Heirs: Of Glory and Persecution

16 The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, assuring us that we are children of God.  

17 And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory. 

18 But what of that? For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us! (Romans 8:16-18 AMP)

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        As I read these three verses from Romans 8, I see what we understand as believers. We are sons and daughters of God. Parents and Bible teachers  taught this to us from the point we understood words. (“Where does Jesus live?” our Sunday school teacher asked. We say, “He lives in our heart.”) We are taught God loves us so much that He let His Son, Jesus, come to earth to die a sacrifice we should have died so we can be with the Father in heaven. Abba God adopted us into His family. He knew from the beginning of time, before humans counted time, before He created us, that He wanted us to live with Him forever. He had a plan all the way from before He “knit us in our mothers’ wombs.” 

        In most societies, a child, whether biological or adopted, is an heir of the parent. Why would it be any less with the Father of all creation? Would the Father give less than humans? No, because the Father owns everything and has more to give. He chose to give us life. He chose to give us Himself. You may recall Jesus asked why we worry over clothes, food, or shelter. If He clothed the birds of the air and the fields of the earth so radiantly, how much more will He give to us.

        As I have studied the Bible, I have come to understand with an even greater depth what this means. Christ’s death and resurrection means He had power over death but chose to go through the physical and mental pain of it. He chose this for Himself because He loves us. Upon His ascension, He chose to give us Himself. If we believe in Him, then His Spirit resides in us. Now, get this right, this Spirit is not as our grandmothers and Sunday school teachers taught us.  He does not just “live in my heart,” but He comes to replace the sin-influenced man within each of us with Himself so we can live life as God intended at the beginning of creation. This Spirit He puts within us guides, reminds, and teaches us. We can choose to let Him have a small corner of our hearts with no more influence over us than to say a prayer over a meal. More completely, we can choose to grow and let Him take over a bigger part of who we are so we become more like the person God created us to be. (How else are we to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength?) If we do not grow and allow the Spirit to grow us more like Christ, then the amount we love God is miniscule. If we do allow the Spirit to grow us into a larger relationship with God, then we are able to love Him with larger acts of devotion and obedience (for example, teaching Sunday school or visiting home-bound people). As we grow, the part of us the Spirit controls increases and the part we control decreases. As we continue to read our Bible, study the Word, meditate on it, and act in obedience on what God has told us, we decrease and the Holy Spirit in us, Christ in us, increases. (Does this sound familiar?) Is this increase of Christlikeness not what John the Baptist said concerning himself in relation to Jesus? (Read John 3:30.)

        As we become smaller, the external world sees more of what we are made of, Christ living in us. This may create friction with the people around who notice, but the Bible told us many times that people rejected Jesus so they would reject us. There are times people will accept us, rather, Christ will be accepted, the One we proclaim with our actions and words. These are times of glorious joy to the Father for His love poured out upon another. More often than not, though, we will be persecuted for living so boldly for God, for allowing the Holy Spirit in us to become our dominant characteristic, our reason for being. Why should this be, we may wonder. Why, when we are becoming more kind, loving, and generous, are we being more thwarted, disliked, and persecuted? Can they not see Jesus, who lives in us and other believers, is not here to take away the world but to offer them Life? Unfortunately, Satan has the world so thoroughly blinded that they misperceive God’s gift of Life as a death sentence. To them, if they accepted God, their fun would be taken away. I guess it could be construed in that manner, but this idea that accepting God’s gift of life removes fun is a ruse Satan perpetuates. The more we give ourselves to the Savior, the more we will experience the victory of His Life now and the greater will His influence be in our lives now. What can be seen as persecution by some people will come to be seen as acquiring the glory of heaven now because of being persecuted for Christ? We are considered so much identified with Christ that we are being persecuted just as our Savior. How can there be any greater identifier in this world besides our growth in Christ, than to be considered worthy to be persecuted for His sake, for the advancement of the Gospel? Is this not what Paul meant when he said to count it all joy? Is this not a taste of the glory of which the Bible told us is to come, there for the hope of glory? Remember glory is being with God, in His presence always. We walk this path with the Spirit of Christ growing in us more each day so Christ  is seen in us. Christ in us is glory in itself, to be so connected and communing with Christ that we are not seen, but Christ in us. Yet, we continue on this path of growth, obedience, and relationship knowing an even greater glory awaits, the hope of glory, the hope of eternity with our Savior, with our Abba.

