Friend, How are you? Hope you’re well. Today, I’d like to start by sharing Eugene Peterson’s writings in his book, Leap over a Wall, which is David story. In a chapter, Sovereign Grace, he wrote about David’s trying to build God a house, but not getting green light from Him. Eugene’s insight hit close to home, and I’d like to share it with you, before sharing my own story: I think that David is just about to cross over a line from being full of God to being full of himself. Outwardly, everything is the same. … Implicit is that comparison (house of cedar/tent) is the judgement that David is now housed better than God, that David has achieved a better standard of living than God, and that from David’s position of strength he can now do something significant for God. If David continues to develop along these lines, he will soon be ruined as God’s king. If any of us develop a self-identity in which God and God’s action are subordinated to us and our action, our kingwork is ruined. These are the moments when we need a friend, a pastor, a prophet to step in and do for us what we’re unlikely to do for ourselves. God speaks to Nathan, and Nathan speaks to David. Nathan stops him in his tracks with God’s message: “No, you won’t build me a house; I’ll make you a house.” Sitting Down …David sat. And he sat before God. By sitting down, David renounced royal initiative, abdicated kingly authority, got himself out of the driver’s seat, and deliberately and reverently placed himself before God his King. Strategic “Not Doing” What we don’t do for God is often far more critical than what we in fact do. God is the beginning, center, and end of the world’s life - of existence itself. But we’re often unaware of God’s action except dimly and peripherally. Especially when we’re in full possession of our powers - our education complete, our careers in full swing, people admiring us and prodding us onward - it’s hard not to imagine that we’re at the beginning, center and end of the world, or at least of that part of the world in which we’re placed. At these moments we need prophetic interference; we need Nathan. We need to quit whatever we’re doing and sit down. When we sit down, the dust raised by our furious activity settles; the noise generated by our building operations goes quiet; we become aware of the real world. God’s world. And what we see leaves us breathless: it’s so much more full of energy and action than our ego-fueled actions, so much clearer and saner than the plans we had projected. Modern Christians are characteristically much afraid of being caught out doing too little for God, let alone nothing. But there are moments, far more frequent than we suppose, when doing nothing is precisely the gospel thing to do. … When David sat down before God, it was the farthest thing from passivity or resignation; it was prayer. It was entering into the presence of God, becoming aware of God’s word, trading in his plans for God’s plans, letting his enthusiasm for being a king with the authority and strength to do something for God be replaced with the willingness to become a king who would represent truly sovereignty of God the high King. … David’s prayer comes to focus in an explicit and radical reversal: “For thou, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, hast made this revelation to thy servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore thy servant has found courage to pray this prayer to thee” (2 Sam. 7:27) And courage it does take, immense courage, to relinquish control, to resign our so recently acquired prestigious positions, to ‘quit our jobs’ and simply sit at Jesus’ feet. David sat down; the real action started: not David making God a house but God making David a house. There’s no danger in such inaction that we’ll end up with nothing to do. David did much before he sat down, and he did much afterward: God commanded and we obey; God sends and we go. The Christian life is a gloriously active life as the Holy Spirit does the work of Christ in and through us. No, there’s no danger that as we sit before the Lord our Lord our legs will atrophy and we’ll never be able to get up again. But there is great danger in getting so caught up in our God-plans that we forget all about God. … But when we do good, become pleased with ourselves and receive applause and commendation from our leaders and friends, we easily lose our sense of dependence on God and our always and ever increasingly desperate need for grace, God’s sovereign grace. The last state of that person, as Jesus solemnly warned, is worse than the first (Luke 11:26) I can’t agree with him, enough. Often times, I felt that I had a burden to do something good and do something financially for God. But last year, during my prayer, I felt Him saying, “Do you think I need your money? I’m the Source of everything. What I want is you.” Certainly, He doesn’t need our money. He is Provider and we need His provision. He is our Savior, and we need His grace only. We’re saved by His grace, not by our good works. A few weeks after I felt Him say that, I happened to watch a talk show of a Christian TV. The guest was a Korean American pastor. Before becoming a pastor, he used to work in Wall Street. He became rich at his 20’s, but his life was full of sins, including drugs. With a supernatural encounter with Jesus one day, he became a different person. His mother began to go to church, when