““Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”
John 12:27-28a NIV
Some of you have come to an “hour” in your lives where you are facing a reckoning. You don’t know if you’re going to make it - in fact you legitimately fear you may not. This post is to fill you with courage. I have recently gone through a series of personal crises. As I've navigated them with God, here is some of what I have come away with...
Two Lives
Many of us spend our lives attempting to preserve and prosper the lives we came into this world with. The trouble is it’s a losing battle because our current lives as we live them in these bodies are corrupted by the flesh, which means they are stalked by what scripture in one place calls “the devourer” (Malachi 3:11) - the eater of what is precious and vital to us. (I will refer to the devourer here as a metaphorical monster that consumes anything and everything stained by the flesh, in which sin lives). However, being born-again of incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23), there is a version of life that we can live in these bodies that is not corrupted by the flesh. One that is non-perishable. One that scripture in Colossians 3:3 says is hidden with Christ, in God. A version that doesn’t get eaten by the monster. Surrounded by corruption yet resistant to destruction. It’s the life we live by faith in the son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us.
there is a version of life that we can live in these bodies that is not corrupted by the flesh. One that is non-perishable.
Don’t preserve and prosper your current life. It’s an exercise in futility. Rather, pursue and protect your new life. The amplified version of the bible calls it your new, real life. This is why Jesus controversially says:
“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
John 12:25 NIV
Hate our lives? Let me give an illustration…
Many years ago I was employed in an engineering workshop in which we worked with various metals and chemicals. One lunch hour I spilt some of the unmade noodles I was preparing onto the workshop sink and foolishly brushed the spilt bits from what looked like a clean counter into my bowl. The meal tasted as expected, however, I spent the next few days in bed in agony from an upset stomach.
My meal had been poisoned by some invisible agent. While the ingredients themselves were desirable, the contamination made it good only for the bin. So the entire bowl with all its contents, I ended up hating, not because it wasn’t tasty, but because it was poisonous. Not even the constituent parts could be preserved.
It is in this sense that Jesus calls us to hate our life. Life is a mix of many wonderful things that are inseparably and irreversibly contaminated by sin - unwittingly manipulated to destroy us. Only good to be thrown away.
However, God has prepared a whole new meal for us. And it’s not a simple bowl of noodles. It’s a whole table spread. Full of all the ingredients we love and many more we haven’t even imagined. Untouched by the poison. Delightfully nourishing and tasty. But we can only live one life. We have to let go of the one in order to embrace the other.
Coming into our new, real life
What am I saying with all this?
To you, Christian, God gives the promise of a life of glory. Hunted by tribulation, yes, yet marked by overcoming. A new life, your real life, grown out of your union with and faith in Christ. In order to take a hold of this life you have to reject whatever your current life presents. Its pleasures are empty promises, Its pains are empty threats. Its indifferences are a trap. Everything it presents is a lie. When it says all is well don’t believe it. When it says all is falling apart don’t believe it. Don’t rise to its provocations or its temptations. It will try to bully you. It will get aggressive with you - stand firm against it. Jesus triumphed over its ruling powers at the cross, disarming them of all their power (Col 2:15). Then by His grace He gave you authority to drive them out (John 12:31).
This world? Despise it, deny it, die to it, forget it!
Alt.Ctrl.Del…
Rebooting…
Hello new, real life.
“Therefore if you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, sharing in His resurrection from the dead], keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]. For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:1-3 AMP (Emphasis added)
Let me put it this way. Scripture says that if you are born-again, Christ is your life (Col 3:4). It also says that from Christ’s fullness we who believe in Him have all received grace upon grace (John 1:16). Which means all that is in Christ - holiness, love, power, glory - His fullness - is available to you. We can ask for whatever we need to lead a godly life and from Christ’s fullness it will be poured into us. I’m talking everything from victory over internal appetites for sin to authority over external natural systems.
We can ask for whatever we need to lead a godly life and from Christ’s fullness it will be poured into us.
A note on submitting to God
Every crisis carries with it the temptation to respond according to the flesh: despair, worry, anger, pride, lust, fear etc. Submitting to God means responding in the opposite spirit to these ones the flesh offers to us. This requires discipline. Discipline to not indulge them. Where do we get this discipline from? From Jesus, from whose fullness we have all received grace upon grace. Through faith, appropriating what is His as our own. Scripture hints at the Lord’s process of instilling discipline:
“Endure hardship as discipline…”
Hebrews 12:7a NIV
Use every hardship as an opportunity to practice submitting your soul responses to God. Calling on Jesus to grace you with what you need.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
Hebrews 12:11 NIV
Discipline is never pleasant.
“Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live!”
Hebrews 12:9 NIV
If we want life in the Spirit, we need to submit to the Father of spirits. Submit to discipline and reap the rewards!
So we employ discipline. We allow it to train us so that we are able to "love our lives not, even to the death". We deny the agents of the enemy their worship. But discipline is just the start. We also employ hope and joy and peace and wonder! We allow them to supernaturally infuse us - from Christ's fullness to us. Christian, look to the joy set before you! There is a life fantastic, a life glorious, super-exceedingly abundantly greater than what we currently know, incorruptible by the wiles of the devil; indestructible by the devices of man - and it is hidden with Christ, in God. A life where healing dawns, provision flows, goodness chases, glory rises. Every knee bows, every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!
But discipline is just the start. We also employ hope and joy and peace and wonder! We allow them to supernaturally infuse us - from Christ's fullness to us.
Why so much power?
Why has God done this? Why has He given us so much power? The answer is that it’s not for us. Its for Him…
“God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 3:10 NLT (Emphasis added)
“God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.”
Ephesians 1:9-10 NLT
God’s aim, in putting you in Christ, in filling you with “the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13), unimaginable power and might - is to use you to bring everything in heaven and earth under the authority of Christ.
The reason you have come to this hour, is not to teach you a lesson. Neither are you just a poor victim of this cruel world. You are the instrument of God’s judgment. The enforcer of His rule. Only by you can the enemy be driven out. You have come to this hour not to be devoured but to subdue the monster that stands before you. Submit to God, Resist the devil and He will flee - then we are one step closer to bringing everything under the authority of Christ.
Who are you great mountain?
The Israelite exile in Babylon had just ended and King Cyrus of Babylon, by the grace of God, sent an Israelite delegation back to Jerusalem to begin the work of rebuilding the temple and the City. The building plans were led by a governor by the name of Zerubbabel. After meeting strong resistance, however, the work was stopped. This is what scripture says next:
“Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. So Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them, helping them.”
Ezra 5:1-2 NKJV
Yes, the Zechariah mentioned is the very one who has a book in the Old Testament. Scripture doesn’t explicitly say so, but I would bet that the prophecy that Zechariah gave to Zerubbabel that encouraged him to continue building the temple is the one found in Zechariah and it went like this:
“…“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ’ ” Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “The hands of Zerubbabel Have laid the foundation of this temple; His hands shall also finish it. Then you will know That the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.”
Zechariah 4:6-9 NKJV
Christian, our quest to come into our new, real lives is akin to Zerubbabel’s mission to rebuild the temple. We are, after all, a temple of the Holy Spirit. Collectively we are the Holy City of God.
Some of you have come to an “hour” in your lives where your monster looms like a mountain before you. It looks impossible. This is the Word of the Lord to you:
’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Christian you shall become a plain! And he/she shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ’ ””
our quest to come into our new, real lives is akin to Zerubbabel’s mission to rebuild the temple
The enemy rising against you this hour is not defying you, but the living God, who is zealously invested in the work of building His temple. He is zealously invested in you subduing the monster that looms like a mountain before you and you manifesting your new, real life. There is a power of God that transcends all human intervention that is available for you specifically for this particular work of establishing your temple. If you look to His Spirit alone, and resist the temptation to employ the means of men, you will find God contending with those who are contending with you. I love Psalm 33:
“For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”
Psalms 33:9, 16-19 NIV
This is a critical key, only by His Spirit. If you abide by this He will cause you to overcome your enemy and complete the work you started on your temple. Stare down your monster and let defiance rise in your heart:
“Who are you, O great mountain! Before me you shall become a plain! It is for this reason I have come to this hour! Father! Glorify Your name!”
All this because the Lord has an agenda to establish His Church, the City of God, in order to use it to bring everything together under the authority of Christ and display His manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms!
Who are you, O great mountain! Before me you shall become a plain! It is for this reason I have come to this hour! Father! Glorify Your name!
I am Jesus, and I am here to kill your monster
In the movie adaptation of the old English epic poem commonly known as Beowulf, a joyful king is under attack by a monster. A hero from another land appears and utters the now famous words, “I am Beowulf, and I‘m here to kill your monster.”
On this, the eve of Christmas, our celebration of the day our great hero saviour came into the world to fight for us, may we engage it with fresh appreciation For the extent of our redemption!
“Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Luke 2:10-11 NKJV (Emphasis added)
He is Christ the Lord. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Mightiest of saviours. Greatest of heroes. His name is Jesus, and He is here to kill your monster!
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