Investigative thinking

I was quickly skimming a book on spiritual growth this morning when I flipped to this passage: “So now we are going to investigate ourselves together—not one person explaining while you read, agreeing or disagreeing with him as you follow the words on a page, but taking a journey together, a journey of discovery into the most secret corners of our mind. And to take such a journey we must travel light; we cannot be burdened with opinions, prejudices and conclusions . . . Let us start our journey together with all the remembrance of yesterday left behind--and begin to understand ourselves for the first time."

At the summer Bible conference that just ended, Jordan said by way of introduction to this year’s theme, "If you’re going to face the future with confidence you need to have the ability to think your own self through the things that come.

"You can’t always call the preacher or call momma; you need to learn to THINK on your own and what God’s Word is designed to do is to teach you how to do that. To renew your mind, make you come to the place of maturity where you can think through the truth."

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During his Sunday night study, Jordan quoted II Corinthians 10:4 (“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds”), warning the audience, “Satan seeks to get places in your life to work. Paul talks about, ‘Give no place to the devil.’ Don’t give him a place in your life to work! How would he do that? It would be through mental processes; thinking processes.

“Verse 5 says, ‘Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.’

“I got to confess, for years I read that verse backwards. I read that, ‘Bring every thought into captivity to the obedience TO Christ.’ I thought it was saying, ‘Take your thinking processes and make them obey what Jesus said.’

“Then one day that verse just slapped me right square in the knuckles. It said, ‘Rick, that ain’t what that verse is saying! It says to the obedience OF Christ! My thinking is to be focused on HIS obedience, not mine!’

“Whew, that’s good! I can handle that! You see, focusing on my obedience, I come up shorty. It’s not my obedience; it’s His. It’s not focusing on what I do; it’s focusing on who He is and what He’s done. You see that? You bring every thought, all of your thinking processes and focus them on Jesus Christ, on what He’s done for you and who He’s made you because of Calvary.

“Now you’re back to the simplicity that’s in Christ. You’re back to what grace teaches and you show it now by demonstrating how much you treasure Him; what a treasure He is NOW. In eternity future that will only be the natural outgrowth and extension of what you’re doing now. I want you to get that.”

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Editor’s note: I was saving this article just now as a Word document, typing into the “save as” block “summer conf 2013” when this document entitled “summer conf 2012” came up:

“How do you get through the storms?” says Jordan. “You believe what the Master of the winds and waves said. You realize the storm isn’t the reality. The reality is what God said and when you trust what God says, you know what it brings? Peace in the midst of the turmoil. A peace that passes all understanding. Paul calls it ‘the peace of God.’

“In John 14, Jesus told the apostles, “My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives; I’m giving you MY peace.’

“If you look for a definition of ‘the peace of God,’ it would be John 14:27 when Jesus talked about His peace. He’s God. And His peace was, ‘I’m going to the Cross. Why? Because I’m doing the will of my Father.  I’m trusting my Father and I’m being obedient to my Father.’

“His peace--His complete, relaxed, tranquility was in doing the will of His Father. He said it when He began His ministry. ‘My meat is to do the will of Him who sent me. The thing that sustains me, marshals me, carries me forth and energizes me is the will of my Father,’ and in the shadow of the Cross He said, ‘That’s all I live for is to please my Father; to glorify Him.’

In Luke 3 there’s a wonderful counterpart to what we read in Matthew 3. Luke 3:21 says, ‘Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
[22] And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.’

“Now in Matthew the voice said, ‘This is beloved son.’ It was a pronouncement to the world; to Israel. ‘This is my boy; I’m pleased in Him!’

“But in Luke, Luke adds that personal touch, looking at the personal side of things. And Luke doesn’t just say, ‘The Father says, ‘This is Him!’ That’s Matthew; the royal proclamation. Luke says, ‘There was something more said because the Father looked at His Son and He said, ‘Thou,’ first person, personal address. Thou are my beloved son and in thee I am well-pleased. I want you to understand, son, that I know who you are and that all of my delight is in you!’

“He leaves there in chapter 4 and goes out into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. The first temptation of the devil. Verse 3. The slanderer said, ‘If thou be the son of God, command these stone . . . IF you really believe who the Father said you are . . .’

“But you notice what the devil did? He didn’t say, ‘If thou be the beloved son of God in whom the Father’s well-pleased . . .’ That’s what the Father really said.

“Because the Adversary understood that if Jesus Christ understood, and was going to stand in an appreciation of who the Father really said He was, temptation was going to be of no success.

“The Adversary is trying to move Christ away from the identity the Father had just conferred upon Him. Christ knew who He was but He also knew who the Father said He was and Satan says, ‘If I’m going to tempt Him, I’ve got to move Him away from that.’

“Temptation loses its grip, friend, when you stand in a conscious commitment and faith in the identity God gives you in Jesus Christ. Living, standing, in the reality of who God has already made us in Christ Jesus, stand—refuse to be moved from that. That’s the key!

“If you’re going to proclaim the gospel, and you’re going to defend the faith, it’s going to start with you, preaching the gospel to yourself and defending the gospel to yourself. Standing in who God’s made you in His Son, not the world, the flesh or the devil, and refusing to be moved away from it.

“That’s how victory comes into the experience of a Believer. That’s why you want to put this armor on, so you can stand and withstand the attempts of the Adversary to move you away from that marvelous identity.

“Nearer to God, nearer I could not be, for in the person of His Son, I am as near as He.”