he asked her to go together. She followed him, as she saw her son transformed. Yet, in his heart, he said to himself, “I would serve God, as a rich elder, making a lot of money. I wouldn’t want to be a pastor.” But, God’s plan was different, and He said to him, “I don’t need your money, but I want you.” When he shared this in the talk show, he became emotional. So did I. I wept, knowing it was the Father’s confirmation to me, through his testimony. I knew I didn’t hear Him wrong. I do not mean that we live idle or indifferent to others’ needs. But like Eugene wrote, strategic “Not Doing” but sitting at Jesus’ feet is needed the most. Then, from that secret place, He would let us know what to do, and we obey Him. Only then are we able to see fruits from our work, which is initiated by Him, not by us. Earlier this year, I watched a testimony of a Korean pastor’s wife. She seemed to be an intercessor, communing with Him in the secret place. One night, when she prayed, she had a strong sense of urgency to go to a certain sister in her church. It was almost midnight, but she felt strongly that she should go to the sister’s place as soon as possible, not just call her. She knew the strong sense was not from her, but from the Lord. So, she called another sister to ask her to join her, and they went to the sister’s place. They found the door was left open, and the sister in the house was unconscious, after taking a lot of pills, to kill herself. They called 911 and she was saved finally. The pastor’s wife said that the sister’s life depended on her obeying His voice in the middle of the night. After learning how important it is, she became even more attentive and obedient. I noticed that she spent much time, sitting in front of Jesus. Her work was not initiated by herself, but when she sat down before God, God worked through her. I learned from Pastor John Fenn that in traditional churches, three things are important: attendance, giving, voluntary. By these, the leadership of churches kind of evaluate how faithful saints are. But, I think many can be in fact distracted by those seemingly good Christian works. Just like Eugene wrote, we might cross over a line from being full of God to being full of ourselves. I even think devils would want us to be simply busy with those seemingly good & religious works, but to be insensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Eugene Peterson also wrote: “When confronted by God, Eve gave the excuse “The serpent tricked me” (Gen. 1:13, NRSV), suggesting the serpent had not yet been cursed to be a snake that slithers in the grass. It is interesting to me that Saint Paul wrote to Christians in Corinth warning that sometimes Satan comes disguised as ‘an angel of light’ (2 Cor. 11:14). Maybe this Genesis serpent was more like impressive ‘angel of light’ or something equivalent, certainly nothing that appeared threatening like a python or a cobra. More often than not, evil doesn’t look like evil. At any rate, Jesus is not seduced, not, in Eve’s word, ‘tricked.’” (From “As Kingfishers Catch Fire”) I think there are many seemingly good things that distract us from the intimate fellowship with the Father and our Lord, and they often look like an angel of light. While I was writing the draft of this blog, I was reminded of Lana Vawser’s prophecy back in 2019, titled “THOSE THAT BUILD THE NEW THINGS I AM BUILDING IN IN THIS NEW ERA, WILL BE THOSE WHO LIVE IN MY HOUSE AS MY FRIENDS”: In this new era, there is a temptation and will be a temptation to do more and more and more as opportunities arise and doors open but not every door and opportunity, is God. Wisdom (James 1:5) is needed more than ever in this new era. God is pouring out heavenly wisdom and discernment to those who will ask. Don’t get busy “doing things for God” in this new era. It is IMPERATIVE to PRIORITISE lingering with Him and putting your hands to what He is building and HOW He is building, not what is “man made” building. GUARD YOUR “YES” IN THIS NEW ERA I heard the Lord say “Guard your YES” in this new era”. Do not be careless with your YES and what you commit to. For the Lord showed me there is a warning He is releasing to not be overcommitted in this new era for the enemy will seek to keep God’s people busy building where God is not building so they don’t build where God is building. It’s so crucial in this new era to live as friends of God like never before to discern what He’s doing and building and place our YES where the Lord is placing HIS YES. It’s not out of the place of fear or an orphan spirit, it’s out of the place of desiring to build where He is building and those places will see your dreams and desires come alive and new dreams and desires awaken that you never knew you had. Friend, Our Father want you and me, not our money nor our talent. Are we willing to sit in front of Jesus, choosing strategic not doing, but do only what He tells us to do? I actually found out sitting in front of Him is more difficult than doing something apparently good. It needs our commitment to focus on Him, but the enemy would do its best to distract us by many things. I pray that you and I know His sovereign grace and choose the one good thing that no one will take from us: sitting in front of Jesus. Amen. Have a bliss! Julie One thing I have desired of the Lord, Comments are closed.
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