When the Sifting Comes

Photo credit to Sandy Harper blog

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail…”  Luke 22:31-32

Can you imagine, sitting with your closes friends and the man you respect most in the world because you believe him to be the Messiah, and then he tells you that Satan wants to sift you like wheat?  And then tells you that you’re gonna turn because of it so that you need to turn back again?  Would that offend?  Would you be like Peter and say, “What are you talking about, Lord? I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”?  But Jesus doesn’t stop.  He continues to say that Peter will deny knowing him three times.  Would you feel affirmed or abashed?

After all, who likes to be corrected.  Even scripture says it’s not pleasant.  It hurts to hear things about ourselves that don’t line up with how we’d like to see ourselves.  But the truth is, most of the time, we don’t see ourselves through impartial eyes.  We see ourselves through self-protecting eyes.  If we would humble ourselves and allow ourselves to look through Jesus’ eyes at ourselves, maybe we could save ourselves and others a lot of heart ache.

What if Peter was a better listener to correction?  What if he wasn’t so adverse to criticism meant to make him aware of his own shortcomings, or more precisely, the sin that so easily besets him?  What if the conversation had gone like this, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.  And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”  “Lord, how will I know he is sifting me?  How can I prepare?  How can I keep from being turned?  How can I strengthen my brothers?  I want to say that I would die for you or go to prison for you, but what if I’m not as strong as I think?”  “You are not as strong as you think you are.  That’s why I’m telling you this.  As a matter of fact, before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times unless you keep changing your attitude now.”  But unfortunately, that’s not how it happened, because it’s just not.  Maybe because Peter wasn’t sensitive to the errors of his own ways at the time, like we are so often lacking as well.  Maybe he had to experience that to understand.  Maybe he had to fall upon the rock and be broken to understand.  But it’s so much better to be sensitive in the first place to the heart of God and to the wrongness of me.

It wasn’t like Peter hadn’t had three years already to be prepared.  And Jesus was even preparing them during the Passover dinner that day.  Can you imagine among the disciples a dispute arose that night as to who would be regarded the greatest?  How ridiculous, right?  Really?  Did you ever have a conversation with a friend or spouse or co-worker or sibling or child and think that your way was the only way, that your way was the greatest way, that your answer was the only one right for everyone?  Or maybe you thought that the way you interpreted a situation or event was the right interpretation and everyone else had it wrong.  Or maybe you thought that since someone else wasn’t meeting your needs or your rights, that they didn’t deserve their needs or rights met.  Could we be just as guilty of the pettiness and ill will of thinking our needs or desires or whatever are greater than those around us?  Could we be setting ourselves up for a fall like Peter?

How could that be prevented?  Stop acting like a king of the Gentiles.  Stop acting like I’m a lord over someone else.  Stop living with an attitude like a benefactor, that someone owes something back to me because of who I am or what I’ve done for them.  Stop carrying my authority as a badge to be displayed before others.  Jesus says we are not to be like that.  “But not so with you.  Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.” (Luke 22:26)  Are you the oldest?  Then stop flaunting it and serve as though you are the youngest.  Why?  Because then you will have ears to hear and eyes to see.  If you are busy knowing everything because you’ve lived through it all, you’ll be too busy flaunting yourself to be sensitive to the needs of others.  Yes, you’ll be too busy reliving your own glory days and forgetting all your non-glory days.  You’ll be too busy puffing yourself up and protecting yourself to help anyone else and to see their needs.  But, if you stop accounting yourself as so great, and start accounting it more important to help those around you and serve others, then you will see what God can do.  

And what if you are the chief, the authority?  Then what?  Be a servant leader.  Did you know that studies have been done that the most effective CEO’s are not military style leaders but those who are servant leaders?  Jesus knows what he is talking about.  It seems to me that if the CEO of the universe deems it best to serve his constituents, that surely I can do the same?  If Jesus can serve his disciples, and sit down and wash their dirty feet, then surely I can allow him to teach me humility and give me a servant heart.

