Article Display
Email  |  My Account  |  Donate
Have you ever wondered what sets Christians apart from other people? Have you ever thought about what distinguishes us from everyone else? If you haven't, then stop and consider those questions for a moment. Search your heart and see if you know the answer.

Some people might answer quickly and say, "Well, we have the doctrine of Christ. We have principles that we believe in and act upon. We have the truth of God's Word."

But, you know, those things aren't really unique to Christians. There are people the world over — some who belong to other religions and some who have no particular religion at all — who have doctrines and principles by which they live. There are people everywhere who claim that they know the truth.

So what is it that makes us different?

Now I don't intend to be harsh but I'm going to be honest with you. The fact of the matter is, far too many times there is little or nothing that sets us apart from non-Christians. Often, we're so much like everybody else in the world, hardly anybody notices us.

But that is not what God intended. That's not the kind of Christianity the Bible talks about. It calls us a "chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation...a peculiar people" (1 Peter 2:9).

What is it that's to be so peculiar about us? The fact that we live daily in the manifested presence of the living, almighty God.

The book of first John calls that fact the distinguishing mark of God's people. It says: "this fellowship that we have which is a distinguishing mark of Christians, is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah)" (1 John 1:3, Amplified).

For us as born-again believers, God is not just some set of principles, some doctrine that we are loyal to. He is not some ideal off in the distance. God is right here in us and among us. He is revealing Himself personally to us so that we can know and experience Him for ourselves every day.

At the very center of the Gospel message is God almighty Himself waiting upon His redeemed children to come to Him and into His presence. That one glorious fact is the heart of real Christianity. It is what Jesus spoke about to His disciples just before He left His earthly ministry and began His high priestly ministry in Heaven.

In John 14, He said: The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who (really) loves Me; and whoever (really) loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I (too) will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. (I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.)...If a person (really) loves Me, he will keep My word (obey My teaching); and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him (verses 21, 23).

When Jesus spoke those words, He was about to depart from the earth. Physically, He would no longer be with His disciples, yet He didn't say, "From now on I won't be around anymore, so you'll just have to remember how things used to be. You'll just have to get by with a mental belief about Me. You'll just have to rely on what other people say about Me."

No! He said, "I'm going away physically, but you will still experience Me. You will know Me and discover Me for yourself first-hand."

The Experience That Changed Everything
Of course, Jesus wasn't speaking only to those first disciples when He said those things. He was speaking to whoever would make Him Lord of their life. He was promising His manifest presence to all who would love Him and obey Him.

But, tragically, so many Christians don't see that promise fulfilled in their lives. They don't experience Jesus daily for themselves. They try instead to be content with just reading the Bible. They satisfy themselves with building doctrines from God's Word. They may even think that's pleasing to God but it's not.

Jesus Himself made a complaint against the religious Jews of His day because they did that very thing. He said to them, "(You) search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life" (John 5:39-40).

Those religious leaders had tried to create a whole world for themselves by using the Bible. They reverenced the Scriptures but they made them an end in themselves. They didn't allow those Scriptures to lead them to God.

Saul of Tarsus was once among those very leaders. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was zealous about the written Word yet because he had no personal experience of God Himself, he was a mean and vengeful man. He actually persecuted the Church, dragging Christians out of their homes and having them killed or sent to prison, all the while thinking he was doing God a favor.

But if you've read the book of Acts, you know that one day when Saul was traveling on the road to Damascus, he was forever changed. What was it that changed him? He experienced God.

He encountered Jesus on that road. He didn't just read about Him or hear someone else tell about Him. He experienced Jesus for himself.

Saul was not the same man after that. He was radically different. In the years that followed, He became the apostle Paul who preached about Jesus everywhere he went and wrote most of the New Testament. He became the man who said, "I know whom I have believed..." (2 Timothy 1:12). Not I know what I have believed...but I know whom I have believed!

Knowing and experiencing Jesus was forever Paul's great passion. He never stopped hungering for an ever deeper, personal knowledge and experience of his Lord.

In fact, just three weeks before his death, he wrote in his letter to the Philippians, "(For my determined purpose is) that I may know Him (that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly)...(3:10).

People of Destiny
In light of Paul's passion for the Lord, do you think he was able to find time in his busy schedule to fellowship with Him? Certainly he did! And unlike some Christians, Paul didn't have a devotional time each day because it was his Christian duty. He did it because the Lord Jesus Himself was so dear to him and so near to him. He did it because he wanted to know and experience Jesus.

Oh Lord, let it be so with us today!

