Book 1 of Musings Flowing With the Life of God

The highest state of being available to man is to flow with the Life of God. This means Christ must deliver us from all other motivations and urges.

The Lord Jesus invited us to abide in Him.

This is a simple request, isn't it?

When we try to just rest in the Lord we find many forces seek to tear us down from our high place in God. Some of these forces are external, such as worries about the future or the health of our family.

Others are internal, such as the desire to be accepted in the Antichrist world system of the needless acquisition of a surplus of money. It is easy to forget, in America at least, that the true saints are in the world but not of the world.

Sometimes we are driven with physical lust, or the desire for preeminence or fame, or fear, or a compulsion to be perfect (according to our own standards).

In America, some people eat too much food while others starve themselves to be fashionable.

There are men who are driven by the desire to be "tough," or to excel in the martial arts. Americans are sometimes thought of as being dedicated to violence.

There are numerous urges and motives that drive us, as well as an abundance of pressures from the outside. I do not know how it is in other countries and cultures, but in America there are many distractions and worries, including opportunities for personal advancement of one kind or another.

Yet, the Lord Jesus invites us merely to abide in Him

I say "merely," understanding how difficult of fulfillment is this simple, straightforward request. In the Christian churches there often is this pressure to "do things for God." It seems there hardly is a church where the members are directed to wait on the Lord, to be still and know God is God.

There are social problems to correct; there is a world that is full of sinners who are sliding into Hell every day; there is a new sanctuary to be built. There is always something, it seems.

Americans tend to be doers rather than meditative philosophers.

There may be countries where the person given to meditation and tranquility is honored, but this is not the chief characteristic of Americans.

"Why do you sit there?

Don't you know the world is going to Hell?

Do something!"

A certain amount of ambition is healthy, and there are many needs worthy of our attention. But our chief duty is to abide in Christ, to flow with the Life of God in every area of our being and doing.

Abiding in Christ is a continually dynamic enterprise. As soon as we find rest in Christ at one point, He steps back and says, "Abide in Me here." We always are being challenged to abide in Him, to rest in Him. Have you found this to be true in your life?

Every idol in our life, every cherished dream, desire, or possession, has the potential to get us out of our rest in God.

The Holy Spirit always is dealing with some aspect of our being or behavior, teaching us to release what we are clutching.

It is impossible to flow with the Life of God while we are clutching a relationship, a thing, or a circumstance.

We must "let go and let God have His wonderful way."

There is no state of being more to be desired than that of simply abiding in Christ; flowing with the Life of God. The Book of Hebrews refers to this state as God's rest.

At the beginning of the world, God has assigned to each of us a specific role in His Kingdom.

Then God rested. Our principal task in life is to cease from our own works and enter God's plan for our life.

A simple, simple invitation.

But because of the multitude of forces within and without, a lifelong struggle.

Labor to enter that rest.

At first glance, somewhat contradictory concepts.

But oh so true in actual practice!

For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:10-11)