God brought you close
God did everything that needed to be done so you can sit close to Him, at His right hand, and enjoy the benefits of eternal life. When you accepted the offering of Jesus, you were given a position at the right hand of God. More than you’ll ever want to be close to God, He wants you close. God wants you to truly live a life that He is involved in. He wants you to be set apart. He wants you to be different. He wants you to stand out. He wants you to enjoy the very life of God, even here on earth.
Now, God is never going to force Himself on us. He has brought us close, but He’s never going to be all up in our faces, if we don’t want Him to. If you have accepted the offering of Jesus, then you already belong to God’s family, but God won’t be like the parents who are really pushy with a child that is into himself. You know those parents who will keep asking the same question with different words and won’t leave your ears because they won’t accept “fine” as the only answer to a question like, “how are you doing?” God can’t be like that. God will not force you to open up. He can’t make you do things you don’t want to do.
As a child, can you remember how you didn’t have any choice but to do most of the things your parents wanted you to do? When you were sick and you tried to reject medications, your parents probably forced or lured you into it. Well, God is not like that. God allows us to control our own lives. He won’t impose anything on us. If we don’t submit to His will, He won’t drag us along. God will patiently wait for us to willingly let Him control our lives.
He won’t force us, but He longs to be fully involved in our lives
God gives us the will to choose what we want, but He isn’t saying, “Well if they don’t want me, I’ll just let them be.” No, God longs to be involved in our lives. If God is saying something it will sound like, “If they can only see how much I love them and how much I want to be part of their lives. I’ve done everything for them. If they can only realize that and turn my way.”
God is not ignoring us. God isn’t in heaven waiting to have an “I told you so” moment with us. God is not trying to just watch us do things our way while He minds His own business. No, He’s not like that. He gave us the gift of “will.” He created us, and then gifted us the ability to choose between life and death. He can’t take that willpower away from us, but His focus is still on us. If we don’t give Him an attention, He can’t force it. He can only change and direct our will when we give Him the right to, yet His attention is on us…His full loving undivided attention is on us…just waiting for a heart that will let Him in.
The benefits are all for us
God doesn’t have anything to benefit from the relationship we share with Him. All of the benefits in the relationship we have with God are for us. Our heavenly Father has rights and privileges that are exclusively for His own, even the devil and his demons know this. Now, these rights and privileges can’t find expression in our lives if we don’t understand how close we are to God.
The salvation experience is not the beginning and end. Salvation is only the beginning of so much God has in store for His children. It is like a ticket that grants us full access into the kingdom of God, where we can now sit and enjoy the full show God has prepared for us.
New Beginning
It’s a New Year and as I prayed to God for the New Year; He dropped this in my Spirit: DECIDE TO NEVER LIVE BENEATH THE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES YOU HAVE IN CHRIST. THERE’S NOTHING ORDINARY ABOUT YOU. YOU ARE NOT JUST EXTRA-ORDINARY; YOU ARE SUPERNATURALLY EXTRA-ORDINARY. I felt it was just for me, until I was more than convinced that God will have me write about it in my very first post for the year.
If God has it in store for us, then we should grab it and enjoy it. We should stop allowing the devil deceive us. It is not just about enjoying few hours of fellowship with the Holy Spirit in church. It is not about loving God’s presence during few days of fasting and prayer. It is not about basking in the presence of God in an annual conference. Each day of our walk with Jesus is supposed to be loaded with benefits and we shouldn’t keep missing out on it. God doesn’t want us to keep missing out on it. We’re already part of God’s family. We already have the rights and privileges. The devil is already conquered. So, should we be comfortable with just the “Child of God” title and never get to experience the full benefits of the title? No, we shouldn’t. We are seated at the right hand of God with Jesus, should we then settle for ordinary?! No!
1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God’s] own purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (AMPC)
Renewing our minds should be a goal
As we set out with our goals and plans for the year, let’s make a decision to radically renew our minds. Let’s make it a daily goal to constantly refuse to live beneath the rights and privileges that come with being a child of God.
