PART TWO: Lifted up – for Resurrection

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 11. Resurrection = Power

Phil 3:10   I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection

The Resurrection Parallel: As we move into the second Part, we remind ourselves that we are basing these studies on Jesus' words about “when I am lifted up ” which can have three applications. The first was about being lifted to die and the second one, which is a quite natural follow-on when we consider Jesus' life, is about resurrection. The parallel with Jesus death and resurrection and the same happening, in spiritual terms at least in our lives, is strong in the New Testament.

We have seen it previously in Romans 6; now see it in Ephesians 3: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance  in his holy people,  and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead  and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 3:18-20) i.e. the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that now indwells you. There is a hint of what is coming in the final Part that we will consider – ascension and ruling in heaven and that is put as a parallel by Paul when he speaks about our inheritance. At this point in time, this is expressed as hope for the future which we are encouraged to believe in, as we take hold of it today in the power of God that we experience. Do you see how all these things are inter-related?

Death essential: Of course without death there cannot be resurrection. We see that from earliest preaching: “This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,  put him to death by nailing him to the cross.   But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him,” (Acts 2:23,24) and the apostle Paul, as we saw previously, follows on from that: “ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death  in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Rom 6:4) It sounds an obvious thing but when you apply it to the spiritual parallel of our lives, it becomes vital. If we do not put to death all those things we considered in the first Part, they will act as a hindrance to us being able to enter into the experiences paralleled by resurrection which we will consider as we go through this Part.

Indeed, when we start thinking about resurrection parallels in our lives, the thought that death MUST go before, puts a new emphasis behind all we said in that first Part. Our starting point had been the picture of the seed falling into the ground and ‘dying' and without that happening, it cannot possibly ‘germinate', get nourishment from the soil, be watered and grow. The burying and ‘dying' is vital.

God's Sovereignty must mean Our Surrender: But then we considered the matter of sovereignty, and this is where a unique dynamic comes in. Unlike a do-it-yourself activity or working from a self-help book, living out the Christian faith is not only about following the instructions of the teaching in the New Testament but also taking the leading of the indwelling Holy Spirit; it is a personal relationship thing and that can't happen unless we are willing to put aside our own hopes, desires and dreams and submit to the Lord's plans for our lives – which are always better!!!! But for His will to prevail, ours has to die.

Available to all People: When it comes to people, it is so easy to let personal likes or dislikes prevail, but Jesus is open to all and wants us to be available to all, but we cannot do that and be his instrument unless we are willing to die to those likes or dislikes in respect of people, our own prejudices. If it applies generally to people, it certainly applies where we have a need to be forgiven or to forgive. Failure to die to self means the Lord cannot raise up new life in the form of reconciliation and healing.

Don't Lose the Resources: Then there was the subject of allowing people or systems or methods to replace our reliance on the Lord Himself. While we rely upon or look to anyone or anything other than the Lord as our resource, we will not be able to receive the flow of His Spirit, His power, into our lives . We have to die to those other ‘resources' if we are to become recipients of the Lord's resources. Jeremiah had to bring the word to God's people, “ My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns,   broken cisterns that cannot hold water,” (Jer 2:13) which was all about substitutes.   

Reliance in all areas = blessing in all areas: Anxiety and worry, and the whole subject of trusting the Lord is, at the heart of it, all about knowing the Lord in daily experience, not merely in reading about Him in His word. Death to self means turning to Him, relying upon Him, turning to Him with all problems and difficulties, whether intellectual, material, spiritual or emotional, and not making our own intellect or cleverness, or our own will-power, the resource we will rely upon. Anxiety closes us down. Reliance releases resources.

This is a very real issue. Another way of putting it is to ask are we godly or godless, selfless or selfish, when it comes to running our lives? Death to the godless and selfish approach to life is essential if we are to let the Lord move in with resurrection power to deliver us in the trials we face in life and shine as His children.

Pleasure, a supplementary gift: Finally we considered the difficult path of enjoyment and pleasure that can exclude the Lord from our lives. In such a case it is death to excess, death to making pleasure the source of meaning and fulfilment for our lives. Where the seeking after pleasure through goods or experiences has subtly grown to fill our lives to the exclusion of the Lord, then balance is never going to come and all we can hope for is a jaded ‘existence' if we fail to put to death such a reliance. In today's age that is a particularly hard thing in modern life.

Life Options: So there it is: failure to face and deal with these very real issues means we will be consigned to a mundane life of ordinariness, jadedness and frustration, a life where the glory and wonder of the Lord cannot break through in resurrection power. Clearly the opposites of these things that we have considered, and which need putting to death, will be goals of the resurrection life and so, having dealt with them thus far, we will endeavour not to repeat them in the following studies. Instead we will consider what the resurrection life means and how it can be experienced, even in what we might consider the ordinary aspects of the Christian life, so they can become less ordinary and become a source of excitement, faith and hope, rather than drab, taken-for-granted features of formal religion. Remember, this second Part is all about power to live the new Christian life.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 12. Righteousness Arrives

Isa 32:17,18   The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes,   in undisturbed places of rest.

Fruit of New Birth = Righteousness: I often think that there are things about the Christian life that, for most of the time, we take for granted and so perhaps they are things to which we don't give much thought. For example, we have observed a number of times already in this series, that the change from our ‘old life' to the new born-again experience is quite dramatic and the product of being born again, if we may put it like that, is righteousness.

Two Sorts of Righteousness: Now there are those who argue about these things, but I do believe there are two levels of righteousness that we experience. The first is ‘ imputed' righteousness which is attributed when we come in repentance and submit to the Lord for Him to take and change our lives. On the basis of our belief in the finished work of Christ on the Cross, we are declared righteous by God (see Abraham's example – Gen 15:6 and affirmed by the apostle Paul in Romans 4). It is all about our standing now.

