“Whe-yelp…” Lemuel lifted his baseball cap and scratched high up on his forehead. “You’re gon’ take a raht down’t the secont laht, bah the Pigg-ly Wigg-ly, an’ keep a-goin’, oh, ’bout three mahl an’ sommat, ’til you see the ol’ mi-yill on the layeft. Hayaf a mahl mower, you’re gon’ see a whaht feyance on the raht, and a yeller dawg is gon’ chase ya… jus’ keep a-goin’ ’til the dawg stops, look to the layeft and you gon’ see a reyed barn up the hiyill. Turn leyeft raht theyer…”
I never liked asking someone for directions. In the first place, I didn’t want to trouble others, and in the second, I couldn’t be sure that the people I was asking really knew their way around. Third…I might misunderstand what they were sayan.
Like it or not, that’s the way it was, before smartphones. You had to consult someone as you traveled—and all you had was an address and a folded paper map—and you depended on others to help you fill in the details that were in between the squiggly lines. Best thing was to call someone at your destination before you even set out, and write out the directions. If you got lost, you’d stop at a gas station land look for someone that had been there as long as the fuel pumps out front…
And that’s where you’d meet the Lemuels. You could trust them. Anyone that could tell you what to look for when you take that raht turn—and where the yeller dawg lies in wait behind the whaht feyance—knew what he was talking about. Back then, you needed visual cues, because country roads didn’t have green metal labels. Maybe they still don’t.
But now, roads have invisible data tags, so that an internet search can show you where you’re going. Just type in the address on your smartphone and do what it tells you. Satellites track your position and tell you how many minutes remain until you reach your destination. We can even see traffic congestion on our phones, so that we can choose an alternate route if the usual one has the snuffles.
Our lives depend on where, and on Whom, we put our trust.
Life itself is like going on a trip, and the ultimate destination is “fellowship with GOD.” See First Surrender: The Gospel, (“Good News”), About a Relationship with GOD, in Four Points. The most important aspect of the trip is not physical, involving physical nearness, but rather, spiritual, involving spiritual intimacy. Our souls move vast spiritual distances each day, running from God in different directions, or turning to Him, whenever we notice and own up to forgetting or ignoring Him.
The enemy is real and clever. The enemy is Satan, (the Devil), and the fallen angels, (which are demons). He, and the demons under Him, have organized a vast right wing and left wing conspiracy against God, and seek to keep God’s crown of creation—people—from ever reaching “fellowship with GOD.” (Ephesians 6:11-12). They pose as other gods, or aliens, or angels of light, pulling us away, (through enticements), or pushing us away, (chasing us with unmasked evil). (See 2 Corinthians 11:14-15, for pulling, 1 Peter 5:8, for pushing). They will use every means to give people false directions, so that those who don’t know Christ stay “lost,” and those who do find Christ get distracted and absorbed by the physical world—forgetting where we are, how we were made to travel, and where GOD is, in the spiritual one.
Their words, their advice, their directions—none of them can be trusted—they are lies designed to put spiritual distance between you and God. (See John 8:44-45). Like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Satan seeks to draw you off, away from God, to himself, luring you to some high clifftop so it’s easy to pull or push you over. “Yes, this is the way! Just look at that scenery! Here, give me your hand. I’ll lift you up. OOPS—Buddafingas! LOOK OUT BELOW!!!”
Or they are like the gang on the wrong side of town, when you take a wrong turn and you find yourself in a dark and unfamiliar place full of eyes. You wouldn’t dare to step out of the car to look for a Lemuel, and all the street lights were busted long ago. Instead, you crack your window next to a shadowy figure in the road, and ask for the way out. The glow from his cigarette bobs and blinks in the vice of a right side smirk, while smoke and half truths signal from the left. He’s sure of himself, this one…but he’s not telling you the way out. His instructions are precise, with a key misdirection to a dead end, where eyes and bared teeth sharpen in anticipation of victims. If only it was just a yeller dawg!
You drift forward into the night as narrowing eyes follow, watching to make sure you take the turn. Melting into the shadows, the stranger whips out a smartphone and makes a call. “We got one. He’s alone.”
None of us is truly alone, of course, though we may feel we are, (or we are persuaded by lies that we are). And even if we walk through the valley, (or drive through the alley), of the shadow of death, God is with us. (Psalm 23:4). He can be trusted more than any Lemuel, and He most definitely has been around longer than the gas pumps. Acts 17:24-28. 2 Chronicles 16:9. This doesn’t mean that we will avoid trouble, and it doesn’t mean that we will not suffer harm, or even death, but it does mean that our God is with us, and for us, and that if we trust in Him, we already have reached our ultimate destination, “fellowship with God,” so that we don’t need to fear death they way we used to.
