ABIDING IN CHRIST

Pre-study questions:

1. Matthew 18:4

Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to humble one’s self like a child? What

does that look like and feel like in everyday life? Humbles means recognizing your position of total subordination to God and total dependence on Him for

everything – like a little child.

2. Philippians 2:8

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! What did Christ do to humble

himself? What were the daily manifestations of being humbled in the life of Christ?

3. 1 Peter 5:5

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." What does it mean for

us to cloth ourselves with humility toward each other?

4. James 4:10

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. How do you personally ―humble yourself before the Lord‖ each day? What do you do?

1 Peter 5:6

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. How do I humble myself under God’s mighty hand? How will

I know that I have humbled myself under His mighty hand?

5. 1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleans us (clean us up) from all unrighteousness. List the deep seated sins

that plague the lives of really good Christians? (see the section in this doc on confession of sins for a list). We need to take the disciplines of confession

and repentance to a much deeper level if we are to abide in Christ.

Q: how much of what we do in the office is rooted in our need to feel good? Did Christ do

things to feel good or was the feeling a by product of doing His Father’s will?

Q: What does Christ’s statement, “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me for I am meek

and humble of heart” look like in your job description? What does it look like in your

interaction with the other people in your department?

Q: How do you determine the difference between what I want to do and what God wants

me to do in your job.

Q: What does “putting others first” look like in your job description?

Note: This article promotes the goodness of man rather than the inherent sinfulness of man. It

has good ideas on the need to take repentance to a much deeper level and identifies areas for

repentance that we do not typically see. Much of it is good, but be careful!!!

Jesus told us...

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the

vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who

abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing...My

Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples" (John

15:4,5 and 8).

Prior to abiding in Christ comes repentance. Christ does not reside in hearts that are

unrepentant. The holiness of God and the filthiness of sin cannot co-habit. That is why the first

step to abiding in Christ is that of repenting and allowing Christ to clean you up. “If we confess

our sins He is willing to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” ()

The next step in living a life of continually abiding in Christ is that of complete surrender and

self-denial.

Man is required to love God supremely, with his might, mind, and strength, and his neighbor as

himself. This he cannot possibly do unless he denies himself. To deny self means to rule the

spirit when passion is striving for the mastery; to resist the temptation to censure and to speak

words of faultfinding; to have patience with the child that is dull, and whose conduct is grievous

and trying; to stand at the post of duty even though others may fail; to lift responsibilities

wherever and whenever duty requires, not to gain applause, not for policy, but for the sake of

the Master, who has given each of His followers a work that is to be done with unwavering

fidelity. To deny self means to do good when inclination would lead us to serve and please

ourselves. It means to work patiently and cheerfully for the good of others, even though our

efforts may not seem to be appreciated. . . . {HP 223.3}

The Bible is clear that God wants to be a God to us who is our refuge, our glory, our strength

(Deut. 32:37-39; Jer. 2:11-13; Hab. 1:11). When God becomes your refuge and strength He

becomes your first love. God intends that we love Him in that way because He defines idolatry in

those terms.

When God becomes our refuge and strength His closeness to us has become our reason for being

secure and confident—not material things, not our job, our house, our money, our appearance,

what we know, what we do, not the church we attend, not the acceptance and approval of people,

not our personality, not our ministry, not our family, not even the (good and important) doctrines

that we believe.

God made our thirst for Him so strong that the things that rob us of love for God are those things

that have become substitutes for God. Specifically, they are anything that has become a refuge

for us or a basis for feeling strong.

We need to repent from finding refuge, glory, and strength from how well we control the

circumstances, how well we maintain the approval of people, how well we avoid risk, or how

well we keep people impressed. Sources such as these are idolatry to God. They cause our love

for God to grow cold.

Staying near to the Lord and receiving God's presence is a spiritual activity that involves our

heart, soul, and spirit. We need to take steps to repent at deep levels because we can't receive

God's presence continually when our heart-level habit has become to feed ourselves by

receiving from earthly sources!

God designed all people everywhere with a powerfully driving need to depend on a refuge that

reassures us, makes us secure, and something as our glory that makes us feel confident and

strong. But God also designed us so that we have to choose between Him or "other gods."

We have chosen wrongly.

Bondage to the little "gods" of this world has become widely accepted as normal—even in the

church. The result is that we are trying to relate to God out of complex and often subtle mixtures

of pride, fear, shame, and disbelief.

Unknowingly, the church today has traded the glory of our God for the glory of earthly sources.

We left our "first love" and have become "luke-warm" because we just didn't know that more

was possible.

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Our Part and God's

Ultimately, it is only God who can make us grow. But, the apostle Paul helps us to keep it in

perspective when he said, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth." (1 Cor.

3:6). God causes the growth, but we are the ones who need to do the planting and the

watering.

You have a vital role in how much you grow in the Lord! It is time to accept more of that

responsibility.

God has His part. He makes you grow! But He longs to be able to do that more. Your part is to

cooperate with Him by planting the truth in your heart and watering it! This site shows you how.

God will do His part! You can do yours!

(A special note to the reader: Try to remember that repentance and carrying our cross is something we need to

do with joy and delight—not misery and groveling. "Dying to self" is not something you should be afraid about.

Carrying your cross is reason for joy. This site is for showing you how to help your heart to believe and

experience that joy!)

Something We Must Do

Repentance is something that we need to do. The Bible tells us to "repent and turn to God" (Acts

26:20b). It is not something that you should wait for God to do for you.

Jesus told us the most important command in all the Bible is that, "...The Lord our God is one

Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with

all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:29-30).

We Christians know we should love God, but it is to us that the Bible says,

"But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where

you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first..." (Rev. 2:4,5).

Repentance is important for salvation. But repentance is also important for those of us who have

already chosen to follow God. We need to repent because we have left our love for God and have

fallen in love with our earthly ways.

It is to God‟s people that the Bible says, "Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your

faces away from all your abominations." (Eze. 14:6). Another place it says, "return to the Lord

with all your heart, remove the foreign gods...from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord

and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you..." (1 Sam. 7:3).

Directing your heart toward God should be at the very core of how you live your Christian life.

The Lord is our shepherd, but He will allow us to wander if we so choose—even though it hurts

Him to do so.

The Bible says to, "...train yourself to be godly" (1 Tim. 4:7 NIV). It tells us to, "...sanctify Christ

as Lord in your hearts" (1 Pet. 3:15a). It is vital that you take action to direct your desire back to

God—and away from earthly sources.

Directing your heart toward God is all about "dying to self." Jesus told us, "Whoever does not

carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:27). Repentance and

turning to God is not an option. It is because our hearts are so prone to wander that directing our

heart toward God must become a natural part of every day.

The apostle Paul wrote of, "always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life

of Jesus also may be manifested in our body" (2 Cor. 4:10). Repentance is not an end in itself. It

is so that the "life of Jesus" can be manifested.

