy and sovereignty is to their benefit. We all stand on equal ground, and if we really mean business with God, there is no substitute for dealing with Him directly.

Dear Lord, in my spiritual growth, help me to keep my focus on You, and not on what I admire in the faith of others. 

Do I tend to look to someone else rather than to God? 

“Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.” —1 SAMUEL 15:23

Saul was the first king of Israel. He had been called by God, anointed by God and empowered by God. He was also a man of vision, but visions from God only come to fruition when acted upon in obedience. Because of disobedience, God withdrew His anointing and Saul’s life came to a sad and tragic end. 

Saul had everything going for him, but his failure in office was a direct result of his failure in his relationship with God. 1 Samuel 16:14 tells us, “Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.” That raises a red flag for many of us as once we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we cannot lose Him, but this event takes place prior to Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon people for a specific task and was then withdrawn because the task was completed, or in Saul’s case, because of disobedience to the will of God. 

In the era after Pentecost, the Holy Spirit does not withdraw. We can never lose the presence of the Holy Spirit, but we can quench, grieve and limit His work in our lives. When it comes to service, we are to operate in His fullness, but we can lose that fullness. In the case of Saul, God withdrawing His Spirit left a void which an evil spirit filled. The result was psychological disintegration in which he suffered delusions of being persecuted, severe depression, homicidal tendencies, and later even played with the occult. When we see the spiritual decline in a man like Saul, we have to realize we too are vulnerable. 

Despite being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, if we are disobedient and harden our hearts towards God, we will not be left spiritually and emotionally unscathed. There will be consequences. If the Holy Spirit is quenched or grieved and ceases to operate as He wants to, we will not function in a vacuum. Something else will always move in and lure us away from God. In our day, Saul would have been diagnosed with a psychological breakdown. We should, however, not assume that all emotional and mental breakdowns have a spiritual cause as there are hereditary, medical, circumstantial and environmental causes, but also the possibility of demonic attack, which without God we will be unequipped and unprepared for.

When we withdraw from God, He withdraws, and we lose the safest, most secure anchor for our souls. We are all capable of spiritual disintegration, but also of healthy spiritual growth. Which direction we take will depend on our response to the grace, goodness and will of God in our lives.

Dear Heavenly Father, keep a tight reign on me. Be my strength and bring me increasingly closer to You. Thank You, God.

How would I prevent spiritual decline in my life? 

“In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.” —1 SAMUEL 3:1

Since Israel’s conquest of Canaan, God had raised up judges to govern the nation. During this period, the people grew tired of appointed judges, and wanted a monarchy like other nations. Samuel was God’s prophet at the time and this displeased him, but he brought the people’s grievances before God. “It’s not you they have rejected,” God said. “They have rejected me as their King” (1 Samuel 8:7).

This national rebellion had its roots in a spiritual declension. The first book of Samuel opens when the spiritual life was centered in Shiloh, a small town about thirty miles north of Jerusalem. The priesthood was led by a man called Eli, along with his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who are described in Scripture as wicked men, having no regard for the Lord. They exploited their position as priests for self gain, and Eli, old and weak, failed to restrain them. What happened to the priesthood in Shiloh?

No one sets out to be a spiritual phony. No one comes to Christ wanting godliness without power, yet many Christians again and again degenerate into that condition. Their lives are reduced to an outward form, and any sense of spiritual reality is lost. They know little of what it means to walk with God, to hear His voice, to depend on His indwelling Spirit, and consequently, have no expectancy of His working in their lives. They may know spiritual language but nothing of spiritual life and this is the state of the priesthood in Israel. They performed their duties religiously, but it had become a cold, barren routine in which the ritual replaced the reality. 

When ritual replaces reality, one of two things happens; either the ritual becomes desecrated or we deify the ritual and make it the all important thing, leaving God out. The value of any ritual is not found in the ritual itself, but in what it points and speaks to. Baptism, communion, prayer, Bible study all point to Christ, but apart from intimate communion with Him merely become outward form. 