How can I guard against Satan’s sifting of me?  Adopt a servant attitude.  Live out a servant lifestyle.  Take on a servant mindset.  But it just can’t be any servant’s mind.  I have to take on the mind of Christ, the only servant who really understands what it is to serve.  And that takes supernatural intervention.  God must work in me the ability to see that need.  I must respond by submitting to Jesus Christ in the power of His Holy Spirit.  And then I must walk with Him in that humility of mind and life.  

The good news is that Jesus is praying for me to do just that and to be able to withstand Satan’s sifting.  The good news is that all I have to do is respond to Jesus.  The bad news is that I get to choose to not respond should my pride or fear be too strong.  I don’t like bad news; I prefer correction.  Lord, I want to live in Your correction and respond, because learning that I have room for improving and casting off sin, isn’t such bad news after all.  It’s great news!  I don’t want to be stuck in my own pride or sin.  I want to be free in You.  God, help me to sensitively respond to Your correction so that when the sifting comes, I will remain serving and encouraging others in Your power and not my own.

Don’t Be Blind

Credit for picture from internet.

“For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”  2 Peter 1:9

It’s not like Peter is talking to newbies here.  Peter is talking to believers.  Maybe they haven’t been believers for years and years, but they have been believers for long enough to know, for long enough to have been changed by God’s Holy Spirit and to have been walking in that changed life.  And now, Peter knows, because he has seen it happen, and maybe has experienced it in his own life, that we begin to wander astray, to fizzle, to get into a routine instead of listening for the voice of God. 

We stop leaning on the deposit that God has placed in us and wander back to pulling from our own reserve.  Peter knows that’s a dangerous place to go.  And so he warns us.  He warns us so we don’t waste our reserve, because it’s a precious and powerful reserve, bought with a price, the price of the blood of Jesus Christ for us.

But the preciousness of the reserve is that it wasn’t just bought with blood.  People die for good causes every day, but that doesn’t do what Jesus did.  Jesus didn’t just die for a good cause.  It wasn’t just His blood that counts.  He gave His blood so that we could gain His life and in His life is His power.  This is the precious treasure He has placed in us.  And these are the character traits that demonstrate His power in us: faith, excellence, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love.  And this isn’t as the world does these things; this is as God shows these qualities, because these are from His essence, deposited in us.

These qualities are a tell-tale sign of who we really belong to, of who we are.  It’s not something that is magically endowed to us.  Poof!  Now I am all of these things and life is so easy.  It’s not like that.  It is supernatural though.  These qualities are deposited in every believer supernaturally through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Now, translations of original languages do their best at interpreting.  And I wondered if that “if” is in the original Greek.  It’s not.  These qualities, if I am a believer, ARE mine.  They have been deposited.  There is no doubt in Peter’s mind that those he is writing to possess these qualities at least in some degree.  Possession of these qualities of high degree, some degree, or no degree should give evidence of where we are or are not in our relationship with Christ.  So these qualities exist in every believer and they are at my “disposal” as a believer.  These are all in my possession.  I can grasp and exhibit every one of these just as Christ does.  But that’s the thing.  They are at my disposal to do with as I desire.  I can rely upon them and live by them, or I can squander and waste them away.  What will be my choice?

Who am I living for?  Who am I?  Do I remember that I was cleansed from who I was before and from my former sins?  Do I remember that I was born again and made new in You?  Or have I become blinded again, forgetting what is mine, what You have done in me and for me, forgetting who You have made me and who I am?  It can happen.  As a matter of fact, it happens every day.  Believers fall back on themselves, their desires, their pains, their fears, their hurts, their lusts, their confusions, their whatever every day.  I’m not exempt.  It happens when we let up on our diligence to God and to His character and reflecting it in our own lives. 

