The Ultimate Attainment: Union with God

Many great saints I’ve known, even in the Salvation army, many are retiring now, and they say that when they retire, they are grateful that God did not show them the entire path all the ups and downs because they would not have been able to handle the thought of it. But step by step, along the road, they handled it by God’s grace of not showing them what was ahead.

Similarly, we do not easily submit to all this burning up of dross within us. We do not naturally want the self to be leveled. We do not want to be buried with Christ in his cross and alive with Christ in His resurrection. We naturally resist the death of self.

“God wishes to make your soul pure. He purifies it by His Wisdom just as a refiner purifies metal in the furnace. Fire in the only thing which can purify gold. Again, the fire that consumes us—utterly—is His highest wisdom.” -Jeanne Guyon, p. 128

But look back to the moment when you first gave your life to Christ: “At that time you made an unreserved surrender of your being to God. Not only that, you surrendered yourself to all that God wills for you. It was at that very time that you gave your total consent to whatever God might wish to require of you.” -Jeanne Guyon, p. 131

I remember that moment back in 2012 when I called on the name of Jesus Christ. It was a miracle in itself. When we call on Jesus, it’s a divine moment I believe. God reaches down and invites us to call on the name of Jesus. In that moment we can, by His grace, call out. But, then all heaven waits in breathless anticipation: What will he do? I felt that moment. All heaven waiting. God waiting. Angels waiting. Silent.

I felt the draw of heaven, “call out.” And at that moment I said to myself alright, I’m going to do it. I’m going to cry out. Then I did. Jesus save me!

And the uproar of heaven at that moment, my goodness I felt it, the quaking, as all heaven rejoiced, the angels cried out in joy, another lost soul has called upon the name of Jesus Christ and found salvation.

Oh what joy in heaven over one sinner who repents! (Luke 15:7).

That began the journey. Now fast forward to 2021. I had been betrayed. My health was crumbling, serious stomach issues, barely functioning, lost hope, lonely, no friends, battling pride, battling lust, it was like all the gold within me had turned black.

“…when your Lord actually began burning, destroying, and purifying, you did not recognize that it was the hand of the Lord in your life. You certainly did not recognize the operation as something good. You had the very opposite impression! Instead, you saw all that beautiful gold in you turning black in the fire rather than becoming bright as you had expected. You stood looking at the circumstances around you that were producing all that tragedy in your life. You thought that all the purity in your life was being lost.”

That is the refiners fire, where God is molding us and shaping us, and removing from the impure elements from us.

1 Peter 1:7 ESV So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In those moments, I have one response initially. The reaction I think is to run. Get out. I’ve been there many times. I’m out of here. Run! This refiners fire is too hot.

But very quickly, I decide against it. Which again is a miracle from God. Because I remember the miracle of faith in me and it remains there. I trust God. This is right, the pain and grief that is happening. So I stay.

Second, I will often attempt some drastic or intense action to defeat or overthrow the refining fire.

I get to work, I must visit a doctor, see a therapist, read a self-help book, manipulate the situation to escape the pain, I try to take control away from God, and force things to go my way. This fails again and again, if it is indeed God’s refining fire and not some controversy I’ve caused against myself.

If it’s not God’s refining fire and just some problem I’ve caused or some evil done against me, then I should get to work against it. But if it is from God, and refining, then I should not take action, unless God inspires action, at the appropriate time.

Don’t run, don’t attempt manipulative actions, just remain passive, draw into God’s arms and allow Him to do His work.

“So you see, God’s justice and God’s wisdom must come like a pitiless and devouring fire. That fire destroys all that is earthly. The fire destroys the sensual, the carnal, and all self-activity.” P. 130

We remain passive, we stand firm, we allow God to do His work on us. Don’t run friends. Don’t manipulate. Stay seated in the chair as the master grooms you.

There is a third concern though, we can run, or we can manipulate events to try to stop it, both of those we naturally avoid ,but a third danger is that we refuse to learn the lesson we’re supposed to learn.

I recall that God brought me to our spring campaigns to test me, I met this woman, and I decided to start dating her, but as I prayed, I knew it wasn’t God’s will. We did eventually break up. But it was very painful. Because we kindled emotions toward each other, because we both wanted a relationship so bad. But in the end, it was not God’s will. So about 6 months later, the Lord brought another woman before me, and said alright Justin, did you learn the lesson? Let’s see what you do this time. And only by his grace, I liked this woman much more than the first, but through prayer, and fasting, God helped me to know it wasn’t meant to be, by His grace, I did not engage in a relationship with her, though she was near me weekly for a whole year.

Often I worry we do the opposite, we refuse to learn the lesson, we keep repeating the bad behavior over and over, even though God has taught us how bad it is time and again.

What is this refining fire doing in you? It’s slowly eliminating self in all it’s manifestations, greed, pride, ego, manipulation, control, selfishness, self-seeking, lust, and bad attitudes of the heart.

For what purpose exactly? To destroy you? To delete you? To replace you with a carbon copy of Jesus? No.

God is not trying to remove you. He’s restoring you, to the person you were always meant to be, someone fundamentally plugged into God. Someone who functions in union with God.

Yet God will also leave thorns in your flesh, to keep you humble as well, so you don’t become prideful and one day say, “Who is the Lord?”

“God allows defects to remain in the dearest of His saints so He can preserve that saint from corruption and hide him in the secret of His presence.” -129

That isn’t sin he leaves, he won’t leave adultery in you, so you keep sleeping around on your wife, and you can say well that’s my thorn in the flesh. No. But it may be some temptation or mental health issue or physical health issue or weakness in you, that keeps you humble and reliant on God.

You are of value. Death to self is not annihilation of your soul. Death to self is removing the chains of your dependence on yourself and rebuilding you in a way in which you are connected to God and focused on His will.

Star Trek reference, becoming a Christian is not becoming a Borg drone, where you get assimilated, your true self is destroyed, and you become a drone doing whatever the hive mind tells you. That’s not Christianity.

Becoming a Christian is like being a lamp who discovers the plug to receive power to light up. Becoming a Christian is like being an orphan bird who never knew she could fly, and finds her nest, reunites with her mother, and her mother teaches her to fly.

Becoming a Christian is like being a caterpillar, and you know you’re meant for something more but you could never do it yourself, but the transformation, the cocoon turns you into a butterfly. And you fly free. You are no longer a caterpillar, but you are still you.

The best example I can give is from my own life. I sat in my broken-down room day after day, year after year drinking, doing drugs, writing stories, going for walks, biking to get booze, making money, to spend on bad things, chasing women, and exploring dark realities.

Now today, I am very different. I still write stories, but they are not selfish stories about self, they are stories about God and His kingdom and mysteries. I’m still me, still a writer, but it’s now pointed toward the good.

I used to go for walks and bike rides to get booze and pills. Now I go for walks and bike rides to experience the beauty of nature. Same thing, pointed in a new direction.

I used to make money to fuel self. Now my money is used for meeting my needs, and tithing, and giving offerings for God’s kingdom.

I used to chase women. Now I married one woman whom I love. Still have sexual desire, but it’s reoriented to fit into God’s way of doing things. It now obeys His instructions.

God does not destroy our soul. He changes our soul to function as it was always intended to: in Union with Him.

As we yield more and more to the refiners fire which is purifying the gold of our soul, we learn to yield more and more to God. Submit to Him. Let Him lead our lives.

“…at this point you begin to yield yourself up to the impulses of the divine Spirit until you are totally absorbed with Him. You are in total concert with His will in all things- at all times.

This is union. Divine union. The self is ended. The human will is totally passive and responds to every movement of God’s will.” -p.133

We’re at the end of the book, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, last chapter, so of course, Madam Guyon reminds us, “I need not warn you, this is a process that, indeed, takes a long time.”

Do I think a lot of us are at this point? No I don’t. But by God’s grace we will get there. This is a journey, a pathway we walk day by day.

The mistake I see many Christians make though, is as they cross the hills and the valleys, the forests, and cabins of this deep journey toward union with God, at some point they give up, and build a cabin and stop on the road. They don’t go any further. They make some excuse for why they can’t really be bothered to draw nearer to God than where they are at now. Don’t get stuck on the road.

Believe that you can know God more deeply than you do today.

And if your “self” has gotten in the way, which it often does, and we say, well I don’t want to go any further. Pray about this. And ask God to help you pick up your bag and continue further down this glorious road of union with God.

If one thousand Christians went all in for God, and all the way on the road to maturity, deep connection with God, it would shake the world, it would change the united states forever.

We see revival circle around heroes who were totally submitted to God, William Booth, John Wesley, Charles Finney, George Whitefield, Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake, and on and on the list goes.

It doesn’t take someone larger than life. St. Francis Assisi even said, if God can use me, he can use anyone. He wasn’t special. He was just someone that decided God would have everything of him.

