Blessed! Let the Gospel roll Spiritual journey John 5:19 to 20 Then Jesus answered and said to them, Assuredly, I say to you, The Son can do nothing by Himself, except what he sees the Father doing: for everything He does, the Son also does in the same way. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him everything that He Himself is doing: and He will show Him greater works than these, that you might be amazed. Romans 8 : 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Have you ever tried taking a journey to a place you have never been before without taking along a road map or someone who knows the way? It can be a tricky experience. Since you do not know the territory the chances are that you will not know when you are going the wrong way. You might think that you can find your way by just following the correct road signs but this also has its drawbacks. Sometimes the signs are not clearly posted or hidden behind some obstacle like a tree growing in the way, and you fail to see them. So you go merrily on your way, not realizing that you have missed a turn you should have taken. I think most of us have had some experience with this sort of thing. You think you have everything under control and know where you are going, but by the time you find out that you are going the wrong way you have become totally lost or have drifted far off your course. Imagine that you took a left turn at a crossroad instead of a right turn. Now you have gone a fair distance down the road and you come to another crossroad. Which is the correct way to turn now, left or right? Well actually neither is correct, because you have taken the wrong road to start with. You now have only two routes open to you. Either you need to find a way to get back to the correct road from where you are, or you need to turn around and go back to where you made the wrong turn in the first place. If you have now traveled quite a distance since you made the wrong turn, the chances are you are not too keen to go back. So you will need to find a way around it. This can only be possible if you have a map with you or someone who knows the area well and can tell you which way to go. Our lives as believers are a bit like this. We are headed out on a journey we have never traveled before. For those who have a spiritual roadmap and know how to read it this does not pose a problem. When you have travelling with you someone who knows the area well, you are even better off. And this is really what our situation is in the Lord. We have the best roadmap there is, the Word of God and we have the Lord Himself dwelling in us through His Spirit to help show us the way. Yet how often we still get lost and dont know which way to turn. Imagine someone who is lost sitting wringing their hands in despair, crying out, I wish I knew where we were. I wish I knew which way to go when they had a clear roadmap right there with them? Imagine trying to figure a way out of the situation when you have someone with you who knows the road like the back of His hand? We would certainly think such a person a little strange, yet we are so often guilty of the same thing in our spiritual lives. Perhaps part of the problem is that we are so confident in our own abilities that we feel we dont need the roadmap. And perhaps we are too proud to ask for help from someone else. But then again maybe the real problem lies in the fact that we have not learned to read the roadmap correctly and we have not learned to listen to the voice that is ready to give us direction. For many believers the Bible is just a book of doctrine. In fact people can get so worked up about their doctrines that they refuse to be associated with fellow believers who hold different viewpoints on these doctrines. Imagine me picking up the map and saying something like, Well I dont like the way they have pictured the road here - thats their own viewpoint. I prefer to see it my way. You see youre going to stay lost. The Bible is an intensely practical book, and if you want to obtain anything from it at all, you are going to have to use it in a practical way. When you stick with practical teachings like, Love one another, it is amazing how all differences disappear. I have never yet had the experience of reaching out to someone in love where they have turned to me and said, Do you believe in pre-tribulation rapture? (or some other pet doctrine) before they would accept my love. You see the Bible is a roadmap for your spiritual life, not an intellectual document for people to fight over. When you come to realise that it is God speaking to you, you start to find it essential to your daily life. But what about getting personal direction? There are many who have failed to realise that although we have a powerful instruction book to go by, we also have the author of the book with us. Sometimes it might be quicker just to ask for directions, than trying to decipher the roadmap. But again so many have problems in this area. Some have the idea that since God has given us everything we need to know in His Word, we no longer need to get any personal direction from His Spirit. Yet the Scriptures tell us that the children of God are led by His Spirit. Lets get back to our illustration of getting lost on the road. Suppose someone came to you and said something like,, Oh its quite easy to get back. Just go down the road about ten kilometres and then turn left, follow the road to your right until you see a building on your left with a white fence around it and then go around it until you see a pole with a red sign on it and then go through the left gate, pass a huge tree, turn left and go on another kilometre and turn right then carry on for a while until you go through a dip in the road and as the road veers right you will see an opening in the fence to your left. Go through that and keep to the right all the way until you see the main road. Well you might be able to understand all that, but Im lost already. (Sounds a bit like some of the preaching you hear doesnt it?) I would prefer it if they said to me, Just follow me and Ill show you the way. Then all I would need to do is keep my eyes on the car ahead of me. When they turn left, I turn left. When they turn right I turn right. When they slow down I slow down, when they speed up I speed up. Im sure you get the picture. Jesus said, I do only what I see the Father doing. Thats not too difficult is it? Trouble is we dont see what the Father is doing, so how can we do the same. Why is this? Because He doesnt show us what He is doing? Because He doesnt want to show us the way? No, most of the time it is because we do not take the time to find out what He is doing. Jesus spent time daily in the presence of His Father. When the whole world was still sleeping, He was there alone with the Father, saying, Ok Dad, now show me what were going to do today. He was learning about His Fathers ways and mannerisms. He was learning to recognise how His Father thought. He was learning to hear the Fathers voice, so that He could recognise it immediately when He spoke. At one time Jesus brothers nagged him to go and show Himself to His disciples at a feast that was coming up. Jesus replied that His time had not yet come. But after they had left He did actually go to the feast. Why didnt He do it when they suggested it? Probably because the Father had not yet said, Ok, now! He did not take a single step without knowing that this is what the Father wanted. You say, But I have lots of things to do every day. Where do I get the time to wait on the Lord and find out which way I should go? Well Jesus had the same number of hours in the day that we had, and being human I am sure that He also needed the same amount of sleep that we do. Well, you might say, He had all day to Himself. Ive got a job to do and responsibilities to fulfil. Good excuse, but it doesnt hold any water. Why? Because Jesus accomplished far more in the time he had available than you and I could ever accomplish. In three short years of ministry He did so much that John in writing about His life told us that if records were to be made of everything Jesus said and did, there would not be enough books to hold it all. So here is what the Lord is saying to us today. Make time to learn the roadmap, and learn to use it practically. It will give you a clear lifes plan and goal to aim for. And then make time to spend in His presence, learning to listen to His voice. As you fill yourself with His Word and develop your spiritual senses in the Holy Spirit you will enter into a condition of productivity such as you have never known. How do we develop our spiritual senses? That is a big topic and we will cover it in due course. As you practise these things you will come to the place where you know where you are going and how you are going to get there. And best of all, youll have fun along the way and have enough time to enjoy the scenery also without losing your way.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 06:53:44 +0000
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