Where Are You?
Everything you do now on this earth at this time and season, must participate in the purpose of your calling, and come from the intimacy of your relationship with God. That’s quite a line to start this MinistrEmail with I know, but I’m so strongly impressed with this and it is simply echoing what the Apostle Paul begged the Ephesian church to understand.
Ephesians 4:1 (NLT) Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
Many times of late I have spoken with Christians who seem to have lost vision, or purpose, or are just simply out of focus with their calling in life. It is important that we regularly ‘recalibrate’, and evaluate if we are heading in the right direction. If you determine that you have been on a detour, you may have to ask yourself a very important question. This question was the very first, recorded in the Bible from God to man.
The First Question
“Where are you?”
After the glory left Adam and Eve naked and stripped of the will and purpose of God, we find them insecure and fearful of the presence of God. A whole new life of uncertainty and lack was now saturating them. It must have been the depths of depression, going from spiritual insight as the norm to the darkness of soul dependency.
Genesis 3:8-9 (NKJV) And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
To regain the vision and insight needed to run your race, you must first receive this same question.
An honest answer may reveal that you have indeed moved off track and are spending your energy just surviving, rather than thriving in your calling and destiny.
I remember many years ago in New Zealand, getting caught in a tidal rip while swimming in the ocean. I was not experienced in this kind of water (growing up in the UK, rarely more than a big toe would venture into the cold ocean!) and I subsequently got into trouble being dragged out to sea.
It took all of my energy to swim as hard as I could as I fixed my eyes onto a rock to the left of me. It was all the bearings that I had as the sun was setting. I was using a lot of energy going nowhere! In a moment of relief a wave picked me up and took me to shore (I believe this was the hand of God) but I was exhausted, and could hardly even stand to get out of the water.
For many, life feels this way. So if that is you, first ask the question, “where am I?” If you know that you are not on track, the best thing to do next is go back to the last thing that you know, that you know, that the Lord told you to do. Actually this will not be going back at all, but progressing forwards to the very thing you should be doing.
When Adam lost everything, this question of location was what he heard. So what had Adam lost?
Genesis 1:27-28 (NKJV) 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
This was the original intent. Psalm 8 explains the crowning with glory and honor that was a part of this image in God.
Psalms 8:4-6 (NLT) what are mere mortals that You should think about them, human beings that You should care for them? 5 Yet You made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You gave them charge of everything You made, putting all things under their authority—
The plan of God to redeem man was to send a Man, the Son of God, to get the plan back on track. It took 4,000 years to outwork the Word of God made flesh, and to redeem the plan for the children of God.
For the last 2,000 years the Body of Christ has been walking in this redemption, and yet so many have never fulfilled all that was purchased and all that was planned for them. Jesus prayer while on earth for us shows the glory that was intended and that is being restored.
The Redeemed Intent in Christ
John 17:20-23 (NKJV) “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Again in the book of Hebrews we see what Jesus did to bring us back to the original intent.
Hebrews 2:4-18 (NLT) 9 What we do see is Jesus, who was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because He suffered death for us, He is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone. 10 God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that He should make Jesus, through His suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation. 11 So now Jesus and the ones He makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them His brothers and sisters.
What The World is Waiting For
Not only is it important for you and I to walk in the fullness of what we have been called to be, but it is important for that to manifest in fulfilling what we are called to do. The whole world, whether they realize it or not, is waiting for this.
Romans 8:16-20 (NKJV) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
Romans 8:29 (NKJV) For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Jesus has gone to the Father, so that He could send the Holy Spirit to fill us and regenerate us into this new glorious birth, and then to immerse us in His power to walk out the commission.
The original commission and Blessing to Adam to “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion….” Has been taken by Jesus as the Son of Man, and now all authority has been given to Him and His Seed, the new creation, to walk as He walked and bring every lost child into new life also.
It is the ‘Great Commission’!
Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
And so again we ask ourselves that key question “Where are you?” The good news for the believer in Jesus is that we can answer the question Adam could not. The believer can answer “I am In Christ”.
The question from God to Adam is interesting in it’s simplicity and complexity;
Firstly, “they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden…”
The Hebrew for “the sound” (KJV “voice”) is ‘qol’ meaning to ‘call aloud, thunder, cry out, yell, bleating’
“ADAM….ADAM…..ADAM….where are you????”
