The words of this song, "Praise you in the storm", have lifted me out of many dark places in recent days! Well, there is no surprise or limit to how much light is available through the absolute truth of God's words. Sadly, we often do not allow ourselves access to the power and the peace and the light of Christ, because we stay unsurrendered! Yes, I praise the Lord who gives and who takes away! Yes, I praise Him as Lord of my life, the Lord that is Good and His Love endures forever. No, circumstances and storms are not the determining factor for our joy as Christians, are they? Truthfully, if circumstances and storms cause you to waiver, then you are not surrendered somewhere in your heart. The truth is, we must understand the Truth about trust and about surrender! Behold, the truth will set you free!!
Consider the Scripture,
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” (John 8:31-33, NIV). Truly, we either belong to the truth, or its poor imitation, the Charade! Yes, the Lie, and the prince of lies, the devil!! Tragically, we fail to realize that we need to be set free because we've been deceived. There are no in-between entities to which we belong, are there?? Either, we have the truth, the Christ, serve the truth and tell the truth, or we play charades, serve the Lier and tell lies for the lier, the devil!!
Truth?? So, what's the job of a prophet anyway? A prophet is the mouthpiece of God, sent by God to tell God's truth, and nothing but the truth! Go Jonah!! Well, not so fast! As we will discuss in this post, when "charades" is the game, the truth leaves us lame.
Sometimes we have to just say out loud, "illusions have power over me"! Perhaps, the devil works so well through media and imaging because we are so willing to be tricked that way! Images that promise to paint prettier pictures are not easy to let go! Charades!! Only do we surrender to Jesus when we understand that He is better than the illusion; Only then does His perfection smash the charade!!
Jonah wakes up and stretches slowly! Yawning, the prophet of God slips out of bed and joins the routine, the charade! Of course Jonah was God's prophet and of course Jonah served God!! We already discovered in 2 Kings that Jonah delivered God's truth! However, what happened when God's truth conflicted with the charade, Jonah's thoughts, and Jonah's plans?? What a storm was brewing that would disrupt Jonah's glassy facade! Most assuredly, Jonah had bought the peaceful picture of what he thought God's plan looked like! Have you ever thought God had a plan for you that looked a certain way!! Come on, don't lie!! Remember, I'm talking to myself, but if you become convicted, then praise the Lord!! Well, I'm Jonah and I'm called to be God's prophet and to serve Israel, live in Gath, next to Galilee and that's the deal!! Hi, I'm Jennifer, called to do foreign missions for the Lord and I'm going to finish college, find a husband that's called to do the same thing, and follow God!! Have you thought about your status quo recently? Have you thought about where your daily surrender to His will is on a scale of 1-10?? Friends, if it's not 10, then you are letting a charade, fake game, take the place of God's Holy Name in your life!!
What does it mean to surrender to God in everything?? Friends, that's what we call, entire sanctification!! When I daily give over my heart, mind and soul entirely to the Savior, who is Good and Perfect and the only God who is worthy, I'm walking in entire Sanctification!! Not my will Father, but yours!! Maybe God's called you to service and that you know all about God and you want to serve God. Yet, have you given over everything to His will about your call and service...?? Has God called you like Jonah, yet maybe that call has not been entirely sanctified?? Do you praise God in the storm?? When we are living a charade, we are very concerned with our Destiny! My destiny is a charade and so are all of the things I think are owed to me by right: Marriage, children, health, career and honor! Worse, the only thing that is owed to me is death!! Praise, the Lord for His mercy will you?? While we were still sinners, Christ died for us!! Sadly, even when God blesses us with any of these so called rights, we demand that it never be taken from us..no not ever!! We ask why?? Why me?? Charades is the game we have learned and that we have loved; control lives here and so does a false sense of comfort, right? Nothing is permanent for us, but Christ, and we need to start acting like the bride of Christ, if we want to show His love to the world. "He is no fool, who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose" (Jim Elliot). Well, let's look at Jonah, son of Amittai, prophet of God! Who??? Prophet of God?? The problem with being God's mouthpiece is that you deliver God's truth, not the version you learned in Charades.
We have a position guaranteed—‘in Christ’s hand.’ It is to be in a place of honor:
We are the ring he wears on his finger. It is a place of love: ‘I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.’ It is a place of power: his right hand encloses all his people. It is a place of property: Christ holds his people; ‘all the saints are in thy hand.’ It is a place of discretion: we are yielded up to Christ, and Christ wields a discretionary government over us. It is a place of guidance, a place of protection: as sheep are said to be in the hand of the shepherd, so are we in the hand of Christ. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, to be used by him, as jewels in the hand of the bride to be her ornament, so are we in the hand of Christ.
For meditation: If our trust in him is genuine, the Lord Jesus Christ has promised that we will never thirst (John 4:14), never hunger (John 6:35) and never taste death (John 8:51–52;11:26), in other words that we will never perish. However, there will be no protection for those whose faith is not genuine; on the Day of Judgement he will say to them ‘I never knew you: depart from me,’ despite all that they claim to have done in his name (Matthew 7:21–23). Which kind of ‘never’ applies to you (C. Spurgeon)?
Assyria, as we have already established was not Israel's buddy! Although an ally at times, Assyria was not on the Christmas card list, right? Nineveh, which is modern day Mosul, Iraq, was not a place that Israel would have ever wanted to go, or a people group that Israel would have bragged about having over for tea. But, what exactly made Jonah run?? Let's examine something about Jonah and about ourselves at the same time. Let's talk about surrender again!! Jonah wanted to serve God! Not unlike us, Jonah wanted to serve the Lord! Don't we say that we want something frequently, but that maybe we don't have it yet? Dear ones, do you want God, but you have not yet surrendered only to Him in your heart? Wanting God is not enough, because it's in the relationship with Him, the direct contact with Him, and in the direct surrender to Him that all of us our taught and know that He is good and that He is love, and that He is Lord, and that He is worthy of our complete obedience!!
The truth is that none of us are free and that none of us have power! Only the truth of God can set you free from the grip of Satan's charade and only God's power can protect you from all harm. Still, hear this, "no one has access to God's power and protection while the heart remains unsurrendered"!!! The truth about storms is that they reveal whether the strength we show is from us or from God!! Can we stand up against all of that wind?? Not a chance!! Not a prayer!! Only the wind and the waves obey the Lord!! Trials and tribulations only refine us if we have the Spirit at work in us due to our surrender to Him daily! The reality is that I'm just not strong enough, and I definitely need God's power, to which I have access if I've surrendered my life to Him!! Surrender does not come to us naturally, does it? We follow part way, and we want to give up nothing for something we do not trust, right? So, do you genuinely trust God? Are you genuinely and entirely surrendered to Him today??
In fact, let me leave you with a question, "No matter what the cost, are you willing to say yes to God?" Please comment or list anything in your life that you might have a struggle giving up for Christ. Please comment, as such confessions make the charade die! When we confess our lack of surrender, then we are aware of it and cannot be defeated by it anymore!! Place your unsurrendered areas of your heart into His hands and walk in peace, even when it's raining. I want to trust God where its safe, and the only place it's safe is where I'm completely wrapped up in the palm of His hands. Our next blog, we will look at some reflections in Jennifer's call to missions and how it really needed to be sanctified!! Blessings..
The only right a Christian has is the right to give up our right to ourselves...
ReplyDelete-Oswald Chambers
That's it!! Love that!! We must do tea or coffee soon and talk about how God is the only one worthy of praise and the only one worth our complete attention..Merci for the comment..
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