Cultivating a High View of God

There is a modern chorus some churches sing that goes "Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power and love, our God is an awesome God." The words are true and it's fun to sing but it's a bouncy little ditty that manages to reduce the message to something much less than awesome by its sheer bounciness, its shallow cheerfulness.

The word "awesome" carries none of the feeling it ought to any more, but comes across more like the expressions "groovy" (that's how old I am) or "cool." Words can be cheapened and cheapen the reality they denote. The greatest truths can be trivialized, God Himself can be reduced to something less than worthy of worship simply by the words we use and the attitude we cultivate, and it seems to me this happens all too often among today's Christians.

If God is awesome we should be properly awed, even overcome with a sense of His majesty. Most of what we do in worship and devotion isn't going to lead us in that direction. We need a truly high view of God if we are going to worship Him rightly. The thought of Him should prompt deep adoration, and it should include a fear of the Lord that keeps us from profaning Him.

Our souls must "magnify the Lord." I've collected a few quotes about this.

Luke 1:46: And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord

From Brother Lawrence (1610-1691): The Practice of the Presence of God:

First Conversation: The first time I saw Brother Lawrence was on the 3rd of August, 1666. He told me that God had done him a singular favor in his conversion at the age of eighteen. During that winter, upon seeing a tree stripped of its leaves and considering that, within a little time, the leaves would be renewed and, after that, the flowers and fruit appear; Brother Lawrence received a high view of the providence and power of God which has never since been effaced from his soul. This view had perfectly set him free from the world and kindled in him such a love for God, that he could not tell whether it had increased in the forty years that he had lived since...

We should feed and nourish our soul with high notions of God which would yield us great joy in being devoted to Him.

From William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, Chapter 14, where he is giving instruction in early morning devotions:

When you begin your petitions, use such various expressions of the attributes of God as may make you most sensible of the greatness and power of the divine nature ...

For these representations of the divine attributes which show us in some degree the majesty and greatness of God are an excellent means of raising our hearts into lively acts of worship and adoration.

What is the reason that most people are so much affected with this petition in the Burial Service of our church, "Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Savior, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death." It is because the joining together so many great expressions gives such a description of the greatness of the divine majesty as naturally affects every sensible mind.

Although, therefore, prayer does not consist in fine words or studied expressions, yet as words speak to the soul, as they have a certain power of raising thoughts in the soul, so those words which speak of God in the highest manner, which most fully express the power and presence of God, which raise thoughts in the soul most suitable to the greatness and providence of God, are the most useful and most edifying in our prayers.

When you direct any of your petitions to our blessed Lord, let it be in some expressions of this kind: "O Savior of the world, God of God, Light of Light, Thou that art the Brightness of Thy Father's Glory and the express Image of His person, ...Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End of all things...that has destroyed the power of the Deveil, that has overcome death... the Judge of the quick and the dead ...

For such representations, which describe so many characters of our Savior's nature and power, are not only proper acts of adoration but will, if they are repeated with any attention, fill our hearts with the highest fervors of true devotion.

I needed this email from Zac Poonen's ministry. I think I need to get off the internet for a while or at least pull way back from it. I'm always embroiled in controversies just from being on the internet. I'm sloppy with money although I have so little you'd think I'd be scrupulous about every penny. I'm good at keeping track of it but not making the best decisions how to use it. As for the tongue, it does get away from me and that's very bad. The internet is the kind of company that encourages that of course, not that it should be my excuse, just means I need to pull back from it. Anyway, this is a good email to meditate on.

Message body WORD FOR THE WEEK 9 October 2011
Christian Fellowship Church, Bangalore, India
http://www.cfcindia.com
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God Has a Remnant in Every Generation

Zac Poonen

There is great spiritual decline today. But, in the midst of all this, God has a few who have a heart for Him. They are not all found in one denomination. They are found in all the denominations – men and women who love God and are seeking to honour Him in all things. They are genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit and do not get involved in controversies. They are very careful in the use of their tongues and are very faithful with money. God is gathering such people together in these days as His remnant.

The remnant prepared the way for the coming of the Lord Jesus. When the Lord was born, there was a small remnant - Simeon and Anna in the temple, John the Baptist, the shepherds, and a few wise men from the east. Today also there is a remnant in Christendom who are preparing the way for the coming of the Lord.

Zephaniah highlights some characteristics of this remnant.

