“There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of Life has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38
We who belong to the Lord Jesus, and love Him because He first loved us, choose to be immersed in Scriptures, letting God’s glorious truths continually renew our minds. And yes, we pray/pray/pray! We desire a life of GRACE, an abundant life brimming over with His FRUIT!
As California Pastor Phillip De Courcy has titled his amazingly wonderful and practical teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit, YOU HAVE THE ADVANTAGE.
Fruit! Love, joy, peace, and all the rest in the GRACE package—a gift from God the Holy Spirit in our lives. Fallen and sinful world notwithstanding, some of us still have an outwardly abundant and peaceful life—for which we are immeasurably grateful! We experience joy, and one of our greatest delights is to share God’s joy—with family, friends, and even possibly in a public ministry.
Abundant Life! Yet sometimes we wake up in the morning to find ourselves smack dab in the midst of II Corinthians 4: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”
So long as we are here in this fallen, sinful world, we are surrounded by the universal human experience, and our physical frames may bear evidence to that experience. As Christians, we are walking oxymorons. God’s life, moving around in physical bodies, often imbued with physical signs of the fall. Oxymorons, often weary, sometimes physically ill or burdened with physical pain, hard pressed and perplexed, yet beaming out God’s life within us—despite circumstances that would threaten to do us in!
Along with evidence of the fall, we Christians have an additional dimension of perplexity. We are targets and refugees in history’s cosmic war. We are embattled Pilgrims hounded and tormented by the enemy of all that is Good, Righteous, and Beautiful.
Our enemy’s days are numbered, but until our Lord returns Satan will continue to fling at God’s people everything possible from the arsenal of evil, in order to impede and discourage any and all of us who belong to our Lord Jesus Christ. But whatever flack he may manage to muster up, our enemy cannot destroy those of us who belong to Jesus!
We may go along quite peacefully—enjoying every moment in touch with our Lord and thanking Him for His GRACE, when suddenly WHAMMO! We are buffeted and broadsided. How we need to be ever ready for that “roaring lion seeking whomever he may devour”. I Peter 5:8
All of Scripture, rightly understood and applied, is God’s remedy against the wiles of the devil. In Ephesians 6, the Apostle Paul summarizes our weaponry via the metaphor of battle garments we are to wear for our protection in the war. As we make certain we are wearing the armor by staying in the Word and in prayer, here are just a few observations from decades of surprise “attacks”:
1) Beware of mountain tops. Now, some of my family members love to hike the famous Colorado 14-ers, and that is fine so long as their legs and lungs can handle the trip. Here I am thinking of spiritual mountain tops—those “sheltered” high on life “experiences”, exhilarating and refreshing. God may occasionally allow these for our encouragement, but mountain tops are not where we are to live 24/7.
God created us to let His light shine with our feet planted on the ground where the nitty gritty of life occurs, and where the lost world needs to hear the Gospel of Jesus’s death for our sins, His burial, and His RESURRECTION to bring us to ETERNAL LIFE. Being human, we are apt to get lightheaded in the rarefied air on the mountain top—so wound up in “experience” that we forget where God intentionally planted our feet!
2) Enjoy, and be grateful for, the everyday “simple gifts”: family, friends, good food, the birds at the feeder, gardens, and other creative pastimes.
3) Stay rested whenever possible: not only “resting in the Lord” per Hebrews 4, but physically rested whenever possible. When we are exhausted, we are especially vulnerable to enemy attacks. Plus, a chronically worn out and complaining Christian worker is not normally the best witness for our Lord.
4) Remember, any good that flows from our lives is His good: His GRACE, His love, His creativity, His everything. Apart from Him we can do nothing!
5) Do not entertain self-pity, no matter what. Our enemy wants us to focus on ourselves, but in God’s strength we will focus on Him.
6) Do not indulge in unhealthy self-incrimination. The evil one whispers insidious ideas, such as “Who are you to think you can serve Jesus? Look what you did! Remember what you said! Remember what you once were like! Shame/shame/shame!” Satan gloats when we go around bathed in self focus—wallowing in our past guilt, or current lapses (which we are to confess and turn from, while moving on).
Through His Holy Spirit, the Lord will nudge us, and inform us when we wander. God will even “take us to the woodshed” if we persist in disobedience. God does not tolerate sin in our lives, and we will experience His discipline, because we are His beloved children. And we are always His beloved. He always seeks to reestablish us on His chosen path. He never says “Shame/shame/shame” as a part of His necessary discipline! The Lord Jesus says, “Look to me and LIVE!!!
Buffeted, Broadsided, but always Beloved! Praise Him!
Margaret L. Been — May 3rd, 2019
Northern Reflections--glimpses of gold by Margaret L. Been 