Every one of us wants to make the best of our time. We all should desire to make good investments of what God has entrusted to us. The more we pour into something, the more we grow in our attachment to it. When we pour our energies, effort and time into our walk with God there is an unmatched reward that accompanies that commitment.
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
John 15:7
God is so worth our time. He is so worth the investment of our lives that we should make every effort to enter into that place of abiding in Him. He promised that when we abide in Him and His words abide in us we can ask of anything and it shall be done. I love the way that Jesus does not give contingencies when He makes statements like this. He did not go on to say, “Oh but you can only ask for this or that”. He left Himself vulnerable to our prayers. I’m glad God does not give us everything that we ask for. Because sometimes it can be that people are not praying wisely. But at the same time, many times our perceptions of Him are not good enough. If our picture of Him is someone stern and short-tempered we will not believe for any good to come from God in our lives.
God is good. He gives us answers to our prayers even when they may not be “super-spiritual or perfect”. The Lord put it like this, “If your earthly father gives good gifts…. How much more will your heavenly Father” In other words, if we can think of the very best earthly father and the good things he does for his children because He loves them, we need to realize our heavenly Father is far better. He wants us to give Him all of our trust and for us to know that He is good. To do something good and actually enjoyable for us is not too far from His heart’s desires. Jesus was the exact representation of the Father. Even Phillip who had been with Jesus all along had to realize that the works that Jesus was doing, “doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil”, was the express heart of God.
Knowing the Father
Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.’
Matthew 25:24-26
For fear, the servant hid what his master had given to Him because He did know his master. The servant gave a “false description” of his master. It was his laziness of not taking time to know his master that got him in trouble. This is the natural progression of those who get caught up in life trying to please God in their own flesh. We are so inferior to God that we cannot please Him in our own strength. But if we know Him we will find that He gives grace. If the servant had known his master, he would have known he was “good” and “right”. Faith causes us to move forward, not to hide in fear. We need to know God as our Father in heaven who is good, not a hard taskmaster. But for many, this is their perception of God. It is hard for them to imagine that God would simply do anything good for them. Many see God as someone who is going to “get them” if they blow it. God is Judge to the world. This is true. But for His own people, He disciplines us as a Father. He desires us to grow up in Him, not beat us to a pulp. The devil is the accuser of the brethren and tries to paint God in the light of being a condemner.
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.”
Revelation 12:10
But God will condemn the devil and all those who desire to live after the devil’s desires. But for the people of God, those who seek the Lord, only blessings, peace, prosperity and goodness are in store. When we realize that God is for us we begin to see the Father’s face more clearly. This is the face the Pharisees could not see. Jesus revealed the Father; spoke of the Father and religious people could not connect with it. They did not know God intimately, nor did they want to. All they wanted was a list they could check off of all the good things they had done. It was all about them and their own righteousness.
A Life of Revelation
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14
For those who seek the Lord it is all about His righteousness, His goodness, His life and His love.nThose caught in religion cannot see the Lord because they are blinded in the box of their own natural minded thinking. All they know is a “form of godliness” that is established only through the intellect. To them, they had it all figured out and Jesus was messing up their world. God is spirit. Those who worship Him do so in spirit and truth. We love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. It is with all that we are that we worship Him, not just the head. The intellect makes for a good library and is important, but without the life of God in your spirit you are dead to the things of God. The natural mind cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit. Only by the spirit within a man being made alive by God can we have revelation of the Father.
The religious leaders of Jesus day knew the scriptures, but did not have the spirit of revelation. Because of their covetous desire for power and control they were blinded to see Jesus for who He was and were offended at His intimacy with the Father and the claim of His being the Son of God. Living a life of revelation is not an option. We must have the spirit of revelation to know Him. Peter received the revelation that Jesus was the Messiah because of the Father’s opening His spiritual eyes. You can literally study your head off and get nowhere because this life Jesus calls us to live is a life of dependency upon Him. Apart from the Father He could do nothing. We can do nothing apart from Him either. He is our best investment.