A Call to Abide
If you answered "no" to the question in the title maybe you are lying or just oblivious (like I was) to the fact that problems with trust/love is at the root of your issues, or maybe you are actually good at fully trusting and fully loving (good for you! read on anyway lol).
So God is a God of order and there is a specific order that He sets in place so that without it, true growth does not result. Check out these verses and try to see the order and their interrelationship.
"They (the early church) devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." (Acts 2:42)
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”(Matthew 22:37-40)
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31-33)
Did you catch the order? In all of the above verses God is first and the rest follows.
Did you catch the relationship between the different items listed?
Let's revisit Acts 2:42..., if God and His Word ("the apostles teaching") are not put first, true fellowship cannot follow (if fellowship is not happening, that is a sign that people are not devoting themselves to God's Word), and if people are not sharing their lives together ( "breaking of bread"-communion), they will not want to share their spiritual lives with each other (being devoted to prayer).
*So with this post I'm gonna share what God has been teaching me about the number one thing on all those lists, that is, being devoted to God (His Word) aka trusting Him aka loving aka abiding in Him and in His love aka staying connected to the vine. Ok, enough of that, I'll be using John 15 as the main text.
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John 15
The Vine and the Branches
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
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The Concept of Fruit
The passage above talks about "bearing fruit". It's a common misconception that bearing fruit in this passage means doing the work of an evangelist and winning people over to Christ. That's a misconception (of this particular passage) since it puts the focus on us and the work we do for God. But Jesus says, "apart from me you can do nothing." So the fruit that He is talking about is not based on work, He is actually talking about the fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control). And it is that fruit that the Holy Spirit bears in us that attracts people to Himself.
I have heard it mentioned and I think it's true that we don't have joy and peace (well I know it's true for myself). Most of us when we do meet up, we are usually complaining to each other (complaining is a sign that we're not at rest, not at peace).
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What's the relationship between rest and work?
Yes, God does call us to do good works:
"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10)
But He calls us to work from a place of rest- (1.)rest in God's power (not ours) to transform lives and (2.)rest in the fact that we are His children and just that fact makes Him pleased with us.
1.)Example from Scripture of working while resting in God's Power
"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe." (1 Timothy 4:9-10)
2.)Resting in the fact that we are His children and that pleases Him :)
Let's look at the baptism of Jesus.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:13-17)
- So even before Jesus began His ministry (teaching, healing, making disciples etc) God tells Him that He is pleased with Him =)
- So at a first glance, it looks like Jesus does nothing and God is pleased with that. But let's take a second glance,...Jesus actually does something! a)He lines Himself up with God's will-"The Kingdom Perspective", what is proper to God- even though it ran contrary to the earthly perspective, what seemed proper to John the baptist (not to baptize Jesus). So from this perspective, "doing nothing" (rest) is actually something since its acknowledging God's power and supreme will.
- b) Jesus receives the Holy Spirit. And right after this passage, "Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." (Matt. 4:1)
- So it is God's will for us to receive the Holy Spirit to guide us and to rid us of self-reliance (pruning) and to equip us for spiritual battle (Ephesians 6. Ex. Sword of the Spirit, Fruit of the Spirit, Pray in the Spirit) and to unify and to edify us (strengthen) the body of Christ so that we can be effective in ministry (the Gifts of the Spirit).
- So from the Matt. 4:1, why does Jesus need affirmation from God that He is God's Son (He definitely knew that) and why did He need the Holy Spirit to lead him to be tempted by the devil????
- This is because the devil was going to attack Jesus' identity as God's Son. Check it out for yourself! Each time the devil tempted Him He said, "If you are the Son of God, do this..."
- So that's why Jesus needed to the Holy Spirit to lead Him and that's why we need the Holy Spirit to lead us as well since the devil is accusing us day and night (Revelation 12:10) and tries as hard as he can to blind us from our real identity. And he uses our weaknesses, our flesh to fight against us.
- So let us not fall for the devil's lies. Let us hang on to the fact that we are sons and daughters of God.
- "Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live."
- "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." (Romans 8:12-17)
So HOW do we enter into this rest?
- By Grace not works
2.Through Faith (Read all of Hebrews 4)
"Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,..." (Hebrews 4:1-3)
---> God wants us to believe Him and take Him at His Word. If we fail to do this, we are like the Israelites wandering around the desert (God let them wander around the desert until they learnt to trust Him. He wanted to them to have faith in Him and not to lean on their own understanding, their own plan for their life (Proverbs 3:5-6) but most of them were stubborn and didn't want to give up that control to God so by being stubborn, they were keeping themselves from entering God's rest (the promised land) and most of them died before they saw it or before they entered it (e.g Moses).
***> But God knows it's hard for us to trust Him. He is patient with us. And in the same chapter we learn of His mercy and grace:
"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Hebrews 4: 14-16)
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APPLICATION
So what does it look like to apply this message practically to our lives?
- We need to be in God's Word- Take the time to read it.
- We need to have faith. (Read Hebrews 11) What's faith again? (vs 1)
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
****Faith is super-important because it is the only way through which we can abide (remain/rest) in God's love and in His Word. WHY? (Ecclesiastes 3)
-- Because:
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
*We need to have faith because we go through different seasons and we can't depend on our emotions (what we feel like doing, for example, if we feel like praising God, if we feel His love) so all we'll have to hold onto is the FACTS, the TRUTH about God and His promises because they are unchanging. God doesn't change even though our emotions do.
* We think love is just an emotion, that is, if we don't feel it then it doesn't exist. That's not true, it's not just an emotion. Love is also a fact, a truth, a knowledge. God is love so His love is also unchanging. Yes there may be things in the way that keep us from experiencing His love (feeling it), maybe the season we are in, but that doesn't change the fact that He loves us. So abiding in His love means believing He loves us even when we don't feel it.
3. Praise God all the time. Especially when you don't feel like it-> its a weapon against the devil and his plan to keep you from worshiping God by bringing various trials and temptations (example: the life of Job-> the devil was trying to get him to curse God, to not praise God.)
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4)
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5: 1-5)
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Keep your eyes on the Prize
What's the big deal about this whole trusting God message??
Let's get to the GOAL ; God's goal for us = Finding Rest in Jesus (intimacy).
*First read Psalm 23.
1. He wants to lead us into deeper trust, into His rest ("quiet waters"), He wants us to "lack nothing", He wants to give us victory over our enemies, He wants to bless us (He wants to show us His "goodness" and "lovingkindness" "all the days of our lives"). Yeah He just wants to be with us, and intimacy has other perks :)
2. He wants us to keep bearing fruit no matter what season we are in.
So that even though we are in a season that circumstances or the devil keeps us from using our gifts or doing the good works God has called us to do, God will keep bearing fruit within us and He'll keep attracting birds (people who don't know Him) through us. So even though you are in a dry season, don't let the devil lie to you that you are useless to the body or to outreach, God is pruning you so that you can stand firm in your identity in Him and be of more use to His body. How neat is that? Isn't God awesome! Surely, the devil is defeated!
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the LORD. (Isaiah 54:17)
I'll close with this Scripture: (Jeremiah 17:7-8)
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
Be blessed! Let's help each other apply this message. Another practical idea I heard and that I want to try is: keeping the Sabbath. If you have more practical ideas, questions, comments, feel free to share =)
