More of God’s power in your Life
James 4:8 (NLT)
8 Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you hypocrites.
Quite a while ago, there was an article in the Denver Rocky Mountain News described various web sites to which people can submit prayers. Perhaps u have heard of this one site, Newprayer.com, says, "Simply click on the ’Pray’ button and transmit your prayer to the only known location of God." The site claims "that it can send prayers via a radio transmitter to God’s last known location, a star cluster called M13 believed to be one of the oldest in the universe." Crandall Stone, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, engineer and freelance consultant, set up the site last winter after a night of sipping brandy and philosophizing with friends in Vermont. The conversation turned to Big Bang theories of creation, and someone suggested that if everything was in one place at the time of the explosion, then God must have been there, too. "It’s the one place where we could be sure he was," Stone said. "Then we thought that if we could find that location and had a radio transmitter, we could send a message to God." After consulting with NASA scientists, the friends settled on M13 as the likely location. They chipped in about $20,000, and built a radio- wave-transmitting Web site. Stone reports that they transmit about 50,000 prayers a week from seekers around the globe.
Wow! This tells me there about 50,000 people each week who have computers, are desiring communication with God, but seeing as their best hope broadcasting a prayer into outer space via cyberspace to the "last known location of God." But what about those who don’t own computers? There must be millions others who are trying to touch the God of the Universe. It seems most are desperately desiring to sense God’s presence and power, but they see God as distant, removed, hidden perhaps unapproachable. Have you ever had the feeling that God was distant? That He just wasn’t there?
Kinda feel like the lady who told her neighbor “My husband’s a do-it- yourself man. Whenever I ask him to do anything, he says ‘Do it yourself’.” Is pursuing God, or spirituality really just do it yourself job?
The feeling of God being distant even affects those of us who have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I cannot begin to recount how many times in my years of full-time ministry since 1991 that I’ve heard this line, "I just don’t feel close to God right now." Or, "God doesn’t seem very real to me right now." To be frank, I can’t begin to recount how many times I struggle with that as well. Are my prayers just bouncing off the walls? So, what can we do about it? How can we overcome those feelings? How can we get to the point of experiencing and enjoying God’s presence and power consistently in our daily life?
What, then, does it mean to feel God’s power in your life? I think there are three key words for feeling God’s power in your life.
1. APPROACH: as the Bible says: “Draw close to God.”
Yeah, right? How? When I dunno if He’s there, can’t see, smell nor touch Him. If you look in the Bible, it seems to say we can begin to feel God’s power by having a sense of confidence. The apostle John wrote these encouraging words, "We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us" [1 John 4:13-16]. John says that we can know, not assume, not wish for, not hope for, not long for, but rather know and then rely on the love of God. How by having faith in Jesus, who is tangible, real people have seen touch him. They have heard Him speaking, moving, the Bible says He tabernacled among us in John 1:14 – that God became flesh. So we are not left with mystical OOM to connect with the divine, but a real flesh and blood personality. His name is Jesus. This very Jesus said:
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is. From now on you know him and have seen him!”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.”
9 Jesus replied, “Philip, don’t you even yet know who I am, even after all the time I have been with you? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking to see him? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11 Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of what you have seen me do.
What God did by sending Jesus to us, it to be put out an all points bulletin, a commercial for the ages to advertise there is a way to approach God, draw close, to intimacy, to have your prayers heard and answered and based on historically reliable record, on a real person, not just a ghost or an alien. Another place in the Bible, Romans 5:5-11 (NLT)
For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners…8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment. 10 For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.
Apparently, today many still don’t feel God’s presence, and I also know almost every church provides worship experiences for its people, but reality is as found in surveys done by the George Barna group among regular church-going adults, one third do not experience God’s presence. Half of all regular church-going adults admit that they have not experienced God’s presence at any time during the past year. The younger the adult, the more likely they are to state God is a distant impersonal reality for them. I really believe it breaks the heart of God that his people do not come near him, experience him.
