This message is for those who just can’t seem to get the direction they most desire in the situation they find themselves in, which- if honest - they sincerely feel God doesn’t seem to be interested at all!
“Jesus Christ: the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb.13:8). Remember - everything always begins. continues & ends with Christ: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever” (Ro.11:36 NIV).
The following foundations are essential for all believers who seek to have a fruitful walk with God, leading to maturity.
Let’s Get into God: Godhead, Trinity & “Attributes”
Christian living is authentically conducted by interaction with the Holy Spirit as the “true worshipers” of God (Ro.8:16; Jn.4:23). Theologically speaking, we are told that the Holy Spirit is both one with and inseparable from God as part of what we call the Godhead. In that same way, Jesus is God and inseparable from the Godhead (Jn.1:1; Col.1:16), just also as is The Father is God- inseparable as the Godhead: 3 in 1; 1 in 3.
We see these persons we commonly call The Trinity in the opening pages of the Bible. The words “us” (Gen1:26; 3:3) complement the usage of “God” and “the Spirit of God” (Gen.1:1, 2). We see the first implicit reference to the ‘3 in 1; 1 in 3' through the words of God from Moses:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deut.6:4-5).
Godhead and Trinity aside, we are told that three attributes of God are omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience. In other words: God is all-powerful (omnipotent), present everywhere throughout the universe He created (omnipresent), and all-knowing in every instance. God knows everything, always (omniscient). There are a vast number of scriptures which support these understandings, but I won’t deal with any of these in this short message.
As a Christian who believes the Bible and has lived his life biblically aware, I have no problem with any of the above and accept those statements as being true (hope you do also). Now to continue with the above in mind. Three Questions: the first two briefly addressed in order to arrive at the third (which is where we are going in this message).
-
Question: Since God is all powerful, does that mean that the all-powerful God who lives in you bestows upon you all of His power? No, I think not.
-
Question: Since God is all present in every place, everywhere, does that mean that the God who lives in you grants you the ability to be present with Him in every one of His actions, observations and coexist with Him throughout the universe? Again, I think not.
-
Question of the day: Since God is ‘all knowing’ does that mean that God- who lives inside of you - makes you able to know everything, or even anything at all times or in every instance?
I definitely conclude that this is not what God is up to. (Paul would agree -see 1Cor.13:9). Personally, I feel quite disqualified from knowing very much, let alone pretending to know all that God knows, or even everything about any specific person, place or matter.
Therefore, as one who believes in God and has experienced His life being changed through Christ (& by His grace still continues to), I have no problem with the above and accept it as true. (I’m going to have to assume you do as well). Now to hone in on that one specific of God in connection with us through Christ, considering the possible personal impact it can make.
Having a relationship with the all-knowing God who does not share with you everything He knows means that clearly there are times you will simply not be able to ‘discover’ what you set out to or ascertain what you feel you must find out- for you to either understand or to proceed. (i.e., you'll never receive a breakthrough unless you truly need one).
Jesus Makes it Clear About the Spirit
There are two reasons why Holy Spirit will not necessarily share what you desire to know, or are sincerely concerned about: (1) the Risen Christ determines what is revealed to you and (2) you will never be able to righteously avoid receiving, possessing and using “faith” throughout your life (Hab.2:4; Ro.1:17; Gal.2:20, 3:11; Heb.10:38). The rest of this message expounds on this.
You will most acutely find God seeming silent to you as a restriction when it comes to what you may be quite pressured with or worried about. God designed ‘this thing we do’ to only ultimately work by authentic “faith” (Heb.11:1). Although this is never disconnected from Christ - because “man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God-” Christ is the essence of that “word” Christ Himself always determines what you receive in these matters (Mat.4:4; Jn.1:1).
Add to that: the person of the Holy Spirit within you will never lead you into a position where authentic “faith” is not necessary (Heb.11:6). That would be violating the Godhead, separating the Trinity. Consider the Word of the Lord:
“The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom The Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (Jn.14:26 NIV).
Oops - am I wrong already? That seems to oppose what I just shared. Have I contradicted myself? I mean, ‘amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord!’ We like the “all things!”’ But does this mean we can ask God anything we want to know about, and He will tell us? Let’s read on.
“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from The Father - the Spirit of Truth who goes out from The Father - He will testify about Me” (Jn.15:26 NIV).
OK. It’s about how we are to conduct relationship with Christ. The Spirit comes to reveal Christ-communication via His Headship to you; this means the Spirit is not a ‘Holy-Ghost Google!’ (Eph.1:22; 4:15; 5:23) More from Christ:
“Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment. I have much more to say to you more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive that He will make known to you. All that belongs to The Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you” (Jn.16:7-8,12-14 NIV).
This surely means that Christ is in charge of what is shared with us by Holy Spirit, we are neither able to demand the Holy Spirit to speak, nor be able to influence what Christ will reveal to the Spirit for us to receive.
Although this - if received- is ‘no help’ for those who find themselves in dilemmas that even a prophet or apostle find they cannot speak to, nonetheless it is the case. This is the dilemma that we often find ourselves in today: we want God to do what we want... period. We have entire camps, libraries and ministries devoted to this, but God’s availability to us is for that which Christ reveals via His Headship through the Spirit (which must be received by us).
Why does this seem to be at such odds with the way that many look at the prophetic, Spiritual gifts, intercession? virtually every dimension of Spirit-filled Christianity carries this ‘flavoring.’ Simply put, our teachings come from our own understandings (actually mostly from others), and these understandings are only valid to the extent they actually came first from God.
