Greater is He

1John 4:4 - You are of God, little children ... because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Do we really believe this? If we are in Christ, He is in us, when we take His lead and not our own. Why should we rely on our own selves? Who created us? Who knew us from the beginning of time? Who formed us in our mother's wombs? Oh, He has given us special gifts, but He expects us to use them for His glory, not our own. Because He will be behind those gifts.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 hints at the God-sized hole in each of our hearts He put there so we would seek Him... He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

What are we so afraid of giving up for the sake of the Lord? Giving up, or letting go, doesn't mean losing out; it means greater things, greater blessings. The world has lots to offer, but He has more. And His Spirit in us is greater than we could hope to imagine, if we have that relationship with Him. What holds people back from receiving this word? 

Why is it sometimes proof is necessary, actually seeing to understand? This is a mystery of God. Faith and trust in something we cannot see. That takes even greater faith, doesn't it?

I've been rightly accused by my husband that I will listen to a "stranger's" advice but not his! It happens. I admit it. In a way it's the same thing with listening to the voice of One we cannot see and believing it. Will we believe Him over others?

Our Bible is filled with ancient, yet wise, words. They were all written and spoken through the power of the Holy Spirit. They are just and true. They bring life to those who wish to take the time to heed them. It's not so far fetched an impossibility of a book to read. It's written so all can see and know the God who created us. It shows us His nature through words.

It shows us that if we so choose...and choose being the word of the day...we can have the Lord of lords and the King of kings residing within us. But we must be willing to allow Him in. And once He's in He's going to want to do some attitude, pride, addiction, heart and other

transformations. If we think we have it altogether, we lie to ourselves.

Time and time again I have to remind myself that greater is He....  I can slip foolishly back into believing lies, the same lies that the whole world believes....that each of us controls our own destiny, that we can be self-made men and women, that glamor and a opulent lifestyle makes the man.

Sometimes I truly struggle with friendships outside of church friends. Why? Because He's the most important thing. I choose to devote a lot of my time thinking on Him. Here is a Man who is greater than than any man in the world. He has changed my life. I see Him at work even in the little things of each day. 

I'm constantly reminded that what we see happening each day in the world is what the Bible tells us will happen in the last days. Aren't a lot of the things we see self-motivated, entitlement issues? We're living it out. The decidedly poor choice is to choose self over the Lord. 

Like I've said before...it's our pride that keeps us from coming to Jesus. It's the one thing we all need to have removed. Those who are so broken in their lives and need to know the love and strength of a Savior know what it means to have lost a good portion of their pride.

I have had occasion to work a bit with people in or graduates of Teen Challenge, a faith based drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, one that has I believe an 88% success rate in those who have stayed in the program. They are taught they cannot do, cannot be healed, without Jesus Christ.

There are so many who don't associate themselves with "these sorts of people." Their own alcohol, even drug dependency or flippant use of, is "under control." But when it gets out of hand, is it really under control? It's under some sort of control...their own. It's a feel-good experience. If drugs and alcohol are necessary for feel-good experiences, what are they hiding? What hurt or disappointment or insecurity is beneath it all?

Greater is He....like the students of Teen Challenge, they learn this lesson. Our church is doing a program called Celebrate Recovery. We've had people come off the streets because they saw the sign on our church grounds. I attend a prayer vigil on Thursday nights and we prayed for him because he was going to give his testimony of how Jesus delivered him from alcohol and drugs, how he relies on Him every day and how every morning he wakes up he's thankful because it means he's one day closer to being with Him.

These people are taken out of their dependency on something that will kill if left unneeded. Their dependency on Christ takes over and it is in Him (greater is He) that they are free from the burden of sin. The stains of our sin, whether great or small, are washed away to reveal His character which will reside in us...along with true righteousness.  All these things are possible in Christ. By His blood, by His stripes we are healed. Not just for those who obviously need it but for those whose pride says they don't.

Then we can say that greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world. Greater are His plans for us than those we cling to in the world.

Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

A Transfigured Life

2Corinthians 5:17 - If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

What idea have you of the salvation of your soul? The experience of salvation means that in your actual life things are really altered, you no longer look at things as you used to; your desires are new, old things have lost their power. One of the touchstones of experience is - Has God altered the thing that matters? If you still hanker after the old things, it is absurd to talk about being born from above, you are juggling with yourself. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the alteration manifest in your actual life and reasoning, and when the crisis comes you are the most amazed person on earth at the wonderful difference there is in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you did it. It is this complete and amazing alteration that is the evidence that you are a saved soul.

These words come from Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest devotion for November 12.

He poses a tough question. What idea have you of the salvation of your soul? What have you learned through your church? How did you learn? What did you have to go through to submit to this change in your life? Or have you?

