A life without order displays chaos. Our God is a God of order and His purpose is to bring divine order to every Believer’s life in the Body of Christ. Life is a journey. We are all at different stages on this journey, none of us have reached our final destination, as yet. We may not have “arrived”, but by God’s grace, we have “left” and have left many things along the way that no longer hold meaning or attraction to us. As I yield to the power of the greater attraction, the Indwelling Christ, ungodly desires fall away.
When the Holy Spirit inspired men to write the holy scriptures in the Bible, He did not cover up men’s feet of clay. He allowed us to see that there are no wonderful men, but only a wonderful, Almighty God, our Heavenly Father. In spite of this, many people have the Apostle Paul on a pedestal, as a “wonderful” man of God, but like all men, he too, had a blind spot.
When Paul was converted on the Damascus road the Lord gave him a commission. Acts 9:15 records the order of his commission as told to Ananias by God, speaking of Paul: “But the Lord said unto him, ‘Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings and the children of Israel…” Gentiles, kings, Jews – did the order matter? All order matters to God. As we read the Book of Acts we find over and over again that Paul went to the synagogues and preached Christ crucified and risen again, stirring up the anger of certain devout Jews, who rejected Jesus. Paul, in the natural, was a zealot. He had a bias towards his own people that gave him a blind spot in his walk with the Lord. In God’s order his first call was to the Gentiles. Romans 9:2-3 bears witness to Paul’s bias: “That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to my flesh.” Paul’s emotions seemed off balance, somewhat inordinate, that caused him to utter such a statement! Even though Paul’s missionary journeys took him to many places to preach with the Gentiles, we observe that it seems his heart was always pulling him towards the Jews.
On one occasion, Paul was warned of the Holy Spirit through disciples, not to go up to Jerusalem, (Acts 21:4), but he was determined to go anyway. In verses 10-14 of the same chapter, Agabus, a prophet, prophesies what will happen to Paul if he continues up to Jerusalem. His own convictions were stronger than the godly direction he was given from the Body of Christ. A dangerous place. In spite of this, God’s divine will and purpose was achieved through Paul, His chosen vessel. God’s divine purposes will not be thwarted. Paul had through compulsion, what maybe, he could have had as a free man. He was incarcerated in a prison house where he wrote letters to the Gentile churches under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which today, make up a large proportion of the New Testament of our Bible.
So, what are we saying here? The question is: Where is my life out of God’s order? Where is my blind spot? I can enter into the secret place with God to hear His loving voice of direction and correction. If I am where I should be in God then the life of the Lord Jesus Christ would be manifesting in a greater way. Is this not what we are all seeking? We are called to live in His Presence. The Lord has promised never to leave nor forsake us, that His Presence shall go with us, but a closer walk with Him leads to an awareness of that wonderful Presence. When I am conscious of His Presence, aware of it, then my life is lived to Him, for His glory. This results in a life walking, talking and living worthy of Him whose great love has drawn me to Himself and destined me to be a vessel for His glory.
Don’t settle for less than God’s best, believe for more! This is a “much more” salvation. God promises us that if we walk in His ways our days shall be like heaven on earth, (Deuteronomy 11:21), what a statement! God’s order in our lives is essential for His tabernacle rest to be manifest. The verses of the old hymn reminds us to make it our prayer:
Hymn: Dear Lord and Father of mankind…..penned by J.G. Whittier
Drop Thy still dews of quietness till all our striving cease,
Take from our lives the strain and stress
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.
Breathe through the heats of our desire Thy coolness and Thy balm,
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire,
Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.
This is our birthright.