Go onward, toward ultimate perfection, which is union with God, where God really has all of you, and you are indeed dead to self, and alive to Christ. The self-centered self-controlled life is gone, and your entire will, your seat of decisions is entirely linked to Christ, you are dead to self, and alive to Christ, in how you make choices, you are entirely centered on Christ, and self no longer has control.

What is the end purpose of all this? Enjoyment of God.

Once we are reborn in Jesus Christ, which is justification, and then submitted to God in our will, which is sanctification, which is to be dead to self and alive to Christ, then we are free to find our ultimate eternal purpose: Enjoying God in new and amazing ways for all time in paradise.

There are two positions that I’d like you take, the first is what we’ve been talking about already, to allow the human will to be guided by the Divine will at all times, that is to be led by the Spirit. (Yes, this is truly possible, we can really be led by God at all times.)

Second, is the mindset of simplicity, that God is all. It’s the mindset of total trust, trust as a child trusts a loving parent. In this childlike mindset of simplicity, God is all, we will not be tempted to tinker with God’s word to make it fit our desires, and we will avoid pride as well, which is the sin of Satan, to refuse to accept God’s word and truth as written, and to rebel against it in the heart.

You may think well I don’t do that. Any scripture you reject because you don’t like it, or because it doesn’t fit your theology, or because you can’t emotionally handle it, it is because you have not come to the scripture as a child, you’ve come as one judging the scripture, submit to it instead, as a child, accept it as God’s heart.

One thing I like to remind myself of is this: If I find a scripture I don’t like, I must be wrong. That is submitting the self to God.

You’re probably thinking about someone else right now, someone you believe is wrong about a particular scripture or theological issue, stop that. And look at yourself. “Well, I’m not wrong about anything.” Yes, you are. What scriptures am I ignoring? What emotions am I allowing to twist the scripture?

Simplicity, God is all, approaching as a child, and Spirit-led, self is led by the divine will.

If we keep those two tools in our belt on this pilgrimage road of union with God, then we will always continue on toward the final summit.

But remember this truth: “No one can put himself into union with God. It would not be possible, no matter how great the effort. The soul’s union with God is something God alone does.” -p.136

So could we really push harder and harder down the road of death to self and alive to Christ? No we could not. Paradoxically, on this road which we walk, only God can initiate, sustain, build, and consummate divine union with Him. God acts on us, as we seek Him. We can’t force it to happen through human effort. As Jesus said, human power is of no use at all.

From John 6:63, “63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[e] and life.

“63 What gives life is God's Spirit; human power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God's life-giving Spirit.” -GNT

We humans so quickly return to the flesh to seek God, but all this must be done in the Spirit, step by step, at God’s leading and in God’s timing.

That’s one stumbling block, self effort. Another is stopping on the road and settling for something less. A final stumbling block is pride. Pride would say this is just a bunch of mystical nonsense, and reject it outright. I’ve seen that many times. Our pride rejects it before we even open the door to it. That’s why again, we must approach as a child.

In conclusion, let’s summarize the journey itself. The start of the journey is salvation, we receive Jesus Christ as savior, and we begin our journey to know God deeply.

Many Christians stop there, I got salvation, I’m good, I’m done, and that’s wrong, and dangerous, because the scripture says not all those who say to me lord lord will enter eternal life but only those who do the will of my father in heaven.

Then again what if we really are led by God in our lives, but we’re a fairly average Christian, who honestly loves Jesus and does His will, but we never attain to the level of a John Wesley or a William Booth does that mean we’re going to hell? Not at all.

But the door is open to a deeper walk. What pushes us forward in the journey is the sense that I can go deeper with God. I can seek God more deeply.

And from one point of glory to another we grow in our walk with God. Year by year, through rivers, across dry plains, through deep dark forests, up into the mountains, plateaus, and heights, we grow and grow, until we reach the consummation of the journey, that is, union with God, the self no longer controls us at all, we are led by the Spirit of God, God is all to us, with childlike faith, and so we continue on, until one day, the ultimate end goal is met, when we reach heaven, and find perfect union with God there, forever, which is, enjoyment of God forever, in new and beautiful ways.

Review of Main Points:

1. Part of God’s grace is not showing us all the future steps on the journey

2. God enables us to call out to Jesus for salvation: But the choice remains with you if you will cry out or not

3. God enables us to be slowly changed over time (sanctification) bur we have the choice to be taught by it or reject the learning

4. God will leave a thorn in our flesh to keep us humble and reliant on Him

5. God is not trying to destroy your soul or who you are, but bring out your true self in Christ

6. Avoid the danger of stopping on the journey out of the desire to preserve the old self

7. Revival circles around great heroes of the faith who were entirely submitted to God (God had all of them)

8. Embrace a two-fold mindset: Simplicity, God is all as a child views a parent, and entirely allowing the divine will to guide your will (choices)

9. Paradoxically, we can’t force ourselves into union with God by trying harder, God initiates this deep union with God

10. The final goal in union with God is: Enjoyment in God in this life and for all eternity

Christ in the Heart: It's just that Simple

In all this deep discussion of prayer and God’s presence and turning ourselves toward Him, we must always return to the basic, simple understanding of who Jesus Christ is to us.

You can sit in church your whole life and never let Christ into your heart. You can try very hard to adjust your outward behaviors but never let His love into yourself.

Many I believe who claim to be Christians are actually rebels against God. They are hard at work trying to be good everyday, not because they love God, but because they desire to prove that they are already good.

They may not fully realize it, but they have blocked God out, and their practice of religion is simply trying to be good without God to prove to God that they are good. And that is the road to hell.

If you are in that path right now you’re in great danger. I recall I was at a conference and we at the table were talking about the Lord, talking about God’s presence, and one person at the table became increasingly uncomfortable. As the Spirit surged around that table, she got up and left. It was astonishing. But I wonder, what was really going on inside her? Does she know Jesus or is she trying to be good to prove to God how good she is?

What I want for each of you is to be able to look into your own heart right now and examine yourself, and then look to Jesus Christ the Lord, and then look back at your own heart, and say three words:

“I Know Him.”

And you’ll know its either true, or not true, when you say it in your heart.

“I Know Him.” I really know Him. I know Jesus. Jesus knows me. We are one. He is my savior. I’m his brother. God is my Father. It’s really true.

Now recently I met with a young man in my office who I’ve known for years here. He expressed his love for God. He expressed how he prays. He knows about Jesus. He talks to Jesus. I dare say he may indeed know Jesus in his heart.

But his actions don’t line up with whom he claims.

I’ve seen this many times. Someone who does know Jesus in their heart. But they are living in so many sins. And the excuse he gave me was that everyone sins, you can’t ever be perfect.

Christians do battle sin. But they are not controlled by sin. Sin does not consume them.

For a Christian sin is like walking through an area of puddles. Sometimes you successfully avoid the puddle, in fact as you pay attention more closely, you avoid the puddles more and more effectively.

But occasionally, you step into a puddle, your shoe is soaked in mud, and you shake off your boot, clean it off, and keep going.

That is very different from someone who is in the swamp up to their ankles and rarely sees dry ground.

These are two separate situations that need remedy. I’m sure some of us here are in the first camp. We’ve never really let Jesus into our hearts. We’ve tried so hard to be good without Him. And we’re exhausted and empty, and we need to let His love in to change us from the inside.

Is that you? Repent right now. Invite Jesus in. Call on the name of your savior, Jesus Christ help me!

Second group, you really do know Jesus in your heart, but you’ve allowed sin to dominate your life. You’ve made excuses for it. You’ve rationalized why it’s ok. You’ve ignored the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And you are living a double-life.

And you probably think it’s too late for you. But you would be wrong. It’s not too late.

You can get real with your savior right now, admit to Jesus Christ what you’ve done, and ask for His help. But here’s the hard part, you’ve got to let go of your pride, and let Him be God.

When he tells you to go to AA, you just go, you don’t argue. When he tells you to read that book, or go reconcile with your enemy or old friend, you just do it. Don’t argue. Don’t try to rationalize. Just take that first step of obedience.

And that first step will begin to lead you down a road of real victory where you’ll see sin after sin vanish from your life in the blood of Jesus.

Walk the road of miracles. It takes courage, but in Him, you will find such victory.

I walk that road. It’s a glorious road. You’ll be amazed. Now take the first step. What is Jesus asking you to do? Is to go to rehab? Read a book? Meet with your pastor? Attend a conference? Embrace the road of victory, victory over sin!

In all this we want to return to the simple knowledge of Jesus Christ, the simple relationship to know who Jesus is, to love Him and be loved by Him.

Real inner knowledge of Jesus. What if every pastor and teacher taught their people the simple path of knowing Jesus, His life, His crucifixion, His resurrection, His parables and teachings, the sermon on the mount, and the kind of life he lived?