Don‟t wait for God to do your repenting for you. God is waiting for us! The Bible says,

"and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and

turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal

their land." (2 Chron. 7:14).

The benefits will be great when God‟s people—on a broad scale—repent and turn to Him. But

since God has told us so clearly that we should be the ones to turn our heart toward Him, you can

be confident that the Bible also tells us how. It is time to take action.

Determine to Learn How to Repent

Know this for sure, being effective at repentance requires that you are going to have to learn how

to turn toward God in keeping with His grace to draw near to you. Doing so is likely more

different from what you are doing now than what you might expect.

Most Christians think about growth as a constant process of bringing their focus back on the

Lord and trying to find encouragement through the scriptures. These are good things, but in

reality—day after day—we keep trying to stop the things we are doing wrong, we monitor our

love for the Lord, how much we are reading the Bible, the quality of our prayer life, the depth of

our worship, how much we are sharing our faith, and at times, what can seem like a million other

things. While this approach is common, the improvements that result come slowly and are often

very frustrating. It can also make you very tired!

On this site I am giving you a way to improve all of the things mentioned above. The difference

is that the improvements won‟t come about because of direct focus on how well you discipline

yourself to do all these different things. The growth that I am talking about here will come about,

first and foremost, as a result of a direct focus on improving your capacity for faith and your trust

in the Lord.

Rather than growth happening because you monitor and discipline yourself in countless different

areas, growth will result because you are applying discipline to maintain your faith, hope, and

love toward God. Rather than a discipline out of a sense of duty, it will be a discipline of delight

toward God that helps make turning to Him more desirable. Once your momentum begins to

build it won‟t seem like discipline any more. You actually find rest for your weary soul and it

feels like fun.

It is not my intention to multiply the behaviors that you monitor and maintain in your walk with

God. I want to help make you free. So, please don‟t take what I give you here and adapt it as a

way to grow in the dozens of areas you may be trying to improve at this time. Like a tire with a

hole in it, you would just have to keep on pump yourself up—day after day, year after year. I am

offering you what I believe is a more effective way to help yourself grow toward God.

No matter what your situation, you should feel hope! It is right for you to think about growth

toward God in terms of lasting improvements and change. As a child matures they are never the

same again. Even so, there will certainly be times when they will struggle and occasionally seem

to go back to the way they were even years prior. But in general, the growth they experience

results in changes that last. We need to think about growth toward God as being similar—

without hiding from the truth when things aren‟t going as well as we would like. The principles

in this book are effective enough that—if you decide to apply them—you won‟t ever be the same

and you won‟t ever want to go back.

Am I describing a way to grow spiritually that can happen over-night? No. Even so, by applying

the principles you find here, growth that would normally take a life-time can happen in a matter

of several months to a few short years.

Determine now that you are going to learn how to repent and turn toward God. You can do it!

Determine to make repentance and turning to God work for you. The scriptures show the way.

Correcting Misunderstandings

It is time for us to think more accurately about repentance!

Great misunderstandings about repentance are all through the church today. Few understand the

extent to which we must repent. Even fewer understand the biblical principles that would make it

effective.

Many think that repentance means they have to make themselves feel guilty until they stop doing

bad things. The problem with this view is that after you do that, you have to wait until you have

felt "bad" long enough to deserve being close to God again—or, to even let yourself accept His

forgiveness. Trying to "repent" this way is ineffective and damages your relationship with God.

Repentance is not a morbid kind of introspection bent on groveling before God and motivating

change by self-condemnation. The Bible says, "Repent and turn away from all your

transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you" (Ezek.18:30b). Rather

than create more stumbling blocks your repentance needs to be what removes the obstacles that

keep you away from God.

Christians today want to change. They long to be closer to God. But, my observations are that

most don‟t understand how to repent according to biblical principles that work. The result has

been frustration, hopelessness, despair, and shame. Some have even come to believe that it is just

not possible for them to be able to experience intense levels of closeness to God. This is wrong.

It is my strong intention to help change this.

But, God wants all of you. He is asking to be the one and only God that you depend on. Still,

however, don‟t get the wrong idea here.

Even though the cost of repentance seems high, the cost is like no price at all in comparison to

what you get in return. "Dying to self" isn‟t the goal. Life is the goal for here and now! When

you repent so as to change from works to grace, you find freedom to receive God's presence and

life becomes the result!

The Bible says it this way, "always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life

of Jesus also may be manifested in our body" (2 Cor. 4:10). Repentance is a process of

constantly living out the dying of Jesus. But you also have a clear promise concerning why you

should repent. Repentance is "so that" the life of Jesus "may be manifested," here and now.

Because of this, repentance can and should be fun.

Life is the goal of repentance, not dying. Carrying our cross is not an end in itself. At first,

repentance may feel like you are carrying a cross on a path toward a frightening and horrible

death. Before long however, you will come to understand experientially, that dying—while

living—is the path to real living. Dying to our earthly ways is merely a means to experiencing

times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. Once you clearly understand the benefits of

repentance, "dying" won‟t be a morbid thing at all. You won‟t be afraid because repentance will

become a great joy—something you have fun doing.

Let me remind again that the Bible says, "repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped

away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19).

Continually carrying your cross is the price you get to pay in trade for God's presence! The Bible

says,

"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and

eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for

what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat

what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that

you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful

mercies shown to David" (Isa. 55:1-3a)

True repentance is about turning to God because of delight to pay the price—not because you

punish yourself into trying to do the right thing! On the most practical level, repentance is about

changing from the inside out. Repentance is about reassuring your heart with truths that make it

desirable—and that give you freedom—to turn to God.

Repentance isn't about being perfect! It is a practice of making continual improvements

because you never stop directing your heart to feed yourself with God and not by earthly

means.

Understand Yourself!

Understanding yourself helps you to better understand your thirst for God in relation to why you

sometimes do what you don't want to do.

It explains that all people everywhere have a driving and unmet need for God's presence. The

Bible calls it "thirst." For the most part, this need is unmet even among Christians—and it

hurts.

The result is an inner pain from a longing for something more. Many feel this pain. Others even

sense that something is desperately wrong, but don't know what to do about it. The principles on

this site help correct the underlying cause of this problem!

This section also helps you to better recognize the practical evidence of your every-moment

longing for God. Understanding these things is important for helping you turn to God more

freely and with less hesitation.

Why Repent!

The section called, "Why Repent" explains why we should repent from a human perspective and

from God's.

The negative reason to repent is to avoid correction from God that is both loving and strong. The

positive reason to repent is because of God's grace.

This section explains that it is right to depend on God to give us His presence because

dependence is worship. Our thirst for God is so great, that idolatry is our only other option.

What to Repent From!

This section explains idolatry of the heart as God defines it. It shows that God defines being

close to us as His being our God.