         “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” (James 1:2-3, NASB). This is living the life of Jesus in the world, going through persecution and trials as He did. We do not count each cost but know that each trial and persecution makes us stronger in our relationship with God. The strengthening of our faith makes us stronger for the next trial which takes us another day closer to glory. These trials are not to death, but to strength, to fuller commune and identification with the Savior, so that we grow more and more into the image of Him (see Romans 8:29). Why should we think we would not have trials and persecution? Did not Jesus tell His disciples that because He had trials they would also? How do we think we could live this life as a Christian and not have trials then? This is sharing Christ’s suffering, carrying the cross as Paul says. (This life is what we modeled when we were baptized, being buried to our old life and being raised to new life.) Is this not a portion of glory we can experience now on earth? This closeness to Jesus is so near that we experience His presence completely because of the suffering. These sufferings grow us to be more like Jesus and draws us closer to Him. The sufferings we go through in this short time called life is nothing compared to the glory that is soon to be “revealed to us, in us, for us, and conferred on us” (Romans 8:18 AMP).

        Suffering and trials are nothing when compared to the glory we will receive when we have run this race and have grown more like Jesus.  

Let us put a positive spin on this: why do we have suffering? So we can grow more in the image of Jesus. What compels us to continue our walk with Him? So we will decrease and He increase. So that the whole world will know of the Father’s saving love, Finally, so we can have the joy of His presence in our lives. Why are we heirs with Christ? Because God loves us so much, He made a plan for us to be with Him forever, now in this life and later in heaven. Is this not the most important part? God loves us so much. What are a few trials and persecutions in light of spending eternity with Jesus? Eternity actually began at the moment of our receiving Christ’s salvation for ourselves? In the face of trials, “count it all joy” that you know the reason; God loves you.

Mountaintop or Valley, What Does It Matter?

          Some may have heard that we cannot live on the mountaintop with God; that is not living. Being on the mountaintop is the place where we hear and see God’s vision and where we can worship God without limitations. To remain on the mountaintop brings no benefit to God. We must return to the valley for God to make us ripe and squeeze us for His purpose. God did not make us solely for the mountaintop, but also to be His servants on earth. We are to be participators with Christ and be companions of Christ, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:9.

            How can we be participators if we remain on the mountain? How can we be companions if we have not joined God in a relationship by faith believing Jesus is the Messiah? None of us can be joined with God without the baptism Jesus gives, the life eternal life He gives. We think we know a better way to get to heaven and we strive for it. Our striving is not what wins us the end reward, but the forgiveness and sanctification, the being made holy, by Jesus’ death and resurrection. This forgiveness by Jesus brings us the ultimate reward. Striving for ourselves does nothing more than harry and weary us. Our strivings get us nowhere; our acceptance of Christ’s gift gets us a life of forgiveness and a promise of heaven.

             We have decided to join Jesus and be in a relationship with God, now what? What does this mean for us? First, eternal life is the gift only God can give. He wants to give life to us. God’s desire to be in a relationship with humankind is why His Son, Jesus, died on the cross and rose again to new life. No one else and by no other means is eternal life acquired. This Life is the gift of God to humanity. What does this mean the saying, “It is the gift of God?” Since God gives us this life, it brings new meaning to “being crucified with Christ.” Since it was His life that was crucified for our sins (our wrongdoings) and since we take His life within us when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we are crucified to our own desires. Are we identifying with that sacrifice? This does not mean that we are physically crucified. It does mean that we must use the new life Jesus gave us and live it as if Christ is still walking on this earth through us. We are the embodiment of Christ on earth. We then have the responsibility to let Christ act through us. Through being His arms and mouth here and now, we become the pressed grapes and poured out wine of God. This gives us our bruises and aches, but this walk with the Lord here on earth, obedience to Him, like Jesus’ obedience to His Father, matures us and makes us more Christlike. For us to change and be made more into the image Christ, this relationship, this communing with God, must not only be heard but must elicit a response from each of us. We either respond with obedience, causing a change in our thoughts and actions leading to maturity, or with disobedience, causing stagnation or a wall in our relationship with God. His teaching is meant to be applied to the life, which He has put in each of us, to make us more like Him. This is the working out of our faith, the putting into action what God commands and growing the new self, because of this obedience, within each individual. 

The ultimate question is have you believed Jesus is God’s Son who died for us on a cross and rose again to beat death? The next question then is: are you staying on the mountain top or are you in the valley working out the life Jesus has put in you for His purpose, to bring all creation back into communion with Him? If your answer is yes, then you can say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who lives but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20). What will it take for you to descend to the valley and begin to work out in obedience what God has put into you, namely the life of Christ? You may be the only source of Light someone ever sees; should you not go to the valley?

