I really enjoy sharing testimonies of how I've seen God work in some really tough situations. Sometimes the circumstances are such that it seems freedom (from drugs, depression, pain, stinking thinking etc.) is impossible, but in the end, for all who are willing, He brings sweet freedom. So when I relate these beautiful life experiences, I get various responses.
On this occasion with my friend, the response was, drugs are terrible. Yes, off course, they're right, drugs are terrible but this friend missed the point entirely. What is the point? That with God's help addictions can be broken, He is not only able but also willing to set us free*.
Often just by a person's response to a testimony, their heart condition is revealed. In this case, my friend was focused more on the drugs and the evil of it instead of on the other much better part of the story, that freedom came and a life is changed. The heart in this instance is focused on the wrongs of this world, it is swallowed up in the bad news of life which we can find plenty of everywhere. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard what we store in our heart: keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flows the springs of life. Off course we are not to live in ignorance of the state of this world but that is not to be our focus. What we focus on we become. So when we are focused on God hearing a testimony of His goodness will catapult us into joyful thankfulness and spur us on in our faith in Him to face the next seemingly impossible situation with a sure hope.
Sometimes people react with, that's great for you but God doesn't work like that for me. What kind of heart condition is this? It's one of disappointment, in God. Once this disappointment settles into a regular thought pattern it becomes a stronghold of the mind and leads to hopelessness. We become convinced that God has abandoned us, He does wonderful things for others and blesses them but He doesn't love us. I have personally been in this pit of disappointment, I call it a pit because it's a dark, lonely, unhappy place. The only way I came out of that pit was to:
FIRST, ask for prayer from others and confess my heart condition. Accountability is a gift available within the body of Christ. I've learned that what you bring into the light is much easier to deal with whereas unspoken, negative thoughts hidden in the darkness of the soul can cause continuous torment. James 5:16 says, therefore confess your sins one to another and be healed, for the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
SECOND, is to realise that there's some stinking thinking going on. If we believe in a good God Who doesn't change and has no favourites, then we need to question what we are thinking and not just allow any and every thought to take centre stage on the platform of our mind. God knows our weakness and in His mercy He speaks through Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5, 'we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion that raises itself against the knowledge of God and take captive every thought to obey Christ'.
THIRD, is to go back to the place of disappointment and examine what happened. I ask Holy Spirit to work with me and show me where I went wrong. Proverbs 13:12 says, Hope deferred makes the heart sick. It's not merely the delay in the thing we hope for that makes our heart sick. It's when we lose hope in God altogether that our heart gets sick. Jesus called Holy Spirit our Comforter and He also called Him, the Spirit of Truth, what I found is that He comforts us with the truth. That's why Jesus said, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. The truth brings clarity and peace.
And still there are others, when hearing a testimony, that react with, that's great. They're smiling and nodding in all the right places and then I see them walk away with an emptiness. They have not allowed the testimony of God's goodness to impact them. Why? Off course there isn't just one answer to this question. But from experience I can point to one, no personal encounter with God. I'm not talking about someone who is not a believer. This is often someone who professes a faith in Jesus Christ as their Saviour; prays; reads the bible and probably goes to church regularly. But as yet has had no encounter with the Living God.
Jesus did not only give His life for us, He lived on earth FOR us. He lived an everyday life, working, being a brother, son, student, friend etc. but He did it all by acknowledging that He could not do anything apart from His Father. His life is an example to us of what it can be like to live on earth as a human living fully out of a relationship with Father God. Jesus said, I only do what I see My Father doing. All of His thinking and doing came out of a relationship with His Father, Who is our Father. Jesus heard His Father's voice and conversed with Him, there was a relationship that involved encounter. In this journey with a God Who is real, Jesus always points to Something greater, Someone greater, He has given us an invitation to know His Father like He did on earth, not just from a text or teaching, but from a real life personal encounter with a Living God that will change us forever. And once we've had one, we know that there is more that awaits, greater things are yet to come.
A couple of days ago my friend and I were just about to sit down to lunch, as we prayed, I said, Holy Spirit come! We love You and we need You. And He came. He brought the sweet presence of Father God into our midst and such joy and love flowed from it. Within that, I had a beautiful vision and I saw my friend and I clothed in white robes dancing on the ashes of nearly dying fires situated in ruins. We had great joy as we danced on the ashes. God said to us, I am blowing on the fires, reigniting them and I am rebuilding the ruins, I am giving you beauty instead of ashes. That very morning, God has been speaking to my friend about being clothed in new robes, of which I knew nothing about. For my friend, who is learning about encounter, it was an incredible confirmation that God was indeed speaking and also that it was a new season of faith being reignited and rebuilding what lies in ruins (past situations of failure or disappointment being vindicated by God). What a beautiful encounter. How can we be satisfied without it.
No comments:
Post a Comment