Conversations with my father: only one God.

[notice]Musings around children’s ministry.[/notice]

Over the last few weeks I have been visiting with my parents and enjoying their company after quite a while apart. My time at home has led to my dad mentoring me and having discipleship sessions with me on an almost daily basis.

These sessions have been invaluable to me and are having a profound impact on my growth as a follower of Christ. Funnily, in my youth I found my dad to be too ‘deep’, and irrelevant to what I was going through. I thank God that He’s led me to my earthly father’s feet where I am drinking of His wisdom through my father’s mouth. 

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I think part of what put me off of chatting on a deeper level with my Dad is the he uses scary jargon terms like ‘limiting beliefs’ and ‘vibrations’ liberally…I guess it sounded ‘new agey’ and I was a little put out by it. Now after wading through what he says and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide me in all truth, I am discovering wonderful things that are setting me free from bondages and lies the enemy has accused me with.

All this has led me to the beginning, Genesis, where I discovered what one of the biggest lies of the enemy to me (and surely to all of us) has been. When Satan suggested that by eating the fruit we’d be like God knowing good and evil, I think Adam and Eve really thought they’d be like God….the thing is they already were! We are made in His image but the Bible is clear, there is only one, true God. 

When God made us He told us to have dominion over creation and care for it. We were given the roles of co-labourers by naming the animals and playing a part in sustaining life here in Earth. We were never designed, however, to be gods unto ourselves. The Lord gave us plants for food (Genesis 1:27-28) and mapped out how life would be sustained on earth. But when Adam and Eve realised they were naked they awkwardly sewed fig leaves to cover themselves. With all their God given intelligence they hid themselves, and hid from God.  If anything, eating the forbidden fruit made them even more aware of How holy God is and how totally unattainable His holiness is.

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It’s funny how, the world’s systems still perpetuate the lie that we can be gods unto ourselves. That we are capable of giving and taking life as we please. For example, scientific exploits have led to lives being created in laboratories and babies being aborted in their millions worldwide. I am not debating the science itself but merely stating what the implications of these advances are. That said, it is sad that the cases of clinical depression are increasing and gurus of all natures are making a killing selling ‘feel good’ mantras that actually make people feel worse. Jesus said that He was all we need….we were designed to walk with Him, so no matter what anyone says…there’s only one place to find true happiness. Again, there is only one living God. 

The world offers many solutions to life’s challenges but as Christians we have a different calling. Romans 12:2 says to “not conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds….”  The world tells us that hard work, material things and our own intelligence will give you joy…that is only partly true. Psalm 127:1  tells us that “unless The Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted”  But how many of us are still trying to get to God’s promises through our own will? I don’t want to turn this into an argument about whether Christians should have material things because that is irrelevant. The thing that matters is how that wealth is attained….because wouldn’t you rather be happy and wealthy than miserable and wealthy?

So how do we live in His blessing? The Lord said that He has put before us a blessing and a curse and urges us to choose life. Jesus showed us that obedience is what The Lord interprets as love.  John 15:10 says that when we obey His commandments we remain in His love. I think that this takes more effort than a lot of us are willing to make (well perhaps just me). The Majority of the Old Testament is full of testimonies of people who chose to follow The Lord, then struggled to remain focused on Him alone.

The reality is that the world’s voices are loud and in our faces, and we have to train our ears to hear the Lord’s voice amidst all the chaos. This is why personal time in the Word, personal prayer time, corporate worship, fasting and sharing testimonies are encouraged in the Word. 

I believe that The Lord has specific plans and assignments for each of us and His Holy Spirit is here to lead us in a personal way each day. His mercies are new every morning. Our efforts should be in obeying Him and learning to follow His voice daily. In this way, our hard work will pay off, not just for us but for the whole world into eternity. When we live this way, the whole earth really will be covered with the knowledge of God as we spread this gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. As the body of Christ let us incline our ear to His voice and be a peculiar people. The Lord has assured us it is possible through His son, Jesus.

I’m going deeper, anyone joining me?