God is committed to only one agenda and it is His own. To the extent we deviate from it is the extent to which we are on our own, and this was the diagnosis in Israel. Psalm 78:60 says of God, “He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among humans.” But to the extent we have a genuine desire to accomplish God’s purpose is the extent to which we come to experience His presence and power in our lives.

Dear Lord, I pray for a work of your Holy Spirit that fills me completely and keeps me in intimate union with You. Thank You, Lord.

Does it feel like I am simply going through the motions or am I enjoying a genuine relationship with Christ?

“For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” —ROMANS 7:22-23

The Christian life is not so much about God changing us as replacing us. It is what Hudson Taylor, a great pioneer missionary of the 19th century, said: “The secret of a changed life is in discovering it’s an exchanged life.” I give my life away to Christ in all its weakness and poverty, and He gives His life away to me in all its richness and power. 

Paul talked about this when he said, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” (Romans 7:18-21). Paul is saying there is an ongoing battle taking place in his heart and this is a battle we all face. 

We know what is good and right, yet we keep giving in to sin. As Paul says, there is a law of sin living in us. To illustrate, if we throw a pen in the air, it is going to fall, not because of the push we gave it, but there is a physical law of the earth called ‘gravity’ that says, “what goes up must come down”. We cannot change that law anymore than we can change the law of sin within us. But there is another law, says Paul. In verse 24, he writes, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” He then answers, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” And this is the law of the Spirit of Christ who gives life and sets us free from the law of sin and death.

The problem for many of us is that we are trying to battle the power of the law of sin in our hearts under our own steam. We take responsibility for it, pleased with any progress we make in becoming more Christ-like, but again and again, become frustrated and disheartened when we give in to our sinful natures. We can no more step out of the law of sin than we can step out of the law of gravity. That is not what an exchanged life is about. It is allowing Jesus to be Jesus in our lives, and whatever progress we make is the life of Christ revealed in us.

Dear Lord, I ask for a deeper work of your Spirit, so that your life may be increasingly reflected in me. Thank You.

Am I battling with sin in my own strength?

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” —MATTHEW 28:19-20

In the above command, which Jesus gives to every Christian, the primary verb is “make” – we are to make disciples. The subsidiary verbs are ‘go’, ‘baptizing’ and ‘teaching’, but we can “go” and accomplish nothing. Baptizing is a necessary expression of our response to the Lord Jesus, but it is not to go and accumulate as many baptisms as we can. Neither is it teaching them to obey. These are supportive actions that make the main objective possible which is to “make disciples”. 

The first step in making disciples is in recognizing we are under the Lordship and authority of Jesus Christ. We can be Christians and do our own thing, but we will not be fruitful in making disciples. That is the corporate agenda of the church of Jesus Christ, and is one to which all our personal agendas must be a contributing factor.

There are many good and valid projects taking place in the church of Jesus Christ: missions abroad and domestically, education, literature distribution, media ministry, addressing justice issues and fund raising for needy causes. These things, however, are all temporal. The danger is that sometimes they become substitutes, overriding and eclipsing the eternal dimension, which is to make disciples. If the church does not have a disciple-making agenda as its central thrust, then we are simply rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

As making disciples involves teaching people to obey Christ’s commands, how are we to do this? Jesus ends His commission with, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). His presence is not a nice finishing touch to encourage us. It is the essential ingredient. In John 15:5, He said, “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” What enables us to bear fruit is that we are identified with Christ, and His presence in us provides the motivation, strength, direction and empowerment to make disciples.

It is in union with Christ that His Spirit works in us and through us to produce fruit that will last. Though we may have doubts as to our ability, the antidote is obedience. John Stott, author of ‘Basic Christianity’, said, “Preach what you can trust and be willing to go beyond what you can trust on the grounds this is what the Bible says.” It is not intellectual rhetoric, nor our strategies that will make disciples for Christ, but the work of the Holy Spirit and the power of the word of God penetrating the hearts of people.

Thank You, Lord, for being everything we need in helping to bring souls to salvation and in making disciples.