The second is ‘ imparted' righteousness whereby the Lord imparts His Holy Spirit to indwell us, and as He leads us He enables us to live righteous lives . This is all about practical living.

But what is righteousness? Well apart from the two suggestions above, put most simply, it is ‘living according to God's design, the way God has designed us to live' . Using the two definitions above we might say it is about a new attitude , knowing we are justified children of God, justified by the work of Christ on the Cross and appropriated by us when we surrendered to Christ. It is also about a new way of behaving , as we work it out in our everyday behaviour.

NT Examples: Now at one level this is very simple for it is living according to the teaching of the New Testament and so there are very obvious statements that in some ways are the equivalent to the Old Testament Law. For example in both Colossians and Ephesians there are times when Paul says “put off” or “put to death” certain things and “put on” other things. (e.g. Col 3:5-9) so you have obvious things such as putting to death, “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed,” and “Do not lie to each other.” There are lots of these sorts of instructions in the New Testament.

If you want some of the more positive ones, a bit later there is, “ clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.   And over all these virtues put on love.” (v.13-15) There are lots of these sorts of instruction throughout the New Testament and we might summarise their description as ‘living according to God's will and God's design' . This is what He wants for us.

A New Focus: Whereas in our old life, we just lived according to what seemed right for us, now we have specifics to obey. Indeed, the fact that we have this goal – to please God by obeying His will – is the first thing that marks us out from our non-Christian neighbours. As we purpose to obey these things, the indwelling Holy Spirit helps us and enables us. When you look at Jesus' teaching near the end, in John's Gospel, we find that he told us that the Holy Spirit would testify in our hearts the truth about Jesus (Jn 15:26) and about sin, righteousness and judgment (16:8-11) and will generally guide us into all truth (16:13), i.e. his primary way of working within us, to help us clarify our purposes, is by convincing or reassuring or convicting us of things that are the truth in respect of God and His desires for us.

Dead & now Alive: Whereas before we came to Christ we were ‘dead', now God has made us ‘alive': “you were dead in your transgressions and sins …. God, who is rich in mercy,   made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions …. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2:1,4,6) Previously we were spiritually dead, insensitive to God, and unaware of His presence. Now, by His Spirit He has made us alive – hence the resurrection analogy. The analogy of being lifted up to be seated with Christ, we will consider in the later Parts.

Change! The first sign of this resurrected life, therefore, is a change of direction, a change of purpose and, as I suggested at the beginning, it may be so obvious that we take little notice of it and yet it is the absolute basic foundation of our new lives. We were saved to be changed; we came to Christ because we acknowledged we needed to be different, and so we died to the old way of doing things and the Lord established a new way in us through His word and by His Spirit.

Spirit Direction: Note how we finished that last paragraph. It isn't merely following a set of written instructions because there are times when the written instructions are inadequate for dealing with a particular conundrum that is before us. Problems arise and we really need some form of personal guidance and direction – and He is there within us, and then we find something strange: He doesn't seem to be saying anything and so we have to go to Him and ask in prayer for help, for wisdom or revelation, to know what to do – and then we enter into a whole new world, the world of learning to listen to God. This is the world of relationship, not merely following a written list of rules; this is a world of trying to catch His heart, of hearing His quiet whisper, this is the world of the resurrected Christian who is now “alive to God”, empowered by God to, if nothing else, hear God.

Revelation brings Releasing: How rarely is this taught in church! How many there are who know so little of this relational living! How few put a premium on hearing God! Righteousness starts with us being told that we now ARE righteous in God's sight. It continues as we turn to ‘the Law' of the New Testament and start living according to this new paradigm, BUT the power of it is revealed in the relationship the Holy Spirit enables, which lifts being a member of the body of Christ, the Church, out of the realm of a club with a constitution, into a living, active body that receives revelation from heaven. This may be revelation about individuals, insight into situations, wisdom to know how to counter the works of the enemy and bring peace and harmony around us, freedom and liberty to individuals.

Righteousness means Peace & Security: Our starting verses from Isaiah, spoke of a righteousness that God would bring and the effect it would have “ The fruit of that righteousness  will be peace ; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful  dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.” What a picture is conveyed of the fruit of this righteousness working in our lives: peace, quietness, confidence, security. The fact that so often, it seems, in Christian lives today these things appear to be absent, suggests we may not be living lives of righteousness that I have described above. Perhaps we might need to think again.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 13. Prayer – He is here!

Mt 7:7   “Ask  and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

A New Way of Looking: Oh no, you may be thinking, this is degenerating into basic studies about spiritual disciplines. Well, yes and no, Yes, in that we are going to consider one or two of those things that are often referred to as spiritual disciplines but no, in that we are looking – hopefully with fresh eyes – at these things as expressions of the ‘resurrection life'. Resurrection, remember, is all about power, God's power, and so we will be looking at these things as expressions of the working of God and will try to see how the power of God takes us to a new, divinely supernatural level of experience.

Jesus' Resurrection shows the Way: Why do I say that? Because that is what the resurrection of Jesus was, an expression of the power of God that first brought life back into the body of Jesus and then enabled him to do things that his human body had not been able to do before. So now I ask the question, can we see prayer in this same way? Can we see ‘prayer' as an expression of the power of God flowing through us and does it enable experiences to happen that cannot happen in the non-Christian?

Poor Prayer? That challenges us to think just what prayer is. For many people prayer is uttering words into space and hoping for the best. The only thing is that that is exactly what unbelievers do in a crisis so if that is what we do, it puts us on the level of the desperate and superstitious unbeliever!

