SPIRITUAL GROWTH

By Paul McGuire

 

EXPERIENCING THE LOVE OF THE FATHER

      There are many Christians I have met who seem to have an intellectual relationship with Jesus Christ. As you know, I am definitely not anti-intellectual. In fact, I believe that modern evangelicalism is often anti-intellectual in the broadest sense of the word. Many evangelicals today have a “Jesus experience,” but a Biblical worldview. But, this “Jesus experience” is contained in a neat little package called “evangelical Christianity.” It is a tidy little relationship where the Lord Jesus Christ is often put in a box called religion.

      The parameters of this “Jesus experience” are not Biblical, but defined primarily by modern cultural evangelical “norms” which have their basis on contemporary Middle Class values. Usually this “Jesus experience” is confined within the “norms” of evangelical, charismatic, and fundamentalist experience.

      But, it is a far cry from the power of God experienced during the preaching of the Apostle Paul when he said, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power.” When the Spiritual Father of the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards preached massive revival swept through the American colonies. Houses of prostitution were closed, taverns shut down, sexual immorality significantly decreased, the party lifestyle ended and the American public became consumed with a passion for God.

      The Great Awakening dramatically impacted the external culture and helped to birth the American Revolution. When Jonathan Edwards preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” people cried out to God for mercy, people wept, people convulsed under the power of God, and people were so overcome by God’s power that they passed out. But, more importantly genuine repentance, a return to God’s Word, and salvation happened. God was not put in a tidy little box.

      The problem when discussing these very real “experiences” that people had during the Great Awakening is that people immediately begin to categorize this genuine revival with all the hocus pocus they see on Christian television. The charlatanism that is rampant in certain Christian circles where emotionalism and hype become counterfeits to genuine revival. Also, there has been much talk of people seeing gold dust, barking like dogs and other bizarre manifestations which discredit legitimate experiences that people have during authentic revival.

      Yet, despite the fact that there are so many counterfeit experiences and non-Biblical twilight zone encounters with God. The fact, remains that most evangelicals have never experienced the love of God the Father at the dimension that God has for them because the following reasons. First, the innate fear in all fallen men and women of truly experiencing God. Second, because much of what we see that falls into the category of “experiences with God” enters the realm of non-Biblical mysticism or bizarre manifestations that are produced by the flesh or demonic spirits. 

      But, the reality is that it is possible to have an overwhelming encounter with God the Father and to be entirely immersed in His love, goodness and forgiveness. This is not a small thing. There are countless millions of Christians who know God as a set of intellectual or theological precepts. Others have had a “Jesus experience” or some kind of “Charismatic experience.” But, when a man or woman opens themselves up to the love of God at the deepest dimensions of their personality, profound healing always occurs. It is one thing to know intellectually that God forgives you or loves you. It is quite another thing to own that at the very core of your being and that can only happen when God the Father meets you in a profound and divine encounter where you are literally overwhelmed with His love and presence.

       When you come to Jesus Christ like a little child and experience the enormous depths of His love, true healing occurs. Emotional abuse, sexual abuse, spiritual abuse, psychological trauma and rejection now become understood in the context of God’s infinite love for you. When that happens the capacity of the abuse to continually destroy and torment is broken. Bondages which have been carried for a lifetime disintegrate in the presence of God’s love.

       American evangelical Christians are fierce in their misguided determination to confine God and their experience of God to fit their preconceived perception. Without realizing it they place God in a box and remove themselves from His presence. Like Adam and Eve they hide from God behind fig leaves called “religion.” This fear is reinforced by the very real reality of demonic counterfeits to genuine revival that often place an inordinate emphasis on non-Biblical experience. God dust, barking like dogs, and watching imaginary hailstones fall inside of a church in Texas all fit into the category of spiritual deception. Yet, remember when Jonathan Edwards preached people had legitimate and Biblical experiences with God that were quite out of the ordinary.

      It is possible for you to have an overwhelming encounter with the love of God without surrendering to insanity, spiritual deception or demonic deception. What we are simply talking about his pursuing God as King David did. David pursued God “as a deer pants for the water.” David was desperate for God. Are you desperate for God? We are not to be desperate for an experience. We are to be desperate for God. When we are desperate for God, then we experience His closeness and intimacy. How do we know if our experience of receiving God’s love is Biblical? We remember the rule. “No experience is above the Bible…ever. All experiences must be judged according to scripture.”

