Inviting Jesus: the ultimate goal (V and last)

 

At the end of His earthly mission, Jesus prayed and asked that His disciples may be ONE, just like He was ONE with the Father. He said: that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me (Jn 17:22-23). The last words and wishes of anyone tend to reveal what really matters most to them. What the LORD wanted above all things, was to see between His disciples and Himself, the kind of unity and bond that existed between Him and the Father. We, ONE in Jesus, and Jesus ONE in GOD, is us ONE in GOD. This is where inviting Christ should lead us to: this is the ultimate goal.

Jesus does not come for a short visit. He comes to stay; and if He we make Him feel at home – if we have received Him the Eastern way –, He will transform, renovate, restore, repair and rebuild us. The whole of divinity will thus invade every aspect of our lives. As He is, so also are we now in this world; and just like He could say that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father (1Jn 4:17, Jn 14:9), we will also be able to say that whoever has seen us has seen the Son.

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. He even acknowledged this as He prayed saying: I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world…I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them (Jn 1.18 & 17.6, 22 & 26).

What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Ps 8:4. The only reason why Jesus accepts our invitation and accepts to share His glory with us is so that, in return, we will also, just like Him, make GOD’s name known to men. This is the supreme and ultimate goal of the divinisation of Man in Christ Jesus.

Jesus came so that the divinity could once again invade the earth and men could regain control of what Adam had lost. He came so that the will of the Father could, through us, be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Now, when we speak of the divinity and being like Jesus, many start dreaming of miracles; especially as He promised that those who believe in Him would do the works that He did, and do even greater works than those (Jn 14:12). However, it is important to realise and understand that if Jesus had only performed miracles, there would be no Gospel today. Indeed, since the days of old, the world has seen all sorts of thaumaturgists (miracles workers); but what is left of them? Besides, after multiplying five loaves of bread and two fishes for a few thousands of people, Jesus told them that they were not looking for Him because of the signs they had seen, but because they had eaten their fill of the loaves. Then, when He told them that to do the works of GOD, they needed to believe in Him whom GOD had sent, the same people who had just witnessed the multiplication of bread asked: “What sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?” (Jn 6:26-30) So, the multiplication of bread and fishes, the changing of the water into wine, the miraculous catch of fish and all the supernatural healings had not been enough to trigger faith in them! Even the resurrection of Lazarus was not going to start the great revival that one would have expected. Indeed, Jesus will later use a parable to explain that if people would not listen to Moses and the Prophets (the Holy Scriptures), they would neither be convinced if someone should rise from the dead (Lk 16:31).

Children chase miracles, forgetting that these are also the first and most effective weapon that the devil uses to seduce the believers. Mature Christians run after solid food (Heb 5:14). If the Gospel has been and is still so successful, it is not because of miracles, but because of the liberating and transforming power of the teaching of the Word of GOD. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Mat 28:19, 20). Disciples, teaching… Life shows us the power of these words every day. It is through teaching and discipline that one becomes a doctor, lawyer, engineer or astronaut and that they make known the name and power of the ‘god science’. It is also through teaching and discipline that the fully trained Christian becomes like the Master, his glorious Guest, and makes GOD’s Name known to the world. Jesus will only be with us till the end of the age if we apply ourselves to teaching everything that He has taught us. Knowledge is powerful: You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free (Jn 8:32). Let’s bring the best of knowledge and the purest truth to the world. Now that we have invited Him and He has come to stay, as we behold His glory and are being transformed into Him through the daily meditation of His Word (2Cor 3:18), let’s bring CHRIST to people, let’s bring us!

Have a wonderblessed® week manifesting your Christitude® or your Christlikeness, if you prefer!

Inviting Jesus (IV): Shalom! Peace! Be still!