I look back and realize I learned nothing from my church. If I had I would not have been absent from it for over 30 years. I would not have chosen to believe that I knew who God was, knew of Jesus and was slightly aware there was something called the Holy Spirit, was sprinkled as a baby and was thereby bound for heaven. I didn't doubt the Trinity existed. I just never realized to what extent. Why? Because I had not had a mind, spirit or soul altering meeting with Jesus Christ.

Everyone has an encounter somewhere in their life span. For some it's early in life, for some on the deathbed. Mine was more than halfway through life. It's what you do with it when it comes that matters. If you choose to "go for it" you will know it has happened. You truly do sense an inner change take place. You know you have been touched by the Holy Spirit, even if you know little about Him. If you've not had this experience, ask the Lord to show Himself to you. You only need to be open to listening and receiving. When you sense this change things do happen you cannot always express. 

I know God is in my thoughts throughout every day. Some days more than others. It's like I have a constant silent conversation with Him. I sense His presence. I sense His disappointment in me as well as His elation over something I've done. Can you say that?

Do you ever wonder if God is happy with you right this moment? Do you wonder where you stand before Him? I think these are questions we should be asking ourselves. Do we line up with God's Word? Do we hear Him speak and do we immediately obey if He asks us to do something? Does He even ask us anything? Why not? 

Are we the same today as we were last year or ten years ago? Has Jesus transformed us or have we transformed ourselves? Are we successful in what we do because of Him or because of what we perceive to be our intelligent choices? Or better yet, have we strived for much and not received anything? Are we seeking things for ourselves and our own pleasures? Do we work toward a pleasant life on this earth or for an eternal reward? Do we cheat to get what we want? Or do we do what is right for each person that comes to us? Are we willing to compromise for gain or are we willing to let go of something because the way to getting it just isn't right? Do we have a conscience or can we do something without feeling any ill will about how something's been handled? Oh, the questions we can ask...ask them and see if God answers.

I was at a banquet the other night. It was an annual fundraising event for the Milwaukee chapter of Teen Challenge, a faith-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation center for men and women 18 and older. One of the commentators and auctioneer was a local guy, Jonathan Green. There were testimonies from some of the Teen Challenge "students," those who had been heroine addicts, or had alcohol-related addictions which didn't stop just there. Some entered the program over time in jail...and have been transformed. They were touching, but this man spoke volumes in just a couple short sentences.

Teen Challenge, Green suggested, is unlike Alcoholics Anonymous. He admittedly had gone through AA himself and mentioned their 12 step program. One step is believing in a higher power, a God as they understood Him to be. There's the difference, he said, between AA and Teen Challenge. He finished the AA program and decided one day to celebrate his new life...with a beer...and it ended in his downward spiral again. I'm assuming that when he began devoting some of his time to the banquets and meeting with Teen Challenge personnel, he began to see the difference. He had not learned that in order to be really healed you have to give up something...and be filled with something else. That filling is the beginning of the transforming moment mentioned by Chambers.

It's not about God as you understand Him to be. It's knowing the Lord Jesus Christ personally. Only He can bring a person out of their sickness. Remember, He healed the lame, gave sight to the blind and took the sins of many away from them by the power of His Word. When you give something up...yourself...to the Lord Jesus Christ specifically...He will fill you with all you need. If you have not been filled from the Fountain of Life, with the water that causes you to never thirst again, you've not been filled. If you can't say you've experienced that, it's not happened.

You must allow yourself to be filled with something greater than you thought you were then you come back to (new) life. I saw this transformation on the bright faces of these Teen Challenge participants. They have been fed the Bread from Heaven, drank from the Living Water and have been brought out of whatever addiction they had. They have a whole new life ahead of them. They know where they came from and can see what they are now capable of doing through the power of God. They realize they cannot survive without His help. And so should we all.

We may not come from as drastic backgrounds as these people. We don't all have to be alcoholics or drug users or addicted to pornography, but we have our own weaknesses...fear, intimidation, pride, cheating, lying, stealing. We all come from some damage somewhere.  As the Book of Romans tells us we are all sinners (Romans 3:23) and we remain sinners until we allow the transforming power of Jesus Christ to take over. Sometimes it's that Name that is so difficult to speak!

Imagine these men and women, and Jonathan Green, who look back and see where they came from and what they've become. Imagine how amazed they are at how they've changed! 

I came across this testimony from our now governor-elect, Scott Walker, regarding the Teen Challenge program:

To change people who have addictions like this, you cannot just do it by walking them through a program. You ultimately have to change what is in their heart to change what other actions they do. This is a program that has shown great success.

This transformation is in the heart, not the works we do. Another word for it is being born again...by the Spirit of God. Oh, I still know I have changes to make in myself. I'm disappointed sometimes that there are things that have not changed. But I do know the exact day and nearly the exact hour that the Spirit of God revealed Himself to me. And it was nothing that I did apart from sit in a pew my first day back to church in years and allow the Spirit to work in me. It's a day I will always look back on in amazement. What a glorious day!

John 3:3 - In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."