TALK LESS! PRAY MORE! The Thing - Philippians For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 As a student in high school and college, I had confidence in my assurance of salvation, while at the same time failing, on many occasions, to provide solide evidence of the existence of my salvation. Can I get a witness? In failure, I returned many times to my first, child-like trust that I placed in Jesus. The Spirit confirmed and affirmed over and over again that I had clearly responded to the call of The Savior. I knew I was a child of God. Still, my spiritual life was a roller coaster of highs and lows, not a steady walk, marked by consistent companionship with my Savior. The rise and fall of the occasional victory, followed by the agony of defeat was exhausting. As a student at Baylor, two friends, Bobby Livesay and Bob Bryant took me under their wing. They pointed me to a verse of Scripture that became my life verse. Since 1968 this passage has guided me to a confidence in The Thing that matters most. What God begins, He finishes. I worked for a framing crew while a student at Baylor. We built custom homes all over Waco. Many of them were built for professors at Thee University in what was called Fort Faculty. The crew I worked on was not a group of finish carpenters. We would show up at a clean slab early in the morning, and before the day was over, we would literally raise the roof. It was a great job, and very fulfilling. There is nothing like starting out on the ground floor, when the sun comes up, and ending the day standing on top of the apex of a truss. The view was exhilarating, but the job was not finished. There were still plans to be completed, flaws to be corrected, directions to be followed, and changes to be made. We worked for the owner, and not ourselves. The job wasnt finished until the one paying the price said it was completed, or perfected. Perfect may be the most misunderstood word in this verse of Scripture. You see, The Thing is not that our lives are flawless, but that the work of Christ is finished. When Jesus died on the cross, he said, It is finished. His words are drawn from the same root as, the word perfect found in Philippians 1:6. They meant completed. In the vernacular of the day, they declared, paid in full. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. John 19:30 The Thing is that in one sense, the frame of our salvation is completed, but the ministry of The Spirit is to still going to be finished. The work of completing the character of Christ in the life of the believer is a process of elimination of the flesh, and the domination of The Spirit. Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Galatians 3:3 My own foolishness in this process, was best portrayed to me in a small pamphlet, My Heart, Christs Home. It described the error of inviting Jesus into ones life, and leaving Him in the foyer, and never walking with Him, daily, moment by moment, through the other rooms of ones life. As a six year old boy, my life was much different than that of a 24 year old man. I had been relating to my Savior as an unwelcome guest in my home, not as The Owner of it. By April 1974, I came to a point in time when I knew that The Thing must be settled once and for all in my life. I was either going to embrace the process of the elimination of the flesh, or I was never going to experience the character of Christ. The Thing was not going to be a quick fix, but a long walk. The race to The Finish line was not going to be a sprint, as much as it was going to be a marathon. To Finish or Complete me, The Spirit wanted me to lay aside every encumbrance, and anything that weighted me down. Jesus called me to be in a yoke with Him and to lean into Him for the strength for the journey, and never look back. The Thing means that The Spirit will perfect those who are willing to admit that they are not flawless. The Spirit brings to an end confidence in the flesh, and accomplishes, perfects, executes, completes the character of Christ in those who surrender their will to the will of The Lord Jesus Christ. The Thing is based on being confident. This is not self-confidence, or an abdication of personal responsibility. The word is based in the understanding of binding one to another. It reveals a yielding to another persons persuasion or sense of direction. Being confident of this very thing... involves being bound tightly in an intimate, consistent companionship with Jesus, until the follower and The Captain of the yoke appear inseparable. Praying for The Fathers will, in the name of The Son is the process by which The Spirit releases the character of Christ in a believer. How long does the perfection process last? Until the day of Christ Jesus. (v. 6) Dont rush it. Yield to it. Jesus sets the pace. How does it begin? TALK LESS! PRAY MORE! Dr. Gary and Dana L. Miller garydonmiller gmillerlight@gmail Twitter@garydonmiller
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 12:31:16 +0000
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