Category: Experiencing God

The Body of Christ

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God has chosen to speak also through his people, the gathered body of Christ. A problem of the evangelical church is that we have emphasized the priesthood of the believer so much that we have lost our corporate identity as the church. Christians think that can stand alone before God and are not accountable to the church (other believers). Remember that Jesus died for the church (Matthew 16:18). Check out how the church is described in the New Testament:

  1. Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27)
  2. Jesus is the head (Ephesians 4:15)
  3. Every believer is placed in the body as the Spirit chooses (1 Corinthians 12:18)
  4. The Spirit manifests, or works through each person in the body as he chooses for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7)
  5. The body is fitted together by the Father.
  6. The members are enabled and equipped to function where the Father has placed them in the body (Ephesians 4:13)

God has made us mutually interdependent. Paul was constantly requesting the believers to become vitally involved with his life and ministry. The effectiveness of Paul’s ministry rested on THEM (Colossians 4:3, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2, Ephesians 6:19).

The point is that apart from the body of Christ, you cannot fully know God’s will for your relationship to the body. God can and does speak through the church. There are many needs in the church, and the need itself does not constitute a call to meet that need, but the need however is NOT to be ignored.

There are no lone ranger Christians, we are connected to one another in bond of love, salvation and mission. The individual believer is not the church; the church is the body of Christ gathered. Every member is to listen to what the other members are saying, because others will help me to understand God’s will.

Spiritual Markers in Your Life

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Sometimes the circumstance is a decision-making situation, not so much between good and bad, but between good and best. I hope that we all will be able to pray this to God:

Lord, whatever I know to be your will, I will do it. Regardless of the cost and regardless of the adjustment, as best I know in my heart, I commit myself to follow your will ahead of time. Lord, no matter what that looks like, I will do it.

That is a tremendous prayer of submission. If you DON’T pray this way, you can never say, “Thy will be done” because you are really saying “Thy will be done as long as it doesn’t conflict with my will.” DO NOT proceed until you can honestly say, “Lord whatever you want, I will do it.”

Physical Markers and Spiritual Encounters:

Physical markers were often set up as a reminder of someone’s experience with God. At the crossing of the Jordan River, tribes set up a pile of stones as a reminder of what God had done for the people, and the fathers would pass these stories down to their children (Joshua 4:2-3, 6-7).

There are a number of people in the Old Testament worth studying when it comes to an encounter with God:

  1. Noah (Genesis 6-8)
  2. Abram (Genesis 12:1-8, 13:1-18)
  3. Isaac (Genesis 26:17-25)
  4. Jacob (Genesis 28:10-22, 35:1-7)
  5. Moses (Exodus 17:8-16, 24:1-11)
  6. Joshua (Joshua 3:5-4:9)
  7. Gideon (Judges 6:11-24)
  8. Samuel (1 Samuel 7:1-13)

I chose to look at Gideon since I attended a Gideon pastor appreciation lunch just this week. The Lord came to Gideon while he was working and called hm to a difficult task. He knew he was not up to the task of delivering God’s people from their enemies, but since he had this encounter with God, he set up a memorial and called it, “God is Peace” since he saw God and did not die.

Fathers passed on these stories of God’s activity to teach their children about God’s faithfulness and deeds. Every act builds upon the previous act, like a pile of stones. The stories are told and retold, then adding what God had done specifically for them. They rehearsed the stories to future generations would have a context of how God dealt with his people.  Each new step involved a person, and that person added his experiences to the story.

As we develop a spiritual inventory of stories, they are events that help us to recognize God’s movement in the past to help us prepare for God moving in the present and future. A spiritual marker identifies a time of transition, decision, or direction when I clearly know that God has guided me.

Personal Spiritual Markers:

God has been working in you since your birth, and we should recognize the events that have brought us to where we are now.