This section also shows how we try to achieve a sense of having glory in each aspect of what

God is like. It also explains that the essence of what we need to repent from is that of quenching

our thirst for God by what the Bible calls "works." We need to change from "works" to grace.

How to Repent!

This section looks at many different principles related to growing as Christians and tries to

explain how they all fit together.

It is my belief that repentance is the closest word in the Bible to describe the entire process of

how we are to grow in Christ. It is in that broad sense that I talk about "How to Repent!"

We need to turn from our earthly attachments and cling to God. To do that we have to get our

heart to hear the truth about why it is safe and right and good for us to turn from our earthly ways

and draw near to God. When your heart hears and your heart believes your behavior is soon to

respond.

Using the scriptures, I will show you how to change from the heart by wisely and repetitively

using thanks and praise for the truth. Jesus endured His cross "for the joy set before Him" (Heb.

12:1,2). We need to follow His example. Thanks and praise is powerful for helping us repent

when it is aimed specifically at idolatry of the heart and why we can turn to God.

But because our hearts are hard this section also helps you understand what you can do to help

your heart to be more responsive and "hear" what you are thanking God about.

Heart-training! - Home

This section gives you tools for taking steps to re-train you heart and direct it toward God. The

rest of the site aims to tell you "how to do it," this section shows you the specifics of "what to

do."

Our backgrounds and personalities make us different. But the substitutions we make for God are

all related to the attributes of God in some way—it is this similarity that makes a systematic

approach to repentance is powerfully effective.

The Heart-training Index has several links to Acrobat Reader Files aimed to help you repent in

specific areas. For the more general aspect of changing from works to grace, you may find the

"Short Version!" of the Heart-training more effective.

Come and Drink!

This section explains how to draw near to God by entering the throne room. It explains how to

drink so that you actually receive God's presence.

Consider what it feels like inside when you do something kind, you know the right answer,

someone smiles at you, or when you finish a big project. Inside we open up and a sense of well

being floods over us. We "drink" often by thinking about these kinds of things—over and over

again. These same principles can be reapplied to receiving God's presence!

Our problem is that most people struggle to believe their access or that "drinking" from God is

realistic for them personally.

Repentance helps you to be receptive enough to the truth that you are better able to act out of

faith toward God. By repentance you can find much greater freedom to enter the throne room

and drink without holding back.

But don't expect to be able to "Come and Drink" right away! It is likely that you will have to be

in repentance for a time before you find freedom from fear and your spiritual sensitivities and

faith are built up enough to drink. That "length of time" varies from person to person. For one it

may only be a few days, but for another it might be a year. It all depends on how hard you go

after directing your heart toward God.

What About Shame!

This section explains why Christians are clean on the inside but that we also need a cleansing

from God for the outside of us. It is the cleansing of God for our humanity that dissolves our

shame.

Many scriptures are given as powerful reason for you to believe that God's provision is strong for

washing away any shame you might feel about drawing near to Him.

You can experience God's presence intensely! Because of that, the changes you make can last—

even in difficult areas you may have struggled with for years. You can direct your heart toward

God! Will you let me show you how?

Many are longing to experience God‟s presence more fully in our day. Even though Christians

already have God‟s presence, much more is possible.

How do we experience the outpouring of God that so many believe is possible? The Bible tells

us, "...repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing

may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). Christians need to repent. (Note: the

disciples spent 10 days confessing their sins and praising God before the Holy Spirit was poured

out on them)

The problem is that we need to repent of things that are well hidden and deep things of the

heart. As a result, I don‟t expect you to understand what I am saying right at the start so please

bear with me while I explain.

God is Ready to Give the Outpouring by Grace!

The church today is not experiencing what is readily available to each one of us. The promise to

God‟s people is that when we draw near to Him He will draw near to us. Jesus also told us to

come to Him and drink, repeatedly. He said that a river of the Holy Spirit‟s presence could flow

out from inside of us as a result. The Bible also tells us to come to Him and to delight ourselves

in an abundance! We are not taking God at His word.

We began by receiving Christ by faith in God‟s grace for salvation. We have not continued in the

same way. We need to repent in ways that make it possible for us to deeply trust the abundance

of His grace to draw near.

We have to come to God believing His grace to lavish His presence on us. The Bible says, "And

without faith it is impossible to please Him for he who comes to God must believe that He is and

that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (Heb. 11:6). The faith that pleases God does not

waver—it believes that when we come near to the Lord, God will reward us with His presence in

accordance with the abundance of His grace.

Many are longing for God to come to us intensely. God is longing for us to come to Him. Many

are getting desperate and doing everything they can deserving of His coming. God is waiting for

us to stop living by faith in our "works" and start trusting the lavish nature of His grace. We are

the ones holding back. The problem is with us. Not God.

The outpouring of God is available now. We need to repent in ways that give us freedom to obey

God‟s command to "come and drink." God is waiting for us!

Practical Reasons to Believe that You Need and Want God’s Presence

All people everywhere have a driving desire for the presence of God. Mostly, this desire is

unmet.

It is our "thirsty" desire for God's presence that drives our behavior, attitudes, our way of relating

to people, even our reactions to undesirable circumstances. This topic is considered at length in

the section called "Understand Yourself."

The evidence of our unmet desire for God is clearly seen in our pursuit to acquire more

possessions, our longings for beauty and perfection, our lust for power, our need for something

that soothes us when we hurt, the ways we try to find refuge in a cave of depression, addictions,

and unwanted behaviors of all kinds. Even the lure of sin is practical evidence of our unmet need

for God‟s presence.

You don't have to feed yourself with the power you feel from rebellious sin or damaging

behaviors. You can turn to God and thrill your heart with His presence!

Jesus told us to "abide in Him." We have His command and that is what we need. The practical

evidence strongly suggests that we need God‟s presence poured out upon us 24 hours-a-day.

Anything less won‟t be enough to give us real and steady freedom from earthly dependencies!

Why do we want God? Why are we thirsty for His presence? God is seeking worshipers so He

designed all of us with a deep spiritual sense about the glory of what He is like. Deep inside all

know something of the loftiness of His power, His wisdom, His majesty, and love. God also

placed a "law" in our outer "flesh" that constantly reminds us that the glory of our humanity falls

short and isn‟t even close to the glory of what we know deep inside about God.

The result of our "spiritual awareness" about God—together with the "law," is a spiritual tension

in us that is commonly understood as psychological, emotional, or self-esteem needs. The Bible

calls it a thirsty need for God.

It makes us feel insecure and it hurts to have a deep sense about what God is like and to

constantly be reminded that the glory of our humanity isn‟t even close. The reason why we need

to depend on something that makes us feel secure and confident is because of our deep and

underlying need for the presence of God. Dependence is worship.

The reason we do what we don't want to do is because we are trying to ease the pain of our

unquenched thirst for God. When we don't feed ourselves with the closeness of God's love and

power, even rebellious sin can taste like glory to us.

