To be still with the Lord not only in
heart, but in mind is producing a trust that is not based on something palpable
or concrete. Rather this trust is from
an inner knowing. That I know that I
know, that I know. Learning to wait in
silence of mind. It is actually one of
the things I thought quite profound, the fact that He says we are to take ALL
our thoughts captive and that we have conveniently only thought to take the
thoughts the enemy sends our way captive.
The reality is that even our own thoughts cannot be trusted, as it comes
from our wicked hearts. Hence the reason why we are
not to lean on our own understanding.
This trust is not about your ability to control self. Although this is a fruit of the Spirit, self
can and has and will learn how to do exactly that. We see it out in the world. There are unsaved people that have more
self-control than Christians have. It really is
a matter of motivation and determination.
So the sad reality is that within all our nice fruit we see, this self
still plays a role. Just when we thought
we got a hold on issues. But such is God’s
wisdom to bring us to utter dependence on Him, which includes to not trust our spirituality as well.
Trust is not just a choice we have to
make, but in essence it is a disposition.
A state of mind born from out of a relationship. “I trust you”, does not
come easily. I will confess that it took
me over 30 years to authentically say that to Father. Oh how we can lie to ourselves. It truly is amazing. In Psalm 78 we read this telling verse.
Psalm 78: 22
22 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not
in his salvation:
This 78th chapter is about how Father
led them out of Egypt and did so many miracles for them. And even so, they believed not in God and
trusted not in his salvation. Isn’t that
so much like us? He takes us out of
Egypt and we can testify of so many miracles, and yet at times we find
ourselves exactly where they were at…they did not trust. He slew them after that and they started
calling out to Him again. But it says that they only flattered Him with their
tongue. See how deceitful our hearts
are?
37 For their heart was not right with him, neither
were they steadfast in his covenant.
Strange how we look down on those Israelites
forgetting the type and shadow that they are of us?
It further goes on to say how He had compassion on them, remembering that they were only flesh. Then it says something in verse 52 that touched my heart.
52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep,
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
This theme of shepherd made me go to
the familiar scripture of John 10 where Jesus talks about being the
Good Shepherd. He mentions something I
thought strange in verse 15.
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the
Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
He was talking about how the sheep recognize the
shepherd’s voice and will not follow another, but then He says, "as the Father
knows me, even so I know the Father".
That is like saying as a shepherd knows the sheep, so the sheep knows
the Shepherd. I’ll give you a
moment. Think about it…do you know how
dumb sheep are? I mean, like really
stupid. They truly do follow one that
goes astray. They are so scared of the
slightest noise and they huddle together in little groups, almost void of
individual identity. And yet, they know
the shepherd? They may know the shepherd’s
voice, but the shepherd himself? The
reality is that this knowing, is actually the basis of trust. What He is saying is, My Father trusts me,
because He knows me. And I trust Him,
because I know Him. For that reason I
will lay My life down, because even though it will cost me everything, I trust
Him. I know He sent Me to die on a cross
and He has given me the power to take up My life, but also to lay it down. But I choose to lay it down, because I know
how He loves the sheep, and I trust Him and know that He will raise Me up. Nothing
is hidden about Me or about Him between us.
Of course, Jesus as we know, saw this through by actually doing it, and
not just paying lip service to it.
Meditating on these words, I just started thinking
about how the Father knows the Son and I could of course only relate on a human
level with regard to how an earthly parent knows their child. Well, being a parent, I can truly say I know my
daughter. Even more so because of her
disorders and having to be on the ball, so to speak. I mean that I really know her. I know why she thinks a certain way and
reacts a certain way. I know what puts
her off, what scares her, what motivates her, what breaks her down. And I of course know that most parents will
say, “we do too”. But I can tell you for
a fact, that the same is not true about her.
Although we have gone over some very troubled waters, she still does not
know me to the degree that I know her.
Which is obviously logical, but I think you see my point. It is all about transparency and therefore
the love and trust. So Jesus is telling
us, the relationship of trust I have with the Father is based on My knowing the
Father. Not just about Him knowing Me, but an
actual relationship of transparency.
