5> FAILURE TO DEVELOP AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THE FATHER.
Many of us fear intimacy. It's where we got hurt. It's where we got shot down. It's where we are painfully vulnerable.
It amazes me how, when I teach on this topic, people kind of smile patient smiles while they wait for me to go onto something more "practical" for them. For most people, most Christians even, intimacy with the Father is just a romantic notion. They don't see it as a real possibility. Nor do they have any idea how to achieve it or what it will look like when they get it. They're happy to be given "10 Steps to Holiness" that they can perform in the privacy of their own homes, without that messy "I" word. Besides, intimacy means commitment, and loss of independence. Enough said right there!
It's almost as if Satan has put a veil over men's hearts so that they will not do the very thing that will result in their empowerment, freedom and existential fulfillment. At the same time, he's trying to rob God of the thing that God wants most - intimacy with His children.
To answer the question of "What" intimacy is, we need only point to its appearance in certain human relations. It is two hearts becoming one, two minds thinking together in harmony, two bodies moving simultaneously in service to each other. It is the deepest level of knowing, of loving, of feeling - producing the fruit of inner joy and completion.
How do we achieve such a state with the God no one sees? Foundationally, it has to do with our response of love to the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and the faith in God that that historic action elicits. This is nurtured through a life-style of worship - something sorely lacking in modern Christian experience. We worship on Sunday, yet if the object of our worship is worthy at all, He is worthy of ongoing, daily worship. And it is in that intimacy of worship that God reveals Himself to us in ways He does not show the common man. It is there that we come to recognize His voice, know His heart, His mind, experience His love, grace and mercy, in the deepest recesses of our hearts. It is there that the "image" is restored - where we receive the transformation of ourselves into the likeness of our Lord - and emerge shining with the glow of His faith, wholeness, holiness, purity and love (2 Cor 3:18).
Intimacy then is established through a life-style of worship and praise - singing love songs to our Lord and gazing upon His glory in the Spirit - practicing His presence with the same persistence and regularity as we would anything else that is necessary for life. It is also created through knowing Him by scriptural revelation - again, a regular feeding on Him, this time, through His written Word, which He, from time to time, brings alive to our mind and heart. Intimacy is thirdly created through the communion of prayer - simply talking to him - spilling our hearts before Him, and then listening for His response. In these and other ways, intimacy comes when being with Him is a greater priority than doing for Him.
Without a growing relationship of intimacy with God, we cannot receive the revelation, the faith and the security of knowing we are loved that enables and empowers a walk of holiness. Without intimacy, permanent, ongoing holiness is impossible because it is in the womb of intimacy with God where He brings forth the new life of holiness in us.
6> FAILURE TO HUMBLE OURSELVES IN ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCE ON GOD.
The sixth reason why someone might remain in habitual sin and bondage is that they may have been living in the pride of self-sufficiency and independence from God, and consequently have not learned yet that they are completely dependent on God's power and wisdom in order to live any kind of meaningful existence. In such a condition, they can neither receive nor use God's power and grace because they are unaware of their need for it.
Then there are people who have some idea of their need for God, but haven't understood the full scope of the need yet.
And finally, there are those who theoretically understand their need, but still practice a life of independence from God. To them, humility is a weakness to be avoided and life's problems are challenges that God expects man to deal with on his own.
Man alone, without a continual interaction of dependence on God, is like an infant left out in the middle of a freeway.
Even what wisdom we do have has come to us from God. We're like a word processing program on a computer. We are pre-structured to have the capacity to perform certain functions, but without the continual input of an outside force, are virtually useless. Even the pre-structuring comes from that outside force. In like fashion, part of the wisdom that the natural man (who does not know God) seems to have, has been given him by God, and is good and useful - e.g., (E = MC2). The rest of it is of his own design and is pure baloney - e.g., (Darwinian evolutionary theory). As part of a finite creation, we are completely dependent on God to reveal to us what is true as distinguished from what is a product of our own ignorance. We must continually approach the throne of grace not only for forgiveness, but also for knowledge and wisdom. We are far more dependent in this area than we realize, and don't know anything truly until we have God's assurance that it is true.