Am I dependent on the leading of the Holy Spirit in my witness for Christ?

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me.” —PHILIPPIANS 1:21-22

Chapter One of Philippians is one of the most autobiographical statements in all of Paul’s writings. Forty times in this chapter he uses the words “I”, “me” and “mine”. He is writing this from prison, and he says, “I want you to know what my frustrations are and what my circumstances are, but at the same time, I want you to know how I have discovered an underlying sense of confidence and joy; joy being one of the words that occurs frequently throughout this book. 

The key verse not only in all of Philippians, but possibly in all of Paul’s writings is “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”. Normally, if we meet someone who tells us dying is going to be a better option for us, we would be worried about them. Most of us, without question, would say living is the better option. But Paul says that “to die is gain”. What makes him say that? Here is a man who is enthusiastic about death. How often will we meet someone like that? 

What Paul is saying is that he is torn between two things. I desire to depart and be with Christ. I desire to die, but it may be that my staying alive is going to be useful to other people, namely to you, he says to the Philippians. So I am not sure what to do. I would like to die, but I probably need to stay around a little longer because you need me. He is saying that life is fantastic, because despite the troubles and sufferings, he has all the resources he needs by the presence of Christ within him to accomplish what he has been called to do. But he is also saying there is something I cannot wait for. I cannot wait to be with Christ, which is a reality far better than his mortal existence. 

Paul is not depressed, but confident. He would actually prefer “to be away from his body and at home with the Lord”. This turns on its head the secular view of death where everything we are and everything we have ends. We only know how to face life when we know how to face death. “To live is Christ,” Paul says, and therein lies the key to a contented life, because Christ becomes our life. In Him we have eternal life, and there will come a day when all struggles and turmoil will cease. For the Christian, death has lost its sting, and like Paul, we look forward to our heavenly home with Jesus.

Dear Jesus, thank You for giving us the inner strength and confidence in dealing with death, and for encouraging us to live our lives to the fullest in your name. Amen.

What does the statement, ‘We only know how to face life when we know how to face death’, mean to me? 

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” —MATTHEW 5:4

When Jesus talks about mourning in the beatitudes, He is not talking about death and funerals, but rather linking it with what has gone before. When we recognize and face our poverty of spirit, we can do one of two things: we can hide it and pretend it does not exist, or we can face it honestly and mourn it.

To mourn our poverty of spirit is repentance. Repentance is not simply being sorry for what we do, but it is recognizing that the cause of what we do is what we are. We are sinners, not because we sin, but because that is our inherent nature. When we were born, God did not look down from heaven and say, “That’s a cute little baby there. I hope I can keep that one.” And then one day, we sin and God says, “Oh, no! Not another one gone.” All God expects of us is failure, because the natural condition of our hearts is corrupt and therefore, we sin.

Paul wrote about himself, “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin” (Romans 7:14). He is describing himself apart from God, and what we are like in our natural selves. Our natures are inherently corrupt and we do not grow out of this state. That is why we need to face and mourn our poverty of spirit. Repentance is not a one time act, but an ongoing attitude and disposition of heart; a change of mind in turning from the things which are not of God to the things of God. It is turning from dependence upon ourselves to dependence on God, and operating not in our strength, but in His strength. It is turning from living our way to living God’s way.

When we acknowledge our poverty of spirit and mourn it, the wonderful thing is that we are not criticized, humiliated or condemned because of it, but in response, God forgives, cleanses and sends His Holy Spirit, “the Comforter” as Jesus called Him. The Comforter is the antidote to our poverty of spirit and He comes to indwell us, so that He can replace the corruptness of our hearts with the righteousness of Christ.

I would suggest that the measure of our repentance that will mark the measure of the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives. And the Holy Spirit’s task is to replace our poverty with the riches of Jesus Christ, our weaknesses for His strength and our defeat for His victory. The Comforter is the presence of Christ within us and that is incredibly comforting!

Dear Lord, help me to live every day in repentance and to be totally dependent upon You. Thank You, Lord. 

Am I living in day to day repentance?