Book III/Chapter 28: Hearing God (Part 5)
Last Updated on Monday, 01 September 2008 10:49
Step Four: Make Time To Be Alone—With God!
Time. Despite the evidence of history and the dictates of logic and reason, in our hearts we believe that we will live forever.
Then along comes a catastrophe or tragedy where either someone we know dies or we have our own brush with mortality; and through the experience God grants us a brief moment of clarity and we realize how very fragile our existence is. We start thinking about things that we usually don't think about, and Christ draws near to invite us to reconsider the course our lives have been taking.
Then, almost imperceptibly, we go back to business as usual, once again becoming oblivious to the important lesson the experience should've taught us.
Sound familiar? Of course it does! I've done the same thing. We must begin to understand that our perspective on existence is naïve, ignorant, blind and unrealistic. Truth is like the iceberg that hit the Titanic: you can only put it off for so long, but eventually it will find you. At the moment of your death you will see what a mess you've made of your life and how much of your time you wasted on stupid things that seemed important at the time, but then it may very well be too late.
“So teach [us] to number our days, that we may apply [our] hearts to wisdom.” (Psalms 90:12)
It is wiser to assume that today is the last day of your life, and make your decisions based on that perspective. If you took that attitude, I assure you that your life (as well as your lifestyle) would be very different.
WARNING: Taking a realistic attitude toward life will result in the loss of many things that you thought were important but are not. You may also find yourself subject to ridicule by those who, seeing your more realistic perspective, are either convicted in their hearts but do not wish to follow your example for their own reasons, or conclude that you are simply insane for detaching yourself from the tubes through which the world has been controlling you like a patient in a hospital on life support.
Are you still interested in hearing from God? (Laughing) Well, you're hearing from God right now. People often say that they want to hear God's Voice, but don't really consider what their reaction will be to what He says to them. Having begun to hear God's Voice, they are shocked at how out-of-touch with reality they really are. There is a saying: “Truth is stranger than fiction,” this saying is true. God's Word applied to your spirit, soul and body will wash and cleanse them from the lies, smoke and dirt that has gathered over the years; this process can at times be painful and surprising. But if you allow yourself to be cleansed, in the end you will be much better off.
So, for the moment, let us assume that today is the last day of your life; how do you wish to spend your last hours? Signing documents? Being with family and friends? Partying as one gone mad? Or is it business as usual?
I have a better suggestion: spend the best part of your last hours with God. In reality He truly is the Most Important Person in your life, whether you realize it or not. And you certainly don't love your family and friends more than God does, Who created them in the first place and sustains their existence. Let's be real: behind you is an Eternity of non-existence, and ahead of you is another Eternity; what better pursuit do you really have to occupy yourself with than getting to know the One Who dwells in Eternity?
“What are you saying, Brother Mitchell? Does God expect me to simply drop everything and go live in a monastery somewhere and say prayers, read the Bible and stare at my navel all day?”
Oh no! You're not getting off the hot seat that easily! I'm not going to make life easy for you by answering that question—it's not my place to answer it. You need to get alone with Jesus Christ and work the issue out between yourselves.
For you see: each human being is a unique project. God creates for each one of us a special path, the purpose of which is to teach each individual a special aspect of His Nature. God has something about Himself to show you that I will never fully comprehend or understand without you—isn't that cool!
For one person the monastic life is exactly what God wants (and He certainly deserves that level of devotion). For another person bearing witness to His Existence in the corporate world is what God wants. For yet another person glorifying God in the political arena is what God wants. For yet another person knowing God among the homeless (perhaps by even being homeless) is what God wants.
Don't you see? You need to know God personally for yourself so that you can walk the path that God has for you! And the only way you are going to know that you are in the Center of God's Will is if you acknowledge that you are in the Center of God's Presence—all the time! That's why the Apostle Paul wrote that we should “pray without ceasing” (1st Thessalonians 5:17).
God is not just in the church building or the shrine or the mosque or the temple; God is everywhere and is running everything! You may not approve of the way He runs things, but that is only because you are not as smart as He is!
“'For My Thoughts [are] not your Thoughts, neither [are] your ways My Ways,' says YHWH. 'For [as] the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are My Ways higher than your ways, and My Thoughts than your Thoughts.'” (Isaiah 55:8,9)
The only reason any person would want to be “normal” or “like everyone else” is that they do not know who they are! They are unaware of what God's Intention was when He made them. They don't know God, so they define themselves by means of their peers and live by consensus rather than by Divine Guidance! This promotes the delusion that they're “O.K.” because they compare themselves with others instead of God's Word (the Holy Bible).
Now having been a human for some time I realize how humans are. For a number of reasons humans often take one or both of two perspectives:
- We don't want to know what God's Plan for our lives is; it would spoil all the fun of living. We would rather turn each corner and be surprised (pleasantly or unpleasantly) by what we find there.
- We can't know what God's Plan for our lives is because God doesn't talk to people; God is too far beyond us to communicate with us in any language that we could understand.
I respect the first perspective, but the second perspective is a lie.
If The Lord Jesus wants you to know something about your future, He will tell you; otherwise walking by faith (doing what you know or believe to be right and trusting God to work everything out for His Glory and your good) is an excellent way to live.
But taking the stance that God can't speak to you, placing you basically “on your own” is nothing more than sloth and pride: a deadly combination.
I'm not trying to spank or brow-beat you; I'm attempting to get across to you a simple message: you need to be consciously connected to God every second of your existence, whether waking or sleeping or dead. Living this way is what we Christians call “prayer.” Mature Christians never leave God's Presence; no matter what they are doing the dialog with their Creator continues at work, at home and at play.
Those of you who have been walking with Christ for any length of time know what I mean. It is very difficult, after living through a day totally unaware of God to suddenly tune in to Him. It is easier, having started a day in God's Presence, to get through the day without doing anything really stupid (chuckle). But it is so much better to simply live in God's Presence all the time; this is what everyone should be working toward.
“YHWH, You have searched me, and known [me].
“You know my down-sitting and my up-rising,
You understand my thought from afar,
You surround my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted [with] all my ways.
“For [there is] not a word in my tongue,
Lo, Oh YHWH, You know it altogether!
You have cloistered me behind and before,
And laid Your Hand upon me.
“[Such] knowledge [is] too wonderful for me,
It is high, I cannot [attain] it!
“Where shall I go from Your Spirit
Or where shall I flee from Your Presence?
If I ascend up into Heaven,
You [are] there!
If I make my bed in Sheol [the place of the dead]
Behold: You [are there]!
“[If] I take the wings of the morning [and] dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there shall Your Hand lead me
And Your Right Hand shall hold me.
“If I say 'Surely the darkness shall cover me'
Even the night shall be light about me.
Yes: the darkness hides nothing from You,
But the night shines as the day,
The darkness and the light [are] both alike [to You]!
“For You have possessed my reins,
You have covered me in my mother's womb.
“I will praise You,
For I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made!
Marvelous [are] Your Works,
And [that] my soul knows very well!
“My substance was not hid from You
When I was made in secret,
[And] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth.
Your Eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect,
And in Your Book all [my members] were written
[Which] in continuance were fashioned
When [as yet there was] none of them.
“How precious also are Your Thoughts to me, O God,
How great is the sum of them!
[If] I should count them they are more in number than the sand...
When I awake, I am still with You.” (Psalms 139:1-18)
This is the Christian idea of life: prayer. It is my prayer that, as you rearrange your life to make more and more time for Jesus, that you will begin to experience the Joy that comes from walking this planet in the Presence of God...the Joy that God Himself experiences because He is Love!
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