 

Mat 8:23-27, “He got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing." And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?"” We know the story. Mark narrates it a bit differently. He explains that the waves were breaking into the boat which was already filling; but Jesus was sleeping on a cushion in the stern. The disciples woke Him saying, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Then, He turned back to them and asked, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" (4:37-40)

If you are in a bunker or in a storm shelter, you will not be afraid to die when a strong hurricane is devastating your area. If you know you are immunized against measles or cholera, you are not afraid during an epidemic breaks. Jesus is our bunker in times of war, our shelter in times of tempest and our vaccine against all sorts of ills. The Bible calls Him the Prince of Peace and He said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” If this was not enough, Paul insists: do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Is 9:6, Jn 14:27, Phil 4:6-7). How can one have Peace and tremble? How can we have millions in the bank and panic because of a bill of a few hundred pounds or dollars? How can you be a prosperous restaurant owner with a deep freezer full of goods and be anxious as to whether you can afford diner? If you think that these questions are absurd, then, I ask again: How can one have Jesus, how can one possess Peace, and yet be afraid? He did not just say: “I’m leaving you with peace” but, “I give you My peace.” It is a done deal; it is finished. We have Peace, His Peace, just like the aforementioned multimillionaire and restaurant owner.

Peace: concord and interior tranquillity within states, families and societies. Peace: the serenity of the soul. His Peace, the Shalom: the tranquillity obtained by doing GOD’s will.

The disciples should have looked at Him and, seeing Him sleeping like a baby, understand that there was nothing to worry about. But they panicked and even expected Jesus to panic with them – as if this could have changed a thing- : Do you not care that we are perishing? If they were truly perishing, then there was nothing to do and crying/shouting would not have changed a thing. They should have rather prepared themselves to meet their Creator. And if they were not going to perish, there was no point wasting so much energy and adrenaline. In both cases, the best thing would have been to remain calm. Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith.

1) Because, in spite of all the time that they had already spent together, the guys had still not understood who they were dealing with; hence their amazement:"What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?" Like them, we often stress and panic in front of certain situations because unaware of Who our guest is, we keep on treating HIM the Western way. There are two TV shows that I like watching from time to time. The first one is “Undercover boss”. Each episode features a senior executive or the owner of a corporation going undercover as an entry-level employee in their own company. They alter their appearance and assume an alias and fictional back-story. They spend one to two weeks undercover, working in various areas of their company's operations, with a different job and, in most cases, a different location each day. They are exposed to a series of predicaments with amusing results, and spend time getting to know the people who work in the company, learning about their professional and personal challenges. At the end of their time undercover, the employees who have worked with the executives are individually requested to the corporate headquarters. There, the bosses reveal their identity and reward the hard-working employees (promotion or financial bonuses), offer training to others, make their working conditions better and, in extreme cases, some contracts are terminated.

The second one is the “Secret Millionaire.” In this reality show, a millionaire leaves his/her luxurious life behind and goes undercover in an impoverished neighbourhood for seven to ten days in order to see what life is like for the financially destitute. They have to work and volunteer alongside the locals and find individuals or projects that they think deserve a cut of their fortune. At the end of this period, they reveal their true identity to the people they have chosen, surprising them with gifts of thousands of pounds or dollars to improve their lives.

It is about time we realise that Jesus, our Guest, owns the universe. He is bigger than the Secret millionaire, He is the Boss of all bosses and He is staying undercover in our hearts and lives… There is no faith without the revelation of the Person and the Lordship of Christ.

2) Their reaction didn’t even reflect the little that they already knew of the Lord Jesus Christ. They had seen HIM heal the sick, cast the demons out, raise the dead, multiply fish and bread, change water into wine; they had heard HIM reveal things that could not be humanly known (Nathanael, the Samaritan woman…), but they had witnessed all of this as if in a dream. It was surreal; and when the reality of a small storm caught up with them… If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved (Rom 10:9-10). There has to be a perfect harmony between what we know intellectually, what we believe deep down, and our actions. We cannot say that we have Jesus, the Prince of Peace, in our lives and fret in front of events. We cannot say that Jesus will supply all our needs and not sleep at night because we don’t know how we are going to pay the rent next week. We cannot believe that “we can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens us” and then, say: “Oh, I will never succeed in this or that; it’s my pet peeve.” With Jesus in our lives, we should be the devil’s worst nightmare instead.

Jesus is presently in your boat and He is peacefully sleeping. What is troubling and scaring you is only illusory and transitory: SHALOM!

Inviting Jesus: what for?