The humility of knowing our limitations as well as the depths to which we have fallen as a part of sinful humanity is extremely valuable currency in the Kingdom of God. Take, for example, the teaching in Luke 7:47, when Jesus noted that a person who has been forgiven much will love much and the one who has been forgiven little will love little. If I live in such a state of pride and arrogance that I'm unaware of just how much a sinner I am, (the state of the Pharisee), then I am not going to love Jesus very much, if at all. In that frame of mind, I don't believe that there is much to forgive, and so have been forgiven very little. However, the closer I get to Him, the longer I sit at His feet and allow Him to uncover the depths of my sinful heart, the more I am going to grow in the humility of understanding the grace that I stand in, and I will love Him much more.
The same goes for power. Without Jesus, we can do nothing! (Jn 15:5) We cannot heal ourselves spiritually, mentally or physically. We can do nothing unless God empowers and guides us. That holds true especially in the area of sin. Our first response to temptation must always be a heart of utter dependence turned toward God for power and wisdom. Then and only then can we effectively use the tools that He has given us to overcome the evil one.
7> FAILURE TO LEARN AND PRACTICE SPIRITUAL WARFARE.
That brings us to the seventh area in which we might want to counsel someone who appears hopelessly bound in sin. We need to train them in spiritual warfare - the first six lessons of which we have just discussed. They are an indispensable foundation for victory in spiritual warfare. The weapons of our warfare are mighty to pull down strongholds, but only when employed in the ongoing reality of the first six pillars of incarnational relationship and empowerment.
When we turn to the God with whom we have an ongoing, intimate relationship; our will fully persuaded in wanting what He wants because our hearts have been changed by His loving grace; in great faith because we have practiced His truth and chosen to believe it despite all appearances to the contrary; with a heart filled with the humility of knowing that we are utterly dependent on Him for wisdom and power, as well as life itself; with a heart that is fully turned and committed to holiness in every area of life, then when we go to pick up the weapons of our warfare, we will find that we already have them on. (Referring to truth, righteousness, readiness, faith, salvation, the Word of God - as listed in Eph. 6:14-17). And if we have been wearing our battle dress all along, then we'll have greater facility in using it when it is needed during those inevitable times of trial and temptation.
Spiritual warfare simply involves using the power of God, the wisdom of God, the discernment of God, the peace of God, the faith of God and the love of God to proclaim the will of God at any given moment. It is in the midst of the honor that we have to proclaim the glory of God and His already accomplished victory (see Psalms 149:1, 5), that those things that He already has willed, come to pass. With the prayer and the praise of our heart, released in the full faith and confidence that results from an intimate knowing of Him, the forces of heaven are released to engage and to defeat the enemy.
So, it's easy to see how a process of change and growth is necessary for all of this to come about. And it all starts with step one. My guess is that those who live in the defeat of habitual sin are those who have not yet fully fallen in love with Jesus. They have not yet received the depth of revelation of His love and awesome beauty that transforms the heart and mind. Rather than spending copious hours psychoanalyzing these folks, why not take them afresh to the throne of the Almighty King of Kings - back to the simple, profound truth of His glory and grace. I speak not in theory, but as one who has been healed of numerous severe, lifelong sinful addictions and obsessions. This is the way of God's permanent deliverance and healing. For man, it seems too simple. But once again, God has chosen to make foolish the wisdom of man through the simple truths of His gospel.
In summary then, what are the primary causes for a failure to find deliverance from ongoing sin? They are:
1> FAILURE TO MAKE AN ACROSS-THE-BOARD COMMITMENT TO HOLINESS,
2> FAILURE TO BELIEVE IN AND ACT UPON GOD'S POWER TO DELIVER AND KEEPUS,
3> FAILURE TO UNDERGO A TRANSFORMATION OF THE WILL THROUGH FAITH INGOD'S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE,
4> FAILURE TO SEE HEALING AS A PROCESS WITH A PURPOSE,
5> FAILURE TO DEVELOP AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THE FATHER,
6> FAILURE TO HUMBLE OURSELVES IN ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCE ON GOD,
7> FAILURE TO LEARN AND PRACTICE SPIRITUAL WARFARE.
- from "Mastering Life" Newsletter # 9