Prayer and God's Presence: Let's be as basic as possible. Throughout I hope I convey a message: “God first!” Whatever we are thinking about in the spiritual realm – start from God. When it comes to prayer, the starting point must be that He is there, or rather, He is here! He really is! So often, as I watch other people leading in public prayer, they shoot straight off speaking into the air, giving no thought whatsoever to the fact that He is HERE!

The ‘Presence of God': Instead of blurting out words, we can pause and sense His presence. Oh dear, we've just moved into an area that makes many of us feel uncomfortable, looking to feelings, senses, and that can be deceptive or questionable. Yes, of course it can, we can get it wrong but that can be true of anything, and so we simply have to learn!

So, OK I confess that very often, if I pause before launching into prayer, I will simply sense a simple quietness and, as nice as that is, that is all it is. However, I am also aware that there have been other times when it was considerably more than that, almost a tangible presence of God (and actually it is more than occasionally!). This is the thing, God is always present wherever you are, whenever you are; the presence of God is always there. But then there is what is sometimes called the ‘manifest presence of God', God's presence becoming manifest, made obvious, in some way.

An Example: A little while ago I was with a group of leaders in America and we were sitting around a table to discuss a way ahead, but we started in ‘prayer'. I simply said to them, “Let's just be aware of the Lord with us shall we,” and then prayed, “Lord, please draw near to us.” “Draw  near to God and He will  draw  near to you.” (Jas 4:8 NKJV) All I can tell you is that there was an almost tangible silence that went beyond mere silence; it was a presence, His presence, and we just sat there bathing in the wonder of Him and it went on and on. In fact it became obvious that when I eventually called the leaders to ‘come back' there was a visible reluctance to leave and move on. What we are talking about here is the supernatural presence of Almighty God which is wonderfully beautiful and awe-inspiring and simply inspires and releases worship of the heart (not the words or tunes only type of worship that is so common).

Becoming Aware: I think I have told this experience before in my writing, but it bears repeating. Many years ago I was witnessing to a young woman and although she was fairly receptive to what I was saying she said, “I just don't seem to get it.” I think it must have been the Lord because I said, “Would you like to try an experiment. Humour me. I want you to pretend there really is a God and I want you to close your eyes and I will pray a few words. Then I want you to humour me with this experiment and you speak into the air some words that you think might constitute prayer, maybe starting, ‘God if you are here.'” She looked a bit embarrassed but agreed to do it. I said a few words out loud to the Lord and then went quiet. A moment or three passed and eventually she started and prayed something (I don't remember what it was) and then there was a silence and then the sound of snuffling. Out of curiosity I opened my eyes and she was sitting there with tears streaming down her face and she whispered, “He IS here!” She went on to pray ‘the sinners' prayer'.

The Effect of Talking to a Person: I believe it is vitally important to make this emphasis because so often when I go into a new church group I simply witness prayer meetings where people are just throwing words at the wall and there is no sense of the Lord's presence and no sense of speaking to a PERSON who is there . The moment we start to catch the sense that we are in the presence of, and are addressing Almighty, Holy God, everything changes.

Change No.1 – we stop focusing on what we want, and it becomes what He wants. When we recognise we are in the room, if I may put it like that, with the all-wise, all-knowing, all-loving, all powerful God of the universe, it changes our perspective.

Change No. 2 – If He knows everything (and He does!) the only reason for telling Him all about the circumstance that troubles us, is to clarify it in our own minds; it is for our benefit. If He is all-wise (and He is) then we realise we are foolish to tell Him what He ought to do (which is what so much modern prayer is!)

Change No.3 – when we start realising these things, we realise that prayer needs to become as much about LISTENING as it is speaking. We briefly mentioned this yesterday, but we are now talking about the mystery of ‘listening', another questionable area in the lives of many insecure modern Christians.

Let me give you an example. The prayer I find the Lord answers most for me is, “Lord, I need your wisdom. Please show me what you want me to do here.” The next thoughts that come, again and again, are thoughts about what to do – the wisdom needed. But it does need me to watch what is happening ‘between my two ears'! This is where faith comes in, because to take note and act requires faith.

Group Praying: Moving in this dimension in a group, corporately if you like, means we listen to God through each other. I often say to a group, “Let's wait on God and listen, and then as you start to catch a sense of what direction, one person start off and when they finish, see if someone can follow on the thread they have started with.” When we ‘flow' like that we then find the Lord releases faith and revelation and pictures start getting shared, awareness of direction comes, and more faith is released. Inevitably, direction of what we need to do, as an outworking of the revelation received, also comes and we are enabled to step out in life with a new sense of faith. Prayer thus becomes more of a “what do you want Lord?” exercise, than merely uttering personal needs, but we'll look at that as the next subject.

To conclude here – dare we step out in prayer in a dimension that is God-inspired, with revelation, insight, prophecy, knowledge, understanding (all things that come from Him) that make us different from the world around us, for this is what the Lord calls us to in this newly empowered resurrection life?

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 14. The New World of Personal Provision

2 Cor 12:9   But he said to me, “My  grace  is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ”

In the previous study we emphasised that the new resurrection life means a new awareness of the presence of God, and that especially in the matter of prayer and I am aware that in the things I was suggesting yesterday about prayer, it may be that you felt I was saying there is no place for asking for things for ourselves in this approach; quite to the contrary, we have a new confidence to ask things of our loving heavenly Father.

