Divine Encounters

CONSIDER
One day as I (Kirk) sat in my office, I was feeling particularly powerless, vulnerable, inadequate, and worthless. In my desperation I began to pray, “God, be real to me. Show me Your power. I need to experience You as real.” Truthfully, I did not anticipate the response I encountered from God. The Holy Spirit promptly said to my heart and mind, “The issue of My reality is not in question. Look at the birds, trees, and all of creation, even the fish in your aquarium. Do they not declare My glory? Why then do you say to Me, ‘Be real to me?’ I am as real as I am ever going to be! The issue at hand is not My being real to you, but when will you be real with Me?” I could not be aware of God’s relevance in my life until I was real with God.

BIBLE TRUTH
"The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven" (Heb. 1:3 NLT).

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO ME?
Operating under the guise of submission, we petition God to make a difference in our lives. But when His Spirit speaks to reveal His plan, we continue on our own way, pretending not to hear His guidance. “Come on, get real!” Do you really want what God wants, or do you just say you want what He wants? When we assert that we want God to be ruler in our lives, we must become real with God by implementing the plan He has laid before us. Unless we are willing to employ His resources, we will never experience Him in a relevant manner.

PRAYER
God, I do not want to be a person who just honors You with my lips while my heart is far from You. I don’t want my worship to be a farce. Enable me to teach and live by Your plans and Your commands instead of my own. . . . (Matt. 15:8–9)


(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)


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God Is Real, Therefore He Is Relevant

CONSIDER
God desires an intimate relationship with His creation. He is not merely an impersonal creator who has left His creation to fend for itself. He is a real God who desires humanity to experience Him as relevant to every aspect of life. John spoke of the joy that results when we encounter Christ as real and relevant.

BIBLE TRUTH

We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. (1 John 1:1–4 NLT)

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO ME?
Webster’s dictionary defines relevant as “having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand; affording evidence tending to prove or disprove the matter at issue or under discussion.” Is there significant and demonstrable evidence that God is real in your life? If we say we believe God is real, then His reality will be reflected as we demonstrate His image in our lives. As we daily experience God as relevant, our lives offer proof of His existence to a watching world. There must always be an interaction between what we profess and what our lives evidence. The essence of Christianity is not mere profession of faith, but rather possession of faith, where the truth of Christ is confirmed by the reality of our lives.

PRAYER
Lord, when I turn to you I begin to see more clearly because the veil is taken away. Because You are the Spirit, wherever You are there is freedom. I want to live in Your freedom so I may more fully see and reflect Your glory. And Lord, may Your Spirit make me more and more like You as I am changed into Your glorious image. (2 Cor. 3:16–18)


(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)


We would love for you to POST A COMMENT about the insights you have received on your journey toward desperate dependency.

A Giveaway

CONSIDER
How do you view God? If asked, “Do you have a distorted view of God?” most likely you would promptly respond, “No, I do not have a distorted view of God. I love the Lord. I know He loves me. I trust Him. And I do not know what I would do without Him.” But if you were asked, “Have you worried this week?” More than likely you would have to confess, “Yes, I have.”

How can we know what we believe about God? The Bible teaches that our behaviors reveal our hearts. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus taught His disciples how to discern the difference between the real prophet of God and those who are deceivers.

BIBLE TRUTH

Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. (Matt. 7:15–20 NLT)

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO ME?
What does your worry say you believe about God? The answer may consist of responses such as “I don’t believe God will take care of me”; “God does not have my best interests in mind”; “I do not trust that God will do things my way.” Responses such as these indicate you have distorted views of God that shape your understanding of how God will interact with you. As we live within our distorted views of God, our hearts are molded according to the likeness of our distortions, motivating us to live independently of God. Jesus teaches that behaviors reveal the soul as easily as a tree is known by its fruit. To obtain a clearer picture of how you view God, ask yourself this question: Based on my behavior, what do I believe about God?

PRAYER
Lord, I believe that what comes from inside defiles me. I don’t want evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness to come out from my heart. Help me to view these things as vile and recognize that they defile me. . . . (Mark 7:20–23)


(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)


We would love for you to POST A COMMENT about the insights you have received on your journey toward desperate dependency.