Dare to Go Deeper Week 10: Renew Your Mind

As we continue to review Luke 4: 1 -13 in our series Dare to Grow Deeper in Christ, God calls for us to renew our minds constantly.  He calls us to stand under His authority, not to operate under our own.  As we do this, there are three points to consider: our security and where it lies; the simplicity of our faith and how we maintain our sanity through our growing process.

In Luke 4:3, the devil said to Jesus “If you are the Son of God,…”  We go through periods of questioning who we are.  Jesus knew who He was.  He did not argue with the devil, but simply stated God’s word back to him.  We need to be secure in who we are in Christ and not doubt.  God calls for us to believe Him, not just believe in Him.  Where does our security lie?  In our finances, our things, our family and friends?  In ourselves?  Or does it lie firmly in God and God alone?

Secondly, we tend to make Christianity very complicated with man-made rules and regulations.  Man’s rules tend to go against the very things that God wants us to understand.  His spiritual ways are not like the natural ways of man.  When Jesus replied to the devil “It is written…” each time the devil tried to tempt Him, He was speaking God’s Word only.  If we learn, focus and follow the Word of God, speaking it to our situations, situations work themselves out.  We need to feed ourselves on the Word in order to do this.  In Luke 4:8, Jesus speaks of “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.”   We must ask ourselves who or what we are worshiping.  Where are we spending time and energy?  When we spend time with God and learn His Word, we are able to bring His Word to remembrance when we face our mountains.  We can speak against them, just as Jesus did to the devil during this passage.  In Luke 4:12, Jesus speaks of not putting God to the test.    God will let us go as far as we choose with Him.  God will let us lead and fail, but wants us to be obedient and follow Him.  God’s power can move mountains.  It is important to not test God, but to follow Him in obedience and do what He has called you to do, utilizing His power wisely.

Finally, we must look at our thinking.  Wrong thinking can get us in bad situations.  If we choose to go in the direction that God has spoken, the struggles will be God-ordained and not of our own doing, meaning that God is working through our struggles to grow us, instead of us leading ourselves in more drama.  If we ask ourselves what God has said about whatever situation we are dealing with, many questions can be resolved.  It becomes a matter of waiting on God to speak.  People have struggles because they are not paying attention to the Word of God or they believe a corrupt interpretation of the Word.  We have to study the Word and pray in order to get the correct interpretation of His Word.  Spend time with God to hear what He is telling you.

What is God speaking to you?  Do you believe in God or do you believe God?

Will you Dare to Grow Deeper in Christ?

© Kevin Dudley

Dare to Go Deeper Week 9: Deal With Yourself

As we focus on our journey through the wilderness and our growth during this process of “Daring to Grow Deeper in Christ,” we realize that the difficult experiences are just milestones along the way.  These are not our destination spots, but points that allow us to experience Christ and grow deeper with Him IF we allow God to work in and through us, stripping us of the things that are not of Him, and having those things released that God placed in us from the very beginning.  Our destiny is formed in our identity; in who we are in Christ; and our destiny is tested in the adversity that we face.  We grow most often as we face our struggles, not when it is calm.  We choose to walk through our wilderness or we choose to stay stuck.

In order to be fully a part of the community of Christ, we have to deal with ourselves. God desires for us to grow into healthy, mature Christians.  Part of being healthy is learning that you cannot depend on anyone but Christ.  Those seasons when you find yourself alone, you find that the only one that you can count on is Christ.  When Jesus was in the garden, he was alone.  Although Jesus was praying to God, God was silent.  Sometimes, we only have the Word of God to hold us and keep us while we wait for God to respond.  Not responding to the enemy during these times is key to our growth.  The enemy’s plan is to deceive you.  If you haven’t given up yourself and let go of your ego, the struggle will be about protecting yourself instead of letting God develop you.  When the test is about God and not about you, God can reveal the fullness of what He has put in you and He will get the glory.  If it is about you, you will focus on what you believe you need and not receive all that God has for you.

We must continually empty ourselves so God can fill us.  We don’t want to get in the way of what God wants to do with us and through us.

Are you choosing to become a healthy Christian?  Are you emptying yourself so God can fill you?  Who are you depending on during your wilderness experiences?

Will you Dare to Grow Deeper with Christ?

© Kevin Dudley

Dare to Go Deeper Week 8: Taking the Attitude of Christ Jesus

In this week’s focus in our series Dare to Grow Deeper, we study Philippians 2: 5 – 11.  When we look at “taking the attitude of Christ Jesus,” we see that although Jesus was, by nature, God, he did not consider equality with God that was something to be grasped.  Jesus made himself nothing and took the nature of a servant to God.  Being of human likeness, he was obedient to God, even to death at the cross.  And because of all of this, God made Jesus’ name to be like no other, exalted to the highest place, so that every knee would bow and every tongue would confess at the name of Jesus.

How does this relate to our experience with God?  There are two points to discuss here.  Jesus gave it all up.  He emptied himself, only to be filled with God’s spirit.  In Jesus’ birth to the Virgin Mary, he was incarnated and became God’s beloved son.  We are all children of God, but before we can be filled with the Holy Spirit, we have to empty ourselves.  If there is so much of “us” inside, where is there room for God to enter in and help us work out our salvation and become who we are supposed to be?

Secondly, we have to engage our personal struggle.  When Jesus was in the garden, the enemy attempted to trap Jesus.  Just as we are tempted to do, act and be what is not of God, we have a choice.  We will have a struggle.  If we give ourselves completely to God, we are asking Him to prove us right or wrong – either we meant we were His or we didn’t.  In the garden, Jesus was wrestling.  Not with the enemy necessarily.  He was wrestling with himself.  When we find ourselves in the midst of a wilderness experience, we will find ourselves battling our spiritual and our natural selves.

Wilderness experiences are inevitable in our lives.  Christian lives are not easy and pain-free.  None of us want to go into the wilderness, knowing that it will be difficult. If we refuse to go in, it is us saying that we refuse to be tested in areas that God wants to purify in us.   Jesus went into the garden because he had to.  The Spirit of God guided Jesus while he was there, keeping him from falling into temptation.  The enemy was the instrument used, but the test was to see what was in Jesus, and in our situations, what is in us.

We are fully equipped for our wilderness experience, although we may not feel like it.  God allows only the experiences that we can handle.  It is not a question of our ability to handle them, but of our availability to God while we are going through it.  When we are born into the Spirit, we are given spiritual resources and affirmation from God.  We are equipped to handle what experiences we create or those that come our way.  The more available we are to God through the process, the more He is allowed to develop us into who we are meant to be.  The more we fight Him, the more difficult we make the process.  When we get to the place in our lives where we give ourselves fully to God, the fullness of what He has given us already is realized and acknowledged.

What wilderness experience are you facing or have you been through?  How did you handle it?  Were you available to God or resisting Him?

Will you Dare To Grow Deeper with Christ?

© Kevin Dudley