Part of it, as I was told, is due to the fact precious few Christians have this assurance or confidence that God has come and love us while we still sinners. That right now, everyday, we are friends with God only because of Jesus’ blood shed on the cross is enuff to wash us clean before a holy and righteous God. Do u want to know more of God presence or power? Gotta make your mind and heart to trust God’s word that says, He has given us His Spirit in us, because of gift of Jesus, He gives more, His presence, power in the person of the Spirit. Why? Because He loves us! Everytime I am burdened by my own awareness of separation from God, distance, sin, I need to come back to the words of Scripture, “draw near to God” by having the confidence that God will keep His word to cleanse me, when I trust Him, assured of forgiveness by His blood and move on to praise of the love of God! Draw near to God by faith in His Word, He will draw near to you. Gonna feel Him more and more, as I did.
Second, ATTRITION: Allowing God’s power present in you to weaken the control of sin. By faith you come to God through Christ and as you come to God, allow some room for God’s Spirit to maneuver in your lives. I believe that’s what James calls his readers to a sensitivity about our sin and shortcomings. “Wash your hands, you sinners”
Recognize that just like our laundry, we get dirt and grime on us, we need to clean it up. We also take care of our bodies too, take shower/bath. Or else clothes and body will stink like a skunk! If people don’t like stinky humans, do u think God will like stinky people, filled with in your face attitudes, or I don’t care what u think about my stink. In biblical thinking, term “hands” – connotations of actions. Even today we say “I wash my hands clean of this” to declare we are innocent of wrongdoing.
Matt.27:22-24 gives the classic description of this when crowds shouted at Pilate to crucify Jesus:
And they all shouted, “Crucify him!”
23 “Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?”
But the crowd only roared the louder, “Crucify him!”
24 Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this man. The responsibility is yours!”
25 And all the people yelled back, “We will take responsibility for his death—we and our children!”
Wanna gain more power/presence of God. Yes, approach God with confidence but our actions, behavior, conduct must become clean as well. We need to become sensitive to God’s Spirit telling us what to clean up in our lives. Cannot live like the devil everyday else and come Sunday expect God to show up. Need to develop a better hearing of the Spirit and it comes when we decide to take steps of attrition in a way yelling at sin and say NO, I crucify you to the cross, weakening power of sin, by refusing to bow to the pressure of sin, let God’s freedom, His Spirit in you, help you to become clean up the dirt in you. Power of sin kinda like forest fires … feed it by behaving according to it desires, it grows bigger and brighter, consumes you but when, by faith, you douse it with the water of Christ blood, you are clean and innocent.
Third, Attraction: The power of sin is in its drawing force of attraction, entices, its feel good, problem it does feel good however not for long… then it traps you. When James say “ purify your hearts, you hypocrites. "Purifying your hearts" refers to refining our motives, attitudes, our very thoughts that are against what God wants for us. Sin blinds us. Sin burdens us with worry, guilt, & fear. Sin hardens our hearts. Sin deceives us. Sin separates us from God. I.e. gotta do some inner work. Refining our hearts - Determining what it is that drives us to sin… attract us. It is not enuff just to say stop sinning, gotta know why u choose to sin, why that route seems fulfilling. So much of Christian life is trivialize to just mean stopping bad behavior, so rules galore set up to stop sin. Problem is there aren’t enuff rules to stop sin, it’s too massive of a problem. Even today, we try hard to legislate this and that, till kingdom come, we will still be drafting legislation after legislation, see that work goes on in Victoria, Ottawa cos’ folks the problem is in the human heart, not just the behavior.
Turning to God and changing from those actions or attitudes that God despises requires you to allow God to deepen His work in you, by examining thoughts, feelings. We will break down those barriers to feeling God’s presence and power in your life, when we give up and simply admit our hearts are totally evil. Now, there is an old rhetorical question that adds an important perspective to this verse. It asks, "If you feel distant from God, who moved?" The answer is "you". You see, God doesn’t move. He doesn’t come and go. He doesn’t show up for a while and then disappear. He doesn’t go on a vacation. He doesn’t take summers off. Scripture says that God never sleeps [Psalm 121:3]. Psalm 139:7-10 declares, "Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from you? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the grave, you are there. If I rise with the sun in the east and settle in the west beyond the sea, even there you would guide me. With your right hand you would hold me."
