Saturday, July 7, 2012

"In Touch With the Mystery"



Ephesians 1:17-18 - …that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints...

I have been praying lately that Ephesians 1:17-18 above would penetrate the lives of those who are out of touch(!) with God. I've been chewing on the following information for a couple days, trying to put it into a concept easy to understand. Sorry if it's not! 

I heard a snippet of an old interview between Bill O'Reilly and Deepak Chopra the other day. They were discussing belief in God...and the argument Bill had before about a Creator with Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and self-proclaimed atheist. 

Before I go any further, I want to say that I am NOT a Chopra follower. When I saw O'Reilly interviewing him, there was a check in my spirit. I had to see just what were his religious beliefs. Here is a quote he made in an article: "I want to offer the possibility that Jesus was truly, as he proclaimed, a savior,” Chopra wrote. “Not the savior, not the one and only Son of God. Rather Jesus embodied the highest level of enlightenment." Chopra does not believe in the Deity of Jesus Christ. He does not claim to even be a Christian. 

However…   But I heard Chopra use the phrase "in touch with the mystery." And having blogged about the mysteries of God and this scripture above this stood out. Chopra said this to O'Reilly: You have to understand the great prophets, Jesus, whoever...they transcended a level where they were in touch with the mysteries. Aha, they were in touch with the mysteries. Bill asked (a couple times) if he believed there is an active Deity who intervenes with the world? There is an active source that is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and we have a connection to that, Chopra said. He did not say God was that source.

So I ask, okay, how does that connection occur? Is it initiated by us or God? If you listen or read more on Chopra, you will hear him say we can. Yes, there is something within us that desires to know God, but it is initiated by God. It's all about God first, not self. Remember, He is the One who created us and put a desire to know Him within us; we really are not "self-made" men/women. Chopra's beliefs come with terms like self-help, self-growth, self-realization...self-centered concepts. Scripture says we (self) are nothing without God. He chooses us, we respond to this call, we come into relationship with Him and we are reconciled once again with Him. It's a subtle difference, but a difference just the same. He calls, we respond. We do not search ourselves and find the god that is within.... 

Having God within only comes to us through the infilling of the Holy Spirit when we receive Christ…and no other way. (So we need to believe Jesus is the Son of God, one with the Father.) One cannot obtain these mysteries without that relationship with God. It has nothing to do with meditating and going to a "higher" place of enlightenment within one's self. It has everything to do with allowing Jesus into one's heart and soul. We seek God first and we are given revelation of the mysteries (Ephesians 3:3). Only then are eyes are opened to the deep things of God. There is a difference between being in touch and being filled with

     (I understand this difference because I came from a time of seeking self and seeking the power within myself...and psychics, aura reading, numerology, healing stones, Reiki... But for some reason none of this stuff seemed to work for me! It was more frustrating than gratifying. I do believe God had his hand on me knowing that shortly after all this, I would know the truth! For that I praise Him today! Ephesians 5:11 says: And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.)

When we are given, by God, the revelation to these mysteries we are shown how truly fragile this life is and how important it is that we have our eyes fixed on One who will graciously hold us in the palm of His hand and be our eternal, not fleeting, protection, if we truly seek Him. We do not hold our destiny in our own hands. Our Creator does.

This world has nothing as great to give us eternally as Jesus does. Although having this knowledge is amazing, it also is sobering. All we think is great and wonderful in this physical world, and who we really think we are in it, can be removed in the blink of God's eye.  Here's what we are without Him: lost, dead though alive, blind, deceived, disobedient, sinners, enemies of God. We are nothing without Him.

If one does not see the world through God's eyes, this has not happened. If one cannot believe that we are in the midst of some troubling times and can't see what the Bible predicts the future to be like, that power and knowledge is not in them. A hard word for sure. Not meant to condemn but to cause one to ponder.

Seek Jesus. Look up to Him, not within yourself and certainly not to what the world views as important, trustworthy, safe, good. Our life in this world will end. Then what? If one knows Christ the answers (mysteries) are clear. He is willing to save if we are willing to admit our sins and faults and give them over to Him. With a heartfelt confession of sins and faith that He will forgive brings the Holy Spirit of power and knowledge. To know the mysteries one must ask Jesus into his life.

Romans 10:8-11 - But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." 

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