19 replies to this topic

[ADVRider]

In a word, sentence or paragraph (or two), explain or define what the phrase, "deeper life," means to you. This should be fun and hopefully, we'll get lots of helpful and encouraging ideas. Let's keep it uplifting and supportive. You can contribute as many times as you like, as you get new thoughts. Ok, I'll start. A one-word thought for DL is: trust.

[elizabethcog]

Asking God to break my heart for what breaks His,be sure you want it though before you ask.......

[Ginger]

A deeper life to me is Jesus gracing me with faith to believe what He said even when nothing seems to be going right or make any sense; but somehow Jesus keeps me wanting Him more than anything else.

 

Mostly I'm thinking of Jesus saying He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. There are so many denominations and teachings referred to instead of referring to Jew or Gentile.  Yet, it seems biblically we are either one or the other.

 

A deeper life is upward, inward and outward too.  John 10 and commentaries are some food for nurturing a deeper life in my opinion. One Shepherd - That is, the Lord Jesus - One fold - One church; there shall be no distinction, ...The partition between the Jews and the Gentiles shall be broken down, ... (excerpted some from Barnes' Notes) and Matthew Henry Commentary is a blessing.

 

Thank you John for the topic and for posting we could write more.

[Speilb]

Intimacy with God.

[ADVRider]

Intimacy with God.

Good one!

[ADVRider]

The paragraph or two suggestion is just that; feel free to "go deeper" if you like, but try to stay on topic if possible: What it means to you, or what your experience has been. Examples, experiences and stories from your life that can illustrate the deeper life might encourage others.

[CHRISTOPHER310]

To me, living a deeper life means having one in true meaning and value of what matters the most, God, family, community. It means not living to impress others or to have the ego of what is trending in the media.

For me, it means the ‘Made In’ label on my butt says ‘ In Grace ’ and not ‘ In Wal*Mart ’.

[chipped china]

Striving towards lessening of self, seeking His truth, living the WAY, obedience to Him unto death, and Glorifying Jesus. 

[Kate Curry]

Elizabeth got me thinking about what does it mean to break God's heart.  Can God's heart be broken?   I asked Him.   I thought about Jesus weeping over Lazarus's tomb and Jesus being a Man.  Did He weep as Man or as God?   Then I thought about how much God loves us, but He can't be in the presence of unrighteousness unless the Blood of the Lamb covers it.     He loves us so much and yearns over the creature He has made -- so does it hurt Him?   How can a perfect and holy Spirit hurt.  Yet -- He is Perfect Love and that's an emotion.   Or.   Does Perfect Love cast out not just fear, but also pain?    I didn't get any answers from on High, but I'm pretty sure He was listening -- and perhaps even directing my thoughts.   

 

Now, if that isn't deep, I don't know what is.  

[Julie Daube]

Surrendering all to Jesus and receiving all that He has for me.

[amansowin]

Galatian 2: 20  --read------------------------ May we never flatter ourselves thinking we have taken the name "Christian" if indeed we have not also taken the responsibility of ambassadorship.  To take up the cross is to take up the cause.-------May He guide us by his Spirit and his Word.

[radar]

I  had to go 'deep' within myself for a day after reading your query. to adequately give answer to such a worthy question, I had to look back on my history.

 

I first started out by realizing that there is a God, and I had a great need of Him. I accept Jesus at His word, but I had no true knowledge of him. I started with works salvation, and found that I could not keep the commandments once I started reading his word and coming to some basic knowledge of the Almighty Holy One. I still have to this day a tendency to slide back into the works salvation.

 

For a very long time I was content with the routine rote prayer and being a bench warmer at my church. As I started studying more intensely and regularly, I realized that I was not satisfied with the fire insurance, but wanted more, especially alluring was the 'blab it and grab it' prosperity teaching. I was wanting the hand of God instead of desiring the face of God. But, did I really know him. I desired to know him more intimately and once I came to knowledge that he is the Bible, the Living Word, I started to change. An example was I had a night job of working security. I would make my rounds for ten minutes and then go back to my novels. I came to a realization that the job I had been blessed with was a great gift instead of a way of making a living. God had provided me a space in time in which I could put down the novels and pick up and read his word, and I was getting paid materially at the same time. This was time was priceless as I was a single parent raising three kids, learning how to live and teach my children the more excellent way.