How do I keep these qualities of Yours as my life qualities?  How do I increase in faith, excellence, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love?  How do I not drift away?  How do they get stronger and stronger in me every day?  Peter tells me to be more diligent every day.  This word for diligence is about making haste, taking the effort, being earnest, being zealous.  If you think of a zealot, they didn’t just work hard at things.  They gave everything for that cause.  That’s what zealots were known to be like.  You didn’t expect a zealot to give up.  You expected them to fight to the death.

Where does that leave me, Lord?  Am I negligent with these gifts?  Do I neglect the treasure You have deposited in me for quicker fixes of my own choosing?  If so, I can expect to fall.  It happens to unknown believers all over the world as well as famous leaders in the Christian realm.  And great is the fall.  Why?  Lack of diligence.  Lack of zealousness for Your treasure You have invested in us.  But it doesn’t have to go down that way.

I can choose to walk in Your deposit.  I can choose to be zealous of what You are zealous over.  I can hasten to follow through in faith, in excellence, in knowledge of You, in self-control, in steadfastness, in godliness, in brotherly affection, in love.  I choose to respond in these instead of after my own heart.  I can choose to respond as You would and not in my own way.  I can allow Your Holy Spirit to empower me more and more every day as I choose to pull from Your treasure deposited inside of me and not some other treasure which is not a treasure at all.  I can make the effort.  I can be earnest about Your ways.  I can fight for You and Your ways, even if it means fighting myself.  I can stop giving up.  I can fight for You every day of my life if I have to.  I can fight for what’s right.

And the good news is that I’m not left in this fight alone, You fight for me.  You always have.  I wish I wouldn’t forget that.  I wish I wouldn’t get distracted.   I don’t want to forget and I don’t want to be blind.  I want to be diligent because You are always diligent and I want to be a “chip off the old block”, just like my heavenly Father.

Suffering- Not for Sissies

“But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4:13

Lord, let me take this thought in mind every moment of every day and any time that I am going through suffering, especially due to my walk in You.  I need to keep this word in mind and heart because, if I am a believer, I will share in Your sufferings.  And as it is happening in my life, how will I respond?  Like You?  As You command? 

How can You just command me to rejoice?  Is that how it goes?  Because Peter is inspired by You and commands me to rejoice in my suffering, I should obey and rejoice?  I just turn my feelings off and pretend to be happy?  I just bubble over in the midst of hardships?  It just doesn’t seem natural.

But isn’t that Your point?  It’s not natural.  This is all supernatural.  It’s not the normal reaction or response.  But then again, the normal reaction or response is for “man” to provide his own joy at all cost and to escape pain at any cost.  But the truth and reality is that you can’t go through life without experiencing pain.  So how do we rejoice always?  Well, the answer is in You and You alone.  As Paul says in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!”  Yeah, that was written from a man in a Roman prison.  If he could rejoice in the midst of sharing Christ’s sufferings, I think I can heed his advice.

I don’t get to just dwell on the rejoicing part only when I’m going through suffering as a believer as though that is the only part of this “formula.”  But if I learn to rejoice then, the result will be a beautiful and deeper relationship with God in Christ.  The more I can remember that Christ is in every aspect of my life, guiding and directing, molding and shaping me, and those around me; that this is not an accident but God-ordained for His purposes; that You have entrusted and equipped me to step into the “shoes of Christ” and live like him or even die like him- the closer that draws me to You so that, the result is, as I rejoice, I experience You even more and that revelation fills me with even more joy.

This isn’t about happiness because my pain has been removed.  It’s the whole knowing that everything begins and exists and is and will be because of You, God.  Because I know that “In the beginning, God…,” I can know that You are still “casting, producing and directing” things, even in my life.  You are sovereign.  Joy isn’t because I escape some oppressive experience but it’s the expression of my relationship with You that no oppressive experience can rob me of. 

This is what Paul learned and wanted us to see when he wrote, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38,39)  Ultimate joy does not come in escaping this world or its troubles.  True joy comes from fellowship shared with You God and then with others who are Yours as well.  It’s a celebration of You and being Yours.

