How To Be Class Apart
Control over Time Every Christian has a purpose. And before the devil attacks the purpose, he attacks our passion, and even before that, he tries to steal our peace. If we come into the presence of the Lord with an expected heart, we will receive much more than our imagination. Due to this, the devil […]
November 28, 2022
Control over Time
Every Christian has a purpose. And before the devil attacks the purpose, he attacks our passion, and even before that, he tries to steal our peace. If we come into the presence of the Lord with an expected heart, we will receive much more than our imagination. Due to this, the devil will do anything in his capacity to distract us. Even as we listen to the Word and are in the presence of God, some matters trouble our minds and keep us from enjoying ourselves thoroughly. We are not of this world because of the finished work of Christ on the cross. Thus, we don’t wait for a change in circumstances but wait for God’s Word to change our circumstances. Maybe what we are looking at in our circumstances is impossible. But with the Word, nothing is impossible. The Word can create opportunities and resources that are custom-tailored for us.
To be effective in the Kingdom of God, we need time. Many assume that having a stable source of income and the necessary conditions to living is financial independence. However, even if we have all the luxuries of the world and are working all the time, it is of no use. There is a need to understand financial independence as having control over time. In other words, when we get to decide what we do with our time, that is financial independence. Having jobs where Saturdays and Sundays are rest days is important for any Christian to minister effectively on Sunday. If that is difficult for us, we must believe the Word about rest, and the Word will change our circumstances. Rest is not to be at home watching Netflix and chilling.
We need time to invest. The devil comes and disturbs our peace about money so that we will be distracted and give most of our time striving to make money. We need to have a job or a business, as it gives us a purpose. And with this purpose, we control the time when by the Holy Spirit, what usually takes 20 hours must be done in 4 hrs. And the work that we produce must be of excellent quality. The favour of God gives us more leverage with our superiors and bosses and also brings excellence to our work. The excellence reflected in our work sets us apart from the people of the world.
Set-Apart
We don’t need the position of our boss to be blessed. Even as our bosses remain our bosses, we can still be blessed. We don’t need to step over people, cheat them, betray their trust or backbite. We can be blessed in the same position, in the same opportunity. We may be a janitor and still live a blessed life because the blessing of the Lord is not upon our jobs but is upon us.
1 Peter 2.9 (ESV)– But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
God has chosen us. The spotlight of Heaven is on us that we may proclaim the excellencies of God in our cities, workplaces, friend circles and homes. In other words, when we work excellently and diligently, we proclaim the excellencies of God, who has chosen us. Excellencies of God are not just proclaimed from a pulpit. Excellencies of God can also be proclaimed from your corporate desk job. When people see God’s favour and prosperity upon us, they will enquire about the mystery. And thus, our workplaces become our mission field. And through our testimony, God is revealed to them. God wants to reveal himself, and He can only reveal himself through us.
Sanctify, Truth and Word
John 17.17 (ESV)– Sanctify them in the truth; your Word is truth.
The three words that need our attention from this prayer of Jesus before the cross are sanctify, truth and Word. We understand sanctification as the process of purification during cleansing. Here we understand that sanctification means to be set apart or to be distinct. There are vessels in the house which are only used for particular occasions; they are special.
Jesus prays that the Father sanctifies us in truth. The truth comes from the Greek Word, which means God’s reality. We all live in a subjective reality where we are the kings of our life. We assume the world revolves around us. For instance, the sun always shines, but the face away from the sun experiences darkness. Thus we think when we experience darkness, we think it is dark everywhere. These subjective realities of ours keep us fixated on ourselves. Since we do not have the capacity to sustain ourselves, our realities are limited. And Jesus says, “Set them apart in Your truth.” Here he is talking about God’s reality, which is far superior to ours. We may be experiencing lack, sickness, weakness, infirmity or crushing of peace in our subjective realities. However, God’s reality is much bigger and more powerful to alter our reality. In His reality, there is no sin, sickness, chaos or violence.
We find God’s reality in His Word. The Bible has more than 8,000 promises that can fulfil all that we need. For every reality that we want, including health, relationship, finances, and spiritual life, God gives an abundance. His one Word is enough to change all of our reality. If our life needs to be class- apart, it needs to be in the reality of God, and the reality of God is found in his Word.
Greater than Solomon
The richest and the most successful man in today’s time may be Elon Musk. But greater than him was Solomon, who had all the riches and wisdom that any human could ever possess. However, his conclusion after all the education was that everything is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 1: 18 ESV– For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
King Solomon, the wisest king in the world, wrote this. He says, “with more wisdom and knowledge, you can only have more sorrow.” People get depressed when they are a lot educated in the knowledge of the world. However, the good news is we are not of the world. Solomon said everything under the sun is vanity, but we are of the Word (1 Peter 1: 23). Jesus said in Matthew 12: 42, “greater than Solomon is here” while referring to Himself. As a new creation, we are born of God’s Word, and we have the potential to be exactly like Jesus. Since Jesus is greater than Solomon, our Christian life begins being greater than Solomon. Our purpose is to know God. The more we know God, the more we experience life because knowing God is life (John 17.3). If knowing God is life, then not knowing God is death. In other words, if we do not know God, we are living in death. If what we know about God gives us life, then what we don’t know about God is killing us. Thus, knowing God is a severe matter of life and death.