Paul said it this way: “we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Cor.2:13). In other words, God must be free to explain Himself on His own terms- they are inscrutably unchanging, yet eternally beneficial to us in ever way (Psa.119:89; see also 2Cor.4:18).
Challenge Yourself or Be Challenged by Disappointment
I offer this: challenge your preconceptions or you will be even more challenged by them when they don’t work out! Here’s a statement that will enable you to absolutely ‘flip the script’ and set things in order to ‘right the ship’ (to mix the metaphor). There’s a great need for us to read the Word as it was intended, to hear it as those who heard and practiced it then. This, in order for it to be effective for setting our lives on the proper course by “rightly dividing” and applying it (2Tim.3:16). To grow we must allow what God says to become what God meant (not just for Scripture- this perhaps goes double when it comes interpreting your prophecies).
We often say we want New Testament Christianity, or ‘go back to the Book of Acts,’ etc. But what this will require is matching the ‘there and then’ of ‘them’ with the ‘here and now’ of ‘us.’ Until we hear it as they did, we can’t properly honor and practice it as they were to (or see the actual promised outcomes).
Christ Must Become the Center of Understanding
When Jesus says The Spirit will reveal what He shares- and only what He shares- we should see that (1) God has a priority for us, and at the same time- we are to receive that (2) there is (for us) a limitation. We should see clearly that the role of the Holy Spirit in our life is to bring us into what should be called Christ-centrality. More popularly: Christ centeredness. With Him as the hub and us as the spokes, we can avoid having the wheel fall off by trying to be the center, through attempting to bring God into our lives from the periphery. Nothing about our relationship Jesus Christ was ever designed or is ever meant to be peripheral.
If we will allow Christ to take the center- supplying his supply to our outwardly affected aspects in every direction, this will bring us back into “life” generated by divine grace and power (Jn.10:10). It will renew that which we’ve heard (& sung) so many times it can lose its effectiveness: “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mt.6:33).
From that part of what we call the Sermon on the Mount, Christ’s description of “all these things” is very specific and need-based, or “temporal” as Paul would later call them (see Mt.6:19-32; also 2 Cor.4:18). With that made clear- with your Christ centrality established- those aspects which tend to dominate, overwhelm and even consume you are put into their proper place. Truth be told: there is never a call from God to expect ‘anything you want’ or an invitation to do anything more in that passage than just to trust God, based on a Christ-centered place in His Kingdom (see also Pro.3:5-6).
Paul Makes it About Life in the Spirit
Jesus was not the only one who revealed the role of the Spirit in primary relation to Christ. When Paul says “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Col.1:27), he is obviously referring to the Holy Spirit because in other places he makes it clear: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you” (Ro.8:11).
What we need most is this life in the Spirit; but we often find “the natural man” instead seeking comfort or security (1 Cor.2:14). This, for “the things which are seen...the things which are... temporal” (2 Co.4:18 NASB). Honestly, running on- or being governed by - those natural paths may seem to be the way to focus, but pursuing them never enables us to become Christ-centered. (In those instances, God becomes increasingly distant, and although intended to be ‘gotten with’ AFTER “things” get settled, when there is more time, etc. it doesn’t take place).
Although it can seem that we are “afflicted in every way... perplexed... persecuted... struck down... always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus,” living defined by our difficulty prevents Christ from being free to work His will by revealing Himself through the Spirit (2 Cor.4:8-10 NASB). Venturing that way eventually ends up at seeming victimized; running the train on those broken tracks ultimately ends in derailment.
God calls us to the ‘Him’ who “now” live in us! “Now, we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God” (1 Cor.2:12 NASB). Yes! Christ has “things” for us that are “freely given,” dimensions of His kingdom life He fully paid for us through His obedience to The Father on our behalf (read Php.2:5-16; Jn.3:16). To that end we are even told: “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor.2:16).
God chooses to limit Himself within us through Christ’s design and desire for our lives. He does this in accordance with what He specifically needs to “work” in us through the Spirit so that we become “conformed to the image of The Son” (Ro.8:29; Php.1:6; 2:12).
Lived out, this causes His Grace to be offset (actually conditioned) by our weakness, making it impossible for us to become that ‘know all,’ ‘be all,’ ‘do all’ and ‘end all’ that we may desperately desire in order to for remain independent, relation-less and superior to others (or ‘legends in our own minds’).
Your “Measure” of Christ Released Reverberates Back to You
Good News! A fundamental benefit of not being the ‘know all,’ ‘be all,’ ‘do all’ and ‘end all’ is that we may join with others to become greater in Christ than we could ever be by ourselves.
Why is this so necessary? It is God’s design and desire- both spiritually and naturally. Setting aside the human reality that God designed us for relationship with others, Yes- it is a command (Heb.10:23-25). Most importantly: God calls you to be part of Christ’s body! And other body-parts need what is strong in you from the grace He releases to and through, you, just as you need what is strong in others that you will always lack (Ro.12:3). Paul defined it this way:
“Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Eph.2:20-22).
“We are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Eph.4:15-16).
Your Breakthrough Awaits You
Let me just finish this way: God is not being silent; He’s just not focused on what you’re focused on! (I will go even as far as to say that perhaps your anxiety, fear &/or need for control may be grieving His Spirit from fellowship with you). Recommit yourself- then recalibrate according to Christ’s Kingdom; make what matters to Him your “first” importance! (Mt. 6:33).
And since you can’t seem to get on God’s subject- make sure you get with the Body and allow God to activate you as you are- even (perhaps especially) if feeling unworthy, uncertain, and without answers. What God has already placed in you may seem dormant- perhaps you even pushed it aside- but life will be released with others.
Then, you’ll find yourself getting answers for questions you’re not even asking!
Bill Click
