* Repositioned for the Kingdom – The Reciprocity of Love

 

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. 
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.  
James 4:8

 

I want to talk today about love being at the center of it all.  Love is the lubricant that stops us from being cut off by God and it’s also the agent that allows our shifting or repositioning to be easier.  After all, He tells us in His word, if you love me, you’ll keep my commands – implying if love isn’t involved, we might have a problem.  Because of love, God works in our lives in many different ways to make us the very best that we can be in Him.  The same God that intervened in Moses’ life intervenes in our lives today. Despite our obstacles, our shortcomings, our fears, struggles and weaknesses, there’s one that is capable of stepping in and making everything alright; the one true living God!  We have to accept the way that he steps in and intervenes and move accordingly.  We believe with all of our hearts that

. . . with God all things are possible.  Mark 10:27 

Our actions in God are predicated by what we believe in our hearts.  In the midst of all that’s going on in our lives and in the world today, sometimes we forget that this journey called life is to lead us to eternal life.  The bible tells us of the dispensation of the fullness of time when God is going to gather together in one all things in Christ.  Jesus’ prayer in the garden describes that eternal life, He said: 

. . . Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:1-3

 God granted Jesus the authority over our life:  that He might give us eternal life.

God created us for eternity; not just temporal time.  He doesn’t deal with us for our temporal time but for eternity.  But we seem to have lost a sense of eternity and a sense of accountability which causes us a lack of focus.  Thank God, in His infinite wisdom he knows how to keep us or get us on track. We can’t be found struggling against God in our mind,

®       To be repositioned we must have a renewed mindset; a mind that is set to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength [Mark 12:30].

Gods at work in all areas and in all people and He is pursuing us with a love relationship. 

We have to trust that God is able; that He’s capable of seeing us through each and every obstacle we come against.  It’s only with this mindset that we can be repositioned for whatever it is that God is calling us to do.  We don’t fight God in the obstacle, we seek God for His will to be made known to us.  The only way we can accomplish this is to know God in a better way; in an intimate way; understanding that He’s the only one that’s in full, complete control.  Listen to the prophet, Isaiah who said ‘He’s the potter, we’re the clay;’ [Isaiah 64:8].  

We can’t get it twisted, it’s God who’s at work; he’s the master molding and shaping us in the way that He would have us be [Isaiah 29:16].   

®       To be repositioned, we must be pliable; wholly submissive 

God sent his son not just to redeem sinful man, He also gave us an example to follow.  That example is Jesus.  Here’s an example I’ve found in Jesus: 

We don’t fit God in our plan, we fit our life into God’s plan.  

Whatever we see God doing that’s what we should be doing. Jesus said:

 . . .  My Father works, and so I work.  . . .  what I see the Father do: whatever he does, these also I do.    John 5:17-20

We know thru His word and we see that God – is seeking to save that which is lost.  The need to reposition in this phase is crucial. It doesn’t matter where we fall on the spectrum.  Rather we believe it or not, sometimes we sit right in the church and we have lost our way; got stuck in irrelevant ways stuck in church instead of living in the kingdom.  But God, in His loving kindness, seeks us out to reposition us [that’s one end of the spectrum] and puts us in the midst of the people of God [those that have allowed themselves to be repositioned] to help us find our way back to Him and His plan.

God is moving to bring His people, you and I, together collectively to do His work.  God shows up in the midst of our activity; the normal activity of our life; He comes to us and makes His will known; just as He did with Moses, Joshua, Peter, Paul and many others in the bible days.  He’s the same – yesterday, today and the future – and we have to expect and accept that God will do the same with us.  We need to open our heart and immediately adjust our will to His. 

®       To be repositioned, we must be able to hear God clearly.

God’s standards are different than man’s.  Just as we’ve lost sight of our eternal life, we’ve lost sight of the consequence of iniquity.  We’re so caught up with the world; the things of the world and the standards of the world that we’ve lost sight not only of God’s perspective but His standards and His purpose.  God says deny self, God says lose your life for His sake to save it.  We have to get to the point where it’s no longer about me and my wants and desires.  It’s about God’s desire for me. 

There’s a conflict in what we see and what God wants us to see.  We need to make our ways the same as God’s way.  We need to seek spiritual insight.  That’s the only way we can be victorious in Christ.  

®       To be repositioned, we must have a godly perspective. 