Do a heart check, OK? Honestly dealt with heart and hard issues… approach God and resolve by attrition in power of the Spirit through discipline of prayer, word, and the help of others in family of God
James’ advice is to "come near" to God and have “clean hands” and “pure hearts”. How can we do it practically?
Here are 5 action points for feeling God’s power in your life.
1. Claim His Promises. Throughout the Bible, God promises that He will never leave or abandon us. Hebrews 13:5 records, "God has said, ’Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’" Matthew 28:20 records this promise from Jesus, "I will be with you always, even until the end of the age." These are promises for us to claim, to hold on to, to place our trust in, to make it our own. Tell God “I trust u” for this promise in the Bible.
2. Operate on Faith. Feelings follow decisions of the will to operate by faith. Instead of getting depressed or discouraged, make the decision to live by actually trusting that God’s power is active and available in your life. Basically, operate on the assumption that His presence is in your life rather than assuming it isn’t. Since He is there make steps of faith and enter into His Presence by faith, not by feeling, claiming His promises. The writer of Psalm 63 also struggled with feeling separated from God. What did he do? Listen. "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you" [63:1-8]. What did he do when feeling separated from God? He chose to worship. Worship, especially singing praise to God, can bring you face- to-face with God. Is there a determination to trust have faith in God, no matter what?
Dave Dravecky, a Christian and former major league pitcher who lost his left arm to cancer, says, "Looking back, [my wife] Jan and I have learned that the wilderness is part of the landscape of faith, and every bit as essential as the mountaintop. On the mountaintop we are overwhelmed by God’s presence. In the wilderness we are overwhelmed by his absence. Both places should bring us to our knees; the one, in utter awe; the other, in utter dependence."
Leads to the next action point...
3. Repentance by dependence . In other words, trust to constantly work in you, to overhaul u, to reveal the depths of our sin! We are a work in progress. God will rebuild our lives if we decided to have faith and claim His promises. Jeremiah 17:9,10 “The heart is deceitful above all things. Who can understand it. I the LORD search the heart, and examine the mind.”
Core issue here is we better get use to the fact we’re all hypocrites. There is so much to overhaul oin our hearts.
Therefore we need loads of help. Can’t even trust our own deceitful hearts. Good thing is - God who has started reconstructing you into Christ’s image, will not stop working in until we see Him again (see Philippians 1:6). "Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts" is not a do it yourself spirituality. Thing is, will we keep depending like that, and keep repenting as He brings out the shameful dirt? Will we draw near and seek His cleansing work as each sin is revealed? I trust that Philippians 3:13 (nlt) is real for u: "For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.” Repentance by dependence, not independence!
4. Empty Into Ministry. There are a couple of very important biblical principles at work here.
First, we can only receive after we give. Jesus taught, "Give, and it will be given to you" [Luke 6:38]. It is only when we give of ourselves on God’s behalf that we create space for Him to fill us. Basically, it is the same concept as a sponge. A sponge can only absorb so much. It needs to be wrung out so that it can receive more. Give out no time left for sin, too busy to give sin an inch, Jesus was tired out, but never burnt out by ministry.
Second, God attaches a very special promise of His presence being with those who give according to His will. Feeling God’s presence is linked with our giving of ourselves in ministering to others. In Matthew 25, Jesus taught this same concept about Himself. When describing what it means to be a faithful follower of His, He says, "’For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ Then these righteous ones will reply, ’Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’…’I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’" [25:35-40]. We touch God, as we touch others!
Do you want to feel more of God’s power in your life? Give more of yourself in ministry. Adjust your schedule. What does your daily schedule look like? Do you even have any room for meeting with God? Are you even making the attempt to spend time daily with God by reading the Bible or praying? If you really want to feel God’s power in your life, make some time for Him each day.
5. Recall God’s Activity.. "Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ…without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ" [Ephesians 2:12-13]. Recall, remember, from memory. We gotta understand it has always been the grace of God, in Jesus’ blood, that God has brought us near to Him. God’s activity in Christ guarantees us purity in the sight of the holy and awesome God. It is in Jesus where we feel more of God’s power in our life. We need everyday to keep this remembrance, it’s all because of the precious and wonderful favor of God that we can draw near and have Him draw near to us. So will u remember His grace to you?
May God bless u with more of His presence and power as you practice what you have heard.