Repentance can help you change any behavior. It has to help you turn and replace what you are

getting out the unwanted behavior by enjoying God's presence lavished upon you by His grace.

(Note: Genuine repentance precedes any change in behavior)

Idolatry of the Heart

The Bible says, "...Thus says the Lord God, „Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your

faces away from all your abominations"(loathsome, disgusting) (Ezek. 14:6). Repentance is

about riding ourselves of the idolatrous substitutions we make for God. To do that you need to

understand that God is talking about much more than idols made of wood, gold, or stone.

Example: “the sins that so easily beset thee.”

The Bible says, "They will be held guilty, they whose strength is their god" (Hab. 1:11). God

wants to be close enough to you to actually be your strength. The Bible also tells us, "...glory in

Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh" (Phil. 3:3). What makes you feel confident and

strong? In every instance it is something close to us, something that is ours. We need to repent of

the earthly ways we find confidence and feel strong. We need to repent so that we find freedom

to receive God‟s presence and trust His closeness as our strength and reason to feel confident.

God also wants to be close enough to you to be your refuge. The Bible says, "And He will say,

'Where are their gods, the rock in which they sought refuge...Let them rise up and help you, Let

them be your hiding place! See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me'" (Deut.

32:37-39). In today‟s terms, our repentance has to change us from earthly ways of finding

security to where we are receiving from God and hiding ourselves in His presence.

God defines idolatry in terms of anything we depend on as a way to find refuge or feel strong.

What makes you feel confident and secure? Anything you depend on is close to you; your

friends, what you control, the money in your pocket, what you do, how hard you work,

your athletic abilities, your personality, your appearance, the approval you feel from

others, how much you know. The earthly sources we depend on aren’t always bad. It is just

that we can feed on these things as our strength or our refuge.

These kinds of earthly dependencies are idolatry of the heart. We have to repent so as to find

freedom to trust grace and receive God‟s presence. Depending on anything else is idolatry.

It is Not Selfish to Depend on God!

It is by God's intentional design that our thirst is so demanding. It is not selfish to depend on God

as the one who quenches your thirst.

God is seeking worshipers so He made our thirsty desires strong enough to force us all into

worshiping something.

We have to depend on God or a god. Dependence on anything for quenching our thirst is

worship. We only have two choices! We have to turn and receive God's presence, or we have to

turn to earthly sources and try to "receive glory" from them.

It is not selfish to "die" to earthly sources and be utterly dependent on the grace of God to feed

you with His presence.

Life is a test about who and what we will worship—who and what we will depend on to quench

our thirst. Evil exists because God is seeking "true worshipers." He wanted to give us a choice to

try and quench our thirst another way.

You can trust that God will meet you where you need it because God defines His being your God

as His being close to you!

It is not selfish for you to be utterly dependent on receiving from the radiance that shines from

God's face.

Repent From "Works" to Grace

Why don‟t God‟s people take advantage of our access to God and drink? Why don‟t we believe

God‟s grace to lavish His presence upon us? We are in deep and hidden bondage to something

the Bible calls "works."

Jesus explained when He said, "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another

and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God" (John 5:44)? We are in

disbelief and are not receiving from God because we are working to "receive glory" from earthly

sources.

Our God has great glory. But to a much lesser degree than God, the Bible says that earthly

sources have a glory of their own. A woman's hair. Wining in battle. Being king. Wealth.

We know about the loftiness of God. We also know that the glory of our humanity doesn‟t

compare. But rather than thrilling our hearts with glory of God by His grace, we live by faith in

the glory we "receive" from what we achieve and how well we perform.

The substitutions we make are that we live by faith in the glory we think we achieve—in every

aspect about what God is like. Rather than God‟s power, we feed ourselves with the evidence we

find that we have power apart from God.

Rather than "drink" like a branch and abide in the love of God, we live by faith in the acceptance

and approval we think we sense from other people.

We could thrill our hearts with the closeness of God‟s sovereign presence but instead of that, we

find our security and strength by faith in the control we think we have apart from God.

Paul said that our adequacy is from God. Instead of that, we live by faith in the adequacy we feel

from what we do and how much we accomplish.

It is realistic for all of us to quench our thirst with the closeness of God‟s goodness. King David

said, "But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge..."

(Psa. 73:28). Instead of that, we do something good and then we feed ourselves from the glory of

the goodness we think we have achieved.

Rather than thrill our hearts with the closeness of God‟s beauty, we work at how we appear until

we achieve a sense of having glory of ourselves.

King David also said, "I love You, O Lord, my strength" (Psa. 18:1). But rather than depend on

the closeness of God‟s strength, we work at finding evidence of our being strong and then we

feed ourselves with that. Earthly sources are incapable of supplying what we need. Damaging

misuse of human power is rampant as a result.

Repent of "Works" to Experience God's Grace!

We need to repent of our "works" approach to drinking by earthly means. But that isn't all.

Working hard at finding earthly substitutions for God has blinded us to believing the grace of

God to draw near to us intensely. We also have to repent of our "works" approach to

experiencing God's presence.

Believing we should have to "deserve" what we receive from God—whether forgiveness, love,

or His presence with us—results in combinations of pride and fear that keep us distracted from

God, pursuing earthly things, and also makes us afraid to be intimately close to the Lord. The

resulting pride and fear keeps us living by faith in our own efforts to deserve what we receive

from God and not by faith in His grace. Without realizing, we have transferred the ways we live

in the natural realm to the ways we relate to God.

What happens when you think about your being able to experience God's presence? Do you feel

fear? Hopelessness? Shame? Discouragement? A greater desire to commitment yourself to

working harder? Do you look at other spiritual Christians and think, "I'll never make it?" All of

these things are evidence that your faith is firmly planted in yours "works" and not in

God's grace.

The pressure isn't on you to perform better in order to deserve God's presence! These are the

kinds of thoughts you have to take captive and repent from!

How Can We Repent?

Repentance is the best word to describe what you get when you try to fit together all of what the

Bible says about Christian growth. It is in that broad sense that I speak about "How to Repent."

Two things can increase our purity before God. Our part to direct our heart toward God, and

God's part to cleanse us whenever we draw near to Him.

Jesus endured His cross "for the joy set before Him" (Heb. 12:1,2). We need to follow His

example.

Our part of repentance is that we need to "change our mind." But changing our mind isn't where

repentance ends. Repentance isn't effective unless it also improves our behavior.

Since behavior flows from our heart it is our heart that has to change. Ultimately, it is only God

who can change our heart. Even so, we need to do our part to cooperate with Him more fully.

You can greatly effect your growth toward God because you can plant the truth as seed in your

heart and water it (1 Cor. 3:6)! We need to change our mind about how we quench our thirst. The

Psalmist didn't say he hid God's word in his mind. It was hiding God's word in his heart that

helped him avoid sin.