…And we have an opportunity for fellowship with God that is deeper and more intimate than just asking for directions, or talking to a friend. When we received Christ, we also received a gift beyond forgiveness of all sins, in addition to a future in Heaven with Joy in the presence of the LORD forevermore, even more personal than the gift of communication and fellowship with the King of Kings… and yet many Christians misunderstand or pay little attention to the gift.
The gift is the power of God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, working around you, and from within you.
Jesus said:
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” John 14:16-20. NIV 1984.
How do we know that we have been given the Holy Spirit? Because Jesus promised to give us (believers in Christ) the Holy Spirit. The entire Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—participates in the filling of each believer, as the Trinity is “three-in-one.” The Father gives the Holy Spirit to live within us, and Jesus is in us, and we are in Him, and He is in the Father. The Spirit is a Counselor and Helper, and is placed in us permanently, at the moment we believed in Christ.
Paul wrote about this permanence:
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14. NIV 1984.
We are sealed, at the moment of belief, with the Holy Spirit, as a non-refundable deposit from GOD, guaranteeing our salvation. This verse presents strong evidence that salvation can’t be lost. There is not a case in the New Testament where God un-seals a believer, taking back the deposit and guarantee that the Holy Spirit is. If God were to take back the deposit, the promised “guarantee” would be a lie, and God’s glory would be tarnished. God can’t lie, nor does He break promises.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians about the effect of the Spirit:
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22.
“The Spirit is placed ‘in our hearts,’ καρδία, ας, ἡ, ‘kardia,’ the center and seat of spiritual life, ‘the soul or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavors.'”THAYER’S GREEK LEXICON, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006, 2011 by Biblesoft, Inc.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:11-16. NIV 1984. (The Holy Spirit can speak through us, so that the mind of Christ is employed, if we are yielded to Him).
He is working moment-by-moment, whether you’re complicit or rebellious.
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18. NIV 1984. (The idea is to be complicit with the Spirit—be filled—(extend an invitation to God to work through you right in the moment)—and keep being re-filled, moment to moment).
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:26-28. NIV 1984. (He intercedes, and keeps interceding, even when we are not praying, or when we don’t know what to pray, or even when we are rebellious. He intercedes according to God’s will, not the will of man. We don’t even understand what the Spirit prays for us, but we do know that it is for our good).
“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” Luke 12:11-12. NIV 1984. (The Holy Spirit will speak through surrendered people).
We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. Colossians 1:28-29. NASB. (We can strive, within the power of the Holy Spirit, according to God’s purposes).
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Galatians 5:16-26. NIV. (“Walk by the Spirit,” and “keep in step with the Spirit”… This is the idea of taking a step in the Spirit, and taking another one, and another one. This is what I’ve been teaching as “The Surrendered Moment.” Surrender to the Spirit in the moment, and do it again, and again. Keep on doing this—it is the spiritual life that God has provided for us to live, if we choose).
Jesus said:
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
John 16:12-15. NIV. The Holy Spirit will lead you in truth, and He will give you truth to share with others that points to our ultimate destination: “fellowship with God,” and He will empower you to do things you can’t do in your own power.
As I mentioned at the beginning, I never liked asking for directions. We all tend to try and find our own way as our default way of life, rather than put our lives into the hands of someone else. It is a trust issue. When things get desperate, when we find ourselves on the wrong side of town, we begin looking for help. At that point, we almost have no other choice than to trust others in order to make it out of the trouble we’re in.
How much better it is, to fellowship with the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and to develop a moment-to-moment trust in Him! I have been there, but I can’t say that “I’ve arrived…” My trust waxes and wanes, and my attention to God, and my intention to function within the power of the Holy Spirit, is inconstant. But I know that, in any and every moment, my God is with me, and I can give up my desperate and exhausting desire to control and accomplish everything my own way, and open my life up to The Ancient of Days, to be carried along in the Spirit. When I do, I’m able to do things that would be impossible for me to do, (it’s the Spirit within me), and able to see and say truths that were inaccessible to my feeble mind.
When we surrender to God in the moment, He saves us in the moment. One second, we feel lost, and the next, we understand where we are. And though we may still be in a tight spot, on foreign soil, or enduring incredible pain, we are reminded that we are “home again” in the Spirit—in the strong and loving hands of the Father. In a split second, we can see and feel the shining light from God, Our Comforter, in the darkness, and draw on infinite resources, so that others may also see Him with eyes of faith. To this end we journey, every moment a new beginning.