Paul's Need: In Paul's very personal second letter to the Corinthians he uses the word ‘grace' eleven times and nowhere does it contain such significance as in our verse above. Let's just define ‘grace' very simply as God's provision for His children. Now Paul had been suffering something he simply called ‘a thorn in the flesh' (v.7). Now we don't know what it was and many have speculated what it was, especially as he also refers to it as a ‘messenger of Satan', but we will simply say, for the sake of what we are saying here, that it was something that was at its best, a nuisance, and at its worst something totally debilitating that pulled him down.

So, when the Lord says these things to him, we need to note two things that He says. First, whatever this thing is, God's resources for Paul to cope with it are adequate. Second, and this is implied, the Lord isn't going to take it away (at least not in the immediate future) because His power will be revealed in Paul's weakness, i.e. he will still have it, but God's power will be so obvious that he will be able to cope with it.

God's Alternatives: Within this we can realise two important ways that the Lord works. Sometimes He delivers us from the situation (e.g. in Acts 12 He miraculously delivered Peter from prison) and sometimes He delivers us in it, i.e. He gives us the grace to cope while we are still in the midst of the trying, difficult or even apparently impossible circumstances. We may ask to be delivered from it but sometimes He wants us to learn to receive from Him the resources to cope with it or handle it while we are still in it or surrounded by it. These things are not only material, e.g. illness or infirmities, but they can be intellectual, where we need wisdom how to act, or they can be spiritual.

Temptation: An example of a ‘spiritual difficulty' might be temptation: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Cor 10:13) Note the basics of what he says here. First, we will never encounter anything that others have also not already encountered (“common to mankind”). Second, God will never allow anything beyond what we can bear. Third, He will always provide a way to cope with the temptation. So there it is, it doesn't matter whether it is physical or material, mental or emotional or even spiritual, the message is the same, God WILL provide.

The Resurrection = God's Provision : Now of course the greatest demonstration of God's provision was in respect of the resurrection: “you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death ,” (Acts 2:23,24) so, “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.” ( Rom 8:11) Now whether that means now on this earth (e.g. perhaps in healing) or in eternity with new spiritual bodies, is open for debate, but the main thrust of the message is clear: God's resource is His own Holy Spirit and He will be there for us to energise us now and into eternity.

Our Resurrection Provision: As Jesus exercises his rule at the Father's right hand in heaven, we see and experience the fruit of that rule as his Holy Spirit is His provision: physical healing where he declares it, mental healing, similarly, healing of emotions, wisdom for the intellect, His power changing the circumstances or us in the circumstances, all of these being His provision, His grace in every and any circumstance.

Waiting: Now we have already said that sometimes His way through a crisis is to provide grace for us, whereas in other circumstances He may simply change the circumstance. Sometimes we may have to wait for answers to prayer to appear while at other times we will ask, and the thing will happen immediately. From our end of things, the big thing is, will we trust and remain faithful while we are waiting either for the circumstances to change or the resources to appear and be experienced? The big truth is that God IS there for us in the circumstances and He will move those circumstances or provide the grace to handle them: “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” (Rom 8:28) The resurrection life is a life of provision. Not only has God brought new life to us by the indwelling Holy Spirit but that same Holy Spirit is also the channel and means of God's ongoing provision in our lives.

New Possibilities: Once we fully take this in, life is never the same again. The truth is that we no longer have to put up with the circumstances as they are. The Scriptural testimony is clear: our God delights in stepping into our circumstances and either changing them, and/or changing us. Now, because the Christian life is a partnership between us and God, we have a part to play, and that part is called faith and faith involves learning. Faith means reaching out to God but sometimes that means persevering, but that is another story!  

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 15. God's Word as a Doorway

Rev 3:20   I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

The Different Perspective: Because I believe we very often take these thigs for granted, I am seeking to view these ‘spiritual disciplines' through the perspective of living a resurrection life, a life brought alive and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Two meditations back we considered prayer as a doorway into God's presence, a doorway into new possibilities, something far more than just a ritual of uttering words into the air. In yesterday's study we considered an extension of that, the fact that we have a God of provision (which is often highlighted as we pray), again transforming the possibilities from the old life into a new life of security in being loved.

“God's Word”? But now we come to “God's word” and for many of us this will just mean the words of the Bible, but I would like to suggest that if we are living in resurrection life awareness, although that will be the foundation of all our belief, it is not all there is. The other day I woke feeling rather worn and weary and as I looked into something I had to do that day as part of a family experience, I was aware that I was grumbling inside. I didn't want to do it, I was too tired, and as easy as it is to speak about God's resources, sometimes it takes an effort to take hold of them. That was my frame of mind when the Lord spoke: “Son, see this time as a time of opportunity.” And that was it. I was changed, and the day and the event turned out to be great.

God still Speaks: Now in that mini-testimony I am aware that for some I will be presenting a stumbling block because they may have come from a background that teaches that the word of God ceased to be added to with the completion of the canon of Scripture. Sadly for such people, that speculative and insecure teaching means they miss the realisation that the living God is speaking to them in their daily lives. Now as much as I would not put such simple words as in that little testimony above on a par with Scripture, I nevertheless equate them with the word of God because I am convinced God spoke them into my mind and brought a transformation about in me that brought blessing in a variety of ways.

When God speaks, transformation should follow : Now what I've just said, highlights something about the word of God. When we take it as the word of God, it should always bring transformation. Consider those words of our starter verse above, very familiar words from Revelation 3 to the church at Laodicea. Jesus is saying, through the prophetic words that John is bringing, that as he speaks it is like he is knocking on the door of the hearts of John's readers and he is inviting them to let him come into their hearts and minds to share. To the one who hears it and responds to it and basically says, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening” (to quote Samuel in 1 Sam 3:9), he pictures the two of them (Jesus and the listener) sitting and eating together. This is an act of fellowship, and when we read God's word AS God's word that is alive to us today, we will find ourselves fellowshipping with Him .