“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:12)  I need to learn to rejoice in You Lord because EVERYTHING comes from You.  There is nothing in this life that is not given by You.  Unless You give it I have nothing, “no money, no job, no status, no possessions, no family, no friends, no government or community…” (Skip Moen)  And life is so much more than anything this world can offer because You are LIFE.  If my desires and hope are set on You, losing things of this world, no matter how painful, won’t mean so much, won’t effect me so much, because this isn’t my final destination, my final home. 

Face it, no one, not my spouse or even my dearest friend can care for me forever.  Nothing in this world is forever.  But in You, in the world that is made of You, in that relationship, I am cared for and equipped for eternity.  And this is an eternity in You and for You and because of You.  I wish I would weigh out that reality more when I go through struggles, that I would place the reality of that struggle in one hand and the reality of You and Your presence and Your love and Your future for me (and even Your presence with me) in the other, and realize the truth of what I have in You.  When I do, it’s like this life isn’t even close to reality compared to what You offer.

What would I do to grasp fellowship with You, God?  Would I be glad to participate in the suffering of Your Son?  Would I gladly share in it for the joy of the relationship of fellowship with You and my brethren in Christ?  What would I willingly and gladly be denied of in order to make Your truth more real in my life and in the lives around me? 

Jesus, you weren’t joking when you said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)  But I guess we are more Greek in our thinking than Christ-like.  It’s hard to deny our own immediate pleasure.  But I want to rejoice in You more than in any temporary pleasure I can find in this world.  I want to follow hard after You.  I want to be in You and You in me.  Help me to deny myself and join You in Your sufferings that I might be filled with the fullness of the joy that is found in following You, in knowing You, in being Yours. 

Be sovereign in my life.  Let me rejoice, always, no matter what, in You.  Let me understand the fellowship of You in Your suffering, and the fellowship that Paul and Silas had with You as they were beaten and thrown in prison, and even unto death.  Let me understand and live in the joy of Your fellowship always, despite the circumstances surrounding me.  Because the truth is, You will never leave or forsake me.  You walk with me through the shadow of death.  The truth is, Psalm 23 is not for sissies.  But it is for those people whose deepest desire is to dwell in the house of the Lord forever, to pursue that relationship with You as their very breath.  I can rejoice in that.

The Light Has Dawned

Photo credit to Julenine Rijon Balinas Llacuna.

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles–the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”  Matthew 4:15,16

Jesus takes up the honor challenge He has been led to by the Spirit.  He upholds His Father’s honor before Satan in the wilderness.  The angels minister to Him.  He went into Galilee and leaves Nazareth, His home town and walks to Capernaum by the sea to live.  In Capernaum, He settles in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali.  But that’s not coincidental.  He moves here and settles here for a purpose.  What was that purpose?  Because He knew that Capernaum, precisely that territory in Capernaum, was where God wanted Him to be.

How do I know that and how did He know that?  Oh, you say, “Jesus is God.  He had inside knowledge.”  Well, I do believe that Scripture tells us that Jesus was fully God and fully man.  I also believe that He had “inside knowledge.”  But I also firmly believe that what He showed us as man, was how to rely on the word of God to give us knowledge not only of how to make life choices guided by the Spirit, but to know the heart of God by actually coming to know Him.

Jesus was living out everything that was on the heart of God by living out what was in His Word.  He could go back to Isaiah (Isaiah 9:1,2) and recall these words that Matthew recalls.  “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.  In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shown.”  Jesus knew that living out the will of God was His purpose.  And it mattered where He lived because God had already established it.

Why did it matter where Jesus lived?  Why would Jesus have to stick to God’s word?  He had to in order to be the True Example, the True One that God had given us.  Because if He chose not to live in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, then this would not be true of Him: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.  The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”  (Isaiah 9:6,7)  It mattered that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  And it mattered that Jesus chose to live in Galilee of the Gentiles.

