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Start With Making God Happy
Getting Closer to Jesus: Have you ever been around fruity Christians? Not the kind you are thinking. I’m talking about the believer who seems to enjoy more of God’s blessings than the ordinary Christian. They tend to get more prayers answered than you, live in a greater degree of Divine favor than you, appear to have more of an inside track with the Almighty than you, overflow with a lot more joy than you, and they definitely produce a ton more spiritual fruit than you.
They’re fruity—their lives produce much fruit.
In my younger days as a believer, I had a friend who was the most spiritually passionate person I had ever met. She talked about Jesus constantly, lived in complete dependence on God, and prayed about everything. And I mean everything—all her needs and even every single one of her wants. She prayed about things I wouldn’t have bothered the Almighty with. When she wanted a better car—she was even specific about the year, make, model, and color of the exterior and interior—she asked God. And she got it—the year, make, model, and color of the car she prayed for miraculously showed up one day not long after—I kid you not. When she decided a trip to the Holy Land was in order, she prayed for the funds to go. Guess what—she got it. She went on an all-expense paid trip to Israel—and I stayed home. That was just her life as a believer—she was a fruity disciple.
Perhaps you wish you could live her kind of blessed life, but secretly feel a little selfish in asking God for it. Don’t feel selfish one second longer. God wants you to experience that kind of abundant life, too. In fact, Jesus said the God-blessed life is arguably the best proof that you are his disciple. Furthermore, he pointed out that your fruitfulness as his disciple is what brings much glory to his Father. The fruitier you are, the greater glory that goes to God. The more God answers your prayers, the more he receives the praise. That’s how you make God look good!
Wanting to live the God-blessed life is not selfish at all. It is no more selfish than God wanting to be glorified by giving you your blessings. It is simply the rule of God’s kingdom to ask for his favor and to live in his blessing.
That’s what God wants for you. So, stop feeling weird about asking and start asking expectantly. What do you desire for your life? Ask for it. If you are connected to Jesus—and make no mistake, that is the key to receiving—the Father will allow you to bear not just a little, but a whole bunch of fruit. That’s what he wants for his disciples, and that includes you.
Now the proviso is, of course, to use the fruit he grants you to glorify him. This isn’t about satiating your flesh. It is about reflecting the abundance of God’s grace in your daily life. Make sure that is your organic, all-consuming desire.
If you are not at the level of fruitiness that you would like to be, that ought to be your first prayer today.
Take the Next Step : Speaking of asking the Father for anything you want, why not ask him for much fruit! And along with that, ask him to help you be ever aware that his blessings come only by you staying connected to him.
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Fiercely Guard Your Place of Spiritual Rest
Getting Closer to Jesus: As a society, we are busier than ever, and with that, we have much less capacity to experience and enjoy what’s most important in life. Cardiologist Meyer Friedman, a respected authority on the Type-A personality, says that modern America suffers from what he calls hurry sickness—the relentless drive to do more, have more, and be more in less and less time.
That’s not new; it has been the steady march of fallen humanity asserting independence from God. Even 200 years ago, Soren Kierkegaard said, “The press of busyness is like a charm. Its power swells … it reaches out, seeking always to lay hold of ever-younger victims so that childhood or youth are scarcely allowed the quiet and the retirement in which the Eternal may unfold a divine growth.”
Even believers have fallen prey to uncontrolled purposelessness. We have elevated intensity of living over intimacy with God and predictably, that is stunting the fruit-bearing, joy-filled, abundant life described here in John 15 that Jesus died to provide—and which is the most compelling witness, arguably, to a hurried, stressed-out world that desperately needs the Christ-follower to be an oasis of unforced centeredness in a sea of chaos.
As believers, we have been called to abide. And Jesus, who perfectly balanced the relentless demands of people and mission with quietness and solitude, is a great mentor for us. He knew how to make space in his life for what was most important in life: abiding with his Father. Mark 6:31-32 is a great example of how Jesus practiced abiding in his Father:
Because so many people were coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So they left in a boat to a solitary place.
Now we are not told what they did when they got there. They may have enjoyed a season of prayer. Maybe Jesus led them in a devotional. Perhaps they took a nap, or had a potluck, or played tag—all legitimate activities when you are with Jesus. We don’t know for sure, but we do know they did this:
- They ceased their normal activity.
- They retreated from the demands of people.
- They set aside a specific time and place for quiet.
- They were with Jesus in an undivided way.
