Revelation, Boundaries & Restraint II

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.  (Proverbs 29:18, KJV)

Long before having a vision for your life, ministry, church, business, etc was vogue in Christian and secular circles, God had already talked about it in His Word.  First let’s look at Proverbs 29:18 in a couple different versions.  

The NIV Bible says: “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.” 

 The NAS Bible says: “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law. “

 The word, vision, or revelation, might be better understood as divine communication. It is a vision, a revelation, a divine communication that comes to us from God. It is a revelatory communication from God in which He reveals Himself and/or His divine purposes.

 The Bible says that without this people are unrestrained. They have no boundaries, no parameters, nothing to regulate or measure their lives by. They have no lines to live between and no rule book to live by as we saw in Part I of Vision, Revelation, & Boundaries. Their lives have no boundaries, restraints, convictions, consideration, or guidance.  The end result is confusion, turmoil, and destruction.

On the other hand people who do have divine communication (vision)  from God and follow it, are obedient to the revelation (vision), have lives that are filled with blessings.  They will be happy, contented, fruitful, and have meaningful lives.  The Word is clear, it is not enough to know the vision, we must be obedient to it. As Paul said in Acts 23:19, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision".

In the context of the verse we have been looking at the vision is the Law God gave to Moses.  In the context of our time it would be the Old and New Testaments.  In the context of a personal vision for our lives, it would be God revealing something specific He wants us to do.  That specific thing will always be in agreement with the greater context of God’s revealed will in His Word.

 

The NLT Bible says “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is happy.

If we don't stay within our realm of authority & conduct ourselves in accordance with governing stipulations we will end up outside of safe boundaries.

Shocking Experience

“ … if they do speak not according to this word …”  (Isa 8:20  KJV)

I am sure that like me, you have had some life changing moments with the Lord. I mean a time where He stopped you in your tracks, and put you on a different track. One morning this happened to me while having some quiet time with the Lord. I was reading out of Isaiah chapter 8 and got to verse 20 which says: 

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

I got kind of stirred up over this verse and got to talking to the Lord. I was saying things sort of like “Yeah, that’s right Lord, there are a whole lot of people out there not speaking in accordance with your word. They are saying a lot of things that don’t agree with Your word.”

Now about this time I’m expecting a “Yeah, you got it, you understand!  You know what I am talking about!”  What I got was something like “You say a lot of things that are not in accordance with My word.”

Well, to say I was shocked would be an understatement. I was kind of devastated. I had been confronted by God and I was guilty, I knew it and I knew it all in an instant. I was filled with remorse and repented right then and there.  I was so convicted and so sorrowful that a lot of what I said was not in accordance with, not in agreement with, did not line up with, and was not guided by the Word of God.

That was a life changing moment for me. It began a change in me that affected the words I spoke, the advice I gave, and is hopefully still causing me to do more thinking and listening then speaking.

It is good for me to return to this verse now and then and let God continue to speak to me with it. Our mouths speak out of what is in our hearts. Our hearts need to be filled with the Word of God, so that what we speak is in accordance with, in agreement with, and in like purpose with His word.

What Were YouThinking...? Part 2

“ … there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes” (Ep 4:23, NLT)

If we are going to act correctly, then we have to think correctly. If self-gratification and self-preservation are at the center of our thinking, we will continue to make wrong decisions, take wrong actions, and say the wrong things. It is about far more than what we think - it goes to how we think, what is at the center of our thinking.  (From What Were You Thinking…? Part 1)

In Ephesians 4 we are told to put off the old man and put on the new man, but sandwiched in between is the admonition to “be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”  Without our minds being renewed (being made new again by a redefining of what we know as truth and what our set course of action is to be based upon that truth), our motivation will continue to be self-preservation and self-gratification. We will continue to act out of the old man instead of the new man who is constantly being renewed into the image of Christ.