Let me say again that our thirst for God is the single most driving factor behind our behavior and

pursuits. The problem is that we are "drinking" from earthly substitutions that relate to every

aspect about what God is like. We are working to achieve a sense of having glory apart from

God and we need to work with our heart until we can turn to God because of believing His grace

to draw near to us freely.

Repentance that works has to change what our heart believes and loves about how to best quench

our thirsty desires. We have to honestly address the pride and the fear in us by getting our heart

to "hear" the truth. We have to get our heart to hear that it is safe, good for us, and right to turn to

God and let Him draw near to us.

When the way you quench your thirst changes, unwanted behaviors change. Damaging reactions

improve—even reactions that happen before your mind has time to think.

Our hearts have learned to "drink" from earthly glory we have achieved. That our interest in

earthly pursuits change is evidence that our hearts are still learning new ways to try and

"drink." Because your heart is still learning, your heart can be re-trained to turn to God and

drink.

Thanks and praise for the truth are powerful for helping you to change what your heart hears and

believes.

Our problem is that our heart is hard and doesn't "hear" well. What we have learned has become

so deeply ingrained that we need to take very specific steps in order to re-direct our heart toward

God.

You have to learn to observe your "works" approach to receiving God's presence. Then

you have to react to these things with thanks and praise that you don't have to live like this!

Get your heart to hear by great delight that it is because of grace that you don't have to worry

about whether you have what it takes to receive God's presence intensely!

If there is any pressure on us it is that we need to learn to observe any hint of evidence in us that

we are trying to receive God's presence by works. Then we need to get our heart to hear that we

don't have to receive God's presence that way!

We are holding back from God because of fear. We are distracted because of pride. We fear

because we don‟t believe we can achieve a sense of having glory apart from God. We pride

ourselves because we think we can.

Grace is grace. Find rest for your soul by thrilling your heart that you don't have to earn or

achieve God's presence. Work at resting into faith and an ever increasing trust in God's provision

for you to draw near and receive His presence by His abundant grace.

The Heart-training! Tool

Included on this site is a tool for repentance called Heart-training! The Heart-training! tool

gives you specific steps for turning and directing your heart toward God—kindly, wisely,

assertively, and with joy.

The basic pattern is that we will aim at earthly substitutions—related to what God is like, and we

will use thanks and praise to get our heart to hear that we don't have to feed ourselves that way.

Immediately following that we will be strongly reassuring our heart with truth about why we can

turn to God, draw near, and receive His abundant presence by grace.

I will be the first to admit that the long form of Heart-training! is not for everybody. Some will

find it exactly what they need. Others will use it only to target specific areas they are trying to

deal with. Some people want to know how to write their own heart-training statements. Still

others require a way to direct their heart to God that is a reaction to the everyday circumstances

of life. This website provides for all of these different approaches to directing your heart toward

God.

Our backgrounds and personalities make us different. But the substitutions we make for God are

all related to the attributes of God in some way. The idolatrous substitutions we we make are

flavored by our personalities and our varying backgrounds, but basically we all are trying to find

refuge, glory, and strength—apart from God. These similarities between us make a systematic

approach to repentance powerfully effective.

Note that the four part section about how to get your heart to hear better is some of the most

important on this site. Without this, your heart-training won‟t be nearly as effective.

Beware that you don't think that by applying these principles to one area of sin you will have

repented. What God wants is an entire change in our orientation toward Him. To do that, you are

going to have to address weaknesses that are specific to you. I will show you how, but even more

important than that, is that you are going to have to change from drinking by what you achieve to

drinking by what you receive. Your repentance has to change the overall approach to how you

are quenching your thirst or your repentance won't really change you.

You will need to address specific areas of sin with heart-training. But plan on correcting the

problem by changing from faith in glory you achieve, to faith in glory you receive.

Repentance Will Work for You!

You can change even in difficult areas because biblical repentance replaces the emotional

benefits from the unwanted behavior with the greater benefits of having God‟s presence close

and flowing through you—intimately and intensely close—24 hours-a-day.

Heart-training helps God become the God of your heart because He becomes your first love—

your greatest delight! Biblical repentance helps you grow faster because it helps you change

from the inside out.

You can repent with courage and zeal because of the joy that is waiting for you, here and now by

God's grace. Heart-training will help get your heart to hear that you don't have to be afraid to

address your shortcomings because what you are turning your heart toward is dependence on

God.

Heart-training will help your heart to rejoice that you don't have to depend on your humanity for

the sense of adequacy that you need. When God is your righteousness and your adequacy it with

joy that you uncover and turn from having to depend on your human weaknesses.

The obstacles can be removed! You can find freedom to receive from God! The scripture below

describes what is realistic when you take steps to joyously smash away at the obstacles between

you and God.

"Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges; You will thresh the

mountains and pulverize them, and will make the hills like chaff. You will winnow them, and

the wind will carry them away, and the storm will scatter them; but you will rejoice in the

Lord, you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

"The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, and their tongue is parched

with thirst; I, the Lord, will answer them Myself, as the God of Israel I will not forsake them. I

will open rivers on the bare heights and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the

wilderness a pool of water and the dry land fountains of water" (Isa. 41:15-18).

Repentance as I describe isn't going to happen over-night. But rapid and great spiritual growth

can happen! The growth that might have taken you an entire lifetime can now happen in a few

months to a year.

Draw Near and Drink!

Our repentance isn't complete until we have trained our heart to rest into freedom that allows us

to draw near to God and receive His presence. We have to do that in order to replace what we are

trying to receive from earthly sources.

The Bible says we are already seated with Christ in heavenly places. But it also tells us to draw

near to the throne of God. We have to come to God this way so that we can "drink." Think of

"drinking" as being the same as "receiving."

We can "come" and "drink" for two reasons. We can draw near to God because He has given us

access to enter and draw near by the blood of Christ. We can drink/receive God‟s presence

because of His abundant grace to draw near to us.

Many are longing for God to come to us. God is longing for us to come to Him. Many are getting

desperate and doing everything they can deserving of His coming. God is waiting for us to trust

His provision and His abundant grace. We are the ones holding back. The problem is with us.

Not God.

You can drink from God because you already know how! Consider what it feels like inside when

you do something kind, you know the right answer, someone smiles at you, or when you finish a

big project. Inside we open up and a sense of well being floods over us. We "drink" often by

thinking about these kinds of things—over and over again. These same principles can be

reapplied to receiving God's presence!

Even though you already know how how to "drink," you may find it difficult to do so. It is likely

that you will have to be in repentance for a time before you find freedom from fear and your

spiritual sensitivities and faith are built up enough to draw near and drink. Faith isn't something

you can achieve. You have to fight with your disbelief until you rest into faith.

The Bible tells us, "Has a nation changed gods When they were not gods? But My people have

changed their glory For that which does not profit. „Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And

shudder, be very desolate,‟ declares the Lord. „For My people have committed two evils: They

have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken

cisterns That can hold no water‟" (Jer. 2 :11-13). We need to repent because we have traded the

glory of God for the earthly glories that do "not profit." We have "forsaken" drinking from the

"fountain of living waters" for earthly sources "that can hold no water." It makes heaven hurt.