As Jeanne Guyon said… “We would see the simple farmer, as he plowed his field, spend his days in the blessing of the presence of God. The shepherd, while watching his flocks, would have the same abandoned love for the Lord which marked the early Christians. The factory worker, while laboring with his outward man, would be renewed with strength in his inner man.” -Jeanne Guyon, p. 118

That farmer, that shepherd, that factory worker knows Jesus in their heart. They really know Him. They’ve honestly authentically called on Jesus to save them from who they were, and as a result, they are no longer who they were.

Call on Jesus right now, and ask Him, "Jesus save me from who I am now, and make me someone completely new."

We have to go straight to the heart.

As Jeanne Guyon wrote, “Go straight to the heart! Laying down rules and trying to change the outward behavior will not produce a work that will endure in the life of a Christian.” -Jeanne Guyon, p. 118

I can’t change your outward behavior. Government and laws can’t change your outward behavior. We just find ways to get around the laws or avoid the authorities. Outward rules can’t produce righteousness. Only a heart change can do that. Only total surrender to God can do that. That often comes in a time of crisis in our lives.

For an unsaved person, as you grope toward God in the dark, the heart should be your target. The mind will argue, the mind will rationalize, the mind will justify, the mind will try to dance around the facts, but not the heart. The heart knows that God is real. 

The mind when given apologetics, evidence for God’s existence, explanations for the problem of evil, is able to dodge and weave and escape and argue and create any sort of pathway away from the truth.

But the heart is different. You can tell a person, God is real, you can see it through nature, cosmology, and DNA and so on. But the mind may say well all this is ridiculous, how could there be a God, where did God come from, how could Jesus rise from the dead, it’s all ridiculous!

But when you go to the heart, directly, and indicate to the heart, you know in your heart that God is really real. You also know that you’ve sinned against God. You know you’ve done wrong. And you know deep down that you need a savior. And you know when you read the Bible, something deep inside your heart says, “It may sound odd. Yet I know it’s all true.”

In the heart is where you believe in Jesus and find salvation. In the heart is where you come to a state of desperation strong enough to call out to Him for forgiveness. In the heart is where you come to Him. 

We wrestle in that back and forth between heart and mind, resisting it and embracing the truth, and when that crisis culminates, you will either cry out to Him, or turn further away from Him. But we’re offered that option again and again and again in our lives.

After the heart has been changed, after the heart has given itself over to Jesus, after you’ve allowed Jesus to be the King of your heart, to have authority over you, then, after, we begin to instruct the mind in the ways of God. And from degree to degree the mind is transformed.

And you add power and logic to your faith through apologetics after salvation. You learn the evidences for God’s existence, you learn the scientific facts, you learn the historical realities, you learn the manuscript evidence, and slowly but surely your mind becomes the defender of the heart reality that already exists.

That is all the lead up to salvation, the battle within the heart to be willing to turn oneself over to God completely. That’s surrender to God. That’s asking Jesus to forgive your sins. That’s repenting of your sins and allowing God to remove them from your heart.

Now we’re off on the journey together toward heaven. And so it becomes a daily pattern of seeking God within each day. Because the moment of salvation is not the end of the journey, it’s the beginning.

Now for the believer to prosper they must learn on their own to continuously seek God. Not just in church. Not just on Sunday. But all week.

Jeanne Guyon writes, “Accomplishing all this is very easy. How? Simply teach a believer to seek God within his own heart. Show the new Christian that he can set his mind on Jesus Christ and return to Him whenever he has wandered away.” -Jeanne Guyon, p.121

Does that mean that you actually will? I have no idea if you do or not. I get you for an hour here on Sunday. I pray for you, and I know you pray for each other during the week, but at the end of the day, I don’t actually know if you take any of this and apply it. That’s between you and God. I’ve done my job to tell you plainly what to do next to grow in your relationship with Him.

If you don’t then you’ll have to explain that to God on judgment day. But I’ve done my part.

Your goal should be a single eye on God. As Jeanne Guyon writes:

“Furthermore, show him he should do all and suffer all with a single eye to please his God.” -Jeanne Guyon, p. 121

The goal is, to seek to please God in your life.

Just as much, your goal is to express love for God and be loved by God.

“The simple, undisguised emotions of love express infinitely more to Him than the words of any language.” -Jeanne Guyon, p.123

All this happens in the heart. Love expressed toward God is more important than any words. That’s what God wants. For us to learn to love Him with all of our heart.

This is all very simple salvation in Jesus. Love Him in your heart. Cry out to Him in your heart. Let your heart go to that place of inviting Him in. Let your heart be desperate enough to want Him. Then once being changed by Him, seek to love Him, and please Him the rest of your life. 

Jeanne Guyon writes, “It is amazing and delightful to see that it is the simplest Christians who often progress farthest in an inner relationship with Jesus Christ!” -Jeanne Guyon, p. 123

The greatest heroes of the Christian faith were not necessarily the most brilliant men and women. They were simple people who hungered for God. Brother Lawrence was a dishwasher at a monastery, Madam Guyon was not a pastor, Smith Wigglesworth was a plumber, Peter, James and John were fishermen, it’s the simplest of people who God uses. 

They were simple, but the word of God made them special, because they sought it out so diligently. 

As the scripture says about wisdom: “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says, “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed." -Proverbs 9:4-5

And as Jesus himself said: “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children” -Matthew 11:25

In conclusion, allow God into your heart! It's that simple. It’s in the heart we believe and are saved. Pray right now and invite Him in to save you, to change you, and to lead you down the victorious pilgrimage road to heaven.

Review of Main Points:
1. Avoid the trap of trying to prove to God that you are already good – repent of this evil way, and ask for forgiveness of your sins, and let Jesus change you

2. A true believer is able to say in the heart: “I Know Him”

3. A genuine believer lost in sin can find the victory road in allowing Jesus to direct their pathway out of sin

4. Go to the Heart to find a true knowledge of God, then afterward train the mind to follow what the heart has found in Christ

5. The believer having found their love must now keep their eye on one main purpose: To please God

6. What God wants most from you is for you to honestly love Him, and to honestly receive His love

7. The most simple Christian is often the one who takes the relationship with God the furthest

Finding Rest in the Presence of God

Does God seem far away? Many feel God is far off. They wonder… Can you really experience God? Can you really sense God’s presence? Can you really know God deeply? The answer to those 3 questions is yes.

We can experience God’s presence outside of us, and within us. God isn’t far off. He’s so close we can hardly imagine it.

To know Jesus Christ, to have received Jesus as savior, we now have peace with God. And we begin a journey through this life and toward heaven. As we live day by day we engage in deep relationship with God our Father.

We pray to God. We talk to God. We experience God’s presence. We enjoy fellowship with God.

We’ve learned to increasingly look to the Spirit, and not our own soul, to be led by God.

Now I want to take us to a moment in the journey of Israel through the wilderness. Moses was leading them through the wilderness toward the promised land. God had given them His law, the ten commandments, but the Israelites had made a golden calf and worshiped the false idol, and so God punished them for their sin.

But even after this grievous event, there is hope for Israel. I think we understand that grief of sin! We’ve all been in that place where we realize, oh no, I just sinned against God. I did something very bad. And we feel convicted by the Spirit within us.

So we come to God, and confess our sins, we express sorrow, and we repent, we commit in Christ to not commit that sin again. We make a plan to stay free.

Similarly, Moses is trying to make things right for Israel. So Moses is in this terrible situation, having seen the people betray God and worship an idol. So he goes to meet with God about the situation.

And it says this, "Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.” -Exodus 33:7-11

Moses would constantly go to God, and meet with God. All the people would watch him as he went, and they would worship God while Moses met with the Lord. Isn’t that amazing?

God would then speak with Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Moses was a friend of God! But notice Joshua, Joshua did not leave the tent. Joshua just stayed in the tent, he wanted to be with God all the time. Can we learn to be like Joshua who sought God's presence continuously? 

For Moses and Israel, God was with them in the tent of meeting. But for us as new testament Christians we have the Lord God Almighty living within us. We have the Holy Spirit inside of us. We have become ourselves, body, soul, and spirit, the temple of God (1st Cor 6:19-20).

So, to meet with God, we simply must turn within to His presence within us, and meet with God there.

Jeanne Guyon in her book has constantly referred to the concept of turning our attention to the presence of God within us. We meet with God who is with us. We have had experiences of an outward presence of God. But what about the inward presence of God?

He is so close to us. He is closer than we could imagine.

Point number one, God desires to meet with us, and the cloud of his presence surely descends from outside us, but more so, from within us. God desires to meet with us as a friend, and speak to us.

