Determining God's Voice, Over Our Own- Part 3

January 27, 2014

 

 

Continued from

 

 

 

So why am I making this elaborate confession and sharing intimate details of my personal life?  I am doing this because I am seeing more and more Brothers and Sisters in Christ invest themselves in the things of this world, rather than the things of God.  What too many fail to realize is that we have entered the spiritual time period before the start of the Great Tribulation in which the sheep are being separated from the goats.  It can be likened to the momentous occasion wherein Joshua was about to cross over into the promised land and found himself surrounded by those of lukewarm faith and/or those whose commitment to God was more of an idea, rather than a realistic daily effort. 

In essence, they had no problem with the idea of God being their savior, but still hesitated at what was required in allowing Him to also be Lord over their life no matter what it may cost them or where it may lead them.  It was at this moment in which scripture records Joshua's affirmation as to Who and What were most important in his life:

 

"Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:14)

 

I feel helpless and frustrated as I sit and watch so many of God's people deceive themselves, whether through spiritual neglect,  or the pursuit of their own dreams and goals, or their justification that their pursuit is "for God" or "for His glory", even though they may be pursuing something that He never asked them to pursue in the first place.

Many of these pursuits are a test of their heart.  What they cannot perceive is that God will sometimes allow our hearts to be consumed with temptation, so that our ultimate allegiance can be determined.

"How blessed is the man who endures temptation! When he has passed the test, he will receive the victor's crown of life that God has promised to those who keep on loving Him." (James 1:12)

 

As true children of God, our hearts can only be consumed by our desire to know Him; anything else just gets in the way.  Pursuing our own desires only leads to our own accomplishments, rather than us desiring what God wants, no matter where it leads.  We cannot determine if God is closing a door to encourage us to move on to the next stage of refinement until we're prepared to walk away from it.  True service to God is the total surrender of ourselves, because only then has it become more about Him rather than us.  We make ourselves available through surrender, and we adapt to God's ultimate authority through obedience. 

 

The reality is, God is driving, and sometimes He lets us take the wheel.  But in our excitement and desire, sometimes we forget that He is the One on Whose lap we are sitting, and it is His feet which control the pedals.  We get distracted by the potholes, speed bumps and billboard advertising set by the Enemy to ensnare us and we so easily veer off course, therefore we must be ever-ready and prepared to surrender the wheel back to Him so that He can right our path.  When we chase anything other than God, we limit our vision to our own goals, rather than God's.  We deceive ourselves through our conviction that God surely wants us to be happy, without realizing that it is actually our own selfish drive to make ourselves happy that we are pursuing.

 

For those who have ears to hear it: 

We don't serve God so that we can know Him,

we know Him so that we can serve Him.

 

Therefore, what every Christian must ask themselves is:

1.  "Is the pursuit of my goals infringing upon my time spent pursuing intimate fellowship with God?"

 

2.  "Do I know more about the desires of my own heart, than I know about God's?"

 

3.  "Do I have the will to stop what I am doing and submit to allow God to fully examine my heart and motives?"

 

4.  "Am I prepared to walk away from what I am pursuing if that is what God is truly asking me to do?"

 

Know this: 

God will not lead you into a situation that will cause you to compromise His holiness.

 

Do not make the fatal mistake of thinking that by going into enemy territory, your influence will prevail over theirs.  This is self-delusion at its finest and we have the detailed accounts of ancient Israel to prove it.  God has made it abundantly clear through scripture that we will be like those whom we are around.  The ancient Israelites were forbidden to interact with the nations of spiritual corruption that surrounded them:  Philistine, Canaan, Babylon, Sumeria, Egypt.  We are told that God commanded the Israelites to literally commit genocide on those who inhabited the promised land prior to their arrival.  Such an extreme measure to ensure Israel's spiritual purity must surely not be lost on the current state of affairs of today's Christians.  Obviously we are not commanded, nor even remotely expected to engage such extreme physical measures to ensure our spiritual purity, however God does expect us to engage such a frame of mind spiritually.  Meaning, we are to preserve ourselves as spiritually chaste Brides of Christ with hearts of extreme fervor towards righteousness and allegiance to Our Father in heaven and the things of His kingdom.  In so doing, we develop a natural aversion to the things of this world and begin to have the spiritual eyes to discern the truth between what God sees as clean and unclean.  However, once you begin to develop these spiritual eyes, you become aware of how corrupt the world we live in, truly is.  With this awareness comes grief to your spirit, but when we weep over sin and grieve over unrighteousness, this means that we have God's heart and He has promised us that:

