Day 14 ~ When God Seems Distant.
You can adorn the cloak of righteousness because Jesus did not save himself.
In this chapter day 14 of “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren he examines in detail how we should worship God when there is a seeming disconnect with God. The main source of his text is pre-Pentecost.
We are post-Pentecost and in the time of the Law of Christ, if you have thrown yourself on Jesus then you have received the Holy Spirit, and your aloofness from God cannot be as destitute as what it was for Job.
“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise belongs to you and to your children and to all who are far off, to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.”” Acts 2:37-39 (BSB)
I have found that in times of trouble and destitution the answer lies in calling on Christ and the Holy Spirit. The fruit of your salvation is the ever present Holy Spirit. Further Christ himself left us this promise, if you are his disciple John 14 is His Truth for you.
The text that brings the truth of where we are today (post-Pentecost) has changed the way we experience God. Read this and align yourself with Christ;
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit (John 14;15-28) {Highlight these verses in your Bible and read them until it is grafted into your soul}
(Read also; Joel 2:28-32; John 16:5-16; Acts 2:1-13; Acts 10:44-48; Acts 19:1-7)
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and He will be in you.
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. In a little while, the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
Judas (not Iscariot) asked Him, “Lord, why are You going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?”
Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word that you hear is not My own, but it is from the Father who sent Me.
All this I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.” (John 14;15-26) (BSB)
Peace I Leave with You
(Read also; Romans 5:1-5)
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid. You heard Me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.” (John 14;27-28) (BSB)
I denounce with every fibre of my body being shackled to the Mosaic Law and pronounce it a mere shadow of Christ in a dim and dark world. Jesus brought light. He is the gatekeeper of the Holy Spirit and if I am destitute or far from God it is only because I am not consulting with the Holy Spirit.
You have died to sin;
Romans 6:2-4
“By no means! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death? We therefore were buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.”
You have been freed from sin;
Romans 6:18
“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
Romans 6:22
“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God,”
You have and are released from the Law;
Romans 7:6
“But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the Law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”
You can and will walk in newness of life;
Romans 6:4
“We therefore were buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.”
Serve by the renewed Spirit;
Romans 7:6
“But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the Law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”
“But now we are fully released from any further association with a life directed by the rule of the law, we are dead to that which once held us captive, free to be slaves to the newness of spirit-spontaneity rather than age-old religious rituals, imitating the mere face value of the written code.” (Mirror Bible)
Your victory over sin is tied to our union with Christ in His death and resurrection;
Romans 6:8-11
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
You are now released from the law. The Mosaic law no longer rules in your life because you are joined and co-inhabited by Christ Jesus and the Father;
Romans 7:4
“Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.”
“The very same finality in principle is applicable to you, my brothers and sisters. In the body of Christ you died to the system of the law; your inclusion in his resurrection brought about a new union. Out of this marriage, (faith) now bears children unto God.” (Mirror Bible)
John 14:20
“In that day you will know that just as I am in my Father, you are in me and I am in you!”
The book of Job would have been written completely differently if it had been written pos-Pentecost! At his time the Holy Spirit had not yet been released.
Do not revert to the old, you are post-Pentecost and your ever-present advocate is the Holy Spirit. Cry out to Him in your moments of destitution.
(Unless otherwise indicated the above quotes were taken from the (BSB))
More reading material ; http://purposedriven.com/day14/