If we want to act (respond) out of the new man and live a transformed life that brings glory to God, we will have to move in our thinking from self-preservation and self-gratification to self-sacrifice.  Romans 1:1-2 says “

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Emphasis mine)

Living a transformed life requires that we must think differently. What we know as truth must be in agreement with the Word of God. We can no longer be the center of our lives and thoughts with everything revolving around us, but God must be at the center. Our decisions must be based upon His will and not how it will affect us and our lives.

We must think His thoughts after Him, and desire that He receive glory in all that we think, say, and do. We must sacrifice our self-life, the old man/nature, for His glory and live out the sacrificed life, the new man/nature, which is constantly being transformed into the likeness of Christ.

The AND Principle

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves”  (Php 2:3-4, NASB)

 Some years ago, I read a book by Charles Swindoll called Laugh Again.  It is on the book of Philippians and is about joy.  In a bible study, we were discussing Php 2:3-4 and I shared that in this book, speaking of these scriptures he gave three principles, something along the lines of:

1.     Never do anything prompted by pride or selfishness

2.     Always consider others as more important than yourself

3.     Don’t only consider your own interests but also the interests of others

Considering these to be really good principles, we thought it would be a good idea to remember them.  Someone suggested switching the first and second principles, thereby making an acrostic with the word AND, which would be an easy to remember, and so that is how the AND Principle came about.

 

1.     Always consider others as more important than yourself

2.     Never do anything prompted by pride or selfishness

3.     Don’t only consider your own interests but also the interests of others

If we would but do these three things, our lives and the lives of those around us would be drastically changed!  It takes a rich relationship with Christ to be able to walk these out, a relationship that takes time and focus, and which must be valued above all else. Of course, if we are so important that we have to be at other places, have the wrong motivation, or are too interested in our own cause, we will never be able to walk the And Principle out.

I believe that this principle, correctly applied, would remove a lot of the stress out of our lives, resulting in us having more joy and God receiving more glory. Now That’s a good thing!

Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. (Php 2:3-4, MSG)

Squeezing Into Life

From Henry’s Desk

 

“ …Enter through the narrow gate …” (Mt7:13, NIV)

Have you ever considered the Christian life as a series of narrow gates?  You are cruising along, things are going pretty good, and all of a sudden you come to a gate!  Not only do you come to a gate, but the gate is too narrow to get through with all the stuff you are carrying.  And not only that, but it is a one time gate. You can only pass through it once.  You can’t go through it with some of your stuff and then come back and get the rest of it.  This produces a moment of crisis, a moment of decision, a moment pregnant with opportunity for growth.

 You finally make the right decision and go through the narrow gate.  You even find that it is easier traveling on the other side of the gate, having left some of your stuff behind.  Why, it is much nicer on this side than you ever imagined it could be!  And then you come upon another narrow gate.

Why, this gate is even narrower than the last one!  And all the stuff you are now carrying is not going to fit through it!  There is no way to turn around and no way to go around.  It is another moment filled with potential, crisis, and decisions.  There is a little more of a struggle this time.  You even try to drag some of the stuff behind you through the gate, but you can’t get through, so you let go of it.

 My, what a beautiful place you have walked into!  More wonderful than you ever imagined it could be!  And you don’t really miss what you left behind, it is actually much easier to walk without it.  You continue along and suddenly find yourself at another gate, even more narrow than the last one.  You don’t see how you are going to get much through this gate, and it is going to be hard to decide what to leave behind.  But you face the crisis, make the right decision, and take the correct action.  You continue on, finding the journey delightful!

 Onward you go!  And then another even narrower gate.  This time you aren’t even thinking about your stuff.  You don’t even see how you are going to squeeze through it.  You approach the opening, measuring it with your eyes, thinking, there is no way.  You slowly push your body through, scrapping some of your flesh off on the sides of the gate.  Wow, this is starting to be painful.

Finally you are through the gate.  My, how wonderful it is on this side.  Oh sure, there is still a little pain, and some smudges of blood, but you are through the gate and you are loving it!

You actually have a skip to your step now as you continue on.  You are really beginning to enjoy this life!  Up ahead you see another narrow gate …