In this contribution by CHC’s guest speaker (Nov 22-23, 2014), Marcus Lamb, the American televangelist teaches about living a dedicated life unto God.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MARCUS LAMB
Christ’s task was to tell His followers, at the risk of alienating some, about the narrow path of a dedicated life. He moved those who would rise above the charade of insignificant faith, leading them through the cross to the Father in the midst of crisis, chaos and confusion, delivering them to wholeness. Only Christ can satisfy our thirst for wholeness and quench our parched and dry souls.
CN PHOTOS: Michael Chan
Amidst the unrelenting crises of life two thousand years beyond His days on earth, we have an image of what it means to rest in the storm. Our Father’s deepest desire is for us to find a quiet harbor, an altar; kept safe by heaven’s Practitioner of the Soul. He has a place of ‘Green Pastures” where we can find refreshing, a renewing of mind, body and soul. “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters” (Psa. 23:2). His spirit whispers, “He who was with Jesus and His disciples is with you also.” May we be reminded that God is the faithful one, able to do “far abundantly more than we can ask or think” (Eph. 3:20). The dedicated life to Christ begins as we wade out deeply into the still waters and rest in His ark of loving kindness, allowing His love to burn deeply into our soul like a holy flame that cannot be extinguished. As the potter molds His children of clay, He also soothes our weary spiritual senses with the fragrance of spiritual development and growth. It is here, when He is allowed full control over every fiber of our lives that we are shown a deeper revelation of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, and the seeds of growth can sprout through the winters of barrenness.
To that end, we understand from scripture that the carnal or soulish man has the mark of immaturity upon him and has no interest in paying the price for God’s peace and rest. Rather, his lack of desire for more of God is a hindrance to spiritual progress. The spiritual man (or woman) however, is governed by the Holy Spirit in every area of his being. We see then that the spiritual man here is a kind of person with peculiar kinds of capacities, powers, abilities and kingdom goals. He has faculties which are not possessed by the carnal man. The spiritual man therefore is endowed with heavenly abilities which take him into a higher realm of biblical apprehension, knowledge and discernment, as well as in kingdom accomplishments. The One that can make us whole and complete always seeks to move us beyond any semblance of immaturity, and, more than that, Christ seeks to love us away from any form of hindrance to spiritual progress. We are after all, saved for eternal purposes, and that the church, His bride, is the object upon which God’s heart is fixed. What a glorious inheritance of peace, rest and blessings we have when we live a totally, Dedicated Life!