CITIZENS OF HEAVEN

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Philippians 3:20-21 

      You and I are citizen’s of heaven. We are only passing through this world. This present world is not our final home. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light: who were once not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” 1 Peter 2:9-11

      “For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as were all my fathers.” Psalm 39:12b David was saying that he was just one who was passing through this world. This world is important and what we do down here on earth is very important. But, everything we do should be done in light of eternity. Heaven is our real home. We are just here for a few years and then we enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It is so important for us to have an eternal perspective on life.

      Many of those around us are spiritually dead. They walk in spiritual darkness. We are not to live and behave like those who are spiritually dead. We are children of the light and children of the day. We are here for a brief season and then we will enter eternity. Eternity is a brand new world and we will live in a place called Heaven. The people in our society do not believe Heaven is real. They think that this life is all there is. “Grab all the gusto you can …you only go around once.” How tragic! This life is a blip on the radar screen of eternity.

      Are you living for eternity? I am not talking about being super spiritual and living like monks.  I am not talking about being lazy, sloppy or stupid. Down here on earth we are to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. We are to take care of business. That means spiritual, political and financial and financial business.

 

BIBLE VERSES ON FORGIVENESS

It is important that we forgive others as God has forgiven us through Jesus Christ. Satan loves to trap the believer in holding on to unforgiveness. I have many people who have become stuck in life over an area of not being able to forgive someone about what they did to them. I don’t want to sound callous, but if you don’t get over it you will be stuck in life and never move on. I have met people who have been stuck in one place for decades and the issue is forgiveness. 

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. (Hebrews 12:15)

GEN 33:4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.

11 Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.

45:5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping.

7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

9 Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay.

10 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me--you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have.

11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’

12 “You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you.

13 Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”

14 Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping.

15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.

50:19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?

20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

EXO 23:4 “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him.

5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.

NUM 12:1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.

2 “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard this.

3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

4 At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them came out.

5 Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward,

6 he said, “Listen to my words: “When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.

7 But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house.

8 With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

9 The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them.

10 When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam--leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy;

11 and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed.

12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.”

13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, please heal her!”

1SA 24:10 This day you have seen with your own eyes how the LORD delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the LORD’S anointed.’

11 See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. Now understand and recognize that I am not guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life.

12 May the LORD judge between you and me. And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.

26:9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the LORD’S anointed and be guiltless?

23 The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. The LORD delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the LORD’S anointed.

2SA 1:14 David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’S anointed?”

15 Then David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!” So he struck him down, and he died.

16 For David had said to him, “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the LORD’S anointed.’”

17 David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan,

16:9 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.”

10 But the king said, “What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why do you do this?’”

11 David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son, who is of my own flesh, is trying to take my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for the LORD has told him to.

12 It may be that the LORD will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today.”

13 So David and his men continued along the road while Shimei was going along the hillside opposite him, cursing as he went and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt.

19:23 So the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king promised him on oath.

1KI 1:53 Then King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon said, “Go to your home.”

2:8 “And remember, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD: ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’

9 But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood.”

13:3 That same day the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign the LORD has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.”

4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back.

5 Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the LORD.

6 Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.

PRO 19:11 A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

24:17 Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice,

29 Do not say, “I’ll do to him as he has done to me; I’ll pay that man back for what he did.”

25:21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.

ECC 7:21 Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you--

MAT 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

18:21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.

25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26 “The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’

27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.

31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.

33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on 

you?’

34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

MAR 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

LUK 6:35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

17:3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.

4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

ROM 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.

19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

1CO 4:12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

EPH 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

COL 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

PHM 1:10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.

1PE 3:9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

We Must Forgive Others As God Has Forgiven Us

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28)

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; 

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” (Psalm 55:22)

“My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1)

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19)

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. Put Me in remembrance; let us contend together; state your case, that you may be acquitted.” (Isaiah 43:25-26)

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus ...” (Romans 8:1)

“Come now and let us reason together”, says the Lord, 

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)