 

If you have invited Jesus for the sole purpose of escaping hell, getting healing, marriage or a job, I am afraid you sorely lack of earthly and eternal ambition and you're missing out on the best that God has to offer. Indeed, you have received your miracle -healing, marriage, children, prosperity etc.-, so, what comes after? This is why many people are not experiencing a special brand of Christianity: strong, attractive and conquering. Once they have what they wanted, they are satisfied and no longer look for more. Or, since it worked, they turn Jesus into a 'Father miracles' who is supposed to say “Yes, yes” to all their “I want… Give me…” As for those who were running away from hell fire, once they are assured of their salvation, they now think that they can do as they want. They’d better all listen to Paul. He writes: like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation –i.e.: Jesus Christ (vs. 11)-, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it… Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw-- each one's work will become manifest… it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire (1Cor 3:10-15). Nobody wants to spend their life in a hut. We all wish to live in a beautiful house with a swimming pool, a tennis court etc. This is why I can hardly understand how someone, who can spend eternity in a heavenly mansion, will just put in what can only get them a small heavenly shack! Some may argue that a celestial hut is better than the best earthly palace. True. However, there is also absolutely nothing on earth that can be compared to a mansion in Heaven. Believe me, you really don’t want to spend your eternity admiring your brethren’s mansions and knowing that unlike on earth, there is no longer any possibility of ever redeeming your situation. Receiving Jesus is just laying the foundation and we should not stop there. We need to build the walls, put the roof and all the appliances. In short, we need to do all that is required, in order to have a superb abode.

The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil (1Jn 3:8). This is written on His card. You may not have known it when you invited HIM, but since then, you now know His credentials. So, is this what He is also doing in your life or are you under-using HIM? Be fully aware that He will only destroy evil works in your life and world (your family, workplace, city etc.):

1) Depending on the latitude which you have given HIM to operate in, meaning: depending on the fact that you have received HIM the Western or Eastern way. Remember: He is a perfect Gentleman.

2) Providing you hate those evil deeds too: Jesus does not deliver us from what we love, but from what pains and afflicts us. Somebody gave this testimony. He used to smoke and when he became a Christian, he quickly knew it was not a good thing and vainly tried to stop. Everything failed: prayers, fasting, deliverance sessions and laying on of hands. One day, he invited an old friend, who was also a smoker, to church. The guest radically gave his life to CHRIST and stopped smoking from that very day. Our brother tried to rejoice for the salvation of his friend but he was jealous of his deliverance and, when he could no longer hide his feelings, he bitterly confronted the LORD. “I have been a faithful and zealous Christian for … years. I have begged You to deliver me from my addiction, but You would not do it. Now, in a twinkle of an eye, without any effort, you have set X free. LORD, this is not fair.” When he was done ranting, GOD told him: “I cannot deliver you from what you like! You like the cigarette. You like its smell and what it makes you feel. I cannot deliver you from it because you don’t REALLY want to get over these.” The guy was stunned for a while and then, he suddenly grasped it. A holy disgust arose in him and totally gutted, he grabbed all the remaining cigarettes and threw them away for good.

Many people fail to overcome evil, because they do not look at it with the eyes of GOD. They see it through the lens of their own reasoning. When the Word of GOD says that sexual intimacy outside of marriage is wrong, their head, heart and mouth would like to agree with this and confess it, but their senses remind them of past experiences that they enjoyed and the devil uses this to crush any attempt to resist sin. As long as we will only think of such relations in terms of pleasure, Christ will not be able to free us from fornication and adultery. He is not a magic wand that we can wave and be free, suddenly. I have known a Christian minister whose son was about to further his education abroad. This parent was worried about the fact that the boy was still a virgin and may fell prey of a tough branch, an ‘expert’. He was thus determined to make him lose his virginity and become a man before travelling. In his mind, this was the best gift he could possibly offer him. In spite of everything he had read in the Bible and that had been taught to him or to his son -who feared the LORD until then-, deep down, he had always believed that sexual relations were just great, whether inside or outside of marriage. He wasn’t even aware of this deeply rooted mindset until his son was involved. Now, virginity was only good for girls, but not for boys. The biblical wrong had become good. How do you deliver someone like that? Their thinking must first change: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:2). We must learn the biblical truth, accept it and love it before we can be set free (Jn 8:32, 36). When we begin to see our sins like GOD does, to the point that they trigger the same repulsion as murder, drunkenness or drugs does in us, we will finally be ready to be deliver of any of them.