Now this doesn't mean that God doesn't sometimes speak to believers who are being casual with His word (just reading by habit with little thought) and even unbelievers (I know of a number of instances where the word of God has arrested and brought to repentance unbelievers who then became believers!). However, great effect comes when we stop and break into the ‘habit' approach and pause before we read and acknowledge the Lord's presence in the same way I spoke about in respect of prayer. When I first started writing Bible studies, I always prefaced them with a challenge to pray before reading and a challenge to pray afterwards. By doing both things you are focusing on the Lord and looking to Him for His enabling as you go to read. Today I will be more proscriptive in speaking about being aware of the Lord's presence.

Eating the Word? When the prophet Ezekiel met with the Lord we find, “And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.”  So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.  Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.” (Ezek 3:1-3) The scroll he was to eat was clearly the word of God.

Eating Changes Us: Now the thing about eating something is that it changes you. If it was poison it would either make you ill or kill you. If it is ordinary food, it will nourish and sustain you. Now if, in these biblical illustrations, God's word is being portrayed as food to be eaten, then the logical conclusion is that the intent of ‘eating' God's word is that we are changed and transformed by it.

A Transformation Encounter? Instead of the ‘daily quiet time reading' being simply a habit (assuming you do it), this time becomes a divinely supernatural encounter, a resurrection encounter, where the power of God is released and the ‘word element' of such a time becomes a time of divinely supernatural provision and such provision brings about change.

Go beyond Notes: Now I have to make a strange comment here, which I have made a number of times in the past, and that is as a young Christian you may use Bible notes (which may include these) but they should only be as a starter, a support or a backup, and as you grow they should not replace the possibility of you having this direct encounter that I have been speaking about whereby you read and study and meditate upon the word directly and such notes either fall away or simply become backup or support notes I just said.

Basics! There are times, I must confess, when I am feeling very tired and worn out and such times are not conducive to study. At those times I will simply read a passage of Scripture slowly and may then use notes as ‘supplements' to the main meal. Even in such tiredness, we should be able to apprehend something of the Lord's presence and greatness.

Distractions: One further thought: distractions. Many of us may have busy lives and lives involving family. Let's be honest; settling down to know the Lord's presence in peace and quiet and with His word, is not easy when you have young demanding children. Such times become times of mini-prayer: “Lord, show me how I can grab five or ten minutes alone with you. Please grant me this wisdom.” It only needs five minutes and although longer may be better, under pressure, five minutes is enough to encounter an oasis of the Lord's presence and His life-changing word. Don't let the enemy tell you these things are not possible. They are.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 16. The World of Possibilities

Luke 1:37   For no word from God will ever fail.”

Holy Ground? I believe we are walking on holy ground in these studies, ground that looks so familiar but ground that has been made different by the presence of God, and that is the emphasis behind these studies that consider the ‘resurrection life' of the Christian, the life empowered by the Holy Spirit. Moses in the desert (Ex 3) came to Sinai, unknown to him as what would become “the mountain of God.” (3:1) and observes a bush that appears to be on fire and yet is not being burned up. He wanders over to take a closer look and encounters the Lord and is told, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (3:5) It looked just the same but God was there.

Endless Possibilities? That is what I have come to feel about where we are in these studies. We are touching on things which I suspect we would all say we agree with, but there is a reality here that goes beyond surface appearance or surface understanding. Now I know I have made this comment before, but I believe we now need to stop and consider the reality, what does it mean? The comment? Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling us and because Jesus is seated at his Father's right and ruling over his kingdom, which includes us, we are living a life of endless possibilities beyond that expected of any other person (the non-Christian, the unbeliever).

The Living God: What do I mean by this? Stop and think about this. We are in relationship with the living God. Listen to Hezekiah's words in prayer describing our God: “Lord  Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.” (Isa 37:16) Listen how the early Christians prayed: “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David.” (Acts 4:24,25) Old and New Testament believers are in accord and we need to join them: our God is the Almighty God of Creation, all-powerful, all knowing, all-wise and He rules over all the world, despite what you see happening (which is because He allows freedom of will) that caused both the Psalmist and the early believers to cry, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?   The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.” (Psa 2:1,2 & Acts 4:25b,26) Yet, He is clearly Sovereign Lord.

God's Activities: So what sort of things does this Sovereign God do? What do we see of Him in the Bible that makes me say, the Christian life is a life of endless possibilities? He calls people and gives them new direction to their lives (e.g. Abram, Gen 12:1,2). He steps into the lives of those suffering in this Fallen World and meets them at their point of need. We see this often in the case of women who could not have children: e.g. Hannah – 1 Sam, Sarai – Gen 12 on, Rebekah – Gen 25, not to mention Elizabeth and Mary – Luke 1. Our starter verse is in respect of Mary that many will remember from other versions as, “ For with God nothing will be impossible .” (NKJV) The balancing verse was spoken by Jesus: “ With man this is impossible, but with God all things are  possible .” (Mt 19:26) Notice the key words: “with God”.

New Life – New Possibilities: The Luke 1 verse is particularly significant I believe. The context is the inability of a woman to bring forth new life. God's words declare that it doesn't matter what the appearances seem to be saying, He can change anything. Now once we really take this in, the idea of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit in the ‘resurrection life' of the Christian takes on new meaning. Because God indwells us, the presence of His power in us means that the future is a new open book with possibilities beyond anything of which we could have dreamed. Impossibilities become possible, things we never dreamed of, become items on the Lord's agenda. This can apply to singleness, barrenness, need of new purpose and direction in life, need of a career or job change. All it requires is our openness to Him.

