Philippians 4:4-9
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Sometimes when I read the scripture it is like this…..
Oh Lord, Thy word is a light unto my path and a knife unto my heart.
For the record, I know this verse is not in the bible (at least not in one place).
Perhaps you are like me in that at times rejoicing in the Lord sounds as appealing as doing the hokey pokey and turning thyself about. Perhaps the spirit you have demonstrated to all men (or carefully hidden from them as the case may be) is really about as gentle as a wolverine. Perhaps the Lord feels light years away. And what do we do with the word of God when we are rating our peace in negative numbers? This is when His word can be a gracious knife unto our hearts. Since this is where my heart has been of late and I am being tempted to labor in the perceived vacuum of God’s presence, I thought I would share how the word of God eventually becomes the light unto my path.
I know some of you are saying, “Brother, if Thou wouldst return to the fold, we could pump-Thou -up. I do appreciate the sentiment but I sincerely doubt it. I just spent 20 years trying earnestly to get inflated and found myself deflated instead. This is no criticism to the local-pump. It’s just that there came a time when that pump simply no longer fit my nozzle. That’s a silly way of saying it, but there came a time (by design I believe), in the presence of a perceived vacuum we find ourselves crying out for Christ alone, “Lord breathe in me.”
I suppose it has been the Blue Book in recent years, more than anything, that has enabled me to get my wind back. It has simply been God’s invitation to come before Him, to be still, to meditate and to simply enjoy Him. For this reason, the Blue Book (next to the green-backed Living Bible my mom sent me to college with) is the most precious material gift I may have ever received.
It was given to me by a spiritual friend and mentor. (Note; Spiritual friends and mentors are essential to the kingdom journey.) The Blue Book was an invitation that sat unopened for many months. I knew it was a devotional book. (….Like structure was what I needed in my relationship with God!) Nooo….what I need is a blast from the Holy Spirit. Thank you very much.) However, being the book browsing addict that I am I cracked the pages and was drawn in by the mysterious and seductive voices of grace. (The BB is crammed with these voices.) I heard the Father’s voice in the rich excerpts I was reading, saying, “Come. Eat.”
I once had a very cool dream. I awakened in a lodge and went down a set of stairs into a huge living room with all sorts of people milling around. (This lodge was my idea of a mansion for sure. It looked and felt like the main lodge in Yellowstone.) I saw Jesus standing with a group of folks. He broke away and welcomed me as an old friend and escorted me to a buffet. He told the person running the buffet to give me the strong meat of His Word. The dream ended. What do you do with that? Well…when I connect it to the Blue Book invitation, I “Come and eat.” Here is what I am learning by responding to the invitation offered through the BB;
Coming and Eating
1. The “coming” part is simply me showing up. I have chosen the morning for this because I am definitely at my best early in the day. It has taught me first that meals (actually banquets) are set before me (in the presence of my enemies) on a continual basis.
2. It has helped my table manners. It has taught me that meals are meant to take time. The meal is mostly about the growing communion with those seated around the table (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit).
3. Chewing slowly, thoroughly drawing the nourishment from each bite. Meditating (mulling over) words and phrases, asking questions, inviting the Others at the table to ask questions and make comments make the family dining experience more enjoyable.
4. Writing our impressions, insights and answers down in an on-line or actual journal will build a continuity and depth of relationship – which is the point.
5. For some (myself included) pausing, meditating and writing (pmw) is like letting a rope and bucket deep down into a well. As I go through the pmw habit it is like drawing that bucket up and finding living personalized water, not water someone else drew up.
6. The process is not complete for me unless it pmw &p (p= prayer). Graham Cooke talks about praying crafted-prayers. By this he means ones that God’s word and His Spirit have stirred in the heart which have been refined by scripture, the Spirit’s promptings and life.
Now how does this apply to today’s passage? If you are young in your walk with God, and you’re just not feelin-it (as I confessed was my state), you may hear the admonitions of scripture (rejoice, be gentle and at peace) as further evidence that you are just a fallen wretch, reasoning if you were a legitimate son (or daughter), you would instinctively be rejoicing and gentle. God’s word may feel like a great holy-bludgeon producing guilt, reinforcing the sense of depravity. You may rationalize your reactions as the only appropriate ones before a holy and righteous God.
If you are more mature, having experienced his double edged scalpel, you will know how merciful and redeeming the blade is since the outcome always proves to be increased community with the Trinity. If there is a perceived vacuum in response to God’s word, we will not permit condemning voices to suggest that we are just fallen beings who naturally struggle in relationship with God. We eventually learn when the accuser comes saying, “If you were a son of God, then…. (fill in the particular lie)”, this is our cue to take our stand on the pure gift of our restored communion with God – a kingdom reality on which we cannot improve. We can only say, “Thank you Lord. I love You too.” The maturing saint will (by design) be given multitudes of opportunity to rejoice and give thanks in the presence of contrary feelings. This is apparently God’s chosen means of growing faith and raising sons to maturity. (By all means read the “Bonus” included after the prayer.)
Finally, a word about the intentionality of thought. It is not critical that everyone thinks deeply or intellectually but it is essential that we all think purely. There is simply no way to watch over our hearts – Christ’s home without managing our thought life. So………
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
The Blue book has been a treasure chest of content that meets this Philippians 4 specification. And perhaps more than that is has helped change my spiritual diet and linked me to a lifetime supply of nutrition.
Father, I pray that your scalpel might do its work cutting away all that is not true in me. Forgive me for the struggle I put up in this process. Teach us to rest and trust in you more and more for your name’s sake. Even when we are under the knife, permit us to enjoy our communion with You, the Son and the Spirit. So be it.
Bonus (contributed by John Westrope)
“Friend, go up higher.”
— Luke 14:10
When first the life of grace begins in the soul, we do indeed draw near to God, but it is with great fear and trembling. The soul conscious of guilt, and humbled thereby, is overawed with the solemnity of its position; it is cast to the earth by a sense of the grandeur of Jehovah, in whose presence it stands. With unfeigned bashfulness it takes the lowest room.
But, in after life, as the Christian grows in grace, although he will never forget the solemnity of his position, and will never lose that holy awe which must encompass a gracious man when he is in the presence of the God who can create or can destroy; yet his fear has all its terror taken out of it; it becomes a holy reverence, and no more an overshadowing dread. He is called up higher, to greater access to God in Christ Jesus. Then the man of God, walking amid the splendours of Deity, and veiling his face like the glorious cherubim, with those twin wings, the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, will, reverent and bowed in spirit, approach the throne; and seeing there a God of love, of goodness, and of mercy, he will realize rather the covenant character of God than his absolute Deity. He will see in God rather his goodness than his greatness, and more of his love than of his majesty. Then will the soul, bowing still as humbly as aforetime, enjoy a more sacred liberty of intercession; for while prostrate before the glory of the Infinite God, it will be sustained by the refreshing consciousness of being in the presence of boundless mercy and infinite love, and by the realization of acceptance “in the Beloved.” Thus the believer is bidden to come up higher, and is enabled to exercise the privilege of rejoicing in God, and drawing near to him in holy confidence, saying, “Abba, Father.”
“So may we go from strength to strength,
And daily grow in grace,
Till in thine image raised at length,
We see thee face to face.”
by Charles Spurgeon