Your part in that is to turn to Him. Constantly. Jeanne Guyon makes it clear that we should continuously turn to Him. Brother Lawrence taught something similar in his famous book "Practicing the Presence of God."

From time to time we get distracted, and we lose our sense of God’s presence. So we learn to turn again to that presence and focus in on God.

As we do that more and more, we find what David wrote about the Lord, from Psalm 16:8, “I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”

King David had learned to always have an eye on the Lord, all the time. That's wisdom! 

Next, Madam Guyon writes… “To form the act of turning within, that is the goal! When this act has been formed in you, it will express itself as a continual abiding in your spirit and a continuous exchange of love between you and the Lord. Once this goal is attained, there is no longer any need to seek after it by outward acts. You may forget the outward act of trying to love the Lord and to be loved by Him. Instead, just continue on as you are. You should simply remain near to God by this continuous inner abiding.” -Jeanne Guyon, p. 110

Point number two, the goal in turning inward toward God is that we would learn to do it over and over and over again until it’s constant.

That happens slowly for some Christians over years of practice to continuously focus on God, as it says in Hebrews 12:2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus…” we learn to turn our eyes to Jesus over and over again, but the goal is, that we would find a “constant state” where we are continuously abiding in the presence of God. Other Christians may find that place much sooner, by God's grace.

Moses has gone to meet with God about the present situation. And here is their conversation in Exodus 33:12-14, "Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

God says to Moses, I’m going with you. My Presence. The joy of my presence.

It reminds me of Psalm 16:11 David says about God, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” -Psalm 16:11

Point three, to walk with God, we walk in God’s presence, and we find a pathway, and we find joy in life.

But it doesn’t stop there., God also says, “I will give you rest.” Complete rest. Real rest. Wonderful rest.

It’s been an ordeal for Moses. It’s going to be tough going forward. But God says I will give you rest from all your pains and struggles.

We turn inward toward God within us, toward the Spirit, and focus our attention, focus our eyes on Jesus within, we find rest. Our soul calms down, we focus on the Spirit, and we find rest in God.

Point 4, God gives us rest. Is this rest idle? No it is not. It’s not sleeping rest, or taking a nap rest. It’s active rest.

God keeps drawing Moses toward himself. There is a magnetic pull for Moses toward God. It’s the same with us, with God’s Spirit inside of us, we are constantly pulled toward God more and more as we practice going to God when he calls.

When I feel a nudge to pray, I go pray, then the nudge is stronger next time. If I say no, then it’s a bit weaker next time. So we should learn to continuously turn toward God in prayer, practice, and reading of the word of God.

It’s a journey, deeper and deeper into the fullness of God’s presence and power. We grow closer and closer to God in relationship, and eventually we go to be with God in the next life.

The word of God says that the Lord gives the Spirit without limit (John 3:34). We can get as close to God in this life through the Spirit as we want to. There’s no limit to the depths of God and knowing God more and more.

And that will continue on into paradise, the new Jerusalem, the adventure continues to know God more and more deeply… as Jeanne Guyon writes..

"If you were to fall into the sea, and were that sea infinite, you would fall from one depth to another for all eternity. This is how it is with a Christian who is in that place of continuous abiding. He is not even aware of his descent, and yet he is sinking with inconceivable swiftness to the most inward depths of God” -Jeanne Guyon, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, p. 112

I think that’s what heaven is like, each day is even better, as we draw nearer and nearer to God, deeper into His depths, for all eternity. That’s the greatest adventure imaginable, are you ready for that?

Yet at the same time, there is another path, a nightmare, for those who reject God and choose sin. There is hell, the lake of fire, which is I think a different kind of journey, a journey of going further and further away from God, for all eternity.

The word of God talks about the “bottomless pit” (Rev 9:2) where Satan will be cast, and he will fall for all eternity, there is no bottom to that pit, he will just keep falling, an endless sinking, for eternity. Don’t join the enemy there.

Choose the journey toward God through Christ. That’s the road to take. And the adventure continues after death.

That’s our fifth point today, the adventure is to turn toward God and search out his depths (infinitely). But the greatest sorrow is to fall from God (forever).

All of this can be related to a sailing ship. This is a journey. And anyone knows that launching a sailing ship out is not easy. There is a lot of work involved in getting that ship out of port, away from the dock, and out into the deep waters. That takes strenuous activity.



Remember that when it feels hard to pray or hard to read the word or when you don't want to go to church or when you feel far from God. Launching out at first is sometimes hard. Push through. 

That’s our sixth point, sometimes launching out is hard, but be persistent, and you’ll find that place of catching the wind.

“The writer of Ecclesiastes said it: "To everything there is a season." (Ecclesiastes 3:1) This is especially true of your soul. Every state of
transformation the soul passes through has a beginning, a progress, and a consummation. To stop at the beginning of any one of these stages is foolish. You must go through a period of learning, then a period of progress. At first you toil diligently, but at last you reap the fruit of your labor!” -Jeanne Guyon, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, p.113

But as we do the work of seeking God and faithfully following, we eventually find we break through, we row and row and row to get out to open sea, but then at last, we stop rowing, and we open the sails on the ship, and the wind takes the ship, and the captain of the ship simply holds the helm, turning it gently toward the right direction.

That’s what it means to be led by the Spirit not by the soul. The soul is strenuous activity, exhausting, and empty. But when we open the sails and let the Spirit lead, we flow freely.

Point number 7, this is what it means to find rest before God. We are tuned to the presence of God within continually, we are led by the Spirit, and we are empowered by God, and this is not sleep. This is active. It’s blowing on the winds of God, like an eagle rising up, soaring on the winds, at rest, yet flying. The ship at rest, yet moving at a steady pace.

“Now, as you begin to move into Him, He will gradually gain possession of your heart. He gains it in the same way—little by little—that the gentle breeze fills the sails and moves the ship forward. When the winds are favorable, the pilot rests from his work. The pilot rests and leaves the ship to be moved by the wind. Oh, what progress they make without becoming the least bit tired!”
-Jeanne Guyon, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, p. 114

One last thought, remember God is near. Whether you feel or sense God or turn within to Him constantly, he is certainly there either way. Does turning our eyes to Jesus and setting the Lord ever before us cause a seismic shift? It certainly does. But He is with us, even when we don’t sense it.

Review of Main Points:
1. God desires to meet with us.

2. The goal in turning inward toward God is that we would learn to do it over and over and over again until it’s constant.

3. To walk with God, we walk in God’s presence, and we find a pathway, and we find joy in life.

4. God gives us rest.

5. The adventure to turn toward God and search out his depths. But the greatest sorrow is to fall from God forever.

6. Sometimes launching out is hard, but be persistent, and you’ll reap a harvest of spiritual growth.

7. Real rest before God is active rest, like a sailing ship moving by the wind blowing in it's sails. So it is when we rest in the leading of the Spirit. 

How to Align Your Soul with the Spirit: Discerning God's Voice from your Inner Voice

I remember early on as a Christian I had a dream. I had listening to different ministries and churches and I was just learning the faith. I remember having a dream one night that I was at this church, big, with many people.

But it all felt dead, empty, and I left the building. Outside the building I saw this beautiful river down in this valley. And I felt drawn to the river. I saw in the river people swimming in the river. And I did the same and began swimming in the river. And it was joyous. And I found purpose in that river. A path to guide me.

I never knew what that dream meant until recently I was thinking about it as a I prepared this message. Most of the modern church is not really led by the Spirit. They are led by the soul. They do what they want to do, and call it Christian. But to be truly Christian is to be led by the Spirit, not by the soul of man. The church today must learn to swim the river of the leading of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise we will never know the power of God and the path of His will. 

Have you ever had an experience where you knew that God was telling you to do something? Go pray with that person. Send that person an encouraging message. Pray for this person right now. Go and visit that friend and help them.

But part of you resists the leading of God. And you ask yourself, “Did God really say that? Or am I just making that up in my own mind?”

So you begin to wrestle back and forth, should I do it, should I not do it? What do I do? You feel the conviction of the Spirit more and more. And eventually hopefully you decide, alright, I’m going to do that. And you go do it.

What was happening there? You were wrestling within between your soul and your spirit. Your spirit received instructions from God and told you what you needed to do. But your soul got in the way and started questioning and resisting the leading of the Spirit of God.

This has happened to me many, many times! I’m sure it has for you. Now how about this one, have you ever been super excited and felt that you needed to go minister to this person, but then it went really bad and it was clear after, that it wasn’t God at all, but your own self? Again, the soul got in the way, and attempted to speak for the spirit.

But before we go further let’s talk about the structure of you as a human being.

Did you know that God reveals himself to us in three ways, as God the Father, as Jesus Christ the son of God, and as the Holy Spirit, the indwelling presence of God.

That’s interesting isn’t it?