  1. G’Anne – In high school, I was interested in a girl who went to church and decided to go to church to be with her. I accepted Christ a year later.
  2. Scotty – I had decided to NOT go to college until my friend brought up the subject (after graduation) and said we could room together and get involved in the Baptist Student Union. I was accepted into college and met my wife at the BSU, and discovered my calling in life was into full-time Christian service.
  3. Bob – He was the campus minister who saw more in me than I saw in myself, and encouraged my to seek ways to grow spiritually, be obedient to God on campus, develop leadership skills and to consider seminary and Christian service.
  4. Kim – At college I met the love of my life and best friend. We have shared life and love for over 30 years. We embrace shared values, salvation in Christ, and commitment to him and each other. God has also called her into her own ministry, not just to be a pastor’s wife.
  5. Stephen – The birth of my son was the first time that God became a real person to me. It had been twelve years since I accepted the Lord; I finished college, then seminary, and then Kim and I were at our first church after seminary. Stephen came a month early and needed to be in the neonatal ICU, so with Kim in one hospital and Stephen in another, I was at a traffic light at about 9:00 one night, just leaving Kim, and on my way to see Stephen, on my way home when I cried out to God. I complained about the meaning of all this, what’s the point of the nine months, the anticipation, the preparation, the excitement, only to have my boy so near death. It was at that time that I heard the still small voice of God reassuring me that I was not alone. He said to me, “It’s going to be OK, I know what it’s like to lose a son.” I knew that no matter what happened to Stephen, Kim and I would still trust and follow God. We were not experiencing anything that God did not know about or experience himself. I named that place (like the Old Testament saints did) “God is my Peace” and “God is my Comfort” because it was that night I learned so much about the love that God has for me and my family. He loves Stephen more than I could ever love him!
  6. Allan – He was the pastor of our first church out of seminary, who was evangelistic and mission-minded. He left for the mission field and planted the seed of missions in our hearts.
  7. Don and Mickey – This couple challenged us to work in the area of home missions at the oceanfront, and to evaluate all that the world and the church had taught us and hold it up to the light of God’s Word. This was a very treasured time of ministry and relationships that laid a solid foundation for life-long ministry and walking with God.
  8. Zambia – It was in Zambia that I sensed the most satisfaction of being in God’s will, denying self and following God. The Great Commission was being realized in my life. The friends I made along the way are lasting and cherished relationships. I realized that I did not take the gospel to the Zambian people, but rather God was already at work there and I adjusted my life to join him in that work.
  9. Lemstone – As we left the mission field for a couple of reasons but our experience back home was difficult (I write about that a bit more in a previous post). God was silent. I could not find full-time employment in the ministry and felt abandoned by God and our denomination. The owners and employees of Lemstone Christian bookstore at the Galleria Mall (south of Birmingham) were praying for my family, and my employment, knowing that it meant I would leave the store. When I had the opportunity to interview in Richmond with the IMB’s Office of Mission Personnel, they called the employees off the floor and went to the stockroom and we prayed. They prayed earnestly for God to move in this situation. This was more than a workplace, it was the community of faith getting together to BE the church. To this day it was one of the most supportive work environments of which I have ever been a part.

I suppose that is enough storytelling for now, but the point is we should constantly watch for how God is moving, and notice the spiritual markers that outline and define our journey. All along the way I sensed that these were never decisions between good and bad, but between good and best. I was called to serve God and follow his lead whether I was on the field or serving in a church. He has called me to faithfulness to his will, purposes and his ways.

Hearing the Truth

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We really cannot know the truth of our circumstances until we have heard from God. Moses demanded that Pharaoh let God’s people go, but caused the Hebrews to experience greater hardship. What might we have done in Moses position?

  1. Gotten mad at Israel and returned to tending sheep.
  2. Gotten mad at God and told him to get someone else.
  3. Decided that I must have misunderstood God’s will.
  4. Go back to God and ask to see what is happening from God’s perspective.

Moses blamed God and accused him of failing to do what he promised. He was so discouraged that he was ready to quit (Exodus 6:12). Let’s work on responding with the last statement.

The most difficult thing for anyone to do is to deny yourself and take up the will of God and follow him. We need to be God-centered, rather than self-centered. Look back at your day and you will notice how radically self-centered we are. It takes a lot of effort to see your life from God’s perspective.

Hearing the Truth:

The Truth is a person (John 14:6) so let’s work at hearing the truth from the Truth.

  1. Disciples in the Storm (Luke 8:22-25) They thought they were going to die in the storm. Was that the truth? No, the Truth was asleep in the back of the boat. The truth in this circumstance is that Jesus would stand up and calm the storm.
  2. The Widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17) She likely thought that God doesn’t care, her son has died. Was that the truth? No, Jesus showed that he cares and has power, and raised her son. The people were filled with awe and praised God.
  3. Feeding the 5000 (John 6:1-15) They thought that we cannot feed all these people. Was that the truth? No, Jesus was testing the disciples because they were not God-centered. The people were fed and they praised God claiming a prophet has come to them.
  4. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) They were to reach the whole world, on their own? Was that the truth? No, Jesus wanted them to be filled with the Holy Spirit, for him to work through them to reach the world. Trust me and see what happens. He will not give us a task without the ability to accomplish it.

Never determine the truth of a situation by looking at the circumstances. We cannot know the truth of a circumstance until we have heard from God.