Stones - For Glory or Dishonor?

   

            I have been pondering Absalom's treasonous act against David, the divinely appointed king of Israel, and Absalom's death and burial. Specifically, I have been pondering the significance of his dishonorable burial under a pile of stones instead of under the pillar he erected as a memorial to himself or in the burial place of kings and princes. While considering these things, I began recalling the significance of stones in the Bible. These daily devotions take you through what I have read and considered. Hopefully they will lead you to your rightful place, the Church of God, where He has provided the Cornerstone. 

Monday: Read Genesis 32:22-33:20. Altars were called Ebenezers, too. Ebenezer translated from the Hebrew means “stone of help.” Who set up a stone altar? Why? What was the place named because of it? El Elohe means “mighty is the God of Israel.” What did this ebenezar show about God? This was a spiritual marker of an important place where Jacob had an encounter with God. Jacob gave God a sacrifice of praise here.  

Tuesday: Read Genesis 35. Who set up this stone altar? Why? What was the place named because of it? Bethel means “house of God.” This altar/ebenezar was also set up because of an encounter Jacob had with God. God is given a sacrifice of praise here, too.  

Wednesday: Read Joshua 4:5-9. Who set up a stone altar here? Who told them to do it? Why? This altar was set up as a reminder, as a spiritual marker, an ebenezar, so the Israelites always remember God gave them the victory and their own land as He had promised. 

Thursday: Read Joshua 7:20-26.  What was the pile of stones a reminder of in Achor? Achor means “trouble.” Not the spiritual markers/reminders/ebenezars we will have as Christians will remind us of good things God did for us. Sometimes God disciplines us to get us to go on the right path and grow. These will be spiritual markers, too.  

Friday: Read 1 Samuel 7:1-12. Who set up a stone altar here? Who told them to do it? Why? This altar was set up as a reminder of how God gave them the final victory over their enemy. This stone was a remembrance to Israel that “thus far the Lord has helped us.”  

Saturday: Read 1 Peter 2:4-8. Who is this Living Stone? Are we supposed to be reminded of God by this stone, too? Is this stone special for everyone? No, these spiritual stones of the past and this Living Stone are special only for those to whom God has taught/helped/called. God calls each of us to come to Him. If we call Jesus our Living Stone, then we also become stones built according to the Father to become an altar proclaiming His praises and calling others to come out of their darkness to “this marvelous Light.” We become the stones making an altar of praise to God for people to see God and come to His light. Are you letting Him do that, to use you as a lighthouse beacon for His Light? Have you decided to become a part of His Church to be built in the way He wants others to see Him? You are a “chosen” person, a loved child. He wants to shelter, lead, and forgive you, too, just as David wanted to shelter and forgive his son, Absalom, who chose not to accept it. Absalom’s grave with stones mounted upon it became a marker for Israel to remind them not to run away from God, but return to Him. God had to discipline Absalom for attempting to overthrow the divinely anointed king, David.

Vision for Life

Consider the life of Moses; his family did not raise him (Exodus 2). Yet God allowed him to see the burden of his brothers and know that something was not right with the situation. God burdened Moses. Moses knew from his mother these slaves were his kinsmen. The Pharaoh's family raised him to see them people as a necessity for the Egyptian empire, as a commodity to make it productive. On one day, God opened Moses’ eyes and he saw the Hebrews no longer as a staple of the kingdom, but as people, his people. God gave him a vision; he was the one to lead these people, his brothers and sisters, out of slavery. God opened his eyes to see them as people. He gave Moses His own vision of the people.

What does God do next? He took Moses to a lonely place for 40 years (Exodus 3). God had a purpose, to bring Moses in line with His plan, with His purpose for the children of Israel. God showed Moses he was one of this tribe of people. Now God had to mold him into the man-leader He needed to take these chosen people from slavery through the desert and the battles into the Promised Land. Moses knew God put a vision in him, His vision. He may have wondered why Yahweh was taking so long to put him into action. God has a plan. During the forty years with Jethro, God taught Moses how to be a shepherd, how to be a Hebrew, how to pray, and how to wait on His timing. After those years, God molded Moses into His own man to lead His people, to stand up to His people as their God-appointed leader, and to hear His voice.

