Sitting in Silence

One of the most difficult times for a Christian can be the silence of God. Those seasons of life when there is no revelation, no inspiration, and no manifest presence of God. How we respond to these times will show the measure of both our understanding of God and the measure of our faith. Sometimes, the silence of God is because of sin in our lives, and the relationship must be restored by active repentance. However, the most troubling times are when there is no unconfessed sin, and yet God seems to have dropped us in a predicament and seems to be unaware or unconcerned about our present state of affairs. It is during these times that we are tempted to see Him as an unconcerned or uncaring Father. Yet we must understand something about the ways of God. One thing is that God's silence is one of His greatest forms of intimacy. It is a sign of His trust. He is saying "Just be still and trust." He trust us with His silence to see how we will react. We get into fits when we cannot discern God or understand what He is doing in a particular situation. So what do we do when God is silent or when we are waiting for Him to act? Psalm 37 gives us direction in this area. We must "Trust in the LORD and do good." (vs3). "Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart." (vs4). "Commit your way to the LORD (the Hebrew literally says "to roll" something onto the LORD- in other words, we must roll all of our anxieties, desires, and frustrations onto Him) . Trust also in Him and He will do it (He will take care of the situation) (vs5). "Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him." (vs 6). To sum it up, we must trust, do good, delight, commit, and rest. It is a call to throw ourselves onto the providence and sovereignty of God. Therefore, when God is silent or when you cannot discern His way or what He is up to, follow the advice of David- trust, do good, delight, commit, and rest.

The Absolute Must

Rise up soldier; shake off the dust!
You’ve spent too long indulging your lust.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand!
Tighten up your bootstraps and take a stand!
Rise up warrior and grab your sword
Prepare to do battle with the evil horde!
Arise from your slumber and sober up!
The enemy advances, so straighten up!
Rise up fighter; lift up your hands!
Prepare for the blow that is about to land!
Your opponent is a beast, seeking your end!
So man up or shut up and make the punk bend!
The devil never slumbers, sleeps or is slack.
Take your eyes off of Jesus and you’ll be flat on your back.
So grit your teeth, clench your fist and get ready to fight.
Don’t be caught living as a child of the night.
Keep in prayer, the Word, and be Spirit filled.
These will all protect you from being killed.
So Rise up disciple; shake off the dust.
For being a warrior is an absolute must.

The Outside Pull

We as Christians must be ever on gaurd against those things that would try to pull us out of our abiding in Christ. Circumstances can pull and tug on us and bring us to a point of introspection that we never thought existed. As saints, we must be careful of too deep an introspection lest we, in our introspection, consider ourselves and our circumstances without Christ. The moment we start to calculate things without the promises or presence of God, we move out of Christ consciousness and into self consciousness. We must keep in mind that the high aim of God is to make us one with His Son- to have every aspect of our conscious life brought into union with Him. This is the goal of sanctification and the true sense of reality for the saint. God will bring about circumstances in our lives to show us where we are not living in spiritual reality. Instead, what we will find is that circumstances will show us how self conscious we really are in places that we though we were spiritual. God does this so that we can bring these things into the reality of abiding with Him so that the consciousness of self will dissipate and the only thing we know is abiding in Christ. If you are in circumstances where you find yourself restless, it may be because you are considering your circumstances outside Christ. Let yourself find rest in the promises and presence of God- then the peace will come- the peace that can only come by abiding in Christ. This is God's goal for you in the crisis- oneness. Oneness with Christ and abiding with Him.

I found my pen

It has been a while sense I have last been on the blogosphere; but I am back. I will be writing all that is on my heart or in my head. I hope you find it interesting, intriguing, and insightful.