05/30/2024 – “Yes —But …!” / “Lord, I will follow You, but …” (Luke 9:61). // A personal experience recounted…
“Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it ever time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you are will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, ‘Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about …?’ Or we say, ‘Yes , I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.’
Jesus demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.
By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statement may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis — only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.”
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Insert:
I recall volunteering one Saturday almost three decades ago for a visit to a prison in conjunction with a concert for the inmates. It was there I had an intensive fellowship with Allen. It was a two way witness for Allen noted to me: “Jim, I want to believe, there is not a day that goes by without praying for mercy.” At that point, the Holy Spirit grabbed me: “Tell Allen that he is saved already.”
Well, for months, the Holy Spirit was tugging on my shoulder to volunteer weekly at the prison. Some people ask me from time to time: How do you know God is talking to you? One good test: It is consistent with God’s Word and you keep having the thought, even though it is “uncomfortable”. Well, I finally took the step. To my chagrin the first night, the chaplain didn’t hook me up with Allen, noting they could only accommodate inmates that had been attending chapel services. I ended up serving there at the Jester III units at Sugar Land for seven years.
I look forward to seeing Allen at the gate someday.
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Soli Deo Gloria!