Sometimes Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit.  There’s no prophetic directions.  The Spirit leads and He follows.  But at those times, His response in the middle of those circumstances always follows the character of His heavenly Father and always agrees with His Word.  And other times, there are direct directions that He follows that come straight from the Word of God.  It’s the same for us.  But how do I get there?

“The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”  What if that is just as true for Jesus as it needs to be for me?  What if it was His zeal for the Father that compelled Him over everything else to obey and follow His will, His Word, His Spirit?  What if my life ought to be filled and guided by that same zeal for the LORD of hosts, for my Wonderful Counselor, for my Mighty God, for my Everlasting Father, for my Prince of Peace?   What if I was that zealous for Him that I would want to walk in the footsteps of His Word and the leading of His Spirit?

If I was zealous about that, like that, I wonder if the people who were dwelling in the darkness of never experiencing that wonderful zeal would have an opportunity to see His light shining through me?  I wonder if they might get a little glimpse that would draw them to want to see more of Him?  I wonder if my zealousness over living out God’s Word and honoring Him by allowing Him to bring it to pass in my life would affirm Him before those who are living in the shadow of death without Him?  I wonder if my zealous love and honor of God Himself would make a difference in others?  Would lights dawn all around me because they would see the truth of God through the truth of His Word?

The honor of God is at stake here.  Either Jesus fills the prophetic ticket or He doesn’t.  But He did.  But prophecy is just the Word of God.  It’s Him speaking before a thing has happened because He knows what is to happen.  And maybe I ought to look at all Scripture in that sense, just as Jesus did.  It’s all uttered by God for our benefit and for our direction in fulfilling our purpose of honoring Him.  Am I zealous about knowing Him by knowing His Word?  Just like the prophets, just like Jesus, and Peter, and Paul, and everyone since, God is offering us supernatural instruction.  He may not be giving me the specifics of where to live or who to marry, but if I know His Word, I can know His heart about those things, and I can know how to follow the leading of the Spirit and the leading of Jesus by His Word.  After all, Jesus is the Word, “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  We’ve seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth…”  And He has made the Father known to us.  He has shown us what it looks like to walk in the will of God, to know God, and to honor Him.  He has shown us intimacy.

Is true intimacy with God what I am really searching for?  Well then, what does my zealousness look like?  Am I zealous for what He is zealous over?  Do I care about His words, every one of them, like Jesus did?  Do I care about His honor?  Do I listen to Him?  Do I take joy in listening?  Do I take joy in stepping forward according to what I read and hear?  Would I follow His Spirit wherever He leads me no matter what situation He takes me into?  Would my heart and actions stay rivetted to upholding Him?

Words matter and what we do with them matters.  John the Baptist told two of his disciples as he pointed to Jesus walking by, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”  He was upholding the honor of God’s Word.  What would those two do with those words from God’s Word?   Would they uphold God’s honor and live in them or would they retain them as knowledge alone?  What did they do?  “The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.”  And it gets even better.  I mean, how zealous were they really about this truth?  “Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, ‘What are you seeking?'”  Jesus is asking each of us that same question.  Will I answer like these two?  “And they said to Him, ‘Rabbi’ (which means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?'”  “We want to know You intimately.  We want to stay where You stay.  We want to walk where You walk.  We want to live how You live.  We want to really KNOW You.” (Those are my thoughts on the deeper thoughts of what their response really meant.)  And do you know what Jesus’ answer to that kind of zealousness was?  “Come and you will see.”  (Which means so much.)  “Come and you will know.”  “Come and you will understand.”  But the whole point is, I must take the actions of coming in order to know.  Knowledge is experience, not just retention.  Am I experiencing the Word of God in my life?  “Behold, the Lamb of God!”  How am I responding?