You also are made up of different parts, you have a soul, your spirit, and your physical body.

That’s our first point today, you are soul, spirit, and body, as one.

Your physical body is just that, your body, your flesh and blood, and cells and organs and your five senses.

Your soul is you, the word for soul in the Greek actually means “breath.” Because it says in Genesis 2:7 that God breathed the breath of life into the man, he gave man a soul.

When a woman gets pregnant, the child is born as flesh, as a baby, but God puts a soul into that body.

So your soul is you. A puff of air you might say. Breathed out by God.

You also have your spirit. Your spirit is your higher self, your intuition, your inner light, your desire for something greater, your connection to God.

Before becoming a Christian, all three were very broken, soul, body, spirit. The soul was darkened and sinful. The spirit was focused on earthly things, broken, unable to connect with God, and the body was cursed and subject to physical death.

But once becoming a Christian, the soul begins a process of change, the body hopes for the promised resurrection after death, and the spirit is filled with the Holy Spirit and learns to be in connection to God.

Second point, even as a Christian we still battle between the Spirit and the self. The Spirit within calls us to live for God, but the flesh within wants us to focus on ourselves and our own needs.

The soul wants to go it’s own way. I battle that myself from time to time. I want to do what I want to do. But the Lord guides us to die to self, and live by the Spirit’s leading.

That happens every time I’m in conflict within between what my soul wants and what my spirit wants. And when I let the spirit lead the way, the soul comes into alignment with the spirit and they act as one.

That’s really the topic and goal for today: How do we bring our Soul into alignment with our spirit?

Secondarily, we are also looking at how this brings peace to our souls.

Jeanne Guyon gets into this topic of soul vs. Spirit in chapter 21 of her book. She says, “You see, when your soul is active on its own-that is, active apart from the activity of the Spirit-then by it’s very nature its activity is forced and strained! The soul’s effort in prayer is always that of anxiety and striving. This is actually to your advantage! You can easily distinguish when the soul is functioning.” -Jeanne Guyon, chapter 21, p. 94-95.

Third point, In prayer align the soul with the Spirit’s lead.

I can tell when I’m praying from the soul because it’s forced and awkward. But sometimes it’s necessary to start there. Then, at some point in the prayer as I begin to focus on the Spirit, the Spirit takes over, and the prayer suddenly becomes very natural.

“When the soul is responding to the Spirit, the action is free, easy and natural. It will seem that you are putting forth almost no effort at all.” -Jeanne Guyon, p. 95

So you’re probably wondering, when I pray, how do I let the Spirit lead? Honestly I think the best way is simply inviting Him, say, “Holy Spirit please guide these prayers.” And He will. God wants to be invited in. Other times though, you may not need to ask, it will happen naturally as you think about the Spirit, or as you simply draw near to God in your heart. It will come together beautifully.

Fourth point, hold your soul at peace. The soul will want to engage in strenuous effort and activity. Instead, hold the soul at peace.

Be still in the presence of the Lord, as the song says. Quiet the soul, and let the Spirit lead.

(2 slides – illustrations of soul led vs spirit led)

The soul will tend toward stress, anxiety, activity. Quiet that down, and draw near to God. And God will draw you. And you’ll find yourself drifting toward Him in your heart.

Quiet the soul, bring the soul to peace, which is stillness before God. Passiveness, simply wanting what God wants without any reservations.

Then, with the soul quiet, the goal is to operate from the spirit, and hear God’s Spirit and follow Him. But how do we do that?

As Jeanne Guyon wrote, “The Lord speaks to your spirit; He calls you to follow Him by drawing your center where there is only Himself. So your spirit is attracted first. You, in turn, follow the attraction of the center. You do so by turning your attention and all the powers of your soul on Him…” -Jeanne Guyon, Ch. 21, p. 97

How can I tell the difference between my internal voice and God’s leading? I’ve gotten myself into trouble a few times by thinking my internal voice was actually God’s voice.

So how do I tell the difference?

Fifth point, changes brought by God’s word will separate the voice of soul and spirit, so we can discern God’s voice from our own.

Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

The word of God is alive and active and able to divide between the soul and the spirit, to help you discern which is which.

As the word of God changes you, as you study it, learn it, and apply it your life, you will naturally know the voice of God from your own inner voice.

It’s a journey though. So if you aren’t there yet, don’t worry. Continue to diligently study God’s word, and God’s word will change you. Your own inner voice will grow more and more submissive to God’s leading.

The trouble occurs in the soul. The soul wants things to go a certain way. I want this outcome in this situation. So I will get in there and speak for God with my soul to try to manipulate what’s happening.

But I’ve noticed more and more as my reverence for God increases and my fear of the Lord increases, my own inner voices becomes more quiet. And I simply listen for the leading of God.

I’m not there yet myself. I still want my own way in situations. I’m desperate for a particular outcome. But from where I was two years ago, to today, it’s a world of difference. I misread God a lot less today.

I think in the end, we will at some point come to a mindset where we can really say, “I just want whatever God wants to happen.”

We allow God’s word to slowly separate the voice of the soul from the voice of the spirit, and then we submit the soul to the spirit.

It’s tough right. It’s surrender, total surrender of our will to God. “I just want whatever God wants.” What is the purpose of this molding and surrender?

Sixth point, the purpose in all this is restorative. Prep school for paradise.

Originally in the Garden of Eden, had the fall never taken place, we would naturally live every moment by the Spirit’s leading. Our souls would be entirely united with God in our spirit.

But because of the fall, man lost the ability to contain the life of God (p. 99). We became worldly minded, focused on jobs, bills, family, pride, stuff, ball games, and new tech. The soul, like Adam and Eve did, began to try to play god apart from god. And that doesn’t work.

Jesus Christ within, the Holy Spirit at work through us, all of this is training us, and getting us ready for life in heaven. A entirely new, permanent lifestyle of walking in union with God. That’s pleasure beyond imagining, exciting, creative, and joyous. It’s a state of joy. And the joys of heaven are new every day, each day it just keeps getting better. It’s not boring, it’s more exciting and wonderful than you could imagine.

You’ll live a day in the New Jerusalem and it will feel so balmy and perfect and beautiful, but you’ll know, tomorrow is going to be even better. Because it’s an adventure with God, that just keeps getting better and more amazing and wondrous and exciting each day.

The purpose of learning to align your soul with the Spirit is an instruction manual for living in heaven.

Point number seven, in allowing your soul to follow the Spirit, you will come into union with God.

Jeanne Guyon writes, “Now we have come to the final, deepest experience with God – the ultimate Christian experience. It is union with God.”

“The experience of union begins very simply when there is born in you a desire for God. And when is that? When the soul begins to turn inward to the life of the Spirit; when the soul begins to fall under the powerful, magnetic attraction of the Spirit. At this point, an earnest desire for union with God is born! Once your soul has begun to turn within to the Spirit, it moves nearer and nearer to God. This is the progress toward union.

Finally the soul is one spirit with Him. It is here at last that the soul, which has wandered so far away from God, returns again to the place for which it was created! You must enter this realm. Why? Because this is the purpose of all God’s working in you.” -Jeanne Guyon, Ch.21, p.102-103

Do you get it? It’s a journey. As a Christian you go from not being led by the Spirit really very much at all. To slowly desiring to follow God. To chasing after the Spirit more and more, slowly aligning your soul’s will with the Spirit’s lead. Finally, you’re one in spirit with the Lord. And you find yourself at the place where you were made to dwell, one with God, one with His leading. One with His purposes.

All God’s work in your, forgiveness of sins, the new birth, sanctification, spiritual growth, spiritual warfare, temptations, trials, joys and triumphs, all of it has this one purpose: To bring you into union with God, in a way that you follow His leading without any hesitation. Your soul is submitted to the Spirit, and it’s perfect. You go from stress and struggle in the soul, fighting against God’s leading, until we surrender, and surrender again, day by day, year by year, chasing the magnetic pull of the Spirit, until we find ourselves at one with the Spirit.

And who is this Spirit? It is the Spirit of Jesus Christ. We find ourselves at one with our savior Jesus Christ, and in alignment with the Father in Heaven ultimately.

Review of Main Points:
1. You are soul, spirit, and body, as one.

2. Even as Christians we still battle between the soul & spirit.

3. Align the soul with the Spirit’s lead in Prayer

4. Hold your soul at peace, work from the spirit

5. Changes brought by God’s word will separate the voice of soul and spirit, so we can discern God’s voice from our own.

6. The purpose in all this is restorative, Prep school for paradise

7. In allowing your soul to follow your spirit, you will come into alignment with God, which is called “Union with God”

Guard your Heart: Block the Evil, Bring in the Gold

Have you ever had a conversation or experience, or a moment in your life that you took to heart?

You took it to heart. It impacted you so deeply that it stayed with you through your whole life.