Repentance means we change our mind about earthly ways of quenching our thirst. It also means

we change our mind so that we find freedom to draw near to God and receive from the

"fountain" and the "river" of God.

The Bible says, "How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take

refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And

You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; In

Your light we see light" Psa. 36:7-9). It will help to understand more about how it all works.

Drawing near to God by entering the throne room is something we must do by faith. Heart-

training helps you to work with your fears and your faith so that you find freedom to believe that

God has given you access and has provided a way for you to draw near. It also helps to

understand what you are drawing near and why you can be confident that God will also draw

near to you.

When you walk in the rain or swim in a river you are going to get wet. The same is true with

God. Let me remind you again that the verse above says that God gives us to "drink of the

river...For with You is the fountain."

Our access to enter before the Lord, in all His glory, is a spiritual activity that is very real. When

you draw near, He draws near to you simply because of who and what you are drawing near.

The Bible says to believers that we receive the promise of the Spirit by faith. We receive grace

by the shine from His face (Num. 6:23). The more you find freedom to believe the glory of your

God, the more you believe your access to be inside the throne room, the more you are able to

receive.

When you draw near to God you are drawing near to a great and awesome fountain of the

Father‟s glory. Our Lord Jesus never stops radiating the glory of the Father. The river of God

that comes down from before the throne never stops flowing. The crystal sea before God‟s throne

is real. God has provided these things in order to wash us as we draw near.

Heart-training is designed to help you find freedom to turn to God and receive from Him.

You can help your heart to believe by thanks and praise that delights your heart about the glory

and grace of your God. By learning to stay in the throne room you can experience God‟s

presence flowing around and through you intensely, 24 hours-a-day.

You Can Drink from God!

Is it hard to believe you could receive God‟s presence like that? Don't worry about that for

now!

Take it by faith that you won’t be able to believe you can receive from God until you have

taken steps to turn your heart from receiving glory by earthly means. The more so the

better.

Remember the verse I quoted earlier? Jesus said, "How can you believe, when you receive glory

from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God" (John 5:44)?

Fasting from food helps us be more spiritually sensitive to God. In the same way, training your

heart to fast from "receiving glory" from earthly sources is powerfully effective for helping you

be more spiritually sensitive and better able to feast on God. Your effectiveness at "drinking"

from the Lord is largely dependent on the steps you take to turn from earthly ways of quenching

your thirst—apart from God. It is by this, that you can find freedom to believe.

On Dealing with Shame and Expecting Some Fear

If you are normal, you may feel quite afraid right now. You have to expect some disbelief and

fear along the way. Don't let yourself be discouraged by it just learn how to address it with heart-

training.

Earthly sources have hurt you. But it is time to train your heart to stop applying that same kind of

thinking to God. Think of your fear as evidence of how desperately thirsty you are for God's

presence.

Do thoughts of drawing near to God fill you with shame and hopelessness? Heart-training is

powerful for helping you to address the hopelessness. The shame you feel needs to be

understood.

Christians have been washed on the inside. The shame you feel may be caused by your disbelief

about what God has already done for you on the inside. For this you need to understand God's

provision and then you will need to take assertive steps to get your heart to believe it.

Even more likely, is that the shame you feel is because you are looking at the weakness of your

humanity in relation to the greatness of God. You need to learn to take advantage of God's

provision for the outside of you.

God needs vessels for His use that are clean inside and out. Take time in the section about shame

to understand how God washes your body when you draw near. His provision is powerful for

dissolving any reason for shame about drawing near to God. The real issue will be for you to

work patiently and assertively to get your heart to believe it. I will show you how!

It was God who designed you thirsty! It is right to depend on His grace to draw near. You don't

have to hold back! Unleash all your addictive tendencies on receiving God's presence and

enjoying His closeness!

You can find freedom to draw near to God and enjoy His radiant presence upon you! You can

learn to address your fears and re-direct your affections so that you love looking at God's face!

You can repent and turn to God because He can and He will quench your thirst with an

abundance of His presence!

Your Assignment for Each Section!

Over-all Assignment: A Need to Work Together

The concepts on this site are biblically sound and are effective. Where things can break down is

in communication between you and I.

My goal is to communicate these principles as effectively as I can in order to help you delight to

direct your heart toward God and experience His presence more fully. I want to help you be a

"doer of the word of God" (James 1:22).

It is my strong desire to help you individually as much as possible. I will respond to each e-mail

as much as I am able.

One assignment for you is that I need you to write me and let me know where your heart is

responding and where it isn't. Is there something you need to be stated more clearly? Are you

struggling to apply these principles and need to know how to apply these things in your

situation? We need to communicate. Doing that has potential to help both you and I. We need to

work together at this. Help me to communicate more effectively.

I can only do so much. You have to do your part. It will be helpful for you to have some goals

about each section that will help you to know what you should be trying to accomplish.

"Assignments" that are Goals to Rest Into

Start by thinking about these assignments as goals to rest into, not things that you have to

achieve. You have to do them, but if the pressure is too great you will also have to work with

even more fears and insecurity than would otherwise need to be addressed. Your fears have to be

calmed about repentance and drawing near to God, not increased.

By resting I mean you will need to get your heart to submit into it believing that it is true that it is

right and good and safe for you to repent and turn to God. If your heart believes it you will be

able to rest into being able to do it, without it being something you have to achieve and deserve.

Remember that we are changing from "works" to grace.

The pressure isn't on you to put your faith in the greatness of your what you achieve. If there is

any pressure it is that you need to get your heart to believe the grace of God. That is something

you are going to have to work with your heart about.

Don't think that because you have to rest into these "goals" you can relax and not try. Speaking

about faith and entering the throne room to draw near to God, the Bible says to, "...let us be

diligent to enter that rest..." (Heb. 4:11; see also 3:19 and 4:16).

"Accomplish" these goals but by applying your effort to resting into believing. When your heart

believes you will be able to act on that belief. This entire web site is about how to do that.

Assignment for Understanding Yourself

Remember that God designed your thirst for Him. He also gave you a choice about how to try

and quench that thirst. Let it burn into your heart that your desire for God never stops. It just gets

mixed up sometimes. (THIS VIEW IS CONTRARY TO THE BIBLE VIEW OF THE

SINFULNESS OF MAN. IT ASSUMES THAT MAN IS GOOD AND ONLY NEEDS TO RE-

EDUCATE HIS THINKING TO GET CLOSER TO GOD.)

Assignment for "Why Repent"

The purpose of this section is similar to the previous except that here I am trying to remove some

of the barriers that tend to make us hold back.

My observations are that most of the reason why Christians think about repentance is to avoid

condemnation from God. If you are a Christian you don't have to worry about condemnation.