Now that is easier said than done. God chooses Moses, but Moses can't see it (see Ex 3 & 4). God calls Gideon, but Gideon thinks it is a joke (see Judg 6). God calls Jeremiah but Jeremiah things he will be looked down on for being too young (see Jer 1). Zechariah thinks he is too old and Mary worries about being single (see Luke 1). So we're in good company if we struggle with this.

Distracted by ‘Concerns': So often we allow the bad things of the world to fill our vision, we allow the enemy to make us think negative thoughts about ourselves, so often we allow worry to prevail. I recently watched a grandmother expressing her concern for the grandchildren and although it was her concern, I couldn't help thinking how her thoughts were so negative so much of the time, worrying about the ‘what might be' instead of enjoying the present. ‘Over concern' focuses on the ‘what might be' and so often that is a negative thing.

Think afresh: see the angelic presence with you, sent there by God to guard and protect you (and take away the worries of ‘ghosts' of small children at night.). See the sovereign oversight of the Son of God at the Father's right hand – for YOUR benefit! Ask him to make you a person of vision – of what he can make you, of how he can use you. Above all, ask him to burn this idea of “all things are possible with God in your life” into your heart and mind.

Can we allow Him to make us messengers of the now word of God for others, bringers of words of revelation, words of wisdom? Can we dare ask Him to make us channels of His power or authority to bring changes to the world around us, bringing them into the ambit of His rule, the rule of His kingdom? Are there ‘mountains' to be moved (Mt 17:20, 21:21) or ‘giants' to be slain (1 Sam 17) in the name of the Lord? Are we truly His sons and daughters available to bring in the kingdom of God, the rule of God, where all things are possible, and nothing is impossible – with God? May it be so!

Postscript: Since originally writing this meditation, and particularly since writing No. 14 where I gave a mini-testimony about God speaking, another incident occurred which bears relating. Again I woke feeling weary and tired and, as I looked into the week ahead, I grumbled to the Lord that I was doing too much and couldn't cope. Heaven seemed to remain silent and after a few minutes of further praying, I got up to leave the room and quite distinctly heard in my spirit, “Go and look at the flip-top calendar.” We have on the window sill of that room one of those calendars that you flip over each day and it shows a verse. Having been through it several times in the past, I never use it now and without thinking much about it, I retorted in my mind to what I took to be the Lord, “I don't know what the date is.” Bad mannered little child of God!! Instantly came back, “Son, go and look at the calendar in the next room.” I went into the kitchen and looked up the date and returned to my prayer room and flipped the cards over to the present date. There I read, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work – 2 Corinthians 9:8” I heard from heaven and repented. The week changed.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 17. Resurrection Sacrifice

Rom 12:1   I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  

Our Goals Restated: I think more than any other series I have ever embarked on, in this one I (we) need to restate our purpose again and again if we are to get to the heart of the scriptures, and as we consider how we can grow in Christ. Our present goal is to examine the Christian life, considering it as a resurrected life, a life empowered by the Holy Spirit and raised to life after we have previously, pre-Christ, been spiritually dead. We are thus considering various facets of the Christian life observed as expressions of the Spirit reflecting the resurrected life of Jesus – mainly the factor of the Spirit empowered life that overcame death.

We have considered various aspects of this and there will almost certainly be overlaps in those considerations and now I wish to consider a facet of that life I have never considered before in respect of Jesus after he was raised from the dead – the fact that this was a strictly limited period of his overall life plan, if I may put it like that, and he is clearly still working out the will of the Father.

Jesus' Role Limited: If Jesus had just been doing his own thing, he could easily have thought that having passed through the crucifixion experience, seen to have died and now raised from the dead, he was in an admirable position to draw followers even more than before, but he didn't. Instead he concentrated on the core of his followers and seems to have focused his teaching on them in an out of the way place in Galilee in the north. The plan was for them to be his witnesses after they had been filled with the Spirit after their return to Jerusalem . He, himself, would ascend back to heaven and leave them to be empowered and carry on his work, as he directed it at the right hand of his Father in heaven.

Yet again, I suggest, we see Jesus sacrificing his will to the plan of the Godhead and it is that aspect we turn to now. Now of course (the overlaps I mentioned), we have considered submitting to the sovereign will of God when we came to Christ and although it might be thought this is more appropriately something considered in the first Part about ‘dying to self', we bring it right into centre place when it comes to the resurrection life. We could get carried away with the idea of being raised to a new life, a life of freedom, talking about possibilities as we just did in the previous study, but here we need to bring the balancing teaching with the reminder that those possibilities are ‘in Christ' or ‘in God'; they are possibilities inspired and empowered and directed by him,

Balance: So, with all this talk about a resurrected, empowered life, it is appropriate as we seek to bring balance, that we pick up on a little of Paul's teaching to the Romans: “I urge you, brothers and sisters …. to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship,” or as the Message version expands it , “ here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.” Whatever else this verse means, it can perhaps be summarised as, ‘Give God everything about you, for Him to do with it as He wills, to change it or dispose of it even.'

Struggle: Now in the interests of strict honesty, I have to confess that I have struggled with this concept. As I prayed beforehand, it seemed right and yet as I wrote, I felt hypocritical as I felt I didn't do it, and I felt ignorant in that I am sure I don't know what it really means, and so I put aside this study and felt uncomfortable. And then a verse came to mind and it all made sense: “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 10;38,39) The same thing is said almost word for word a little later : “Then Jesus said to his disciples,  “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Mt 16:24,25)

Death Guaranteed: Look at the elements of those verses: you want “to be my disciple ” ? This isn't for everyone; this is for those who will be Christians, who will agree to follow Jesus (like we saw in the case of Levi). Such people “must deny themselves ”, i .e. must die to self as we saw in the first Part. Such people must take up that sign of death, the Cross, and follow the walk of Jesus. If again we take that imaginary conversation between Jesus and Levi, it might now go as follows:

“What are we going to do?