I remember numerous experiences in my life that I took to heart. It affected me in a way that it went deep down inside me. It went into my heart and changed my life forever.

There are also terrible negative experiences that I unfortunately “took to heart” as well and they damaged my heart. I'm sure the same is true for you.

But God can redeem anything. He can take something meant to hurt us and turn it into a testimony.

The goal every Sunday is that you would, during the service, take things to heart, whether it’s something said in a prayer, or a line from one of the worship songs, or a word during the sermon.

The goal is you would notice a nugget of truth throughout the service, and stop on it, and say: "That is something I’m going to take to heart."

So you see something very beautiful with growing Christians. They’ve gathered all these gold nuggets of truth, and fashioned them into beautiful things, and they are a tree decorated with hundreds of gold nuggets of biblical truth.

They’ve carefully listened to allow the word of God to really change their hearts over time.

I think we naturally have things that go into our mind from the message. That’s a good thing, we want knowledge for the mind, but something powerful happens when it hits the heart. Something in the message we "get." We realize how profound it is, and we allow it to sink into our heart.

Or not. 

That’s why you’ll see people who have gone to church for 30, 40, 50 years but they are still unsaved. It’s all gone in the mind. And it’s never gone into the heart. And so they’ve been in church for 40 years but they’ve never been changed by the message. They’ve never allowed it to go in.

There’s a scripture from Proverbs chapter 4 that helps us understand the heart.

It a prescription you might say, for a young believer, a prescription for good heart health.

What does your doctor say when you’re having heart issues? They give you a prescription. They give you a list of foods to eat, foods to not eat.

This is a prescription from God about how to minister to our hearts.

It says this, Proverbs 4:20-23, “My son, pay attention to what I say;
turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them
and health to one’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.”

The first point today is that only God can really change your heart. If you don’t have Jesus in your heart today, then there’s no point in studying about how to keep your heart healthy or how to guard it or anything else, your heart is not able to do anything truly useful apart from Christ.

So what you’ve got to do is give your heart to Jesus right now, and invite God to change your heart.

As the scripture says, Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

That’s the cry of the psalmist, and it finds it’s completion in Jesus Christ.

It say again in Ezekiel 36:26 ESV, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

So if you have a stone heart today, but you feel Jesus tugging at your heart, invite Him in today, become born again, and then you’ll be able to consider the next steps.

The second point for today is that we want to “keep the word of God in our hearts.”

Now that Jesus has given us a new heart, our job is to continue to feed the word of our God into our hearts.

We do this by studying the word, praying the scriptures, listening to the word read aloud, and by listening to sermons and messages.

We allow the word to affect our hearts. Or we block it from our heart, and it all goes into the mind, and that knowledge puffs us up with pride. But we never change. That's dangerous. Don't block the word, let it in! 

The third point for today is to “guard your heart with all diligence, for all you do flows from it.”

There are many influences in the world. I often see Christians who are young in their faith and they get stuck. They get stuck in sins. They get stuck in their walk. They stop growing.

And often what I see is that they’ve got a spout, a faucet running into the heart, and what’s coming from that faucet is filth and slime. And it’s pouring like a mighty river into their heart. And then they are shocked that they aren’t growing and are living double-minded and trapped in sin.

Turn off that spout! What is that spout? It’s the influences of the world that are being poured into your heart from television, movies, news media, radio, billboards, wrong friendships, wrong relationships, and worldly influences. You’ve got to turn off those sources and replace them all with Christian content, Christian movies, Christian sermons, Christian radio, Christian friendships, and Christian influences.

And as you do, you turn off the bad spigot and you turn on the pure spigot, and instead of filth, pure living water of God’s word is flowing into your heart and pretty soon you begin to grow in your faith once again.

Guard your heart. That’s the goal. Don’t let those things into your heart. Because once something gets control of your affections it’s very hard to get rid of, only Jesus can remove it once it’s there.

I’ll give you an example, at one point in my life, I let drugs into my heart. I really loved drugs. And once it’s there, something loved and cherished, it’s very hard to get rid of. I had to go to treatment, detox, and pray, and seek God, and it was a whole ordeal to get rid of it.

Another example, is you’ll see a woman who falls in love with a guy and she lets him into her heart. This is a beautiful thing when it’s done in marriage and happens in God’s will. But sex traffickers have discovered, that if they can get a woman to fall in love with them, they can then control that woman later, and turn them into a prostitute, and force them to work for them.

That’s the power of what we let into our hearts.

Next point, God can set you free even if it’s in your heart. So if you’ve allowed something into your heart that has control, surrender it to God, he can set you free. You may need treatment though. You may a need a bit of detox. You may need to go deep with a counselor or pastor. But don’t give up hope. You can be free.

So to review, let God’s word go deep into the heart.

At the same time guard your heart, because sin is knocking at the door, trying to get us addicted.

But there’s more to that scripture in Proverbs 4, in verses 24-27 it says, “Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”

Have you ever seen an old castle from the medieval era? There’s the main keep, and surrounding the keep is a wall, but then there is another longer wall along the outside, sort of a second line of defense.

Your heart is the keep. And you must guard it with the inner wall.

But there is a second level of defense, an outer wall, and here we see what the outer wall is. It's your senses. And there are gates where your senses take in information along the wall. We must guard these gates carefully. 

First, we need to guard the mouth gate.

Guard what you speak. I know this one from experience. I’ve been free from cussing for a while now. But there’s been a few times over the years where I got very upset and let a cuss out.

And it’s amazing how hard it was to get it gone again. Once you start cussing, or slandering others, or gossiping, it’s very hard to stop.

The word says the tongue is, "set on fire by hell." Once hell sets it afire, only a cold splash of the Holy Spirit can put it out. Without God's help, it just goes, burns and burns, like a blazing fire.

Guard what you say. Guard the mouth gate. Because once the mouth is uttering garbage, it’s hard to get it to stop, and that gate can lead to the inner gate, the heart.

It also says guard your eyes. “25 Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.”

Watch what you look at! That’s another pathway for the enemy to get bad things into your heart.

Guard the eye gate.

Watch what you look at. Watch what movies you view. Watch what you focus on. Keep your focus on the goal, which is Jesus Christ, and the gospel message.

I watched a movie recently, very popular, but I knew there was a nude scene in it somewhere. But I really wanted to see the movie, it was historical and interesting. So I carefully watched the movie trying to guard against the nude scene, but sure enough, it came on so quickly I couldn't block it, and even to this day that image remains in my mind of that scene. How terrible! We can't unsee the things we see. We can be forgiven. But our mind remembers. 

Lastly, guard your pathways, the place you go.

It says Proverbs 4:26-27, “Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”

You know what they say, if you hang out at the barber shop long enough you’ll end up getting a haircut.

Guard the Foot gate.

Don’t hang out with the wrong people. Don’t hang out in the wrong places. Follow God’s leading for your life. You’ll know if you aren’t in the right place. You’ll know because God will tell you. You will sense it, "something isn't right here."

Don’t turn to the left or right, keep walking the path God has for you. That is the challenge in life.

Don’t get distracted. Keep walking God’s pathway. That’s another gate, where you go, where you walk, where you step, a gate that you must guard.

Guard the outer gates, your senses. Guard the inner gate, your heart. Allow in the right content, block the wrong content, and you will be stable as Christian. You'll gain victory over double-mindedness. You'll become a single-minded Christian. But if you allow in the filth along with the pure, you'll always find yourself double-minded and as a consequence, unstable in your walk with Christ. 

Review of Main Points:

1. Only God can truly change your heart (through Jesus Christ)

2. Keep the Word of God in your heart (Let the message affect your heart)

3. Guard your heart with all diligence (Block the filth from your heart)

4. God can remove something bad from your heart (Surrender it to Him)

5. Guard the Mouth Gate (Speak life, guard against evil speech)

6. Guard the Eye Gate (Look at what is good, avoid what is evil)

7. Guard the Foot Gate (Follow God’s path, avoid dangerous situations)

Consumed with God: The Pursuit of God

My wife tells me that I sometimes become nearly obsessed with certain things. I get so focused on something it consumes me. I fall into the pool after staring into it too long. Are you like that?

I have a bit of an obsessive addictive personality. I want it and I want more. I want to learn more. I want to go all in. If I go I want to touch the bottom.

For many years, my obsession was self-destruction. I slowly destroyed myself in the grips of addiction. I was all in for self destruction. I loved it. I got off on it. I thought it was funny. Desperate laughter. And my punishment was waiting for me in the next life.

Once I became a Christian, a follower of Jesus, I put away self destruction. I chose life, to live and build a new life around a new banner. The banner of God’s kingdom.