Don't repent because of that!

The negative reason why you should repent is to avoid the correction from God that is both

loving and tough. God corrects His children because He loves us, not because He feels

condemning toward us. The problem is that correction from God can be painful. Repent now and

don't wait until you force God to have to correct you.

My goal for this section is to get you to think about repenting because of the grace of God to

draw near to you. That is the positive reason why you should repent.

Your assignment for this section is to expand your thinking about why you should repent.

Consider this topic from our perspective and God's.

We have to repent because of God's grace because repentance is about turning to God just as

much as it is about turning from our earthly ways. If your motive for turning to God is because of

fear you will always hold back. Grace needs to be your motive because the need here is that you

turn and run toward God. If grace isn't your motive for repentance I don't think you will be able

to do that from the heart.

Don't get hung up on the page that is about end times. Skip that page, if you don't agree with my

views and you feel strongly about it. I believe those things but I don't believe it is right for me to

be dogmatic about them. They are helpful in the context of why repent and that is why I include

them here.

Even after this section you may still not yet feel like you can commit yourself whole heartedly to

repentance. That is not a problem! Your assignment for this section is to let your motivation to

repent be increased. Like "Understanding Yourself," the goal here is to help get things rolling.

Assignment for the "Heart-training!" Section

Get to know the tools that are available here. Read through the Heart-training index and the

Heart-training w/diagrams page. Be sure to note that the Heart-training index points you to heart-

training that addresses many very specific areas that are common areas of struggle.

One of the top 5 most important pages on this site is the one called, "Heart-training Promise!" Be

sure to understand what that is because it will help you to believe that Heart-training will work

for you.

Your assignment is to use the tools here and to use them with a determination to turn your heart

so as to increase your freedom to trust God's grace and drink from God.

The "spiritual act of turning" is your assignment. Learn what it is, at least on a mental level.

Then determine to use every heart-training statement to help you to do the "spiritual act of

turning."

Your assignment is also to use the tools enough so that you are able to take your heart-training

into everyday life. The Heart-training tools can help you turn from difficult areas of sin. But

taking your heart-training into everyday life will help you to be better at drinking from God all

through the day.

A page is given so that you can write your own heart-training statements. Let me warn you about

this page that so far, I have only seen this page help people in specific areas. It has not helped

them to do the over-all kind of repentance that is necessary for actually drinking from God

(works to grace).

Write your own heart-training statements as a supplement to the tools included in this section.

Don't ignore the tools given here. Writing your own heart-training statements has potential to

help you greatly. But think of that as only part of the process.

Many more hours and thought has gone into the Heart-training than what is obvious. Each

section has a purpose and should not be ignored.

The Heart-training with diagrams is better for the general works to grace kind of turning because

it helps you to cover many areas more quickly. The Heart-training you find in the "Index" is

aimed to help you turn from works to grace and some pages are quite effective at it. But in

general, think about the longer Heart-training pages as being for issues that are often hidden and

more specific in nature. The "Heart-training Level II" material is more for turning to God than it

is turning from earthly things. The diagram and the index versions will help you to be able to do

the Level II stuff.

Think of the Heart-training Level II material as being most effective after the "Come and drink"

and the "What About Shame" sections.

Have fun directing your heart toward God!

Assignment for "Come and Drink"

We receive the promise of the Holy Spirit by faith in the grace of God to draw near to us freely

(Gal. 3:14; Isa. 55:1,2; Rom. 4:16). But in order to have faith like that you need to have a

foundational understanding of the scriptures that gives you strong reason to believe. The better

that foundation, the easier it becomes to receive.

Your assignment for this section is to understand why you can confidently believe that when you

draw near to God, He will draw near to you.

Your goal should be to study this section in order to know the scriptures well enough that you

can rest into confidently believing that you do have access to draw near to God, in all His glory.

You can receive His presence because of His strong and radiant presence upon you when you are

near. You may already know that with your mind, but let the material in this section be

instruction for your heart.

Use this section to develop a scriptural basis for strongly believing that you can drink from God

by His abundant grace. Use the principles you learned about how to repent in order to encourage

your own heart to receive and believe what you are reading.

Reassure your heart with the truth about God and your access until you are able to act on what

you are believing. The Acrobat Reader file in the Heart-training about our access and God's

grace will help.

Help Prepare the Way for the Lord!

We need to learn to cooperate with what God is doing! We need to prepare the way. Even though

we are different from one another, God is leading all of us to the same place in our growth.

"In Your lovingkindness You have led the people whom You have redeemed; In Your strength

You have guided them to Your holy habitation...You will bring them and plant them in the

mountain of Your inheritance, The place, O Lord, which You have made for Your dwelling, The

sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established." (Exodus 15:13,17).

To do that, we need to remove the obstacles and build a roadway for God so that He can

draw near to His people freely, intensely, and without hindrance.

The Bible says of John the Baptist, "...I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the

way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple..." (Mal. 3:1).

Even though that promise came true in Acts chapter two, the promise still holds true for us today.

I think John yelled these words as loud as he could.

"...Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight. 'Every ravine will be filled, And

every mountain and hill will be brought low; The crooked will become straight...‟" (Luke 3:4,5)

The challenge remains because we still need to prepare the way for the Lord. We still need to

clear a highway for God by removing the obstacles that keep us away from God and God away

from us. Isaiah the prophet wrote, "And it will be said, „Build up, build up, prepare the way,

Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people‟" (Isa. 57:14).

Isaiah also told us why we need to remove the obstacles and make a highway for God. It has to

do with the glory of our Lord,

"...Clear the way for the Lord...Make...a highway for our God...Then the glory of the Lord will

be revealed..." (Isa. 40:3-5).

Certainly this passage was fulfilled when Christ came. But I believe God has something more in

mind for our day. Quoting our Lord, the Bible says, "but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be

filled with the glory of the Lord" (Num. 14:21). I believe that God wants to fill the earth with His

glory more and more as time goes on. I also believe He wants to "fill the earth with His glory" by

what He pours on and through His church.

I am convinced that this prophecy will be fulfilled when God's people learn to quench their thirst

with His presence and not by earthly means.

Let me remind you again that quenching our thirst with God is about receiving His presence

continually so that we can more fully find refuge, glory, and strength in Him. Finding refuge,

glory, and strength in God is about His presence being what reassures, soothes us, makes us

confident, and secure.

Our need for God's presence never leaves us. We are constantly trying to fill our desire by

"drinking" from something. The Bible promises,

". . .you will glory in the Holy One of Israel. The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there

is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst; I, the Lord, will answer them Myself, as the God

of Israel I will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs. . .I will make

the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land fountains of water" (Isa. 41:16-18).

We need to cooperate with what God is doing. To do that, we have to remove the obstacles that

keep us quenching our "thirsty desires" by earthly means.

