Transcendent Praise

John 14: 15 – 16 If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you for ever – the Spirit of truth.

These were the words of Jesus to his disciples before he went to the cross. That promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples. (See Acts 2:1-13). How can we then who live so much later in time claim to have the Holy Spirit’s presence? The first encounter of the believer with the Holy Spirit is at the time of conversion. The time the Father drew you to himself by letting you realize that you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself. At that time you looked to the crucified Christ and realized that his death was for you, to satisfy God the Father’s demand for righteousness which you and I could never hope to satisfy.

That was the starting point of your relationship with God the Father, you gained access to him and that allows you to have fellowship with him through his Word so you can know and do his will as the Holy Spirit leads you. Jesus told his disciples that it was for their good that he was going away because unless he did, the Counselor would not come but “When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father where you can see me no longer; in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” (John 16: 8-11).

Jesus, in his physical body, could not be everywhere but the Holy Spirit now operates in every corner of the globe where believers are. The principal work of the Holy Spirit now in the life of the believer is to teach truth. He opens up God’s Word to us in a way no one else can and helps us see how its teachings are relevant to our lives. He convinces us that God’s agenda is being unveiled daily in human history and therefore prophecies will be fulfilled. In so doing he brings glory to the name of Jesus through the praise this knowledge elicits from us. (See John 16: 14-15).

The Holy Spirit brings us into unity with God the Father and Jesus who not only prayed for this unity for his disciples but for all who would believe in his name. (See John 17: 20 – 28). The infilling or fullness of the Holy Spirit comes on believers today to empower us to be witnesses to Jesus to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1: 7 – 8)

Esther 8: 3 – 4 Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.

The Book of Esther is one of only two books of the Bible named after women. I recommend reading it in one sitting if possible. It is an amazing account of a beauty pageant, of love and favor, played out against a background of intrigue, rivalry, deceit and hate, all designed to wipe out the Jewish people in her day. Esther won the beauty pageant and became Queen to King Xerxes but was advised by her uncle Mordecai to keep her Jewish ethnicity a secret throughout the competition. Little did she realize at the time that God was placing her in a situation which would require her to risk her very life to save her people!

When the time came that the edict was sent out by Haman under the king’s signet to destroy the Jews, her uncle Mordecai sent her a message: “Do not think that because you are in the King’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13 – 14)  Esther called on all her attendants and all the Jews to fast for her before seeking an audience with the king. Eventually the King held out his scepter to her, a gesture which conveyed favor and granted her request to spare her life and that of her people.

Your life is not just about you. Sometimes you are the only one in a situation who could speak up and turn evil away and bring joy or relief to many. There is divine purpose in the position in which God has placed you.

“It is my desire that the joy that comes to my children from serving me should reverberate to those around them and beyond so that my nature can be revealed to those observing your lives. I am a good and loving King. I am rich and generous and my children are my joy just like Esther was to the king. My children have my favor.”  Hallelujah!

Colossians 1: 13 – 14 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The fact that you now have an inheritance in the kingdom of God and have been delivered from darkness is completely the work of God. In the King James Version verse 13 of Colossians 1 says in part that God the Father “has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.”  In common usage we think of the word translate in the context of languages and that process, when complete, results in text that is only in the new language, never a mix of both. So it is with the salvation God has given us, the change is radical but we could not make it happen. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no man can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2: 8 – 9).

What are some of the desirable character traits of this new person that you are? Paul identifies some of these traits in the first chapter of Colossians – faith in Jesus Christ, love for fellow believers, an understanding that you have an eternal hope, being filled with the knowledge of God’s will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. All this so you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way by exhibiting fruitfulness, strength, endurance, patience, joy and gratitude to the Father.

James 1: 2 – 4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

“Perseverance” is used in the NIV instead of “patience” which appears in the King James Version and rightly so because when we say to a child for instance “be patient” the child interprets that as “wait just another minute, you will get what you want.” Perseverance is the grown up version because the time factor is usually greater. For the believer, it is a life assignment.

When I was a child my mother had to wait at least 21 days to receive a letter from my father who had gone all the way to England for factory work to support us. We now live in an age of instant gratification. Now not only can we communicate instantly by email, text or phone but we can see the other party on Skype or similar media. So patience is taking a bad rap. Even on the highways, the “lead, follow or get out of the way” mentality is rampant. When I see the impatient and hostile conduct of some motorists, I often thank God that I don’t have to live with someone like that.

