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.

:-)