This brings me to the theme of the fast I am in, which is to BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD. It is not just for the sake of being still, but being still is for the purpose of knowing. Knowing who? The Father. Here we have the prerequisite of truly knowing the Father. Going from knowing about Him, to knowing Him from that place of trust that is birthed out of stillness. Can we say that we know as we ought and are we willing to do whatsoever it takes? The outcome will be obedience of another kind, where you will be willing to lay your life down, due to absolute trust. Do we trust Him 10%? 50/50 or 80%? What constitute 100% trust and just how are we to get to that point? As the Father knows Me, so I know the Father and lay My life down for the sheep. The laying down His life was solely based on knowing the Father. And God does not call us to an obedience that we can perform in our own strength, but brings us to the end of ourselves so that in our weakness, He can be strong. So Jesus was willing in His humanity to be brought unto complete weakness. He laid His life down as one weak, not strong. Because should there have been any self-confidence that He as the Son of Man relied on, the Father would not have received the glory, even if they are one. The issue was Jesus being sent as a man, so that He could be the forerunner and Patterned Son for us to emulate. So there could have been no confidence in the flesh. He was brought to nothing and He did it willingly. His obedience was one that He could not perform out of His own strength. Father reminded me of something He said to me last year.
“Just like I saved you without your help, so I
will raise you without your help.”
Absolute trust.
Father is calling us to such a relationship with
Him. What then is the requirement for us
to enter into this fully? To know on an
intimate level His likes and dislikes, joys and sadness, to know His
heart. And why should He extend this to
us with our adulterous hearts? Why
should He want to share His pure and perfect heart with us? And yet, this is His desire – BE STILL AND
KNOW THAT I AM GOD.
He could have been called by other impersonal
names, but He desired us to know Him as Father. And to know Him as Father, is to trust
Him. And to trust Him is to obey
Him. We who have given our lives to the
Father are all children of God.
Therefore, He knows us by name and also calls us by name. Each and every one of us. But He wants to bring us from children to
sons, because sons speak of maturity that has been wrought through obediences
and experiences in the wilderness. Therefore
He sent the Son of God to show us the Father, not the child of God, even though
He came in the form of a child at first.
It is the Son we are to emulate and not the child. Yes, childlike faith, but in the form of the
Son. This is also why He said to Phillip, “When you
have seen Me, you have seen the Father”.
One can only represent the Father to the degree that you have come into
sonship. This has nothing to do with
your physical age or even how long you have been born
again. Rather, sonship is a state of
maturity where you have come to know that He is God, directly
proportional to the degree that you have become still in all your
categories. He came to show us the
Father by His knowing the Father. And if
it is required of us to be still to know Him, then as the Son of Man it was
required of Him too to know Him as Father and be still.
Let that sink in.
And so our concept of God as Father is not just
disfigured by our past and various abuse that the enemy used, but also it is
distorted by our own internal dialogue, perception and traditions, or as I like
to call it “filters”. The writer of
Hebrews states the following:
Hebrews 5: 13 - 14
13 For
every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is
a babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth
to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil.
There is
a requirement of us not to stagnate, not to think that we are doing dandy, to think that we pass the exam or no real need for more. Jesus said in John 17 that to KNOW the Father
and the Son whom He sent is eternal life, which is resurrection life. Eternal life is not just about longevity, but
quality of life. God desires many sons
and daughters and even so does creation groan for their manifestation. Not just for that which constitute
resurrection of the body, but resurrection life in us now! Even the manifestation of the sons and
daughters now on earth. This is so that
many more would come into sonship, as they see the Father in those who have
matured. And as Jesus said to Phillip,
they can authentically say, when you see me, you see Jesus, which is the true
express image of the Father!
Many
people cannot relate to God as Father.