No Matter the Circumstances

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  Philippians 4:11

Here’s my question today, “How long does it take to learn to be content?”  Funny question?  But it really is my question.  When do I really learn that lesson?  How long did it take Paul?  Well, I’m not really sure but I looked into his life timeline.  He was converted by the Lord on the road to Damascus and placed his trust in the Lord around 34 A.D.  And this letter to the Philippian believers was written somewhere around 61-63 A.D.  That’s about 27 years.  Not only is that 27 years but it’s 27 hard years from the start.

Before his conversion, Paul probably had everything people of his day wanted.  He had a political and religious standing of importance in the community, respect, money, power.  What did he have after his conversion, after he placed his trust in You, Lord?  I think he started out with some solitude with You in Arabia for maybe 3 years.  And at the beginning of his conversion, he was already an outcast.  People were afraid of him so it wasn’t like there were welcome arms all around.  On his return, his preaching and teaching get him drummed out of cities, persecuted, beaten, chased.  He was shipwrecked and imprisoned.  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

To get the picture, I want to listen to Paul’s own words.  As a minister of Christ, Paul speaks of superabundant labours,  stripes beyond measure, superabundant prison visits, and even death many times.  To be in danger of death is one thing, but to be left for dead or even believe God revived You from the dead is a whole deeper story, and I think that’s also what Paul has experienced.  He goes on, “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.  Three times I was beaten with rods.  Once I was stoned.  Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold exposure.   And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.”  Yeah.  Paul didn’t learn contentment all at once.  And to learn it, You, Lord, had to take him through some pretty rough stuff.  I suppose if I want to know supernatural contentment, I need to learn to go through supernatural circumstances.

See, You God, are Supernatural.  If I want to experience You, I have to learn how to live in the Supernatural.  If I can do it on my own, then that’s exactly what I’m doing, doing it on my own.  But I can’t do supernatural on my own.  Only You can.  And I can only do that if You do it in me.

If I want to come to the point in my life of living life supernaturally in and through You, then I have to let You bring supernatural situations into my life.  And I have to respond rightly to them.  I have to begin seeing every circumstance as Your circumstance designed for my benefit and Your glory.

I have to learn to live a life in need, not so I can call on others, but so I can learn to be dependent on You.  And so that in that dependence, I can learn to be confident and content in You.   This word for content in Greek is “autarkes.”  It means “self complacent, contented.”  Get this, it implies self-sufficient.  What?!  How can I be dependent and self-sufficient at the same time?  Isn’t something wrong here?

Well, let’s understand this idea of self-sufficiency here.  Skip Moen relates it as “the positive sense of being satisfied in mind and disposition.”  And get this, it’s not passive.  I have to make it happen.  The two words that best express this idea in Hebrew are “avah” and “Ya’al.”  Here is more of what Skip has to share about their meaning. “Both words convey the idea of choosing.  ‘Avah is about being positively inclined to respond.  Ya’al is about making a decision to act.  Neither one conveys the idea of simply waiting around for something.  To be content is to choose a certain frame of mind, a certain kind of external activity, a certain way of being in the world.  That’s why contentment has to be learned.”

Paul had learned to choose Your sufficiency.  His frame of mind in all these circumstances, good or bad, was centered on You.  His activity in the midst of the trials was centered on You.  His way of being in the midst of much or little was centered on You.  You were his Sufficiency so he was sufficient and all his needs were sufficient because You were what He needed most and he learned to keep his focus on You.  Lord, You warned us it was going to be rough.  You said that in this life there would be troubles, but You also promised us Your peace if we learned to remain in Your focus, in You.  Why did You tell me about the rough times I should expect in this world as Your follower?  “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Tribulation, “thlipsis,” is ‘back-breaking” pressure.  As Your follower, You are preparing me for the supernatural pressure that comes with living in You in a foreign territory, under an enemy who is looking to destroy and plunder everything that belongs to You.  In the world I’m guaranteed tribulation and pressure.  But in You I’m guaranteed peace.  Now the Greek word for peace is “eirene.”  And the Greek meaning has the connotation of the absence of war, of prosperity, good health, and well-being.  But That’s not what Jesus is talking about here.  It’s not what Paul has learned and is teaching us about.  See, the Hebrew notion in this Greek expression comes out of “shalom.”  “Shalom begins with right relationships because right relationships determine all the other factors in life.  Fixing my retirement plan will not improve my relationship with my wife, but improving my relationship with my wife will certainly have an effect on my retirement plan.” (Skip Moen)  So, having a right relationship with Jesus will determine all the other factors in my life.