Though regarding many matters of the world, ignorance is bliss. However, being ignorant of God is harmful. Whatever is killing us is because, in that aspect, we have not found the knowledge of God. We need the knowledge of God because knowing God gives us life.
1 Corinthians 1: 30 ESV– And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption
We function in the wisdom of Jesus, not Solomon or this world. The following shows three images of the volcano. It looks calm and non-reactive in the first image, though there is a lot of chaos inside it. Everything we see around us has a multi-dimensional reality in it. The second and third images are thermal images of the volcano before and after an eruption. These states of the volcano can be viewed only in different levels of traditions and other suitable conditions.
when Jesus became the wisdom from God for us, He set us apart to view the reality of everyone and everything from the Word. And the depth of God’s Word is also multi-dimensional. If we are humble, we can receive more through the same Word. The Bible says, “Seek, and you shall find.” So the exact words can give us different information based on what we are seeking. It’s not about right or wrong. The problem is, as Christians, we’ve become so divided in justifying that our interpretation of the scriptures is correct. In trying to argue our interpretation is correct, we limit ourselves. Wait on the Word of God to reveal more dimensions of God’s reality. Like no images of the volcano are false, no revelation of the Word is false or inferior. Value each dimension; that is a revelation, but ask God to reveal more by regarding every Word with the same value and freshness as always. Self-righteousness and pride are the limits we set on the Word to reveal more of its dimension to us. Sin does not limit God to working in our life, but self-righteousness, where we listen to the Word for intellectual pursuit, can limit us.
Example of New Dimension
I have been meditating on Deuteronomy 28 since the beginning of this year. And a few days back, I got a new revelation of “overtaking blessings.” It is like running a race; the blessings catch up to us and overtake us completely. Then runs further and clears the way for us. In the same way, John the Baptist was clearing the way for Jesus. The blessing of the Lord can clear the path for our purposes, that we don’t strive but partake from His blessings. There is a phrase among athletes, ‘being in the zone or being in the flow.’ The relevance of the flow is that the player doesn’t have to make an extra effort to win the game. The flow can lead them. We can similarly look at prosperity.
Prosperity is that there is a continuous supply of flow in our life. Prosperity does not mean having a lot of wealth. It is a continuous supply of peace, joy, sound emotions, encouragement, and every blessing you need for a life of godliness. So the overtaking blessings of God have come into your life to flow so that there’s a flow in your life. The difference between a lake and a river is that the former is stagnant, while the latter has a constant current and flow. We are not a lake. We are the rivers from which the streams of living water flow freely.
Our mind processes through education. We have to teach our mind the mannerisms and skill-set for it to act in a particular manner. We were taught sounds, alphabets, later words, phrases and sentences that we are finally able to communicate in a language. The spirit in us does not function like that. Spirit downloads revelations from God as a whole. These revelations are too deep for the mind to comprehend, due to which we take time to see the whole of God’s reality in one go.
Abide
John 8: 31-32 ESV– So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
We abide in Jesus by abiding in His word. Some of us in the body of Christ, we are so flimsy and weak, even when we know worship, communion, giving, fellowship and prayer is because we fail to abide in the Word. The consequence of abiding in the word is we will know the truth. We will experience a different form of reality that we have never experienced before and it’ll set us free.
John 15: 7-8 ESV– If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
It is the will of the Father that He be glorified when whatever we ask is done for us. Jesus in the three and half years of ministry revealed himself to His disciples through the scripture. To abide in Christ and know Him more there is only one strategy, through the scriptures. God’s word is all that we need to change the condition of our life. We might have read certain scriptures a number of times, but by letting go of familiarity and pride of knowing can help us unravel many new dimensions of the same scripture. Familiarity is like the Manna that Israelites got every day. Though it was fresh from heaven, it was not fresh to them, for their heart was stale. Before we read and meditate on the scripture, a simple prayer, “Holy Spirit, reveal Jesus to me.” will help us receive a new revelation.
The Power of Expectations
Expectations from the Word can do wonders in our lives. When we pray, expect God to flood our emotions and mind. Likewise, when we read the scriptures, let us expect that the Lord will blow our minds. Our expectations drive our actions. For instance, when a businessperson has to sell their services to a client, from the beginning of the meeting, including the greeting and every part of the discussion is with the expectation to convince the client. When we come into the presence of God for a breakthrough, we are setting our minds for a breakthrough as it pulls heaven’s reality to us. We might not expect it from people because we might fear disappointment. However, God will not disappoint us, as He gives more than our expectations (Ephesians. 3). We need to have expectations from God in our mind to understand He has exceeded them.
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