What works at the individual level is also valid throughout the levels of the family and the city. As long as we are complacent vis-à-vis certain situations because: “It’s not that bad!” or “It doesn’t concern me. It will never happen to me”, Christ cannot destroy the works of the devil around us. When we will begin to see things like HIM, we will then be flooded by a holy anger that will make us fast, pray and intercede until GOD renders the heavens and comes down.

Have a great week and GOD bless you.

Inviting Jesus: bankruptcy…

 

I watched a documentary sometime ago which was about an English lord who was almost bankrupt after hosting Queen Victoria. The queen was so at ease in his estate that she stayed there for many weeks. Now, if you think: “Lucky him! I wish it was me,” then just read what follows before GOD hears you and grants your request.

In Africa, if a President visits your home, it’s definitely Christmas before time; but in those days, when the queen honoured you by stopping at your house, you certainly knew that the time of the big works and big spending had come. First of all, a delegation would come before her to make sure that you knew the protocol of the palace – how to bow, when to talk, sit, eat or stop eating etc.- and would not commit a crime of lese-majesty. Then, and most importantly, you had to put your hand in your pocket and do whatever it took for the sovereign to feel as much at ease in your home as in the palace. So, you needed to renovate or refurbish the place; buy some new linen, plates, cutlery, and horses even. You needed to hire more hands to work in the house, the stables and the gardens. Bread, wine and meat often came from afar, from those whose products had met the quality standards fit for the royal table. Contrary to African ways, you would not receive any envelop to cover the incurring costs and the bill was usually very high. You’d better be wealthy, for great was the humiliation if wine or oil would run out during such events. Needless saying that the queen was not going to sleep in the guest room while you enjoyed the master bedroom; and actually, you could even count yourself lucky if you did not have to share your servants’ quarters for lack of place in the main house… Let’s not forget that in those days, kings considered that the entire kingdom and its inhabitants were divinely theirs and that they could help themselves as they wish (1Sam 8:10-18). The costs were so high that, even though the lords were very proud for the great honour bestowed upon them, they also prayed that the visit would not be long. Indeed, what I didn’t tell you is that in our example, Queen Victoria came with an entourage of more than a hundred people that had to be fed, lodged and entertained! Well, the glory of a king is in a multitude of people, isn’t it (Pr 14:28)? And, as we all know, Victoria was a great queen…

I have said all this to show that receiving a king is not a small thing and therefore, receiving the King of kings should not be done lightly. This is why Jesus warned His disciples saying: Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' (Lk 14:28-30). And then, He added (vs. 33): Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

We like knowing that everything we lose for the sake of the Gospel will be paid back to us a hundredfold in this present life; but we do not like remembering that this compensation will also come with tribulations (Mk 10:29-30). This is why you shouldn’t be quick inviting Jesus or accepting His invitation. You need to carefully count the cost of the great works needed, especially as Jesus doesn’t come for a week. Ideally, He comes for a lifetime. You must know that at the end, you will lose everything: your will, ambitions, desires, freedom, priorities, friends, parents, children, job, and your money: EVERYTHING. You will have to lay ALL at His feet and only go back with what He would decide to give you. Are you ready to risk all that? Some people counted the costs and said: "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof… Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Lk 7:6 & 5:8.

I said it wasn’t good to be too quick to invite HIM, but I didn’t say you must not do so. Indeed, contrary to Queen Victoria, His yoke is light and easy to carry. A poor widow only had a little bit of flour left. She wanted to use it to cook their last meal –her and her son- when Elijah came. He was hungry and requested not to be served first – which is already preposterous in Western cultures-, but that she first bakes his own cake before baking hers and the son’s. It looked as though submitting would mean losing everything, including her life and that of her son. However, she needed to lose everything first, before gaining everything: Jehovah Jihreh had entered into her house (1Kings 17). Consider the cost. If you are not ready to obey without murmur like this poor widow, do not be in any hurry to make decisions that you may regret and that may bring shame on the Name of the LORD in the future. Count the costs, so that you will not stop halfway through the building. Count the cost without dreaming or being biased. Jesus comes to take EVERYTHING and He helps Himself First; but if you open the door to HIM, if you make your heart a heaven and if you honour HIM by putting HIM first in everything, you will never lack a thing again. If you happen to lack anything or to toil in any area, this would simply be an area where Jesus is not as yet King.

Have a wonderblessed week!