I can be courageous in the middle of the deepest pressure because I am under the goodness and power of my Everlasting God.  You already overcame it all!  You already conquered!  All of Your promises are true.  You will continue this glorious, supernatural work You have begun in me!  Whether I have food or no food, You remain good and You remain with me.  Will I remain in You?  Whether I am persecuted or at ease, You remain good and You remain with me.  Will I remain in You?  Whether I live or I die, will I still insist that You are good and You are with me?  Will I remain in You?  I was created to be an overcomer because my God is an overcomer.  Who will my focus be in?  How will I live?  How will I act?  How will I think?  How will I respond?

Lord, I must learn the lesson that Paul learned.  You must take me through hardship so that I will learn.  I want to be able to know exactly where Paul is coming from and be able to say with him, “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through HIm who strengthens me.”  Yes, it’s not because someone, or even You MADE Paul bring himself low, or abound.  He learned through You to bring himself to be grateful and in You in those low circumstances.  And in the abundance, he learned to bring himself under You and be grateful also.  He learned the secret.  The secret was that You, Lord, are the sufficience in every situation, whether bounty or dire need.

Yes, “such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.  Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant…”  See, You love a cheerful giver, Lord, because You are a cheerful giver to the max.  “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.  As it is written, ‘He has distributed freely, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.’ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.  For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:8-12)

Well, Lord, Your Word took me exactly where I was hoping it would take me today.  Straight to a heart of thankfulness.  Because in the midst of all these hard things and all these pressures, I need to learn to ever be thankful.  Because no matter what, You have given me and continually give me the greatest gift of all, a relationship with You, my God!  So, when the money doesn’t come, thank You, Lord, I am Yours.  And when the money comes, thank You, Lord, I am Yours.  And when things fall apart around me, thank You, Lord, You hold me together in You.  And when things are just honky-dory, thank You, Lord, because You are better than the best thing in my life.  So, Lord, teach me this contentment that Paul learned to experience in You.  And let my praise in and for You never cease to usher from my lips and heart no matter the circumstances.

A More Than Efficient Grace

Philip answered Him, “Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.”  John 6:7

Lord, I’m glad that Philip realized that what he had was not sufficient to meet the need.  Because, actually, none of us are sufficient in ourselves.  So, I guess I’m going to spend a little more time in essentially the same place.  Only today, I guess You’re going to let me look at my insufficiency and Your sufficiency.  And that sounds good to me.

So, we’re looking at this mass of people below us on the mountain.  And You care about them so You see a basic immediate need.  “Philip, how will we feed them all?”  I can relate to that question and I can relate to Philip’s answer.  As You allow me to participate with You in missions in the Philippines, I see great needs, and it’s not that they are such expensive needs in themselves, but because of the number of people with the need for things like toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, washcloths, clothes, food, or to learn a livelihood; how can I or just a few people even begin to meet that need on our own?  And the answer is, I can’t.  We can’t.  Not sufficiently on our own.

I mean, even if I, like Andrew, gave my friend’s fish and bread, that in itself is not sufficient.  Something had to make the fish and bread sufficient.  But the fish and bread given was an act of faith.  It’s that mustard seed faith You talk about.  It’s that taking a step in our insufficiency toward You and giving You the opportunity to turn it into something sufficient.