They speak through Jesus to the Father, which is what we are to do. But His intention was never that we are to not speak to Him at all. I know many people like that and I do have compassion on that
disposition, because as I said, there is a reason for that. Many also can call Him Father, but calling
Him Father and relating to Him as Father, is two different things. And as I said, trust is the issue. He is calling us as children of God to come
into sonship that we may know Him. There
are those in the Body that need to address this issue. Some may have to allow Him to heal past hurts
and stop sweeping it under the rug.
Because even that which transpired in you about how a father is,
evidently has you still not calling Him “Father” from an authentic place. Calling Him Father is a good beginning, but
His desire is that we will truly know Him as Father. What a privilege!
Everything
suffers loss because we do not know Him as we ought. Not truly recognizing Him as Father, in
adversely cause us not to truly recognize ourselves as His sons and
daughters. We may pay homage to the
idea, but saying something and being something is not the same. And so this is why Paul said to the
Corinthians, “Why do you walk as mere men?”
What a strange thing to say. As if to say that we are actually more than
just mere men? Our own deficiency with
regard to this truth, shows in the degree that we trust Him. And this is exactly His provision for us to
know Him, which is stillness. This is why great
faith is liken to childlike faith, because children trust their Father, at
least in a perfect world. But how can we
when the enemy has made sure that we would be disjointed and broken arrows in
His quiver?
He is
desiring to set us straight, even if it means that He has to break the legs of
the sheep and carry it on His shoulder.
The issue is never just correction, the issue is ultimately trust. And just because some of us may have not had derelict
fathers, does not constitute that we truly know Him as Father, at least the way
He intends. It does not exclude us from
pressing into this, because though you may love Him, the issue still remains
trust. Therefore, He invites
circumstances to prove you and correct you that you may know Him. And though many of us can say “I know the
Father”, it is somehow so easy to generalize.
If you are still living from out of the life in you, which is self, you
have yet to enter into the resurrection life He intended for you. We have to ask ourselves the questions we
think somehow is not applicable to us, which is, “Do I know the Father as He
knows me?” And, “Am I willing to lay my
life down?” At the heart of it all will
always be the cross. For the cross is
where the Father showed the extent of His wrath, the extent of our sin, but also
the extent of His mercy and love. It is
only at the cross where we meet God, because without the blood, we cannot stand
before Him. Even so, Jesus did not say
He knew the Father as the Father knew Him, based from their pre-incarnate
relationship. He emptied Himself it says in Phillipians 2. But He said this as a declaration of the relationship He has with the Father, as a
man. The message is, as man you can have
a relationship with the Father to know Him as He knows you, even though He is
very God!
It takes
a tremendous paradigm shift in us to come to the full revelation of this. Because subconsciously we do not believe that
we can have this type of relationship with the Father. But this is exactly why He came. To show us as man that we can. And once the penny drops, everything
changes. Because knowing the Father is
to be like the Son.
If we
miss the Father, how can we truly see ourselves as sons? It is not just a title, He is a person,
although God is Spirit. But a person
that wants to be known. Hence the
invitation.
Jeremiah
29:13
13 And
ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Once all of our heart is invested in this seeking, we find Him. And only He can bring us to that place. We can only go that far and fall short every
time. And yet, we are to seek. And for that, He has to deal with our
hearts. This is not for what we can get
out of it, although we will benefit immensely.
It is what the Father desires! To
have many sons and daughters! To have
communion with us of an intimate kind, transparency, to return to the
garden. Not only that we can trust Him, but
that He has brought us to such a place that He can trust us. We are to return with all our hearts. The Father wants to love you. He wants to love you. This is His desire. This is His heart’s cry and this desire He
places in us so that with cords of love He may draw us to Him. This is eternal life that we may know the
Father and Jesus Christ His Son.
BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD. – Psalm 46: 10.
Enoch who walked with God, knew God. God walks with us so that we may go from
hearing to knowing. And in between the hearing
and the knowing, is stillness.
At the heart of the Gospel is, “For God so loved the world that He
gave His only Son…”
The motivation has never just been salvation, but relationship.
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