“You'll find out as you follow me.”

“Where will it end?”

“Do you really want to know? (Silence) My death on a cross, and you too will die, not physically but in every other way. (Silence) At that point you will run away but I will come after you and we will talk again and again I will ask you to follow me. At that time, you will see in my resurrection, a new possibility, but it will always be under the shadow of death, for they will come hunting you and many of you will literally give up your physical lives as you remain loyal to me. Come follow me.”

That is what it meant for the earliest disciples. For some Christians around the world today it will mean exactly the same. For us? We won't know until our lives come to a literal end on this planet. In the meantime, although we live with his power within us, what I have termed ‘resurrection lives', we are called to live that life as if we may have no tomorrow. Part of giving our bodies, as Paul put it, means making ourselves available to Jesus for whatever he wants to do with us,

The Reality of ‘Being Sent': It's that same old ‘sovereignty thing' we considered before, and for some of us it seems really scary but that is only because we imagine God sending us to places (it used to be ‘darkest Africa' or smuggling Bibles into Russia) that scare the life out of us – but if the life has already gone and we are now running on his life, his power, we don't have a life to defend, just a new one to live on turbo-charge. The thing is that God knows what is best for each of us and so, yes, there will be some who get a call to Outer Mongolia (I've met some of them, they are incredible) but most of us will simply get a call to our neighbours or our unsaved family where we may find rejection but, on the other hand, we may find a prepared ground and we're just going in to harvest.

Thinking Aright: Part of this ‘finding our life' when we give it up, is finding a new way of thinking, but we'll keep that until tomorrow. When we get our thinking right, it is easier to do the things the New Testament says about us. An example? Well the fact that God totally loves us. He is not going to get you to do something or go somewhere that is completely beyond you – well yes it may be, but a) He will always be with you in it and b) He will always enable you to handle it. That's the joy of this resurrection, empowered life, and so talk of giving up your life is no longer so scary because i) you've already done it once when you came to Christ and ii) the power will always be there. Again and again we ‘die' and say, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you. I will do what you say,” and then to our surprise, it suddenly seems easy! Amazing! Well, of course, it's His power you are experiencing.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 18. Resurrection Mind Change

Rom 12:2   Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Power through Revelation: I have a feeling that when we talk about power, as we have been doing in this Part as we consider the Christian life as a resurrected life, we rarely connect power to the mind or to our thinking, we tend to link it to physical power. But the fact is that when we receive ‘revelation' it is because God communicates with us. When I speak or listen, energy is involved. If I was dead I would be unable to either speak or listen. Those two capabilities only operate when there is power, energy, life. You may never have thought of it like this, but when you came to Christ it was because God's power was being used to communicate with you and the Holy Spirit convicted you of the truth. Yes, when you were born again, power was involved, the power of the presence of the now indwelling Holy Spirit, but before that, power was being experienced (even though we were almost certainly not aware of it) in the form of the communication.

The fact that many of us rarely if ever think of revelation as an expression of God's power in us, means that we have a passive attitude towards our thinking and perhaps fail to realise how important our ‘thinking' is and how important ‘revelation' is.

Renewal & Transformation: In our verse above today, the apostle Paul says, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind .” Now many times in writing these studies we face the fact that the Christian life is to be a life of change, a life of transformation, and Paul says that that transformation takes place as our mind is renewed.

Now what does that actually mean, for your mind to be renewed? Well, on the basis of my starting point so often these days – “God first!” – we must ask, what is God doing? In this respect He (the Holy Spirit) is seeking to teach us, to impart knowledge and understanding to us which will give us a new framework of understanding the world, a framework that starts from God and works out: God made this world and us in it with free will, and knowing we would exercise it to experience Sin, the Godhead agreed on the plan of salvation that would involve the Son of God coming to earth etc., etc.

Everything we now are flows from this. If you like, we might say that the framework for our lives today is that we are now redeemed sinners, empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit and directed by Jesus at the Father's right hand, still exercising our free will to conform, as much as we are able, with the will of God. But that ‘renewing' is important for us to understand what the will of God is. It is as Paul says, “Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Renewal brings Understanding: As our mind is renewed, so we become more open to understanding what God's will is and thus more open to His power flowing in us. The order appears to be as follows: i) He convicts us or imparts knowledge of our state that needs to be changed, ii) we submit to, or agree with that impartation of knowledge and desire to do it and so as we step out to do it, we find that iii) He empowers us to enable us to do the thing. Revelation – mind change – power impartation. God's will is simply His desire for us, for our lives to conform to His design, the basic way for all humans to live plus the specific aspects of that which apply to me as a unique creation.

As I conform my life to His written word and allow His Holy Spirit to lead me in specific directions, so I will be conforming to His will for me. In the overall sense it will be the same as for you – not doing sinful things, ‘putting off' the old life, as we've seen before, and clothing ourselves with the character of Jesus. However, in specific ways it will be different from your life for I am a different person to you with different gifts, talents and abilities and He will have different things on His heart for me to do in my life.

In my old life I was ‘dead' to God and He seemed a million miles away and never available to me, but then He imparted His Holy Spirit into my life and a fresh power flowed in my ‘resurrected life', a power that enabled communication. However, as with all aspects of my new life, it is a combination of His moving and my exercising my will to conform to His leading.

