Advent – more to wait for!

When I last week asked the question “What am I waiting for?” – I answered “Your kingdom come!”.
Of course this links very well with the forthcoming celebration of the coming of the King of kings.

However, it must not stop with the celebration of the coming of Christ more than 2000 years ago; or with the coming of Christ in and through his body of believers today. Until Christ returns at the end of time, what I will be waiting and longing for is covered in the prayer:

“Your will be done!”
Matthew 6:10

The good news about what the will of God is, was made known by the angel at the birth of Jesus:

“a Saviour has been born to you!”
Luke 2:11

The whole purpose with “Christmas” was to give the world a Saviour so that “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”(1). When the first Christians prayed the Lord’s prayer, they knew that the greatest desire of God is that: “God our Saviour, … wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”(2).

When I am waiting for God’s will to be done, it is a challenge when I already know what his will is. It would be simpler if I didn’t know and could ask him what it was. I cannot ask him to save the world, because he has already done it. The challenge is that so many people in the world do not know this truth. When I know the will of God and that he has already done his part, I am the closest one to do something with what I know. When I in advent-expectations pray: “Your will be done!” it is very likely that solution is found in the

‘Manna’ for today:

Sometimes I have the key to the answer to a prayer in my own heart.

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(1) John 3:16b
(2) 1 Timothy 2:4

The important last promise - a time for everything *

NORSK
Yesterday I reflected for the last important lesson embedded in what Jesus did in the moment before he was taken up into heaven. If we combine Luke's account of the ascension of Jesus in the gospel with his version of the narrative in Acts, we see that just before Jesus blessed the disciples, he gave this promise:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you
Acts 1:8

Jesus made it clear that the disciples should wait until they were equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit before they started the mission.

I used to wonder why Jesus didn’t just give them the Holy Spirit before he left them. I choose to believe that it was because he wanted the disciples to long for the promise to be fulfilled - the desire for it to happen should not only be owned by Jesus, but also shared by the 11 and their 109 friends. I believe that this is the reason why they were given ten days entirely on their own to reflect on everything they had learned.

The free will is "holy" to God because it is part of his image in us. Therefore, we must desire whatever God wants to give us.

‘Manna’ for today:

I want the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon me

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* 'A time for everything' is connected with the Bible's teaching about a 'season for every activity' Eccl 3 This series is about the teaching in the time between Easter and Pentecost

Knowing that it is possible to ask him - a step on the journey

NORSK
The disciples showed that they had learned important lessons when they arrived in Jerusalem. They were keen to know what Jesus wanted and they were ready to serve him. The simple question confirms this assumption:

“Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
Mark 14:12

To ask for the Lord’s will is an important part of the everyday life of a disciple. Then it is also important to listen so that I serve in the way he wants me to serve. He was ready to give them very clear directives for that which was going to be his last meal, an event we remember today:

“Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
Mark 14:13-15

This is yet another delightful proof that the Lord is in full control. After a few very chaotic days it's a wonderful confirmation that I will take with me into this day. Blessed Easter!

‘Manna’ for today:

Lord, what do you want me to do for you? I am ready to serve!

Knowing what to ‘lose my life’ means - a step on the journey

NORSK
On the journey to Jerusalem Jesus is intensifying the teaching of the twelve disciples. He gives them glimpses of deep spiritual truth, but they fail to understand (1):

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Matt 16:25

For me this is one of the key-verses in the Bible with regard to finding rest in the mystery of what the life in Christ really is.

The Greek word translated 'life' in this verse, is the word 'psyche', which can also be translated 'soul' - and some translations choose the variant or introduce it in the next verse (2). I do not think Jesus primarily made reference to the 'physical life'. Therefore, I prefer 'soul', for the soul is the seat of my understanding, my emotions and my personality – including my will. I do not think I am much different from other people. I want to understand, I want to feel, I want to have control over who I am. It is a basic human need to want to save his life. 

According to Maslow's pyramid of needs (see illustration), safety is what I seek as soon as my physiological needs are covered. The feeling of having control makes me safe and belongs to our most basic needs. To hand over control to God, is really to lose my life, fortunately to be able to find it again as a new creation in Christ. When I handed over the control to God, this also included surrendering my claim to understand or feel everything that happens, and I entrusted to him the transformation of my personality and my will.

This is not 'one' step, but 'a' step, because it is a step I have to take every day until I reach his destination for my journey.

‘Manna’ for today:

I am so happy that I lost my 'life' and found a new life in Him

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(1) The understanding was revealed to them by the Spirit after Pentecost
(2) Matt 16:26

Knowing the will of God - a step on the journey

NORSK
He thought he understood more than he understood. He wanted only the very best for his friend. He was ready to line up to fight for him. Didn’t the Master understand? I am referring to Peter and the event is well-known for Bible-readers.

When Peter in his confession had confirmed that the disciples knew who Jesus was; Jesus immediately began to teach that he had to go to Jerusalem to suffer persecution and die, and then to be raised from the dead on the third day. Peter’s reaction is spontaneous:

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Matt 16:22-23

I find these verses difficult, and I can only imagine with how difficult it must have been for Peter. But maybe he understood that Jesus was talking to Satan and not to him? Surely, it was Peter who had verbalised Satan's temptation for Jesus to choose a different path. 

However, this did not turn Peter into Satan, but manifested how typically human Peter was. The sin of the world is not all the consequences of sin, they are only symptoms; the sin is that people choose their own way rather than God's. Therefore, Peter was given a lesson in how important it is to seek the will of God before arriving at any solution based solely on the human lack of judgment.

‘Manna’ for today:

Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (1)

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(1) Prov 3:6

It is a matter of choice

NORSK
Yesterday I quoted two testimonies to the experience of "the Lord being with them through it all". Paul and Andrae Crouch were witnesses to this being true in their lives, and very many can testify to the same. 

Not everyone has experienced persecution to the same degree as Paul did, but there are many forms of persecution and hardship. Paul knew this:

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
2 Timothy 3:12

I have mentioned persecution several times in this series, so today I want to concentrate on the first clause of the verse. To live a godly life in Christ Jesus is constantly a question of wanting. ‘Everyone who wants’, Paul wrote, and it is part of the proclamation that the gospel is for the whosoever. 

The fact that God gave me a free will is perhaps the most precious gift that is embedded in God's image in which I was created. It is an expression of love that is almost as big as the love manifested when he gave his life to give me the option to choose to return to Him. 

I have chosen, yet every day it is choice to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. It is an easy choice, because even though it may prove to be costly, it is the best choice "through it all".

‘Manna’ for today:

My choice is made, yet I will choose it over again.

To want to do the will of the commander

NORSK

Paul takes the ‘soldier-allegory’ one step further:

No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.
2 Tim 2:4

Throughout my life as a soldier, I have lived in the tension between being ‘entangled in civilian affairs’ and the awareness of the fact that the will of the commander can drown in all the pending 'musts' in my life. The tension has increased proportionally with increased responsibility. In many of the letters Paul wrote, he focused on the importance of understanding the Lord's will (1). When he did his farewell speech to the local leaders of the church at Ephesus, he said:

I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
Acts 20:27

How a soldier gets an insight into the “will of the commander”, Paul described in this way:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Philippians 2:12-13

If I give the Holy Spirit access to my life, the mysterious miracle is that I actually want to do that which is God's good will. It is a response of love and not a fulfillment of a duty requirement (2). It is liberation contrary to slavery under the law.

'Manna' for today:

It is my desire to do the commander’s will

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(1) See e.g. Col 1:9 and Phil 1:9-11
(2) See Tomas Sjödin’s quote in “On the arena of faith”