It starts by plunging in. You have to cry out to Jesus Christ, believing that he really can change your heart. You go from there to church to learn the gospel, forgiveness of sins and what it all means but it starts with crying out in prayer

Then begins a slow take over of your heart by God. The journey of faith goes on for years, of slow growth.

But I think at some point, we want to move toward going all in for God.

We are consumed by God completely… while our obsession used to be selfishness and self destruction and we were very excited about that, we now pursue knowing God with abandon.

That’s our first point today, pursue God with abandon. Can you do that? Can you learn to love doing that?

I used to love to sit down to drink and smoke weed, and we had our little rituals, places, times, and we went all in for that.

It reminds me of the parable of the treasure in a field, the man finds out this treasure is in this field, so he sells everything he owns to buy the field. He goes all in for this new thing.

There is something exciting and freeing and liberating about going a bit crazy for God.

Early on I said to myself, "I’m going to go all in for this Christian thing." I’m going to do things like pray for an hour at a time or more. I’m going to listen to worship music all day. I’m going to fast for days.

You hit the ground running. I did that 11 years ago and I never looked back. It became my new mission.

I always do things 100%, when it was self destruction, it was destroying myself with all my might. Today it’s chasing God with 100% effort.

Luke 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Yet very quickly as I began my relentless pursuit of God, knowing God, knowing His word, I found things in the way in my life, things that we call sins.

I knew it said in the word Romans 6:1l, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Point number two today, to pursue God means to break free from sins.

So I began surrendering my sins to God, and repenting of them. Sometimes they went quickly, other times it took longer to be free. Addictions were challenging to be free from, but with support groups like Celebrate Recovery and other twelve step fellowships, there was hope. Same thing with sexual sin, also very difficult to break free from.

Galatians 5:24 “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

The flesh had to be crucified, my old ways to acting, my old sin patterns, they had to change, and slowly God changed my thinking to fix what was once broken.

Slowly but surely that began to take place. I really didn’t want to leave behind my old selfish ways. But God helped me to see there was a better way.

Yet I knew it would take more than that to be truly in pursuit of God, truly consumed in God.

It would take surrendering my will to God.

That’s our third point today, let God’s will be done in your daily life.

I would need to begin to let God lead my life in a very practical way. Lord, what’s next? Lord where do you want me? God will direct every step of your life. He will make your crooked places straight, if you let Him.

As it says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

And again in John 3:30, John the Baptizer said about Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

All of this occurs dear friends not by strenuous effort, though as we surrender things to God he may give us footwork to do. But no, all of this is done very paradoxically.

It’s done by coming to God over and over and more and more deeply.

We come to God over and over in the power of love, His love for us, our love for Him, and this love melts us. 

That’s our fourth point, let God’s love and power melt you.

Here we find it extremely useful to be a maniac like myself who is obsessive about the things he puts effort into. If I do something, I go all in, so with God, I go all in. I pursue God relentlessly. 

And I fear God. That’s my secret weapon. I really honestly fear God. Not just reverence. But honestly fear, terror even. Is that bad? No. It’s good. It’s so good. It’s victory. It’s the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom (Proverb 1:7, 2 Cor 7:1).

But just as much, I love God and the love of God convinces me to want to do right. 

So with the fear of the Lord and the love of the Lord, I find victory within, through two motivations guiding me toward the right, fear and love. 

In all this, I strive to get as close to God as possible. And by getting closer and closer to God, the self falls away. Melts away.

Two factors are at work causing the melting, the fear of the Lord melts self away from one angle of trembling and fear and concern to want to do God’s will. Just as love, the hot powerful love of God melts me away. Then, in the boldness of a child who knows he is loved, I'm able to strike out from a place of strength. These two things burn away the dross and I become the man I was always meant to be. 

This occurs practically in long prayer times, in times of silence, in times of meditation on the word of God, and deep study of the word. But primarily this relationship is drawn into through prayer.

“What is prayer? Prayer is a certain warmth of love. Ah, but more! Prayer is a melting! Prayer is a dissolving and an uplifting of the soul. This warmth of love, this melting, this dissolving and uplifting causes the soul to ascend to God. As the soul is melted, sweet fragrances begin to rise from it. These fragrances pour forth from a consuming fire of love ... and that love is in you. It is a consuming fire of love in your inmost being, a fire of love for God.” -Jeanne Guyon

The love of god, the fear of the Lord, these things get us ready for the final point today, which is to forsake self and be lost in God.

Point number five, annihilation of self brings a void which God fills in you. In this you pass into God, you are consumed by Him, and He becomes your all.

“But how do you pass into God? By forsaking your self that you may be lost in Him! You can be lost in Him only by the annihilation of the self. And what has that to do with prayer? The annihilation of self is the true prayer of worship! It is a prayer you must learn—learn in all the totality of its deepest possible meaning. This is the experience that renders to God, and to God alone, all "blessing, honor, glory, and power, forever and ever." -Jeanne Guyon

Jeanne Guyon calls this a prayer of worship, to allow your fleshly self, your lower nature, to be completely annihilated by God.

It’s either all or nothing. In fact scripture very much speaks in those kinds of terms. God must have all of you. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. There is no partial, its all or nothing. Jesus said you’re either with me or against me. There is no middle position.

Jeanne Guyon continues… 

“Dear reader, there are, in fact, only two truths: the All and the Nothing. Everything else is a lie. God is All; you are nothing. The only way you can pay due honor to God is by your own annihilation. As soon as this wonderful work is done, God moves in.” -Jeanne Guyon

When you allow God to completely take over, you draw so near to Him that the fleshly self is no longer in control, but truly crucified, as the scriptures tell us it must be, then God moves in and reigns in us.

We’ve all met those rare Christians who are really led by the Spirit of God. They are really living crucified lives. And it's beautiful.

I often wonder what that looks like, how do I have that? How do I know I’m living that? It means I’m really totally given over to God’s leading in my life. Nothing resists Him in me any longer.

As Jeanne Guyon says…

“It is true first when God becomes the Master and Lord within you so completely that nothing in you resists His dominion. It is then that your inner being, your spirit, is His kingdom. That is when God possesses you.” – Jeanne Guyon

As Jesus said, “the Kingdom of God is within you.” When we are really crucified with Christ, and we no longer live, but Christ lives in us, God really possesses us. We really are Christians, disciples in the world, following the leading of our Master.

Does that seem too tall of an order? I’m sure that’s what you're thinking. Certainly that can’t be possible, can it? Can we really be consumed by God, totally surrendered to Him, truly “dead to self” and ‘alive to Christ”?

It is true. It is also truly a miracle from God when it happens. But you must strike out in bold belief that can God and will do it in you. Just believe that. Don’t argue with it. Don’t stress over it. Don’t ring your hands over it. Don’t doubt. Just simply believe that God can do anything in you.

Then it’s not just possible, but it will certainly happen if you pursue it. Like a wild man, a bit obsessive, doggedly. 

I want all of Jesus, or I want none. I will not go half way. Have the same attitude. All of this. It’s much more fun that way friends. Honestly, when you start getting deep into Christianity, into the supernatural elements, the healing, the dreams, the visions, the gospel spreading revivals, the spiritual gifts, the fasting, angels and demons, spiritual warfare, this is exciting stuff! It’s not boring. It’s when you hang out on the fence and go lukewarm that it’s boring and pointless. When you go all in, it’s an amazing adventure beyond description.

In all this, the purpose is to enjoy God by allowing God to have all of us. That is our destiny, what we were made for, to enjoy God forever!

“…in His kingdom there is fulness of joy. Our ultimate purpose is to enjoy God ... in this life. To enjoy God! This is the very purpose for which we were created.” -Jeanne Guyon

Let’s Review our Main Points:

1. Pursue God with abandon

2. Pursuing God means breaking free from sin

3. Let God will be done in your life

4. Self melts away as we seek God in prayer in fear and love

5. Annihilation of self/flesh brings God’s presence within, which is His kingdom come, and enjoyment of God

Confession & Repentance from Sins: How does it Work?

"Professor Drummond once described a man going into one of our after meetings and saying he wanted to become a Christian.

"Well, my friend, what is the trouble?"

He doesn't like to tell. He is greatly agitated. Finally he says, "The fact is, I have overdrawn my account" -- a polite way of saying he has been stealing.

"Did you take your employer's money?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

"I don't know. I have never kept account of it."

"Well, you have an idea you stole $1,500 last year?"

"I am afraid it is that much."

"Now, look here, sir, I don't believe in sudden work; don't steal more that a thousand dollars this next year, and the next year not more that five hundred, and in the course of the next few years you will get so that you won't steal any. If your employer catches you, tell him you are being converted; and you will get so that you won't steal any by and by."

My friends, the thing is a perfect farce! "Let him that stole, steal no more," that is what the Bible says. It is right about face.