As believers we must constantly monitor our own conduct and measure it by the Word of God. It has a lot to say about perseverance because God’s time line for his fulfillment of purpose in our lives takes time.   Hence, there has to be a willingness to walk with God at his pace and not run ahead of him. Every time you do that you will trip and fall. So Paul urges us: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4: 6-7).   In times of trial, be courageous and wait patiently on the Lord. Persevere!

Psalm 68: 4 Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds – his name is the Lord – and rejoice before him.

This psalm of David is rapturous praise of our Sovereign God who is fully able to defend his own name. He has no equal and is totally in control of everything. Read it and let your spirit soar, break out in praise before your God. “Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, to him who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with mighty voice. Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies. You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God.” (See verses 32-35).

Have you ever witnessed a thunderstorm?  I thought I had. Having grown up in the countryside in Jamaica I had seen many rainstorms and heard roars of thunder, even survived a two-week stretch of torrential rain. During those storms my mother used to tell us as children to go sit still and let the Lord do his work, read a book or something. Good advice because sleeping was out of the question.

In the early 90s I embarked on an adventure to work in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with my 11 year-old daughter. I was re-educated as to what a thunderstorm is. It was the beginning of the Monsoon season and my daughter and I were home when the sky opened up and the rain began to fall in sheets, not drops. Then there was a thunderclap like nothing I had ever heard before – the kind that shook everything more like an earthquake would, followed by lightening that seemed to penetrate every corner of the apartment. You are either transfixed or else you try to run and hide. I stayed put. After a few minutes my daughter bolted from her room and came running with the question: “Mom is God trying to frighten us?”  I was sitting on the bed. I just pulled her close and said: “No, he is just displaying his majesty, reminding us who is in charge.”

The Holy Spirit once reminded me:

“All power belongs to God. He rearranges the earth as he sees fit. Yet even in so doing he creates a refuge for his people. Every so often he shows himself in their behalf to show that he makes a difference between those who are his and those who are not. Rest in him therefore and give him praise for he is worthy, the God of gods.”

2 Corinthians 10: 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Not so long ago I woke up one morning feeling barely alive.  So far as I could determine I was not sick, but sluggish beyond belief. I made and had my breakfast ever so slowly thinking I would feel a burst of energy. Then although I intended to write the day’s blog, I found myself distracted for another two hours by one thing or another, unable to sit down and focus. At one point I thought of crawling back into bed, but I talked myself out of it realizing that there will probably be plenty of time for sleep in days to come if I really can’t get up.

After a while I thought, Lord what is going on? The following words popped into my head: “bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”  (I still think in KJV!). I looked up the passage in 2 Corinthians 10: 4 – 6 in the NIV which says: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish strongholds and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Once I became aware of what was happening I was able to take control.

Confusion or distraction is not of God. There is a need to recognize that the mind is where Satan desires to play and confusion is one of his favorite games. His ploy is to divert your attention from activities which please God or prevent attainment of your goals. He will engineer confusion to disrupt your home or even create chaos in your workplace. This passage of Scripture makes us know that we have to take authority over the situation when confusion develops. It is you who will have to arrest your thoughts to make them obedient to Christ. The minute you recognize confusion, sit yourself down, get into the Word. If you can’t do so in the moment, pray out loud: “Oh God, my Father you know that I am confused right now and I don’t even know why. Please help me. By the power of your Holy Spirit I take control of my mind and thoughts. Help me to think with clarity so I can move forward with energy and purpose. Satan I dismiss you. In Jesus’ name Amen.”  Find words! Then get up and do the most urgent thing on your “to do” list.

Psalm 138:8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love O Lord, endures for ever – do not abandon the works of your hands.

One of the blessings of having lived for a while is that you get to look back and realize that you do serve a faithful God. You get to look in the rearview mirror, so to speak, and contemplate the many challenges that you have had along the way, many which were downright impossible to surmount at the time, and you can say with absolute certainty: If it had not been for the Lord who was on my side, I would have been swallowed up. (Paraphrasing what David said in Psalm 124:2). God has been awesome to me! He amazes me! I came to believe in God as a child and there has never been a point at which I felt abandoned by him. In fact it is when I’ve been in desperate situations that he has showed up to comfort and turn things around for me. Why would I not love and trust him!

The NIV translation above of Psalm 138 verse 8 is explicit, but for years I read the King James Version in which the first line reads: “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: …” I remember telling myself that it does not mean the Lord will pay attention to every little thing I am concerned about because often I have no right to be, but rather that he has the big picture and will see to it that his plans for me are fulfilled. In that context, he goes before me and demolishes the obstacles that stand in the way.  He teaches me to trust him – to have faith in his love for me as his child. It is a wonderful state of being!

