Personal Matters
A short while ago I was feeling generally disconnected or “out of sorts” and knew there was a root cause that God would want to deal with. I gradually realised that I was going through a wide-ranging predicament over fathering. On the one side were many networks I had initiated across the city, often to do with prayer, unity, or the marketplace, while on the other hand we received news that our “international family”
would be gathered again in Perth for the first time in quite a few years. Somehow the natural was imaging the spiritual and both were moving beyond anything I’d ever experienced before (1 Cor 15:46). In myself I felt deeply inadequate but was aware I needed power from the Father for all these aspects of kingdom life to reach maturity. In discussing this difficult transition with a spiritual mentor I received wise counsel to ask Jesus to reveal more of the Father to ‘ME’. Pursuing this direction in prayer has resulted in significant revelation, which this article attempts to share.
Under-Resourced
I often find unusual clarity in early morning times of prayer with my wife Donna. On this occasion we sensed that the Spirit was connecting us to crippling early life impressions of fatherhood. Our human fathers sometimes do not understand the deep longings of our hearts, or have been too afraid of the consequences e.g. financially, of meeting them. All such parental ignorance and impotence sets up blockages to believing that the heavenly Father both knows our hearts and will resource our desires. Sensing these things led us to pray for greater sensitivity to the longings God has placed in us and a fuller participation in the decisions he is making for our lives (Eph 2:6; Jer 23:18, 22). The Father longs to empower our faith that his equipping will prove adequate to bring to completion the call on our lives (Eph 3:20; Phil 4:19). As we prayed together over these things the Lord opened up to ‘ME’ something truly surprising.
The Faith of the Son
Jesus always sensed in himself the Spirit’s witness that the Father was all sufficient to make him (the Son) exactly like himself. The complete ability of the Father to conform the Son to his likeness through the Spirit is the glory of God. Trusting in such glorifying power was the core of Christ’s faith. He stated openly that the Father gave him “all judgement” and “all authority in heaven and earth” (John 5:22-23; Matt 28:18); he now shares with the LORD/Father “the name that is above every name” (Phil 2:9). This transformation of the finite humanity of Jesus into the perfection of God’s radiant likeness takes place through the simplicity of sacrificial service (Heb 1:3; 2:9-10).
Jesus took up the path of servanthood because he knew that this was the way to bring complete glory to God as Father (Luke 24:26; John 12:27-33 cf. Phil 2:5-11). Christ’s greatest act of faith was to believe that suffering was the means to reveal the deepest longings of God’s heart (Heb 12:1-2). When Jesus cries out from the cross, ““My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” (Mark 15:34) it seems like the Son’s assurance that the Father will show him all that he is doing and will empower his heart longings to the end has been mistaken (John 5:20; 16:32). For Jesus to no longer look or feel like the Son of an all-loving Father is to be plunged into total moral, emotional and spiritual agony; but only for a moment (Ps 30:5; Isa 54:8)! The perseverance of Jesus’ obedient faith was soon rewarded by the fullness of resurrection life. No longer bearing the weak and fleshly ‘ME’, the Son of God has returned to the infinitely glorious heavenly state of being simply himself in the Father’s presence (John 17:5). Jesus is the exact representation of the Father in every way, his deepest longing has been fulfilled (Col 1:15).
Simple Sacrifice
I recently encouraged the Church to live out the gospel by praying for opportunities to image the love, compassion and practical care of Christ the Suffering Servant of those who do not know him[1]. At a meeting where I uttered such a prayer the Lord showed his unlimited ability to answer. At the car park payment machine a few minutes later I was confronted by a situation involving a distressed lady short of change and with a credit card failure. That day I just “happened to have” an unusual amount of change on hand. I sensed the Lord saying “I love a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7), so I paid for her ticket and simply pointed her to a generous God who gives “from heaven”. Overwhelmed by acute embarrassment and gratitude something eternal transpired for this woman through this simple exchange.
Driving away from this scene I could sense that it embodied noting less than a blueprint for revival. Spiritual transformation for our society will come when every Christian understands that to be image the Son of God means to take on his servant form, asking daily that the Spirit provide opportunities for sacrificial service in our everyday environment. Jesus will surely answer this prayer because it is the means by which he will image his Father in our midst and bring him glory (Phil 2:4-13).
To be simply ‘ME’ is to live with uncomplicated consistency as a son of God; being a person with an open home, hospitable, bringing in the homeless, satisfying the needs of the afflicted, being present for the lonely, going the extra mile and so on (Ps 68:6; Isa 58:6-14; Matt 5:41). These are the things in which God delights and in living this way our hearts will be filled with an assurance that the Father energise our lives and constantly reveal the plans of his kingdom. As Jesus always sensed in himself the all sufficiency of the Father to make him (the Son) exactly like himself, so Jesus can testify to us that he is able to image himself through our lives. Such a witness of the Spirit creates faith that all the godly visions of our hearts will reach their proper maturity.
Conclusion
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Ps 37:4) is a favourite text of many Christians. The LORD in whom we must delight has now been revealed in the servanthood of the Son of God, his life of simply sacrifice for others is the way to the heart of the Father. Faith that the Father will energise every ministry of marriage, parenting, networking etc. he has initiated through us grows as we make it our aim to image the Son as he imaged the Father. Through the power of Christ’s sacrifice flowing through us our God can bring all the deepest concerns of our heats to mature completion (2 Cor 3:5-6; Hos 14:8). For the whole of life to be oriented in this direction of showing the glory of God is to live as a child of God, it is to be simply ‘ME’.