And that experience of abiding resulted in rest. Now that same practice of abiding will work for us too:
Pausing from our normal routine; scheduling time and place for solitude and reflection; giving full and unfettered access into our lives to Jesus. That’s a simple but sure template for abiding in Christ if you looking for one.
Without a regular and fiercely guarded time for abiding in Christ, life will constantly remind you that this world demands your blood, sweat, and tears. But by abiding in Christ, you will be reminded that your eternal soul belongs to Someone and someplace else.
In John 15:4, Jesus says, “Abide in me, as I abide in you.” That is not only a command, but also an invitation that requires a choice on your part. Jesus invites you to come away with him from the busyness of life and the bondage of hurriedness for a satisfying renewal of your soul. “Come with me” Jesus says, “to a quiet place and get some rest.” (Mark 6:31)
Will you? If you want to really live the fruit-bearing, God-honoring, joyful life Jesus came to give you, you have to make the choice to abide.
Take the Next Step : Most of your life you are required to “wrestle with the world, wringing profit from the earth” (Abraham Heschel), but Jesus calls us to carve our a regular time where we get away with him just to abide. Do that today…and everyday this week. And while you are with him, simply reflect on who you are and to Whom you belong and why he put you on this earth. And in those moments, gratefully remember intimacy with him is greater than anything else in life!
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It Takes Growing Faith, Flowing Love, and Willing Obedience
Getting Closer to Jesus: Why do some people seem to get more insider information about God than others?
I’m not talking about those who claim to have special revelation, but within seconds of being with them, you realize they only have half of that equation—for sure, they are “special”, but they have zero revelation! No, the kind of people I am speaking of have greater insight into Scripture, get more profound insights out of their daily devotions, display a special connection to the Holy Spirit and day by day seem to grow more profoundly, deeply connected with God than the average believer.
Does God love them more than others? No, but for a select few of these types, it may be that God has sovereignly selected them to reveal himself more clearly for the purpose of ministering to others the deeper things of the Lord. Is it because they are spiritually smarter than the rest of us? Probably not. Do they have more faith than you and me? I doubt it.
So, what is it? My sense is that, except in special cases where God has uniquely marked certain individuals for a greater download of divine information, those with deeper revelation have simply and consistently exercised their faith more than the rest of us. The exercise of their faith has been met with greater revelation. It is as St. Augustine said: “Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.” The surest way to a greater faith—which, remember, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, according to Hebrews 11:1—which leads to a closer relationship with God and greater revelation of who God is, is to exercise the faith that we have.
That seems to be Jesus’s answer to Judas, who asked the Lord, “why don’t you just go ahead and prove yourself to the whole world? Wouldn’t that make things a lot easier for you?” It almost seems as if Jesus sidesteps that question when he begins to talk about love and obedience: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23). But what Jesus is getting at is that deeper revelation comes by way of our receptivity, and receptivity is conditioned by our love, and our love is displayed by our obedience to Jesus’ commands, and our obedience comes from the exercise of our faith. If we don’t exercise faith, revelation would be wasted. Thomas Aquinas, a brilliant church leader in the thirteenth century, made this profound observation: “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” So why would God waste revelation on someone who has been unwilling to exercise faith?
But when we exercise faith, our faith grows. As our faith grows, greater love flows from us toward God. And as love flourishes, obedience becomes our willing offering of response to God. It is our growing faith, flowing love, and willing obedience that acts as our invitation for God to make his home in us. And when God talks up residence in our lives, deeper insight, special revelation and spiritual familiarity will come to characterize our relationship with God.
Take the Next Step : Do you desire a greater revelation of God? Are you willing to exercise your faith? Are you ready to love God more? Are you committed to obey him with greater readiness? Think about the following challenge from Martin Luther: “What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the workflow.”
Love Calls for Authentication
Getting Closer to Jesus: Three times, as Jesus speaks to the disciples about his going and the Holy Spirit’s coming, he repeats this phrase: Your love for me will be indicated by your obedience to me. Obviously, it was very important to Jesus that his disciples understood this.
It still is. In an age where love has become a very squishy concept, Jesus still wants those who claim to follow him to demonstrate their love not just in language, but in action. Now, the fact that love calls for proof in no way diminishes the doctrine of unconditional love—love with no strings attached. It simply clarifies what unconditional means. To love unconditionally means the love you have and express toward another is not dependent upon their worth or the work. Rather, that love emanates from the core of your being. That love is the subject, but a noun needs a verb as well as an object to tell the full story of what love is. And what love is cannot be told without showing what love does.
