Good Day Meetpastordan Readers…Danny Silk, author of “Keep Your Love On”, used this title statement as the basis for his book regarding marriage relationships. He goes on to tell us that “connecting” is an intentional behavior. If we choose to connect, the relationship has the potential of growing and staying healthy. If there is disconnection, the opposite is true. To no one’s surprise, this is not only true of marriage relationships, but it is true of all relationships.
Step11 in the Twelve Step recovery program states this process beautifully. It tells us that “we sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for his will for us and the power to carry that out.” This statement, of course, follows the assumption that one has already come to grips with step 2 (We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity) and 3 (We made a decision to turn our will and our life over to the care of God, as we understand Him) as Truth. Notice that step 2 does not define “higher power” and step 3 challenges us to have a relationship with the “God of our understanding.” Since the Twelve Step program is not in the business of perpetuating any particular religious belief, it leaves it up to us to do the seeking. But nonetheless, the content of the message in both steps is true.
For those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, that is a no-brainer. Our higher power is Jesus Christ, and the God of our understanding is God Jehovah; the true God of the Bible; the Creator of all things. But our challenge is to “stay connected” and to grow in that relationship, and step 11 speaks directly to that process. Notice that it is all about intentional choices, and even more specifically, about making choices that bring honor and glory to God. Let’s take step 11 apart and examine the four sections.
“We sought through prayer and meditation”. This puts the onus on us. In other words, it’s up to us to initiate the process (or contact). This is substantiated in Jeremiah 29:13: “When you seek Me wholeheartedly, you will find Me”, and again in Matthew 7:7: “Keep on asking and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on seeking and your will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened.” Prayer is the pathway for communication with God, and under the New Covenant, Christ-followers can come directly to the Throne of God. And if we meditate (think deeply and focus our mind the Truth found in Jeremiah and Matthew), that Truth can fortify us and help us keep seeking.
“to improve our conscious contact with God.” We stand on the Truth found in Deuteronomy 31:8: “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord is the One who goes before you. He will be with you; he will neither leave you or forsake you.” We know that God is always with us and we know He is our source of strength. Therefore, why would we choose (make a conscious effort) to seek guidance from any other source. After all, “if God is for us, who (or what) can be against us? (Romans 8:31) When we are seeking God, nothing pleases Him more. This is confirmed in James 4:10: “When we bow down (come in humility) before the Lord and admit our dependence on Him, He will lift us up and give us honor.” God exalts the humble.
“praying only for knowledge of his Will for us”. That truth is also addressed in James 4:10 above: “and admit our dependence on Him”. God’s Will for our life is inexpressibly greater than our will. If we fail to seek His Will, we will never experience the panorama He has in store for us. 1 Corinthians 2: 9 speaks to this: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.” And Romans 12:2 reaffirms this: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is.” When we are in line with His Will, anything we ask for will be granted. I want to state one more time for emphasis, it does not say “anything we ask for will be granted”.
“And the power to carry that out.” Here’s the truth about the power to carry it out. God is our biggest cheerleader. He loves us unconditionally, with a love that is unending and unfailing. He wants us to win, but He knows we’re only dust. After all, we had from Creation to 2016 years ago to wrestle with Man’s eternal dilemma – SIN – and we proved ourselves to be “utterly helpless” in that battle. Therefore, with the coming of Jesus Christ He implemented His plan that was put in place even before He created the world (and man). (Ref. Ephesians 1:3-14) And that plan centered on Jesus Christ being the sacrificial lamb to pay the ransom for our sins. In other words, Jesus Christ came to do for us what we proved, without a shadow of a doubt, we were utterly helpless to achieve through our own effort.
When we accept His Gift of Grace, not only do we receive forgiveness of our sins and eternal life – which seals our eternal destiny – but we also receive the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to rise above our circumstances and life issues to become the person He created us to be. After all…He knows we’re living in a fallen world and that we’re still in these fleshly bodies that are prone to lustful thoughts and pleasures; and He also knows that we have a powerful foe – satan- and that we’re no match for his lies and schemes. Therefore, as Christ-followers we have the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to be victorious over our trials and tribulations. Because of this gift, we are already victorious in this life. We just have to realize that Truth and take authority over our circumstances. Jesus told his disciples in Luke 10:19: “I have given you authority over all the powerful schemes of the Enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. No harm will come to you.” That is reaffirmed in 1John 4-4: “The Spirit that is in me (the Holy Spirit) is greater than the spirit that is in this world.” (satan)
The more we connect with our source of strength, Jesus; and the more we stay in the Word; and the more we call on the Holy Spirit to empower us to become the person God created us to be, the more Christ-like we become. According to Neil Anderson, author of “Victory Over the Darkness”, God’s will for our life is two-fold: first is to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and second is to continue our growth in His Truth to become more Christ-like. The Gift of the Holy Spirit is our secret weapon for succeeding in that endeavor. Ephesians 1:14 tells us, “The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us everything He promised, and that He has purchased us to be His own people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious God!” How totally awesome is this connection!!!
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May God Bless You abundantely,
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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