A Deeper Christian Life

I recently celebrated another birthday. I know some believers do not agree with this practice, for various reasons. But this year, I was quite intentional to celebrate LIFE amid this culture of death I live in. It seems to me, throughout the Scripture, if there is one word above all others that best characterizes the revealed nature of God, it is the word LIFE. Think of it: Before Creation, there was such fellowship of life within the Godhead that it resulted in a controlled, orderly eruption of life known as Creation. God was so full of creative life that He had to give expression to it, the divine artist that He is. And so, as the Book of Genesis (or The Gospel According to Genesis, as I sometimes have begun to think of it) documents it, God gave utterance to His creative instinct and brought forth the glorious cosmos. After Adam and Eve sinned, death entered the world. Now, I live in a culture that legalizes and legitimizes and glorifies and defends and enables death at every turn.

Suggested exercise: Play the song linked below and sing it as you, the individual believer, to the Lord Jesus Christ; play it again and listen to the Bride sing to the Bridegroom; play it again and listen to the Lord Jesus singing to His Heavenly Father (tweaking the lyrics as should seem obvious, such as replacing “baby” with “Jesus” or “Father”).  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmFgAHdhONU (As always, pardon the ads.) May the Lord reveal Himself to your heart and spirit in a loving way through this exercise.

For Christians interested in a deeper life in Christ, know that the Lord Jesus permeates every moment, every circumstance, every breath. He is in the midst of your joy, and He is equally all up in your suffering. Perhaps even more so in your suffering. On the one hand, your mission is to seek, to find, and to realize Him subjectively, experientially, in each of these moments.  Admittedly, this is easier in the believer’s private time with the Lord or in corporate worship than, say, during an argument with one’s spouse or in a moment of severe physical injury. In each of these moments, somehow find a way, in Him, to turn your heart, gather your spirit, your innermost being, and turn to the Lord, finding Him as the supply of whatever it is you are lacking. The easiest way for me is to simply, calmly, quietly, deliberately, intentionally, and lovingly, call upon His name. You can consult my earlier posts on how to do so here , here , and  here , and my earlier YouTube videos here , and he

I ask myself this on the regular, but not because I want to put myself under a law of my own making. Nor do I want to addict myself to a certain emotional experience or state of mind or otherwise subject myself to an unrealistic or unsustainable expectation. Rather, I fear departing from my first love, allowing my heart to grow cold and complacent, taking the precious mercy of God for granted. I know that dry spells are a part of every believer’s experience over the long haul. Still, I beg Christ to be my ever-watchful vigilance against becoming lukewarm, lazy, distracted, etc. Lord, burn within my heart, I pray! Ultimately, as long as my mind and heart think of Him, as long as my innermost being turns to Him, and as long as my conscious will looks to Him to be my life; as long as I’m loving and serving the Lord, my wife, and the brothers and the sisters in my life; as long as I am bearing fruit in season; and as long as I remain a loving, faithful and loyal slave to Him (all and only

“How to call upon the name of the Lord.”  In a nutshell: As softly and as lovingly as you can, from the innermost part of your being. Check out my video on YouTube here . 

As I watched “The Passion of The Christ” this past Good Friday, three things in particular stood out to me (beyond the horrific abuse He suffered). I list them in chronological order. (Spoilers ahead) 1) The Judas kiss was the perfect metaphor , revealing the true nature of the religious soul of Israel at that time. As Jesus so movingly expressed it: “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48, World English Bible). And this gesture powerfully symbolized a quite literal interpretation of this passage from the Gospel of Matthew: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me,” (Matthew 15.8, Legacy Standard Bible), as the Lord quotes from Isaiah 29:13. 2) The sheer bravery of Jesus and how utterly sold out He was to do the will of the Father. When His mother raced to His side when He fell, touching Him, saying “I’m here!” and the Lord responded, in the midst of His agony, by saying, “See! I make all things new!” my heart broke and broke within

“ She stares off alone into the night, with the eyes of one who hates for just being born.” Racing In The Streets, Bruce Springsteen. I may not have any explicit Scriptural citation for this. But when I contemplate the death of the Savior, I get the clear sense (I can almost taste it) that those who beat Him and flogged Him and drove the spikes into His body did so with a vicious, unhinged, intense hatred that was inspired and controlled by Satan.  As if they were funneling the rage of countless fallen angels and untold millions of fallen human beings throughout time who hated God so much they wanted to kill Him. As if Satan himself was using their fists and their whips and their hammers in a fanatical rage, deceiving himself with his hate, thinking: “Aha! Now I have Him where I want Him! This is my time! I will kill Him and then I will rule the world, after all!”  I'm reminded of those lyrics from Bruce Springsteen’s song, Racing In The Streets: “She stares off alone into the ni

To build upon the foundation I laid in the first two posts on this theme ( here ) and ( here ), in this post, I’m inviting you to see how little use you can make of your mouth and still call on the name of the Lord and touch Him in a real and life-giving way. By now, from the teaching of the first post, you should have some experience encountering the Lord in reality in your regenerated human spirit simply by calling upon His name. And, from the teaching of the second post, you should have some experience fellowshipping with Him by quietly calling His name. Now, take this practice to another level and see how little you can use your mouth and call His name and still touch Him in a real and enriching way within your spirit. First, get in a quiet place, wherever your have your devotional time with Him, or upon your pillow, or, say, when you’re in the shower. Then, with your mouth open, see if you can say, “Lord Jesus,” without moving your lips. Experiment with that for a while. If you f