 

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted...blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied...blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."  (Matthew 5:4)

 

"I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint." (Jeremiah 31:25)

 

"You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy." (John 16:20)

 

"He will lead them to springs of living water.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Rev 7:17)

 

Unfortunately, evil will continue to prevail in this fallen creation until Jesus returns to set it right, for in Him alone is our hope of righteousness.  Only God can consume corruption and not be affected by it,  His creation however, cannot.  This was proven in the very beginning in the Garden.  Therefore, as children of God-- whether ancient Israelite or followers of Christ-- we are commanded to come out of this world, to be set apart and made holy:

 

"Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,

'I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.'  Therefore, 'COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,' says the Lord.

'AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. And I will be a Father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,'  Says the Lord Almighty." (2 Corinthians 6:17)

 

"Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of the LORD's house." (Isaiah 52:11)

 

"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14)

 

"I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation." (Jeremiah 15:17)

 

One of the many things we must remember about our enemy is that he will never run out of carrots to dangle just out of our reach: 

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8) 

 

Our enemy seeks to destroy us, but I can assure you through personal experience and observation that if he can't destroy us, he will settle for simply keeping us busy, distracted and self-absorbed.  And although I know that God can and will use our choices for our edification, education and refinement, I still look back at my many flawed conclusions.  All of which never included the greatest responsibility in which God has seen fit to place upon me to date:  Raising my children to know, love and serve Him through the working out of my own salvation in Jesus Christ.

 

For too long, the only "gifts" I could perceive were my success in my career and my penchant for articulation and literacy--  all the while completely blind to the gift of my own children and the limitless potential to serve God by being a Godly mother to them--  the kind of "effect and result" relationship that has the potential to ultimately affect generations of souls, not only born from my children and their children's children, but also all those in whom they interact with throughout their lives.

 

I look back at my conclusions and see their flaw, which was that in those flawed conclusions, I was only looking at myself.  I had no perception of God's eternal perspective.  I was searching for how I could serve God, rather than seeking God to discover how He wanted me to serve Him.  I still do that.

And I know that I still do it because every day I must submit myself in total surrender unto Him, for Him to search my mind and my heart to weed out my flawed thinking so that He can then remind me of His eternal perspective.

 

During the time that God took away my daily efforts at writing, he replaced it with a deep longing to discern His voice over my own.  He revealed to me that to serve Him according to His standard of measurement, I have to learn how to determine whether I am writing more from my own opinion and understanding or from His.  I have to learn how to hear Him over myself.  For my efforts to truly be for Him, His glory and His purposes, my writing has to belong to Him only and not of myself, even if that means not writing at all.  My efforts must be based on what God values, not on what I or the world values.  My identity and purpose must be found only in Him, for only He is my Rock and my Salvation, therefore no matter what storm of circumstances may rage around me, my identity and purpose remain the same. 

 

The last two questions Christians must ask themselves, are:

 

1.  "Am I enslaved by my pursuits?"

True freedom is like that which was showed by the patriarch Joseph, who although knew one day he would be prosperous and rule over many, including his own family, he did not devote himself to accomplish it through his own efforts.  But rather, he devoted himself only to pursuing God.  The only desire of his heart was to know God, and because of this, no matter what circumstances Joseph came to find himself in, God helped him work through it for his refinement and to accomplish God's eternal purpose for His kingdom.

 

And the last, yet most important and relevant question we must ask is this:

2.  "If Jesus were to return tomorrow, would my daily priorities be the same?"

 

How many of us truly have our house in order?  How many of us would turn back to grab our coat as Jesus instructs us NOT to do when we see the signs of His coming?  How many of us would turn around for one, last gaze of desire, only to be turned into  pillar of salt?  When meditating on the answer to these questions, it would be wise to meditate on Jesus' words taken from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 12:

 

"And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?' So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit.

Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.

But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.

And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes,

Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division;

When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it turns out.  And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, 'It will be a hot day,' and it turns out that way.

You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?" (Luke 12)

 

In closing, I would like to share a blog post I found during my scriptural research for this article.  I found it remarkable that God waited until today to bring it to my attention when making my last post for the conclusion of this 3-Part article:

 

 

 

I find it worthy to remark that scripture tells us that :

"Every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses" (2 Corinthians 13:1)

 

Therefore, as I am only one to bear personal witness to the subject matter of this article, let the woman who made this blog post be the second,  "                                    "