 

This seemed to work well until my thorn in the flesh of Bipolar set in in 2009. I lost my job and by this time my children had grown up. I had drifted away from church and had not returned to God. I was given a wake up call. No job, but my military retirement kept me off the streets. For a year and a half, men tried to heal me, but I was still angry, restless, depressed and disillusioned. I knew I had to go deeper into the relationship with Jesus and instead of a Psychiatrist recommending worldly therapy which was not working, I need to return to my First Love and get to know Him better. I asked my pastor if I could set up regular counseling with him and we started the three year process discipleship and allowing God's Word to heal my shredded mind. I also continued my medication as I understood that there was a physiological component to maintain as well. I quit excusing my sin under the cloak of my disease and became responsible for my recovery, by owning up to my sin and the remedy to overcome daily by the means of Faith thru Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I started wanting to know more and more of God, and I was given the priceless gift of time again to study of the Living Word and go into a deeper relationship with God and having my material needs met. I find it like when you first meet the one you will marry, you know little about that person but you love them and desire to know them better, so you try to use all your spare time with the object of your desire to obtain this knowledge. As you get to know the person, you realize that this is the one whom you will have a lasting covenant  with, to make exclusive and set them in the highest regard in your heart because of this knowledge.

 

So I started a systematic, disciplined time of study and realized that I too, needed to seek God first thing in the mornings to renew my mind and learn of Him. Instead of having to take precious time and work a job to make a living, God, thru this affliction, blessed me mightily by allowing my work to become exclusive to getting to know Him and His commandments better, I was learning to daily deny myself, take up my cross and follow Him. I was now in the position to be blessed even more by becoming obedient to the Word thru the things (afflictions) that I suffered.  I was growing in a deeper relationship with my Lord. But I was as the lone sparrow on the rooftop, not finding many professors who would share with me in this journey. I was starting to learn that praying was not so much in giving God my wish list and saying a few words but becoming still, listening earnestly to Him and believing Him at His word. Sifting was going on thru the instrument of affliction and I was learning  total reliance on God by being obedient to His word. I HAD to go deeper. My prayers were answered when God brought me to this forum where I could go from the surface of knowing about God to relying on Him daily and desiring the secret things that were now open to me as I went further into His word with like minded believers. You all encourage, exhort, and challenge each other into a more intimate relationship with Our Lord, just as this query of what it means to me to have a deeper life.

 

Then, just as the Word promised, that seeking the Kingdom first, being tested and true, I was obtaining the material wealth because of my affliction and the reward of obedience to the Word. I started receiving the back pay and disability payments. I am soberly aware that I am only a steward of the time and monies that I was given to bring glory to God and further the advance of His Kingdom. I realized my love required me to minister to others and started ministering in the afternoons at the homeless mission which I was able to financially support in paying the rent and provisioning the needs the last four years. Morning class was over and practical application of that knowledge now manifested into action. I was so abundantly given that I was able to have things that I could only dream of such as a new house outfitted with new things which should see me through until the day the Lord calls me home. I was so poor over the years that the first full week vacation that I could afford since 1993 was taken at the beach last May. With Wisdom, I could now materially help mu family and others who had less than and encourage them to seek God first and that they too can have the abundant life spiritually and materially. The material blessing such a new experience for me, I have to listen for the Holy Spirit to remind me not to feel guilty about enjoying all that God has given me. Just the Cross and what it represents would be enough. But God is a God who rewards those who trust and obey, and God rewards abundantly and well beyond what we ask for in the here and now and for eternity.

 

Obedience brings Victory, and Victory is Life! Selah!

 

I wish that I could answer this question as succinctly as you asked John, but I find that I needed to go a little deeper to express what the deep life means to me. I am glad that you also asked later on to share our stories and I find that there are many of you who can testify this HIS-story in your lives.

 

In His service,

chris

[Brian Elmer]

Jared C. Wilson would say to go deeper has nothing to do with the second coming or studying Revelation, but deeper into Jesus.

[Julie Daube]

Out of curiosity, I did an online search of this topic and came across an article entitled, "What is the deeper Christian life?" Below are a few excerpts that articulate what the phrase means to me:

While it has also been called the Exchanged Life, the Victorious Christian Life, or the Narrow Way of the Cross, simply, the deeper Christian life is one of absolute surrender to, complete dependency upon, and abiding faith in Jesus. It is a life that is obsessed with, focused upon, and sourced by Jesus Himself as I live in continual response to Him. Paul said: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2.20).