Our Activity: If we insert ‘YOU' into those two Romans 12 verses we can see the call to us for us to exercise our will and make the effort to do what he says: “ I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, (THAT YOU) offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (YOU) Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but (YOU) be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” As we've said before, as we act to obey and conform to His desire, so He enables us, and power flows and changes us.

Thinking & Behaviour: It is often said, ‘as a man thinks, so he is'. That simply means our thinking – our knowledge and understanding and wisdom – is the precursor to our behaviour, our words and our actions. So, as the mind things are changed, so do our words and our actions. We so often think our ‘behaviour' is the important thing but the truth is that it is what goes on in our heads that triggers the behaviour. Perspective is important. Knowledge is important. Understanding is important. Wisdom is important. All these ‘mind things' are what are behind our words and actions. Words and action never act independently.

So, as we near the end of this Part, let's realise that ‘power' for the resurrection life as I have been calling it, is not merely in our actions, it starts in our minds. His power is there to transform our minds as we open ourselves to Him, and those transformed minds result in transformed observable lives. Very well, before we move into the final Part, we will carry out a recap of the things we have considered in this Part and that is what we'll do tomorrow.

Lessons in Growth Meditations: 19. Recap 2

Phil 3:10   I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection

Death before Power Resurrection: Before we move on into the third Part, we will remind ourselves of the things we have covered in Part 2. It has been all about the power that God has released in our lives by the presence of His indwelling Holy Spirit which, when we consider it in the light of our previous lives that were dead to God, we have referred to as ‘resurrection lives'. We considered that for the resurrection life to come into being, death has first to take place, death to self, death to the old life, death seen in the form of surrender to the sovereignty of God, a new reliance on Jesus for the rest of life.

Righteousness the New Goal : From there we went on to consider that the goal of the new empowered life is righteousness, conforming to the will of God, and we reminded ourselves that that comes in two forms. First, it is our righteousness that is seen through God's eyes as a result of the work of Jesus on the Cross. Second, it is practical day to day righteousness that is being lived out as we conform to the teaching of the Bible and aided by the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Fruit of that righteousness is peace and security.

Prayer, a New Way of Looking: We followed on by thinking about this new empowered life also been seen as a life of prayer, of becoming aware of the presence of God in a new way and responding to that presence, realising it is all about what He wants, Him knowing all of our needs already, and so entering into a new life of learning to listen to Him. In the corporate dimension, prayer within the church grouping, there is released a new dimension of revelation and direction.

God's Provision: Because prayer is so often seen as asking for our own needs, we went on to consider the Lord's provision for us, His grace, which comes in the form of the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We saw that His resources as witnessed in two different ways: first, sometimes He delivers us out of the situation and, second, He sometimes delivers us in the situation by allowing it to continue but providing for us in the midst of it.

God's Word – Transforming Revelation: One of God's ‘provisions' we considered was His word that we see both in the form of the Bible AND of the communication of His indwelling Holy Spirit, directed by Jesus, ruling at the right hand of his Father. This ‘revelation', we said, should always bring life transformation. We examined this in the light of the examples in the Scripture of individuals being told to ‘eat' God's words and eating, we went on to consider, brings change to the body.

The World of Possibilities: Stepping aside from what we call the spiritual disciplines, we considered the bigger subject of how this power of God in us opens up a world of possibilities. Observing various Biblical characters, we realised that so often when God comes to bring revelation and direction, our personal sense of inadequacy has to be overcome before we can move into the fullness of His will for us.

Sacrifice & Transformation: To conclude this Part we looked at two aspects of Paul's teaching, both of which are vital to this resurrection life. In the first we saw Paul's call to lay down or sacrifice our lives for God's use. Underpinning everything about the resurrection life is this primary call to be available to God. Power flows in His children when we are seeking His presence and His will, and to do that means a laying down of our own wishes, our own ambitions and our own way of doing things. It is only within this context that the power of God is experienced.

But then, second, came the question of mind transformation, changing our way of thinking to conform to His – His overall will and goals, and His way of doing things. We realise that our life is a combination of His leading and our responding and when we respond to His leading we find a power resource available that we had not known before.

Summarising? How can we summarise these things? Well, strangely you might think, there is very little about specific doing. These things are big ways of working, if I may put it like that, and that is on purpose. Our intent has been to focus on the reality of the resurrection life, the life empowered by the Spirit. It will only be as we move into the third Part that we will see specific things that we can DO as expressions of the kingdom of God . This Part, we might say, has been about principles.

So, yes, first, there is the principle that death must precede resurrection. For the resurrection power life to happen there has to be death to the old life and surrender to God. Then, second, there is the realisation that this is power is to enable righteousness. Third, it is a new of “God first” looking at life, especially experienced in prayer, which opens the door to the realisation that, fourth, it is a life of power resources made available to us in the form of the Holy Spirit, available for every situation and circumstance. Fifth, we see it is also a life of transformation as the power of the Spirit opens our eyes and our hearts to ‘hear' His word, the revelation of His will for our lives. Sixth, we see that this opens a whole new world of possibilities, only limited by our self-unbelief, but never His power. Seventh, there has to be the balance of seeing it as a life of sacrifice whereby we give our entire lives over to Him for His use and disposal. Eighth, there is also the recognition that to fully enter into these things our minds need renewing to enable the transformation to take place.

Now that is interesting because I hadn't planned it like that (I hadn't planned it!!!) but eight in scripture is the number of resurrection. So here are a number of principles that we will take into the final Parts to see how these things are expressions of how Jesus works in and through us to bring about the kingdom of God on earth. Before we do that, let's just remind ourselves that this is all about us growing up in Christ. As we understand and take on board all these things, so we grow. As we move into the third Part we will seek to get a third perspective on the Christian life which will enable us to grow in Him.