Weakness Embraced: The Prerequisite for Power Poured In

The first promise God gives to us is life.  The very act of creating life is a promise from God of sustaining that life forever:

 Psalms 139:15-17  You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  (16)  You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.  (17)  How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!

Our lives are precious to God.  Eternal existence is guaranteed to all.  The quality of that experience for each individual person is dependent on recognizing the source of all life.  Life flows from One Place:

 John 1:1-7  In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.  (2)  He existed in the beginning with God.  (3)  God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.  (4)  The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.  (5)  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.  (6)  God sent a man, John the Baptist,  (7)  to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.

John the Baptist lived outside of the system he could have been an integral part of:
                   -provision
                   -identity
                   -purpose
                   -earthly authority
                   -Human STABILITY

Matthew 3:1-6  In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was,  (2)  “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”  (3)  The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said, “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the LORD’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”  (4)  John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.  (5)  People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John.  (6)  And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

This is the witness God chose to prepare the way for Yeshua (Jesus’ name His friends called Him) to be seen rightly.  God wasn’t at all interested in correcting a self-dependent system.  Self-dependence is utter corruption, but its what man naturally chooses.  When we self-define, self-assert, self-depend… when we live in our own self leadership, creating our own authority, stability, economy… we are trying to live outside of the promise.

If I truly want to be free, then I need to be willing to see all the structures man builds for himself are prisons.  There are no captors and captives.  In human-made systems, everyone is captive to an existence that falls short of the life God would provide if we were willing to simply admit there is no life outside of His leadership, His righteousness… or right way of living. Faith is the only door to the real world outside of man’s self -righteousness, and all the pain, hypocrisy, struggle, war, and hatred SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS produces.

All war and conflict come from ONE disease: human self-righteousness and the entitlement that naturally comes with it:

 James 4:1-5  What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?  (2)  You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.  (3)  And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.  (4)  You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.  (5)  Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.

So, what does it really mean to be faithful to God?  To obey Him?  No!  A spouse can obey the daily instructions of their partner and still be unfaithful.  A spouse can keep themselves from an act of adultery and still not be faithful.

Faithful is in the understanding and belief in WHO the object of their faithfulness is and commitment to receive what they promise to give ONLY from them.  God is faithful.  He is true to who we are and chooses to love us fully.

Psalms 103:9-14  He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever.  (10)  He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.  (11)  For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.  (12)  He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.  (13)  The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.  (14)  For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.

For us to be faithful to God we are called to believe in who He says He is: a provider, a healer, a protector, one who leads us to righteousness instead of demanding righteousness before He leads us… a GOOD Father.  God is an amazing Father.  My worry, fear of the future, uncertainty of measuring up, my concern about the planet, or the water, or the heat… the animals, where the earth is going.  ALL of my anxieties are truly INFIDELITY to a God who is committed to embracing my weakness… the weakness HE decided to live with forever… and only asks that I put all of my faith in His goodness.

Sanctification, or purity, isn’t improving human behavior.  It is a willingness to change the human mind given to us about what is required and never taken away. Martha worried about many things, but her sister Mary found the One Thing.  Purity isn’t describing perfect behavior, its describing a commitment to one source of leadership, health, protection, security, provision, identity, and meaning forever.

 Philippians 4:4-9  Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!  (5)  Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.  (6)  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;  (7)  and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  (8)  Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.  (9)  The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Right now, we have great need of being completely filled… immersed… baptized… by the Spirit of God. We need power to overcome.  Yeshua is looking to make witnesses of His power in the darkness of these days.  The prerequisite to this filling is emptying ourselves of all of our infidelity.  It is worth it in this season to let God in to uncover our fears, anxieties, uncertainties, self-righteousness, self-help, self-leadership… our accusations against His goodness and power… so that He will fill us with HIS goodness and power.  Gritting our teeth and pushing down these realities is not the same as opening up and admitting them to God, and turning to Him for help.  He knows we are dust.  He requires we do, too.  THEN He will pour His power into our weakness.

That is what Joel 2 is truly about.  That is what happened in Acts 2.  That is the promise for these last days:

Joel 2:28-32  "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.  (29)  And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.  (30)  "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.  (31)  The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.  (32)  And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.

Lord, search me and find my anxieties that I would have a heart of wisdom.  Teach me to number my days that I might spend eternity with you and with those who truly trust you.