What does “sufficient” here really mean anyways?  Vine’s Greek New Testament Dictionary defines “arkeo” as “to be sufficient, to be possessed of sufficient strength, to be strong, to be enough for a thing;” hence, “to defend, ward off.”  So Philip was saying, “I am not strong enough for this task.”  And, maybe in a sense, understanding our insufficiency is warding off pride and self-sufficiency and defending the glory of God.  Now, that’s just my thoughts, Lord.

 But I think 2 Corinthians 12:9 agrees with that thought.  Because in using this same word for sufficient, “arkeo,” Lord, You told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”  What was that all about?  Well, Paul had just prayed that some physical ailment be removed from him, that You would remove his “thorn in the flesh.”  But Your answer was, “No.”  Through this hardship of Paul’s, You were going to give him everything he needed and be glorified in him, even through this weakness.  Actually, You would be shown strong in him especially because of his weakness.  People would see and know that the power was from You and not from Paul.  Your love, Your power, Your everything was everything He needed.  When You said Your grace was sufficient, You weren’t just talking about mercy.  Your supernatural power to meet every actual need is all we need.  That is what is actually more than sufficient.

It’s really important for me to realize that I’m weak, that I need help, that I can’t do it on my own.  Because I need to see myself as dependent on You.  I mean, I can’t even clean up my own sin problem.  There’s no good works I could do that would take care of that because no good works compare to Your perfect sinlessness.  But that’s it.  You are the Sufficient One.  And You are not only sufficient to take care of setting me free from sin as I place myself in Your sufficiency, but You go so far beyond that.  Now, You make me sufficient for each thing You call me to.  As I obey and follow Your lead You fill me with this working grace that is sufficient in its supernatural power to make Your will come to pass.

And there are different ways that this supernatural sufficiency works in me.  And there are different words in Greek for expressing it.  Paul chooses to use “hikanos” to express sufficiency in 2 Corinthians 3:5.  “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.”  The implication for me here is that even my character is not ample or fit unles I allow You to make it so supernaturally (that’s through grace).  And how will I ever be able to meet the needs of the masses or correct my character?  “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”  (2 Corinthians 9:8)  Here Paul uses “autarkeia” which means “contentedness, a competence.”  This is exciting stuff here, Lord.  You will make me sufficiently able to meet those needs You put in front of me through Your supernatural power.  And it will abound in me.  Actually, the Greek word implies superabound.  That makes sense, because Your grace is supernatural.  I may be weak but that just gives You the opportunity to be super in every way and people will know it’s You and not me because how could I ever do that?

Lord, I am so grateful for this time today and Your specific words today.  It doesn’t matter that I only stepped ahead one verse.  Because yesterday I heard something that really disappointed me and it really had to do with all this.  It has to do with You taking me on the mountain and showing me the need.  And it has to do with me wanting to be a part of meeting that need with You.  And it doesn’t matter really who else sees that need.  What matters is that You see and You shared that with some.  And for everyone who doesn’t see, who maybe were shown something else, it’s o.k.  Because they aren’t my sufficiency.  You alone are my sufficiency.  I know You are already at work to meet that need.  I see it when people catch that vision.  And You have lots of visions for Your children.    So, I’ll respond to what You show me.  I’ll give You my fish and loaves.  And I will depend on You to pull it all together.  And I will be superjoyful as You give me the opportunity to pass out the overflowing fish and loaves that You will supply!

So what’s my prayer today, Lord.  I pray that I will keep my eyes on You.  Guard me against self-sufficiency.  Guard me against thinking a task is bigger than You.  Remind me continually of who You are.  Continually rise up on behalf of those You show me and please, rise up on my behalf.  I need You desperately, always.  Teach me to continually rely on the sufficiency of Your grace in every area of my life.  I need You to superabound in me for the benefit of others and for Your glory.  I want people to see it’s all because of You.  And I want them to be drawn to You.  So, if I have to, let me “glory in my infirmities,” in my hardships, in my trials, in my setbacks, in the misunderstandings, “that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”  Really, Lord, let it be.  Have Your way in me that everything is for Your glory.