Remember without God we’re nothing, without God we can do nothing.   I’m not trying to offend, that’s not a statement of negativity or a pessimistic attitude, it’s truth.  What keeps us going and stops us from being dismayed, stops us from being non-fruit bearing is to be securely attached to the source [John 15:5 – the vine]. 

All we are, all we do, we owe to God!  That leads me to the conclusion that we must draw closer in our relationship with God in order that we can be and also remain attached to Him.  That requires some repositioning on our part knowing that when we:

Draw nigh to God, he’ll draw nigh to us.   James 4:8a

That brings us to my final thought:

®       To be repositioned, we must love God from the heart. 

In order to experience a close, intimate relationship with God, we must pursue it. It can’t be a one-sided relationship.  God can’t be the only one putting in the work.  We must be active participants and allow our experiences with God to grow us and reposition us into what He would have us to be in this phase and every season of our life.

God pursues a continuing love relationship with us that is real, personal and reciprocal.  We can’t fully love and appreciate God without believing who He is; it’s His will for us to believe on the one that was sent; His son, Jesus Christ [John 6:40].

It’s not always a pleasant experience because the bible lets us know  For the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He corrects each one He takes as His own  [Hebrews 12:6]  

God knows far better what sin and iniquity can do and so God, out of His love for us, disciplines us.  

Thank God for the Old Testament accounts.  Apostle Paul said that the things that happened then were written for examples and they’re written for our admonition; that we may know of them and not make the same mistakes they did.  Take heed lest ye fall!  I said that because I’m reminded of the account of King Nebuchadnezzar, [Daniel 3-4] who, though he didn’t walk in the ways of God, made certain assertions of God but never advanced beyond his words; he indicated he knew and believed in the sovereignty of God.  He said [in short]:

Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.  And went on to make a decree, that ended with because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.  Daniel 3:28-29

At that point, he had the opportunity to change his ungodly ways and turn to the one true living God; shift his ways to the ways of God.  Remember, God hates the sin but loves the soul.  In this account, He had the opportunity to cancel all of his previous decrees that went against the way of God, but he didn’t.  Saying the right words but doing and thinking the wrong things.  After an accumulation of ungodly standards and attitudes; puffed up in his pride, and full of himself; God spoke to him thru a dream.

Even with the interpretation of the dream, the king wasn’t moved; still puffed up in pride, vain and not acknowledging the goodness of God to him  [Daniel 4:30]

God met him right where he was; high and mighty in his kingdom, and brought him down to the level of a beast in the field:

And he stayed in that state until the condition of His heart was made right and, in his heart, he was able to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, he said:

Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.   Daniel 4:37

What makes this account so powerful is that God gave King Nebuchadnezzar space to come to his senses; to realize that God is sovereign and everything that we have and everything that we are is because of God and God alone. He didn’t just cut him off.  He chastened him; a form of correction.  What is the purpose of me sharing this account?

Beloved, the assertions that we make; what flows from our lips must be founded in our heart so that we don’t just speak them, we live them, we walk them out!  In other words, it’s not just the words we speak, it’s not even about the actions we take, but it’s a heart thing – our hearts have to be shifted from vanity and selfishness to a pure heart that will then drive our words and deeds.  In your heart, what are you loving more than God, what are you esteeming higher than God?

God took everything that King Nebuchadnezzar had away from him, stripped him from his kingly vestments; bought him down to the level of the beasts in the field!  Yet, at the same time secured those very things for him - leave the stump of the tree roots - for that time when he got His mind right – which was to acknowledge from his heart the sovereignty of God - know that the heavens do rule.  Not our idols, not us, but God! 

God’s children are fighting Him because we don’t understand the chastening that is occurring.  Though we may not like it, we are chastened of God to humble us, to discipline us – to discipline us is to correct us to redirect our thoughts and actions and to get us back on the right path; to reposition us in the Kingdom for His will to be completed in our life.

God chastens us out of love to get us to that right place in Him.  He’s not just being mean, He’s building us up, molding us, shaping us to be all that we can be in Him.  We may lose some things in the process but what we get back will be better.  

If we could never experience God without a natural example, we would be in bad shape.  So stop fighting God, in the midst of your troubles; use this as your quiet time to lay before God and see what He is trying to show you, what He’s trying to tell you so that you can alter your steps, change your mindset, love God from your heart and become repositioned; fully aligned with what He’s doing. 

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