Jesus promised, "...If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink...But this He spoke of the

Spirit..." (John 7:37-39). It also says,

"Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something

new. . .I will even make a roadway in the wilderness. . .and rivers in the desert, to give drink to

My chosen people. The people whom I formed for Myself Will declare My praise" (Isa. 43:18-

21).

I believe that when the obstacles are removed and many begin to quench their thirst with God

then these prophecies will be fulfilled.

"...the nations will bless themselves in Him, and in Him they will glory." (Jer. 4:2)

"They raise their voices, they shout for joy; They cry out from the west concerning the majesty

of the Lord." (Isa. 24:14)

If we Prepare the Way for the Lord, then God will Heal Our Land!

All over the world, our unmet need for God’s presence is creating a tension that is

mounting. Wars and lawlessness are increasing. People are feeling more and more desperate all

the time. Sin is rampant. God wants to heal your land and mine, but He is waiting for His people

to repent.

The Bible says, "if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek

My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and

will heal their land" (2 Chron. 7:14).

Do you want God to heal your nation? If ever there was a day for God‟s people to repent, the

time is now! You don‟t have to waste your life trying to fill your desire for God with what you

drink from earthly substitutes. It is time for God‟s people to turn from earthly sources and turn

toward the fountain of God.

The Need for Leaders

Churches everywhere desperately need leaders who quench their thirst with God's presence

and who teach the people to do the same.

In contrast, Ezekiel 34 is a rebuke to religious "shepherds" who have not been leading people to

the water of God so that the Lord can feed them. Of these shepherds it says, they are feeding

themselves with the sheep.

Clearly, the shepherds in this scripture are those who have not been quenching their thirst with

God. God is frustrated because it says, "Thus says the Lord God, „Behold, I am against the

shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So

the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver My flock from their mouth, so

that they will not be food for them.‟" (Ezek. 34:10). This warning has troubled me greatly. It

makes me hurt inside both for the shepherds and the sheep.

It is a deeply sorrowful thing that God should ever have to say He is going to take the sheep out

of the mouths of shepherds who are not feeding people by directing them to the Lord. The

passage continues by saying, "„I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,‟ declares the

Lord God." (Ezek. 34:15).

I am praying this won’t need to happen in our day. Will you pray with me that God would

lead us all, shepherds and sheep, to draw near to God and feed ourselves with His presence? Will

you cooperate with His leading?

Don't be hard on your pastor! Don't blame him for not leading you to the fountain of the Lord. It

is likely that he has not even known it was possible. Be patient with Him. Old ideas that seem

new can be threatening. Some things take time to soak in. Pray.

It is Time to Fight for Freedom!

The real struggle is with the unseen enemy!

Within us, it is our thirsty soul, the weakness of the flesh, and the ways our hearts have been

trained toward earthly things, that keeps us in bondage. But outside us, are the forces of evil.

Sometimes demons will even sink their claws in and ride around on Christians. Either way, we

are what they "glory in."

Demons work hard to keep Christians from believing—and they try to get us to find protection in

doubt and fear. They work hard to keep us drinking from a cup of discouragement—to glory in

rebellious sin—to reassure ourselves with what we find in the refrigerator. They steal our hope of

glory—our hope of having something to glory in. Then, they drink from it! Like leaches, they

suck it up.

They party.

It is time to stop allowing the demons to glory in our bondage as Christians! Now is the time for

the church to rise up and stand strong! It is time to rise up and fight for freedom!

It will be a fight because the demons, don‟t want to be forced to give up what they glory in. They

love boasting in our bondage—just as tenaciously as we love the sources we drink from.

Fight by directing your heart toward God! Fight by praying for yourself and for others.

We need freedom so we can glory in the Lord! We need freedom to glory in our God, without

hindrance from the enemy trying to snatch away the truth that has been sown in our heart. We

need freedom to be able to cling to our Lord and nothing else. We need freedom for each of us as

individuals and for the church as a whole.

It is time to fight for freedom and to help each find freedom to draw near to God!

Don‟t you long to see freedom for people who are overwhelmed with guilt? Don‟t you want to

be among those who give people a mantle of praise, instead of a spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:3)?

Don‟t you want freedom for people who have lost all hope of having something to glory in?

Don‟t you want freedom for people who are cowering inside and afraid to drink the Holy Spirit

because of fear. Don‟t you want freedom to see where it says, "...the nations will bless

themselves in Him, and in Him they will glory"?

These are freedoms worth fighting for.

A Word of Caution

God‟s way is that we believe in Him and depend on His being close to us—and not in ourselves.

For hurting and thirsty people, the path that I am describing is much more effective for spiritual

growth. One practical reason it works is because God's presence is much more effective as a

means of being reassured. It is also right to depend on Him.

But are you the kind of person who motivates yourself with threats and self-contempt? If so, you

are likely trying to help other people in similar ways. Be careful. Rather than helping them be

able to draw close to God, you could push them away by creating more fear. Remember that

fearing God is only the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10).

Encourage people with what is possible, but don't set yourself as a standard to achieve. Don‟t

make the presence of God seem like something Christians should have to achieve or earn by

being more spiritual.

Encourage people to believe their access to God. Instead of trying to motivate people by making

them feel bad, help them find the freedom they need to draw near to God. Help them rest into

believing and faith. Encourage them to "drink" because of joy about their access into the throne

room and because of delight about the grace and the abundance of God to whom we are drawing

near.

Stand in the Gap!

The Bible says that God is looking for people willing to "stand in the gap" before Him: "And I

searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for

the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one." (Ezek 22:30).

The Bible explains that standing in the gap involves entering before the Lord and standing in the

gap between God and those who are yet unwilling to draw near to Him. It says, "...drink your

new wine...those who gather it will drink it in the courts of My sanctuary. Go through, go

through the gates, Clear the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway, Remove the

stones, lift up a standard over the peoples." (Isaiah 62:10).

God is looking for people willing to "go through the gates" and "clear the way" for His people to

do the same.

Will you follow where He is leading? Will you stand in the gap while praying for others? Will

train your own heart so that you find freedom to let the Holy Spirit flow through you. Will you

let the Holy Spirit minister by flowing through you and working in those who have yet to find

freedom to enter the throne room and stay before the Lord? Will you help them?

Let‟s work together! Let’s make a highway for God into the hearts of thirsty people. Let‟s do

it first in we who are His church.

Much more is possible than what is common in churches today!

What God wants to do in our day isn't possible for one person. He is going to use all of us!

We are going to have to work together.

Let's help each other. Let's fight for the freedom we need to take God at His word and receive

His glorious presence because of His grace.

Let's work together to fill the earth with God's glory because of the river that flows

through us.

Rise up church! It is time to build each other up and remove the obstacles so we can repent

and turn to God!

Document from:

http://www.tasteheavennow.net/taste_heaven_home/Prepare_the_way_of_the_Lord.htm

Author: Barry Hall