Settle for normal and ordinary?! No! What then is the difference between us and someone that is not in Christ? Why are we called the Light and Salt of the world? Why are we compared to a city that is on a hill that can’t be hidden? (SEE Mathew 5:13-14) How then do we reign as king on earth? (SEE Revelation 5:10) Why do we have the very life of God? (SEE Ephesians 2:5) What then can the Holy Spirit help us with? (SEE 1 John 16:7) Ordinary?! No! We have to stay with the Word and in the place of prayer until it takes roots in our minds.
“Do not be conformed to this world—this age, fashion after and adapted to its external, superficial customs. But be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind—by its new ideal and its new attitude—so that you may prove [for yourself] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].” Romans 12:2 (AMPC)
How to renew the mind
How many items are on your own “it doesn’t matter list?” I mean that list we all have that contains all the things we believe we can do or not do because we also believe they don’t affect our faith in any way. We say to ourselves, “It doesn’t matter what I say. It doesn’t matter how I pray. It doesn’t matter what I do.” Etc.
Your own “it doesn’t matter list” might sound different. You might say, “I already prayed in the morning, it’s no harm if I don’t pray again today. I don’t need to skip this movie scene, I can handle it. It’s just a show. I can endure this profane conversation; it’s just for this moment I’m hanging out with them.”
But we should remind ourselves: our spiritual growth isn’t like our righteousness. Our righteousness is a free gift, we didn’t play a part in it, and we’ll never be required to play a part in it. Righteousness says you’re forever worthy to come boldly before the throne of God because He is now your loving Abba, thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus. Spiritual growth, on the other hand, isn’t a free gift. It is a collaboration between you and the Holy Spirit. If you don’t decide to allow the Holy Spirit help you, you won’t grow. If you don’t yield to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, you won’t grow. If you don’t play your role, you won’t grow…and when you don’t grow there are benefits in Christ you’ll shrink yourself away from, even when you’re already sitting at the right hand of God. That is not God’s will for you.
So, what you hear matters. What you say and how you say it, matters. When you pray and how much you pray, matters. What you do and how you do it, matters. Who you spend time with and what you spend time on, matters. They all matter…no matter how little and insignificant you think they are. They determine the state of your heart and mind. One small bad egg is enough to ruin nine big good eggs and more. Proverbs 4:23 says we should “keep our heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” another translations says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
And you should know, with your heart and mind, you’re always saying yes to Light or darkness
One of the greatest revelations from the Holy Spirit that has changed and is still changing my life so much is: There are no in-betweens. It is either Jesus or the devil. If you aren’t saying “yes” to Jesus then you are saying “yes” to the devil. We don’t get to stay in a grey area, because in the spiritual realm there are only Light and darkness.
If you don’t embrace the close relationship you have with Jesus, you don’t get to enjoy all the rights and privileges that come with being a child of God…and that means you are exactly where the devil wants you to be. A place where the devil wants you to be in? Now, that is a place you shouldn’t be in.
It’s not the effort on the outside; it’s what you do to your mind
You don’t have to rush into different physical activities to prove anything. That is not what this is about. This is about renewing our minds, intentionally. This is about understanding why it is not okay to be a child of God who is not enjoying all the benefits that comes with that right and privilege. When we renew our minds, the change will move from the inside to the outside.
The truth will set us free, but we have to meditate on and believe in the truth, if we don’t, it won’t set us free. Here is a truth you should meditate on and believe in: I’m a child of God, and I’m seated with Him in the supernatural realm…settle for ordinary?! No!
My prayer for you and me:
May this year be a year that we’ll experience the presence of God in our lives like never before…may we hear God clearly…may we, clearly, see what God will have us see…and may we be quick to obey God…in Jesus’s name,
Amen.
Get in the gym, and do
Stay Spiritually Fit.