Let us not make Christianity a label that we wear. Let us not be content to make it a form or a ritual, to sing the right songs and raise our hands at the right time in the church service. Let us not be satisfied to merely accept the words on the pages of the Bible but let us seek the living Christ Himself. Let us seek Him until our Christianity becomes what the Bible says it should be: Man experiencing God!

Now, in this day, we must do that for we are a people of great destiny. We are living in the last days and God has called us to help Him fulfill His great plan in the earth. But we cannot carry out our calling without His manifested presence. We cannot do it anymore than Moses could in the days of old.

If ever there was a man of destiny, it was Moses. He was commissioned by God to take God's people up out of Egypt to the Promised Land. Moses had been given the Word of God and he knew the will of God, yet he knew those things alone--as wonderful as they are--weren't enough. So he said to the Lord:
...See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me...Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee...And (God) said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he (Moses) said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated...from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
(Ex. 33:12-16)
Moses knew the truth that so needs to dawn upon our own souls in these days. He knew he had to have the presence of God so that he could be propelled along in God's great plan. He knew he had to have the experience of God to change him and equip him for his life and ministry.

Moses knew that only the presence of God Himself going with God's people day by day would distinguish them in the eyes of the world.

We are no different from Moses. If we are to have the power and the strength and the wisdom to carry out God's great plan for our lives, we must be daily in the manifested presence of God. We must be continually coming to know Him more deeply and intimately. We must be perpetually cultivating our relationship with Him and our fellowship with Him.

Why is that so important? Because every time we experience God's presence, we are changed. We become more like Him. As we spend time with Him, we are transformed by degrees from glory to glory. So we cannot come just once into His presence. We must come again and again for it is that continual coming that brings continual change.

Many years ago, God told me something that has stood the test of time throughout my life and ministry. He said, "Lynne, I can change anything about you. I can change your circumstances. I can change your mind. I can change your personality and the way you feel about things. I can change your relationships. I can change anything if you will give Me one thing."

"What is that, Lord?" I asked.

"Time," He answered, "time in My presence."

My, what wonders we would see if we could make an altar to God, put our lives up on that altar...and wait in God's presence. What different lives we would lead if we discovered God every day in a new way. What power we would see released among us if we simply spent enough time with God and began every day fresh in His presence.

God would be able to do with us what He did with Peter. Do you remember what he was like the night before Jesus went to the cross? He was so frightened of the Jewish leaders that he only followed Jesus from a distance when they took Him away for questioning. And when a little girl recognized Peter and said he had been with Jesus, he denied it. By the time the evening was over, Peter had sworn, cursed and disowned Jesus three times.

But some 50 days later, on the day of Pentecost, Peter walked boldly out of the upper room a different man. Instead of shrinking back in terror, he stood before multitudes and proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah. The Bible says 3,000 people were added to the Church that day.

What happened to Peter? What could have so changed him?

Only one thing. He had experienced God as never before.

He didn't just read about Him. He didn't just hear someone talk about Him. He didn't just accept a doctrine. He experienced Him!

Oh, my friend, set your heart today to discover God in that way. Set your heart to seek Him and to experience Him for yourself.

Copyright © Mac Hammond Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Author Biography

Lynne Hammond
Web site: Lynne Hammond Ministries
 
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”
Read more...

About Us

The online ministry of cfaith has been helping people discover faith, friends and freedom in the Word since 2000. Cfaith provides a unique and comprehensive collection of faith-building resources for the worldwide faith community.

At cfaith, you can strengthen your faith and deepen your understanding of the Word of God by digging into the vast collection of teaching articles, streaming audio and video messages, and daily devotionals. No other website offers such a unique and extensive collection of spiritual-growth resources aimed at helping you grow in your knowledge of the Word.

Read More...

 

 

Support Us

Why support cfaith?


(All contributions are 100% tax deductible)


SUPPORT CFAITH WITH ONE CLICK!

For every Internet search you make using
goodsearch, cfaith will receive one penny!

GS Logo 250x38

Contact Us

Business Hours:


Monday—Friday: 9 a.m.—5 p.m. CST
Saturday & Sunday: Closed

Phone:

(763) 488-7800 or (800) 748-8107

Mailing Address: 

CFAITH.com
9201 75th Avenue North
Brooklyn Park, MN 55428

 

Login Form

Please ignore the “Secret Key” field; it is not needed to log in to cfaith.

Login Change Article

Spring360x442
You need to enable user registration from User Manager/Options in the backend of Joomla before this module will activate.