Out of intimacy with Him and the flow of the indwelling Holy Spirit within, Jesus produces and becomes my victory and triumph in life; He is all that I need.

The Christian life is not focused upon my efforts or my abilities, it is a sole focus on the Person of Jesus as the substance and source of my life. . . It is a life focused on, filled with, and dependent upon Jesus Christ. It is an ever increasing intimacy and oneness of relationship with the God of the universe. It is being filled and sourced by the Spirit of God. It is plunging headlong into the endless depths of Jesus, drinking in more and more, with the prayer of a kid in a swimming pool of chocolate: “Oh Lord, increase my capacity!”

URL: http://deeperchristi...christian-life/

[ADVRider]

I think there have been some great responses so far. Radar, thanks for your transparency and humility to share your testimony of the deep waters you had go through. That is some deep growth that could only come through God's love and care over your life. I see these kinds of testimonies as a way for members in the body to encourage each other, not with just words, but words of lives lived and experiences wrought in the difficult places in life. We are going to need much more "real stuff" in the days ahead I think.

 

I probably didn't think through the wording of my first post too well, but it's these individual stories of the deeper life that I really had in mind. Keep it coming if you feel led to share your thoughts.

 

I'll share another thing I've noticed. Ever since I became a Christian, I've discovered that I have never gotten what I wanted in this life, at least as far as the big things, those things Solomon called the "issues of life." It's as if I only slowly realized in recent years that God my Father has steered me in certain paths that He wanted, paths of His choosing, even though some of the things I wanted were perfectly normal, good and common. It isn't that they were bad or harmful in any usual sense, God just had another way, another path, another plan. I've also learned He does not explain His choices right then, about the time you could be having a fit, struggle or even what feels like a crisis. To crystallize this realization, I saw that over the years, I was being made to walk the walk of faith, not from reading it in the Bible alone, but from actually doing it through the hand of God, one step of obedience here, one step of surrender there, one step of death to self over yonder. It took a long time for the understanding of these experiences (steps) to connect with, "oh yeah, this is in the Bible and so this is that. Ah ha, so that is what all this has been about!" (You see, God is at work to perform His word in our lives even if we haven't read "that" chapter yet. He is still doing it. Then, when you read His word and your experience lines up with what you read, you get the understanding of what you have gone through, because the Holy Spirit was causing you to walk it all along, if you were obedient to His leading.) That is why I started the thread with one word: trust. We have to learn to trust God; it's not automatic just because we were born again. That is the beginning, the first step of faith. But many more must follow and God knows He must have and get our trust, if we are to follow Him. If we are to go through the deep waters, trust must be built, and paradoxically, deep waters are often needed to build trust. It does not happen just because we read it; it happens as we are stretched by the Sovereign God, who knows what we need, where we must go, etc. It happens in a relationship where we cry out Abba, Father, when there isn't anything left to grasp. I find it interesting that in the end, God designed the Christian life to require dependence. When Jesus said, without me, you can do nothing, He really meant that. This life is not a religious thing we do; Paul said we walk by faith (trust) and only God knows what that could look like in a life, where it will lead and what it will cost. He does not reveal this up front, because if He did, it would cease to be faith. So, the real Christian life is faith, hope and love. There may be deep waters, but that is where the deep life is formed most of the time. I've found it's the place we get real in the relationship, love and deeper trust are forged, and a life experienced, can be imparted to others who are on the same path, the walk of faith.

 

Edit: This just in, in real time. A minute after I posted here, a guy calls me to tell me he sold his motorcycle I was "planning" to buy from him in the next few weeks. He has the same bike I already have, only two years newer, many less miles and mucho expensive accessories on it. I was going to buy his bike for a great price, swap some parts between his and my current bike, sell some of his accessories and have a newer bike after selling mine, for little additional net cost. I convinced myself it was worth doing, even with sales tax and having to sell off parts, etc. Apparently, God said "no deal," because the owner just happened to forget he had it on Craigslist for $1,400 more than what I was going to buy it for, and a guy stopped by today unannounced with the full cash price. Today, the same day I had arranged the deal! The owner didn't even know how the buyer knew where he lived, but somehow the buyer found his house. Today! God must have sent that buyer over there. You see, I told you; I never get my way! LOL.