Let us step forward a few hundred years to David. David was a shepherd boy and the youngest of his father’s sons (1 Samuel 16). God, through Samuel, appointed David to be the king of His people while he was still a teenager. Did David ascend to the throne at once? No, God took him through years of shepherding, battle-training, empire-leading, and spiritual learning. God had David live in the king’s palace just as Moses did. God did not just choose the men and put them into the fire of His work. He took His time - put them through the valley, the fires, and the floods - to shape them to be His anointed leader who recognizes Him as their guide and help. They waited on God instead of running and “doing” the vision on their own steam. These men waited on God’s exact guidance to fulfill the vision.

Fast forward a thousand years or more to the time of Jesus and His disciples. Almost immediately upon the start of Jesus’ ministry, He called men to Him. Did He send the men out immediately to perform miracles or preach the Word? No, Jesus taught them the Word was alive and with them. He taught them the power of the Word. Jesus taught them the purpose of the Word. He taught them how to be followers of the Word. Jesus taught them so they would believe. The fishermen were Jewish; that was not an issue. Jesus had to train them that the Word was Himself, God among them. For three years, the disciples walked with Jesus. They walked with Him, learned how to teach, and learned who Jesus was, from where His power came, and through Whom God would save the Israelites. The disciples, too, saw, in person, the life of Jesus so they could not doubt He is the Son of God brought to earth to save humanity from their sins and bring them eternal communion with the Father, Yahweh God. This Yahweh and Son are one in the same and are the same as the One who trained Moses and David. The three years Jesus trained His disciples, He molded them into men of God, not just fishermen. They were used to the storms of the sea as fishermen, but they were not accustomed to the storms which humanity created. The disciples experienced first-hand the cunning of humanity through the acts of the Pharisees and the jealousy of the current kings of the land. They watched the indifference of the people who chose to follow like blind sheep rather than trust a God with whom their people had history. The disciples experienced a Jehovah who calls the lowest in the land to become shepherds of His chosen people. They experienced the denial and wrath of people who chose not to follow Jesus and threw taunts and stones at them for “blaspheming.” In all of this, the disciples did not give up on the Jesus who chose them, the ones whom Jesus asked the Father to sanctify because they remained firmly with Him on earth and stood strong during trials. These men were the ones that Jesus protected and guarded in the Father’s name and the ones whom Jesus felt He must safeguard when His time on earth finished (John 17). The Father chose these men out of His chosen people to be the ones whom Jesus called to follow Him, to receive power from on high (the Holy Spirit), and to “go into all the world preaching the Good News” (Matthew 28:18-20). 

Are Moses, David, and the disciples different from you or me? Did they have anything more in them than we do as Christ followers? God called each of these people to be His own possession, to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8). The desire that each of these people had is no different from the desire we have now as disciples, followers, of Jesus. This desire is not a desire of “doing” for Jesus, but of being in perfect relationship with Him. We, in this way, have a perfect relationship with Him, being entirely His as Jesus stated to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane (John 17). This garden is where countless generations of God-followers went to pray. The garden is where Christ anguished about His sacrifice, the garden of His betrayal. This garden is where we must watch and pray. The garden of Gethsemane is the place where each of the men came before God when He called them to Himself, a garden of prayer and watching and waiting. This could be any garden in your life from where the Father and Son have called you to serve Him. God will become manifest to each person He calls at this point, the place from which God’s transformation of the man and woman He calls begins. It could take forty years like Moses, twenty-five years like David, or three years like the disciples. The timing is not the important part, but waiting for God and His molding of them for His purpose. As children created by God, He calls to each one of us to come to Him, be made new, sit quietly before Him, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. God calls us because He loves. He waits for us because He loves. God keeps watch for us because He loves. Do we hear, watch, and wait for God to call us, remake us, and lead us to the vision to which He calls us? Alternatively, do we “boldly go where no man has gone before” and walk in our own strength and knowledge? Would you not rather have your senses heightened and used for him - your mind renewed, heart re-called, soul returned, and your body replenished - instead of walking forward in your own strength? To have each of these areas transformed by God creates in us a strength unknown to humanity to “go and tell,” no matter how far or into what circumstance He calls us to go - the vision which God places on our hearts. Jesus told us that to love God, we must love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Luke 10:27). Can we give ourselves to God to love Him this way and allow Him to re-mold us for His purposes? God had a vision for His people Israel, to lead them, guide them, and save them. He has a vision for our lives, too. He calls us to the vision He places in our hearts, for which we must be in a continual relationship with Him. What are you and I willing to give to God to be in relationship with Him - to be re-molded and re-made over time for a purpose, to experience and share God’s love, and be a channel of God’s love?