The Apostle Paul taught that in I Corinthians 13, the great love chapter, when he writes “love is…” But Paul defines “love is” by demonstrating what love does: It acts. It works. It affects. It produces an outcome.
Jesus says the outcome of love for him is obedience: The one who loves him will obey his commandments. If they accept his demands, they will prove it by obedience to those requirements, thus authenticating their love for him. They will do what he says. Jesus can’t be any clearer than that: love for God has conditions—it obeys.
Furthermore, the God who loves us unconditionally sets some conditions upon his love for us and our loving response to him; some “if…then”: I love you, and if you love me by doing what I say, then I will give you another Advocate (John 14:16); If you obey my commandments then my Father will love you and I will love you too and reveal myself to you (John 14:21); If you love me then my Father and I will come and make our home with you (John 14:23).
Love doesn’t work to be love; it works because it is love. That is very clear when you look to the source of love, the Being who defines what love is by demonstrating what love does. God is love. His love is not the sloppy, vague, anything-goes kind of love our world knows. It is not the ever-changing love that rises and falls with one’s current emotional state that far too many people today understand love to be. It is not the selfish kind of love that loves to the degree that love is requited. No—God’s love is an unconditional, sacrificial, proactive love that seeks out unworthy objects. It is a holy and righteous love; it is a tough love; it is an unchanging love. It is this love that is the essence of God’s being. It is the energy of what God does. It is the outcome of where God has been and where he now is. God is love—not just love the noun, but love the verb.
And when you have truly embraced God’s love, it then goes on display in you. It can’t help it. Like God, you love with no thought of love in return; you go out of your way to love; you love in response to hurtful and hateful actions; you suffer but patiently love anyway. When everyone else has given up, you stubbornly continue to love. When that kind of love in action is displayed in you, it is obvious that God’s unconditional love has transformed you.
And when it comes to your love for God, love is…love does. It obeys. It does what he says. Not to earn more of his love, but to express love in response to what you can never earn. That is the condition of true love: it loves unconditionally.
Take the Next Step : Express your love for God by loving someone else today—surprise them with love. Do it generously and in a way they cannot repay, perhaps even doing it anonymously to ensure they can’t. And love in a way that leaves a definite imprint that God has been there.
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You Represent God to a World that Doesn’t Know Him
Getting Closer to Jesus: “You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
That is a pretty amazing promise Jesus made to his disciples—and by extension—to you and me!
Jesus was laying out his succession plans for God’s kingdom. He told his disciples that he needed to go back to the Father, and in his absence, they would carry on his works in the world, extending the kingdom wherever they went. And although he would no longer be with them physically, he would be with them—and more importantly, live in them and work through them, by the indwelling Holy Spirit:
Literally, to his followers who would completely yield their lives in obedience to his word, commitment to his purposes, and availability to his work, Jesus promised, “My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.” (John 14:23)
Make his home in them! What a thought: through the initial infilling and ongoing indwelling, the Holy Spirit—the third person of the Holy Trinity—would actually take up residence within Christ’s followers, making their whole lives—body, mind, and spirit—the new temple of God on Planet Earth.
Those words are from the lips of Jesus himself, and they are meant for you! As you go about your life—wherever you go, whatever you do, whoever you are with—you are God’s temple on Planet Earth, the dwelling place of God’s presence. Do you believe that? If you do, Jesus’ words will transform you to the core of your being. They will radically alter the way you perceive yourself and interact with your world. And they will lead you to have the kind of impact for Christ in this world you have always dreamed of having.
The story is told of a private in the army of the Greek general, Alexander the Great, who ran after and retrieved the general’s runaway horse. When this lowly soldier brought the animal back, Alexander offered his appreciation by saying, “Thank you, Captain!”
With one word, the private had been promoted. When the general said it, the private believed it. He immediately went to the quartermaster, selected a new captain’s uniform and put it on. He went to the officer’s quarters and selected his bunk. He went to the officer’s mess and had a meal. Because General Alexander had said it, the private took him at his word and changed his life accordingly. He was simply now doing life under the authority of Alexander.
Why don’t you take the word of Someone far greater than Alexander and change your life accordingly? If you will, greater works will you do!
Take the Next Step : Offer this prayer for radical alteration of your existing life: “Lord, I believe what you said. On this day, I ask the Father, as you have commissioned me to do, to empower and embolden me to do the very kingdom works that you would do if you were in my place. And may all glory go back to you!”
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