Will you let go of your fear of tomorrow and jump? Your Father will catch you! Have the faith of a little child.

Ephesians 6: 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

It is reasonable to say that if you are in a fight you have identified and are able to see the enemy. Ephesians 6 is telling us that in the spiritual realm the exact opposite is true – the enemy is neither physical nor visible. Hence the call to equip ourselves with battle gear which are not physical but spiritual – the armor of God – truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” God has fully provided the necessary uniform for us but it is up to us to dress ourselves, otherwise we will not stand a chance against the devil’s schemes.

Above and beyond all this we learn from the Word of God that there are times when God deems some battles to be such an affront to him or that he has a specific outcome in mind that he intervenes to dismantle the enemy’s plans himself.

In the first instance we read that when the Assyrian King Sennacherib decided to invade Israel, the angel of the Lord showed up in answer to Hezekiah’s prayers and Sennacherib’s army was dead by daybreak. (2 Kings 19) In the second instance God revealed himself to Joshua in a different way. There was a battle going on but Joshua learned that it was not just between his army and that of the enemy but that the Lord God had a vested interest in the outcome of this battle. So he sent his commander to take charge. (Joshua 5). God does fight battles for his people or to defend his own name.

“When the mission is mine, I send my own captain to lead. That ensures success. All the planning that men do means nothing unless I lead. I set my host against the host of the enemy. The battle is mine not the believer’s. The believer’s place is to trust me completely for the outcome. Do not think for a moment that when Satan masses demons against you, you can fight by yourself. It takes the captain of the Lord’s host to war against them. I am the Almighty God and I do not leave my children to fight alone. The battle is mine and I will not fail you.”

Isaiah 43:1 But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine”

Have you been called of God? If you are saved, you have been. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). So having responded to the move of Holy Spirit in your heart and entered into a relationship with God, you are now one of the called out ones.

The Bible is full of the names of people called by God. I can hear you begin to list the ones you can think of: Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Joseph, Daniel and Nehemiah …all men no doubt. But the list is endless. Sarah, Deborah, Leah, Esther, Ruth, Rahab, and oh, the little slave girl of Naaman’s household and Mary…… And now you are thinking, but surely not all these people heard a thunder clap, saw a burning bush or heard voices from on high. Precisely! But they were separated by God for good and that was not always evident to them or anyone else at the time. But in every case they were separated to do God’s will, and in some cases had to leave behind everything that was familiar and safe.

Are you an alien in a city or foreign land, a missionary, a soldier in your country’s army? Did you just tag along with your spouse? Are you some place that you seem to have arrived at by happenstance and still trying to figure out why you are there? If you are a child of God, I urge you to rethink how you view your situation because it is no accident. Ask God to define your purpose for where he has placed you. Ask him to let you see your situation through his eyes because you belong to him. And if you do not yet know Christ as Savior, here is an opportunity to surrender your will and life to the God who created you and ask him to change you and make you his own. Then you will be able to hear his voice and have conversations with him so he can direct your steps.

Hebrews 12:12 – 13 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet so the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

This exhortation follows closely the very long list of great men and women of faith named in the 11^th chapter of Hebrews. In the last verse of that chapter we are told that these individuals were all commended for their faith yet none of them received what had been promised because God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

It is a natural thing to grow weary in the physical as well as the spiritual life. The physical exhibits weariness in body language – the gaze becomes more fixed to the ground rather than on the vibrancy of life around you, the shoulders droop, hands hang listlessly and the gait becomes slow. When there is spiritual lethargy we begin to question our faith and the value of service in the house of God, our sensitivity to the feelings and plight of others becomes dulled, and our thirst for the Word diminishes.  Yet it is from the Word that we will receive the nourishment we need.

Look at the opening verses of Hebrews 12. Having identified the faithful as our cheerleaders, the writer then tells us to throw off everything that hinders our progress and persevere in the race marked out for us.    Most importantly he says: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning the shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”  What joy? The joy of bringing many sons to glory and then to be reunited with his Father! (Hebrews 2:9 -11) You are one of those!  A child of God, a member of his family! That is your identity.

The Apostle Paul in writing to the church at Corinth recounted for them the many instances in which Jesus appeared to his followers after his resurrection and, on that basis, assured them that they too had certainty of being resurrected. Christ’s resurrection signaled victory over death and the promise of eternal life. So he concluded with the following encouragement which is equally valid for us: “Therefore my dear brothers stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58).