Knowing Him

Philippians 3:10, “… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrections and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

On Friday I enjoyed a wonderful peak in my relationship to God as I was by divine design unexpectedly invited to celebrate my friend and mentor Jim Spivey’s birthday. At the end of this celebration which included in its audacity filet mignon, Jim closed with something I had sent him from Oswald Chambers. Concerning the scripture above Oswald wrote:

“A saint is not to take the initiative toward self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we will have the realization of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives, and He will bring us back to the same point over and over again until we do…”

I had sent this to Jim because it reminded me of him, but in Jim’s reading it I realize it was an affirmation from God of what I have been living with Him so intensely these past few weeks.

If you follow this blog, chronologically God has been confronting my materialism (wrongly acquired in perceived lack) with gift giving. And this has been such the rich experience like at Academy Sporting goods. I had gone in to simply buy socks and a pair of jeans when the Holy Spirit told me to get $20 cash back at the register. Walking to my truck I was approached by a man with a handful of flyers. He was a recovering addict panhandling for the ministry that was instrumental in revealing Christ to him. His story was heartwarming, but the look on his face as I told him Jesus has told me to get $20 for him only moments earlier was priceless.

Or how about the thought on the way to work that I should get some breakfast tacos for the people in the office. A thought dismissed for fear of not getting what they might want. Upon sitting down one of the processors asked if I would go to Whataburger and pick her up something because she was too busy to leave. Not only did I do it gladly, but I took orders from the whole office and bought them all breakfast. This was not random circumstance. This is God in my day.

How about the call to a friend in Colorado… I felt I should call right then as he popped into my head. Turns out he was at that very moment meeting with a man despondent at losing a wife after losing millions in a business. A beautiful story, though no doubt he does not see his own beauty and God’s interaction, but his story is a story I have lived, and I pray my words were timely encouragement.

On another day recently I knew that I would see Jim so I stopped at the ATM to get him one of my many $20 blessings. At the ATM God told me to get $60. I thought to myself... good idea, I need $20 for Jim, $20 for Jonathan on Friday, and I guess I can have an extra $20 for lunch. Upon walking in to see Jim and a couple of his friends there was Aaron. My smile must have been seen as I instantly knew who the other $20 was for. Which by the way… my prayer is that my $20’s would soon become $100’s, but that is really irrelevant. The point is obedience. The rewards from this cheerful giving are already manifesting both in reality and in my spirit.

Which brings me full circle to where I began… in living an undivided life where sacred is secular and vice versa I had been inspired by the Holy Spirit to invite my friend Jonathan to lunch. Jonathan is one of the handful of people I believe oozes Christianity even without every saying a word. Unlike me, he seems to instantly obey God, and recently has committed himself and his young family moving to Spain for a mission opportunity there. It was Jonathan that picked Friday. Well one thing leads to another and next thing I know we are meeting Jim on his birthday at a much nicer restaurant than we had originally planned. I will be honest, I was still committed to buying, but the restaurant selection did have me worrying about what the tab might be. How dumb… Filet for everyone, all compliments of another one of Jim’s many friends.

But it was not about the over the top lunch. It was about the over the top hug from heaven. As we celebrated Jim’s birthday, God celebrated each of us in our surrender and abandonment for Him.

:-)

Spiritual Goals

Before you scroll down to today’s post I would like you to ask yourself some serious questions.

What are your spiritual goals?

Why are you following the faith you are, even if no faith at all?

What is God’s goal for you?

Is your spirituality based on wanting or needing to change something in your life?

How does life relate to your spiritual goals, what role is it playing?

Is your life a reflection of succeeding or failing in achieving these spiritual goals?

Philippians 3:10, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;”

Did any of you answer the questions above with answers like, ‘My goal is to have a better marriage, or to receive the blessings of God.’ How about a more noble answer like, ‘To preach the gospel, or be a minister?’ Is your faith because it was your parent’s faith? Is your goal to just make it to heaven, or even simply avoid hell? Perhaps you have a goal of learning about Christ so that you can teach about Him to others? Is your goal to live a sinless life? Is God’s goal for you to perhaps fulfill the great commission, to lead thousands to salvation?

I have some news for you. If your spiritual goal is anything other than knowing Christ and being in relationship with Him then you have set your goals far too low.

I first studied in depth Philippians 3:10 in reading T Austin-Sparks’ School of Christ while attending Ministry School. I thought that I understood it then. Some 17 years later I am just beginning to understand it. Regardless of what your spiritual goals are, God’s spiritual goal is that we would know Him. Not to know Him in some distant far off way. Not to only have an intellectual picture of Him, but to walk moment by moment in the awareness of His presence. To see Him clearer and clearer every day. “That I may know Him” Paul wrote.

Life is completely about knowing Him more. He comes into our life, walking to the very edge of His kingdom, the boundary between wholly His and utterly not and calls us. “Come,” He says. And if we lean in there is often the spiritual and sometime emotional euphoria that will always fade. Some flounder here looking to recreate the magic of His presence. Other dismiss it, but again and again He is constantly moving saying, “Come.” In a game that seems like hide and seek God is constantly at work moving away from that kingdom boarder where there is the violence (Matt 11:12), and He calls us to go deeper and deeper into the kingdom so that He can reveal more and more of Himself, that we may know Him. Not in some objective distant way, but subjectively first as slaves, then as friends, and finally as children. All the while using life to teach us when we are not in this pursuit of His face.

The fellowship of His sufferings is such a mischaracterization of the relationship. Because what the world calls suffering, what our bodies and emotions call suffering is not suffering at all. It really is nothing more than God helping us to overcome all of life’s distractions to discover Him, to be aware of Him in storm or in feasting. Our relationship conflicts are us, not them, being out of fellowship with God. They are us not knowing Him in the situation. Struggles of life are nothing; they are just life and an opportunity to know the fullness of Christ in His resurrection.

Feeding off the same inspiration Jim Spivey wrote, “One of my most important roles in life, a role that Jesus plays for me every day, is that of ‘purveyor of empowering new perspective,’ vs. that of ‘con-artist changer of conditions.’  Here me on this, my friends, whenever you are clamoring for improved circumstances or better performance by yourself or others (when your spiritual goal is to improve your life):  ‘your conditions are NEVER the problem, no matter how compelling they are; your RESISTANCE to them, while disconnected from Him, when they are here primarily for Him to use to help you see a bigger Truth, is the only problem, ever.’”

If your spiritual goal involves conditions, circumstances, saving the world, anything other than you and you alone knowing Christ in full living relationship then you are missing the glorious and wonderful truth of the gospel. The kingdom of God is a hand. It is inside you. It is calling out saying come in and meet Jesus face to face, and live in relationship. This is the perspective, the goal we must have. This is our individual journey, and in walking our individual journey of life with Christ we collectively murmurate and the will of God is accomplished on earth as in heaven.