Next we see that they “heard” the “voice of the LORD God walking…” That sounds a little strange? How do you hear a voice walking? The Hebrew word for walking is ‘halak’. In it’s simplicity it does mean to walk with steps. However this word is the basis of what in Judaism is known as “the walk, or way of Torah life, ‘halaka’. The Word, has a Walk, a Way. They heard the Way of God in His Voice.
He came in the cool of the evening, which is both the end of the day, a refreshing moment of cool, and also the beginning of the new. When we are looking for our walk, our ‘halaka’ we first need to find it in our fellowship with the Father. Notice, the first question was not, “Adam, what are you doing?”, it was “where are you?”.
To live out our “walk” we have to first “be in Him” so that we can “do, for Him”. Indeed, our doing for Him can only come from our being with Him.
Mark 3:13-16 (AMP) And He went up on the hillside and called to Him [for Himself] those whom He wanted and chose, and they came to Him. 14 And He appointed twelve to continue to be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach [as apostles or special messengers] 15 And to have authority and power to heal the sick and to drive out demons:
Notice that pattern here;
- Jesus called to Himself those…
- They came to Him…
- He Appointed…
- To continue to be with Him…
- That He Might Send then…
First is the “Calling to Him” – Consecration
Next is the “Calling from Him” – Commission
If He is not the primary, if the call from Him is more to you than the call to Him, then you will get discouraged and will not last the distance. Intimacy with God, will always lead to a constant refreshing and fulfillment in our service to Him, regardless of the choices others around us make. A lack relationship with the Father will reveal symptoms and attitudes in our service.
There are consistently two major problems in any local church; Only a small percentage serve in the house. Only a small percentage finance the house. Both of these issues are fixed when people have Him as their first focus. When we serve in the church as unto the Lord, our heart stays right. So the first place to “be” and the beginning of our “walk” is found in His presence. There are two expressions of this. The private and the corporate.
The private devotional life will always lead to the desire for the corporate, to be with the Body. The epidemic in todays Christianity of people staying away from fellowship is a symptom, not of a lack in the churches, but a lack of relationship.
The person that says, “I can just fellowship with God at home and I don’t need to go to church.” is deceived! Don’t confuse worship with a musical experience! Too many times I have heard people say, “I didn’t get anything out of that!” That is a sad thing to hear because worship is not for you to get something, it is for you to give something. In our consumer driven world, the church world has at times, misaligned its focus.
It’s time for us as believers to take stock of where we are. If need be repent, and fix our eyes on Jesus as He lovingly authors our path. Then as the Called of the Lord we must live out of the vital relationship we have with Him, so that everything we do, and every where we go, is a direct result of that indwelling union with the Holy Spirit.
Of course Jesus said it best;
John 5:19 (AMPC) So Jesus answered them by saying, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the Son is able to do nothing of Himself (of His own accord); but He is able to do only what He sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does is what the Son does in the same way [in His turn].
May this we our course also! Once more confess this with me by faith;
I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS THE GREAT YEAR FOR WHAT EVER I NEED IT TO BE. I BELIEVE GOD AND HIS WORD, AND I BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A GREAT BREAKING LOOSE OF EVERYTHING I NEED TO FULFILL MY DESTINY IN GOD. I BELIEVE THAT GOD WILL CAUSE THINGS I HAVE BELIEVED FOR TO SUDDENLY MANIFEST AS I FAITHFULLY STAND IN FAITH. IM GOING BACK TO THE COVENANTS OF GOD. IM GOING BACK TO THE WORSHIP AND PRAISE OF GOD AND THE POWER TO HEAL.
I DECLARE THIS YEAR ‘THE GREAT YEAR’ CONCERNING……….
P.S. I want to thank you, as you sow your offering this month into this ministry, and I pray increase and blessings abound so that you continue to be blessed to be a blessing!
Love ya,
Are you a partner with Christ Ministries International? If not, then please prayerfully consider joining with us in prayer and financial partnership to help us reach as many people as possible in the days ahead with the message that God has placed within our hearts to teach.
Simply contact us: cmifaith@cmifaithconnection. |
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