Christian growth is gradual, just as physical growth is; but a man passes from death unto everlasting life quick as an act of the will -- "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." -D.L. Moody, Moody's Anecdotes, pp. 99 - 100.

Today we’re talking about confession and repentance of sins, and how it works. But first we must distinguish between two types of repentance.

The first repentance is the repentance that takes place when we first receive Jesus Christ as savior. This is a change of mind that leads to a change of action.

We go from a state of unbelief in God, and through various means we come to believe that Jesus Christ really is Lord. We feel grieved over our sins and we ask God through Christ to forgive us our sins. God forgives our sins and we repent, we hate those sins, mourn those sins, and reject those sins. We know that Christ had to die to pay for them. So we believe on Jesus and we repent away from our past sins.

This repentance and confession is a great thing. It’s how we turn away from the world and toward Christ. It’s salvation. It’s glorious.

But mainly today I would like to talk about the second kind of repentance/confession. It’s the repentance of a Christian after they get saved.

You’re a Christian, you love Jesus, you pray, read your bible, attend church, all that good stuff. But you get tempted one day, and you sin.

Maybe you stole something. You lied on your taxes. You committed masturbation. You cussed at someone. You are holding unforgiveness in your heart toward someone who hurt you.

These are what you call sins. And what happens to someone that sins? Someone that sins is doing something against God.

So what do you do? You know you’ve done something bad. You’re feeling convicted about it. Conviction burns within you. That’s the Holy Spirit inside you telling you that you did something wrong.

What do you do? You bring it up to a church elder or pastor.

Depending on what church you attend, you may get several different answers.

At one church they may say, well, you shouldn’t have done that, but it doesn’t matter, you can sin as much as you want as a Christian.

Not true or helpful.

At a second church, they may say well, you need to ask God’s forgiveness and repent of that sin, but, it doesn’t affect your salvation. You can sin as much as you want because your once saved always saved. It may upset your relationship with God, but it doesn’t affect your salvation.

Partially true, but still not helpful. You’ve made repentance optional. You could repent, if you want to have a better relationship with God, but if you don't, it doesn't matter, it won't affect your salvation. Which isn't true or biblical. 

At a third church, they may say well, you’ve lost your salvation. You're doomed now. Again, not helpful or true.

Here’s what I tell my people: You’ve sinned against God. You’ll want to bring the sin to God and ask God’s forgiveness, and then repent. Then you’ll want to take action to try to make sure that the sin doesn’t happen again. Join a support group, or see a Christian counselor, or access resources to help you fight that sin in the Spirit. If you don’t repent, you’ll be in danger of losing your salvation, of falling away over time, because sinning willfully after receiving the truth is deadly and dangerous (Hebrews 10:26). 

When a Christian sins they must follow the teaching of 1 John 1:9, which is speaking to believers when it says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

And again in Revelation 3:19 ESV says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”

But you may be wondering, how do I know if I have unrepentant sin in my life? Do I need to search it out?

Jeanne Guyon, in Experiencing the Depths of Jesus shares about this topic:

“Please understand this fact: It is not your diligence, it is not your examination of yourself that will enlighten you concerning your sin. Instead, it is God who does all the revealing.” -Jeanne Guyon, p. 74

God will reveal it to you. I think your part is to examine yourself. If you have a strong relationship with God I think it will be very clear and obvious. If you aren’t as close, I think it may be less obvious.

A few times a week, in the past, I would go before God, and simply ask Him to examine me. And God would certainly do that, and he would reveal anything that needed to be dealt with in me.

You’ll sense that God is searching you. Simply allow God to bring out anything in prayer that is troubling to the Lord.

“You might say that when this brilliant light, which is Christ Himself, shines on you and in you, you are under examination. An examination is being given to you by God when this happens. Since it is your Lord who is doing this, and no one else, you should simply remain peaceful and calm before Him as He carries out this exposing.” -Jeanne Guyon, p. 73

I encourage you to you pray right now and invite God to examine you.

Prayer: “Father, we bring ourselves before you. We step into the light, as Jesus Christ is the Light, and we ask that you would expose anything in us that is displeasing to you. Bring these things to mind Lord, and guide us to repent of them and ask your forgiveness, in Jesus name, amen.”

Your first instinct when you sin may be to hide it. But that isn’t the right thing to do. God still sees it. And he will hold us accountable for our sins, even as a Christian.

Jesus has paid the price for sin. But if we sin afresh, we must repent afresh and ask forgiveness afresh.

That’s why the Lord’s prayer includes “forgive us our sins.” Because it’s a repeated process. If we sin in the future, we must bring it again to the Lord, ask His forgiveness, and repent before Him. And we are cleansed afresh of that sin as well.

Many Christians wonder, "Are future sins already forgiven?" They are not. That's why we're told by 1 John 1:9 if we sin we must confess and repent of it when it happens. Those in the reformed camp repeat a phrase "past, present, and future" sin is already forgiven. The more Arminian camp would say that past sins are forgiven, future sins must be brought to God afresh and repented of. 

The fountain of Jesus Christ is available not only when we first get saved, but also along the way toward heaven. That is the amazing grace of God. At the moment of salvation he forgives all our past sin. But even if we sin in the future, if we bring it to Him, he forgives us again. That is amazing my friends! 

Let's talk more about what happens after we sin. Sin will produce in us sorrow after we do it.

As it says in 2 Corinthians 7:10 ESV, "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death."

We will know we’ve done wrong. We will feel grieved. And we will want to seek forgiveness.

Please do so! Bring it to God in prayer. Ask His forgiveness in Jesus. Then repent, as best you are able in the Spirit. Then make plans to make sure the sin doesn’t happen again.

What about confession? Well, you’ll always want to confess it to God. But there are times when you may want to confess it to a friend or pastor or elder. If it involves your friend, you may need to confess it to them. Or if the sin seems stuck, like you aren’t able to repent effectively, or it keeps happening, you may need to bring it to a pastor or elder or friend, and talk about it, confess it to them, and ask them to pray for you as well.

What counts is how you proceed into the future. If 10 years ago you repented and believed in Jesus, but today you live in constant sin, does that mean you’re justified? No, you’re headed toward hell. You've fallen from grace. 

But if you’ve sinned the last 10 years and then you repent today and believe in Jesus, you’re now headed toward heaven, and the goal is to continue in righteousness to the end.

As it says in Ezekiel 18:21-25, “But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

“But if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die.”

If you continue in Christ, you will live. If you repent of Christ and embrace sin, you will die. It’s just that simple.

Daily repentance helps us stay on the right track, with Jesus, to the very end.

But again, all of this is about relationship with God. The closer you are with God through Jesus, in prayer and bible reading, the more intimate your contact, the more rare sin will become.

As Jeanne Guyon said…

“Once you have established such a relationship with your Lord, you will soon discover that no fault in you escapes the reproof of God. For instance, as soon as you commit a sin, you are immediately rebuked by an inward sense. It will be a kind of deep, inward burning ... a tender confusion. You see, all things are exposed under the piercing glance of your Lord. He will not allow any sin to be hidden or concealed.” -Jeanne Guyon, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ

In my own life I’ve found the examination of the Lord is near constant. If I sin in some way, it’s immediately plain to me, and I repent quickly in the moment.

As Jeanne Guyon said…

“Continue in this experience with your Lord. After a period of time of experiencing Him in this way, the Lord will become more and more the constant examiner of your soul. It will not be you examining yourself, nor will it be seasonal. It will be the Lord, constantly.”

So in conclusion, recognize that sinning after becoming a Christian does have real consequences. It can land you in hell if you persist in it, or die in that sin. I know many lukewarm voices in the church today will tell you that sin has no affect on your salvation, don’t believe them! Sin leads to hell. 

Jesus came to die to remove our sins, so how can we any longer live in them? (Romans 6:1). At the same time, don’t panic, don’t go crazy, you don't need to live in constant fear of losing your salvation. Just recognize that if you sin, you need to bring it to God in prayer, ask His forgiveness, and then repent, and God will help you to live clean and pure in this life. As it says in the word, “Be holy, for He is holy” (1st Peter 1:15-16).

Let’s Review Our Main Points:

1. First Repentance occurs the moment we are saved, we repent of sin in general and put our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord

2. Lifestyle Repentance occurs after we’re already a Christian

3. Living in Sin is a threat to your eternal salvation (most churches won’t tell you this, but it is in fact biblical and true)

4. Sin will produce sorrow in us that will lead toward God and toward repentance

5. Confession of sin to a friend or pastor may be useful if it’s a repeated sin that you’re having trouble getting rid of

6. If you have a deeply rooted relationship with God, conviction and repentance from sin will come very naturally

7. As you learn to walk in deep communion with God, the process will become near instantaneous, you’ll immediately be prompted, repent and ask forgiveness on the spot