MY LIFE: #56 Chaos to Rest

Dr. Stephen Phinney: I have learned that whatever we choose to abide in, we will diligently work to walk in or after. Whatever we abide in becomes our functional identity.

THE PEOPLE OF ‘STUPOR’ TEND NOT TO FIND REST

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”

(Romans 11:7-8)

Believe it or not, God gives some the spirit of slumber; or of stupidity and insensibility, so that they were as persons in a deep sleep. Their senses locked up, without any knowledge of, or concern about, the danger they were in, while being ignorant regarding His indwelling Life. These people have no sense of sin, or of the need of being born-again in Christ or of their being upon the borders of eternal ruin and damnation, or of any ways and means to escape it.

As I look back on my childhood, I see a life of constant chaos and confusion.

Children gain rest through seeing and experiencing peace lived out through a loving relationship between their parents. IT’S TRUE! In my childhood home, I have few memories of observing such love expressed between my parents. In fact, I lived in constant fear of what could happen, a possible eruption of abuse, because of the animosity that my parents had toward each other. This animosity formed an environment of bitterness, hatred, loathing, enmity and deceit – all of which sets the stage for the children to live in a state of chaos.

The Hebrew word picture for chaos is “weapon man.” At first this weapon man became my father who would use violence to gain control over his household and later this “weapon man” was revealed to be Satan in the Christian’s life. For he IS the god of chaos.

Satan does not want the children of God to rest but rather think and feel their lives are in a constant state of chaos or unrest. He does this by forming in the person the opposite of rest – defending our own reputations, propagating a “feeling” that we are slaves to sin after salvation. He manipulates our minds to walk in pride vs. humility, protect our own lives, and use our own strength to live. Nothing pleases Satan more than regarding ourselves as more important than others and fighting against God instead of resting in Him. There is no better environment for Satan to do this than the environment of our childhood homes.

Children cannot rest unless they are able to abide in the security of their parents love. When this is not possible, for whatever reason, the child forms habits of “detachment” from those they are supposed to trust. If there was a single word I would use to define my childhood it would be “detached.” This single label and consequence has plagued my walk in Christ like no other. It has formed blockage in my ability to experientially abide in Jesus as the Vine, bear the fruit of abiding in Christ and certainly has affected my ability to extend the love of Christ to others.

Abiding is one of those words many indwelt Christians do not understand.

Whenever we find Jesus using the simplest illustrations, like the Vine and the branches, we know He is presenting a Truth impossible for humans to understand without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is why it takes the mind of Christ from within to conceptualize the Truth.

Notice there is an intimate relationship (abiding) between the Vine (Jesus), the Vinedresser (the Father), and the branch (believers). The Vine and the Vinedresser pour their Life into the branch, by way of the sap (Holy Spirit), for the purpose of bearing fruit. Why fruit? For the same reason He gave us fruit trees, to feed others. The vineyard is not complete unless all four elements are doing their part. This puts the believers in a very significant and needed position (John 15:1-2). Take one piece out and no grapes.

It is absolutely impossible to be fruitful outside of intimacy (abiding) in the Vine. Keep in mind that the fruit is the Fruit of the Holy Spirit – not ours. The juice of Life is in the sap. Without this sap, life cannot flow from one part to the other (John 15:2-9). This illustration is the perfect picture of how authentic Christianity works. Allowing Christ to fulfill the Law of the Spirit of Life in us, which is the result of abiding in Christ, being dedicated to His pleasure out of pure intimacy, and a desire to submit to Him from the inside out.

Detachment, or fear of intimacy, is the number one cause for believers not finding rest in abiding in the Vine. Those who fear intimacy usually have a twisted or confused view of love. Without Christ, this love is interpreted by the flesh - as human acceptance or affection externally – which normally finds its home in an immoral relationship(s).

I have vivid memories of the first time I was touched sexually. This simple touch lead to a long struggle in my childhood of attempting to find love through sexual touch – immorality. Any time that a girl would show any type of acceptance or affection toward me, I would push and pursue sexual contact. Needless to say, by the time I reached my teen years, I had a firm reputation for being promiscuous. I introduced promiscuity to more young women than my mind was willing to admit to.

Even though the Lord has forgiven my acts of immorality, I learned that a fleshly modality of finding “love” in the wrong places leads to a life of regret. I was in need of finding the author and perfector of REAL love – for I knew I had a “love” problem. As odd as it sounds, those who do not understand what abiding in Christ really means oftentimes find themselves attempting to abide in humans, in my case, literally.

Abiding in His Love is like the glue that attaches, and keeps us attached, to the Vine of Jesus Christ.

Once I began to understand what true abiding in Christ was, my habit of attempting to abide in humans diminished significantly. I must admit though, my reputation of being a “detached” person has carried over into my entire adult life. My flesh has a nasty habit of tempting me to detach from any and all people who show signs of rejecting me – a flesh pattern I must stay alert to on a daily basis.

I have learned that whatever we choose to abide in, we will diligently work to walk in or after. Whatever we abide in becomes our functional identity. If we abide in humans, we walk after human fleshly habits. If we abide in Christ from within, we will walk in and after the Spirit – plain and simple.

Many teachers use the phrase “walking after the Spirit” to describe true Christian living. The Truth being said, we are commanded to “walk in the Spirit.” The “after” deception is how “following” vs. releasing Jesus through the active works of the Holy Spirit. One is replicating and the other is a LIFE flow. Walking “in” the Spirit is a confession of how we do that, which is through our identity in Him. It must be Christ in the believer doing the work for the production of the fruit.

The key to life is “whoever is in the driver’s seat.” The areas of life directed by the Spirit (Life of Christ within) will produce righteousness. The areas of life directed by the flesh (substance of the branch) produce sin and death. Why? Because any branch that does not do its part by restfully abiding will die, and the Vinedresser will have to prune and throw it into the fire.

Coming up next is #57, “Walking in The Spirit.”

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