God’s View of Circumstances

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Job is the classic example of bad circumstances and wondering what God is up to. His life was a mess, family died, health and wealth were gone and Job knew knowing from God’s perspective (Job 1:2-6, 2:1-7).

Job’s friends thought they knew God’s perspective and said Job needed to confess his sin. Had we not read the first two chapters of Job, we would conclude that God was being mean and cruel.

Have you ever been through an experience of confusing circumstances and in your prayers accused God of things that you know are not really true? My stories where the birth of my son (in the NICU for a week) and my leaving the mission field (in my previous post).

It is at these times that we question God’s love and wisdom. We tell God that he has deceived us, following him in what we thought was his will, only to experience his silence. The first thing we must do is to ask God to help us see things from his perspective.  We must look back at our circumstances with the heart of God.

Here are things to keep in mind:

  1. Settle in your own mind that God will never demonstrate anything but absolute love, the cross is that evidence.
  2. Don’t try to understand what God is like from the MIDDLE of the circumstances.
  3. Ask God to show you the situation from HIS perspective.
  4. Wait on the Holy Spirit and use the Bible to help you understand your circumstances.
  5. Adjust your life to God and what you SEE him doing in your circumstances.
  6. Do all he tells you to do.
  7. Experience God working in and through you to accomplish his purposes.

Jesus watched the circumstances to know where the Father wanted to involve him in his work. So, to understand your circumstances, God’s perspective is vital.

The Silence of God

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In prayer, we often experience deafening silence. We pray faithfully and the prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling. So what is going on?

My prayer for a successful men’s ministry has always been followed by watching to see what God could be up to. As I pray and plan, I desire for God to make himself and his will plain to me. The event comes and goes with moderate numbers. I hope to encourage men to become involved with something greater than themselves, that which will help them to become better husbands and fathers. I’m not a complicated guy, so changing the hearts of men MUST be a part of what God would want, and would actually bless. But the Men of Steel has never taken off with growth and numbers. So, THIS WEEK, I am coming to the point where I must surrender and say that God may not want me moving in that direction.

Unanswered Prayer:

If prayers go unanswered, the standard line is that there must be some unconfessed sin in our lives. That is exactly what Job’s friends claimed as he was going through so much suffering.

But there is another reason for God’s silence. It could be that God is about to bring into our lives a greater revelation of himself than we could have ever known. This what we find in John 11:4-5, 21, 32, 40.

Jesus could have come to see Lazarus, Mary and Martha as soon as he heard of the illness, but he waited, for a reason. The people were going to see a greater glory of God, more than just a healing from sickness, but a resurrection from the dead. God will let you know what he is doing in your life WHEN and IF you need to know it. In John 11, Jesus’ delay and silence was not rejection, but he was going to disclose himself far more than they had ever known.

We can respond to God’s silence in one of two ways:

  1. We may go into depression, guilt and self-condemnation.
  2. We may have an expectation that God is going to do something far greater than we could have asked or imagined (Ephesians 3:20).

I remember a time of deafening silence from God. Kim and I just left the mission field and were on leave of absence from the IMB (meaning no support). We sold many personal items to raise money for air tickets back to the states. We stayed at my parents’ home in Birmingham since they had room for my family of four. I looked for a source of income which eventually came in the form of working at a Lemstone Christian bookstore. It was minimum wage, working with several college students and a couple retired people, but it was something to supplement our savings that was being depleted month by month. (By the way, the people at Lemstone were one of the best supportive communities of faith of which I had ever been a part… which is another story).

All the while I was seeking meaningful employment to stay in the ministry and provide for my family. God was silent. There was no prospect for full-time employment on my horizon. I exhausted my list of friends in the ministry, referrals and recommendations. I had a fairly good resume and did not even get to the interview stage in the job hunting process. I was feeling forsaken by God and forsaken by my denomination. God was silent. I was broken.

About the time that our savings was nearly gone and I was debating whether to get my own business license (for roofing and painting) I received information from the IMB home office in Richmond about an opening as a missionary consultant. It was a personnel position, and with my background in and love for missions, my counseling degrees and experience, and my desire to stay active and faithful in Christian ministry. God’s timing was the best. I learned a great lesson through this experience: God did not meet my need when I wanted it met. When all my sources of security and stability where gone, I needed HIM alone. That event is where God’s name became “God is my Provider” because he provided what I needed when I needed it the most.

Stay strong, wait patiently, watch for what God is doing and when he moves, be ready to respond in childlike faith and obedience.

God, if I ever give you a request and you have more to give than I am asking, cancel my request and give me what YOU want. I trust that YOU will let me know what I need to know and when I need to know it. Help me examine my life to confess and eliminate sin and prepare me for deeper understanding of yourself.