"I will purify the lips of the people” ( Zeph.3:9). The speech of the remnant will be pure. Isaiah was convicted of his speech when he saw the glory of the Lord. I speak often about our speech and about our attitude to money - because the prophets spoke much about these two subjects. If we are careful with our mouth and our money, we can become the Lord’s spokesmen.

“All of them will call on the name of the Lord and serve Him shoulder to shoulder” (Zeph.3:9). The remnant will be united as one body and serve the Lord bearing His burdens - shoulder to shoulder.

“I will remove all the proud and arrogant people from among you. There will be no pride on My holy mountain. Those who are left will be the lowly and the humble” (Zeph 3:11,12). The remnant will comprise only of humble people, because the Lord would have removed all the proud ones. That is another question people ask me, “Brother Zac, why do you speak so much about humility?” Because that is what the Bible speaks of, from cover to cover.

“Those who are left will trust in the name of the Lord” (Zeph 3:12). The remnant will be a people of faith.

“The people will do no wrong to each other, never telling lies or deceiving one another. They will live peaceful lives" (Zeph 3:13). The remnant will be a peaceful people who never tell lies or deceive anyone or harm anyone.

“Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart! For the LORD Himself will live among you! (Zeph 3:14,15). The remnant will be a happy people who have found their perfect security in the Lord’s love for them.

“The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy. He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy” (Zeph 3:17). God rejoices over this remnant. He does not find joy over people who live in sin. Can a father rejoice in a child who has cancer, leprosy and tuberculosis? No. Neither can God find joy in people who live in sin and who don’t want to be healed. But God does find joy in this holy remnant. With great gladness He shouts over them and sings a song over them. This is the one place in Scripture where it says that God sings over His people. There are many places where we are exhorted to sing a song of praise to God. But here it is God Who is singing a song over us. What a challenge it is to be the type of person whom God can rejoice over.

“He is silently planning for you in love” (Zeph 3:17 – Paraphrase). The Lord plans for us in love and He has pleasant surprises planned for us in the days to come, because He is our loving Father.

“I will save the weak and helpless ones. I will give glory and renown to those who were mocked and shamed. I will give you a name of distinction. They will praise you as I restore your fortunes before their very eyes” (Zeph 3:19,20). The remnant consists of a people who are weak and helpless in themselves. The Lord Himself deals with their enemies and gives His people glory and distinction in the final day.
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For more information write to: wftw@cfcindia.com

Some downer thoughts on the higher life

Have to report that I got discouraged with this blog a while back. Meant to do a post saying why but put that off too.

I'd already been thinking along these lines and then I heard a sermon on Christian radio exploring the scriptures on prayer which made it only too clear that conditions must be met that are hard to meet for prayer that really lays hold of God.

This could of course get into some depth but really the main thought is pretty simple:

There IS a higher Christian life than the life most of us lead, and many of the books I've highlighted here do hold it forth to us. But there are conditions involved and most of us aren't qualified for it and aren't going to be able to get qualified either.*

Discouraging thought, no? Took the wind out of me when it hit me.

Kind of took the wind out of me right now as I wrote this. So I think I'll leave it here for now.

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*There are many who have no interest in any supposed higher Christian life, even if they know something about it, and there are also those who put it down as not a true expression of Christianity and love to make owlish pronouncements about how No, there ISN'T anything "more." So I'm disagreeing with them in claiming that there is such a life and it is worth aiming for. Andrew Murray knew that life, so did John Wesley, so did Watchman Nee (though he insisted it was really the NORMAL Christian life, not something above and beyond it). And so did many others, including many who have been saddled with the label "mystics" which implies something occultic or similar to charismania which is very far from the truth. It may fit some who come under that label (such as Hildegarde of Bingen just to be clear about what I mean -- and a great deal of the contemporary movements that teach something they call "contemplative prayer" which also isn't what that term used to designate either) but there are plenty it doesn't fit, they are simply people who fell so deeply in love with God that they occupy their every moment with loving Him and learning about Him and obeying Him and seeking His presence, and the result of such a dedicated life is knowledge of God, hearing from God, and often supernatural powers -- powers the early church had, nothing weird or new. Charismatics go off into the weird and new and that's where discernment is sorely needed these days, but the TRUE "mystics" are simply true lovers of God, true followers of Jesus. But these true followers of God remain very few among the many.

But most don't care and won't share my discouragement at finding how hard it is to meet the conditions of the "higher life" anyway. Sure makes ME sad to think I will never get straightened out enough to live that life though, and also makes me sad to think this also applies to my hopes of revival. WE AREN'T QUALIFIED FOR REVIVAL. (I hope I'll yet discover I'm wrong).