 

Double bonus round. I forgot to say that I got to share with the seller, who was extremely apologetic for selling the bike after we had a gentleman's agreement, that one, I was ok with it and glad as a family guy, he got $5,200 cash on the spot, instead of the $3,800 I was going to give him later. But more importantly, I told him I am a Christian and had prayed about it, and therefore took the news as God "looking out" for me. I further told him that I didn't want to sound weird about it, but that I saw it as God making the decision. I believe it was a testimony of sorts to him that I was not angry he sold the bike after we had an agreement, and that furthermore, I was glad for him he got more money. He said he appreciated my understanding and kind of "looked at things that way too, and that stuff happens for a reason." Way cool stuff. I still have a bike too.

Edited by John Albert, 24 June 2014 - 08:36 PM.

[radar]

Wow! John, it's like your in my head. because all the things you discussed I have experienced at varying times, and learned through my mistakes. As for your edit, I had a similar experience this morning loosing a bid on ebay by trying to swop in at the last moment and having the wifi, mess it up. I saw that this was not what God wanted. Yes, I pray for the recreational things to try and line up my life in dependence on God. Just like the recent blessing of my back pay to disability. I was not sure how to had the material blessing and a new standard of life as before I could hardly keep enough food on the table due to my disability preventing me from work. I went through the suffering years learning how to be thankful and content for what I did have.

 

The time came that I needed another car with good gas mileage because ministry travels at that time were around fifty miles a day.I was certain that God had led me to a better car but was hesitant to get it because what if I was spending my blessing on myself and not being a blessing. After I decided to sign the papers and got into the car to leave, I started fiddling with the cd player and to my complete surprise there was a cd left by the old owner and the first words I heard were "Jesus loves me this I know..." I knew then that it was all right with God. I guess the guy left it to convince or encourage others. So, during that time, I scraped a telephone pole, lost a side mirror, had a broken motor mount, and then during the ice storm, a huge limb breaking through my sunroof ruining the inside. These were all repaired and I started doubting again when someone mocked that I bragged about God giving me the new car, and now by my own admission, God was taking it back. I then had my first accident when I was at fault when I lost control of the car in the rain a month ago and hit a manhole cover and hydroplaned to the other side of the street until I hit a telephone pole. My son, myself and the telephone pole were okay and I was only doing was the speed limit but not not being aware things, so my pride was hurt because I had had the first accident in my life due to my own doings instead of some one else's. The car was totaled so I started looking for a car with the same model, trim, and color. I remember seeing one a few days earlier, but did not know what my settlement would be at that time, so I held off on the down payment. A week later I got the results and screened the internet for a 2,000 mile radius and found only one car that fit my needs in the next town. I figured sine it was a rare model, that surely it would be gone, so I asked God what to do and I sent my contact information in. I asked God that if this was His will, the car would be there and if I found out it wasn't, He had something else in mind. The next morning the car was there.  I fellow shipped with a young Christian man who was selling the car at the dealer. It started when we doing the test drive and he mentioned the word bless. Discerning a sweet spirit around the young man, I started to witness only find out that he was saved, but going thru problems with marriage to his girlfriend. He started telling me history and when He was finished, I related how when I was younger I went thru some of the doubts he had but assured him that during this difficult process, God was using this to get each of them ready to live a completely new life as there we minor differences in what they wanted. I explained that by getting the issues out now before the covenant, was much better to test and true to ensure that God was the one that was in control of their lives and that they could live together in peaceful harmony for the most part. The salesman said he never looked at  it that way and was ready to give up on the whole process. I have found in my experience that right when a person is ready to throw in the towel, or come to the end of himself, That is when God supernaturally steps in to help and we know that this thing had to be of God and Him only. It serves to bolster our flagging faith in Him, the right on time God.

 

So I get a car that had just over 1000 miles on it. Being skeptical, I asked why the owner sold it. He said it was a young man and his family and he wanted something a little sporty. After a few months his wife convinced him to trade for a more practical car since this was a coupe and hard for the kids. So I ended up, like Job, better off than before, saved thousands by buying used, and had a low mileage car that was still under factory warranty, and exactly what my heart desired. The only problem is learning how to enjoy the material blessing as it brings a whole new set of problems. I have to discipline myself to let let the blessing take the place of God and I am fully aware that God is able if I only but obey.

 

I don't know your biking preferences but oddly enough I had a man come into the homeless mission seeking someone to assume his payments on a 1998 Harley Davidson ultra glide. He only wanted some one to assume the payments of 158.00 a month for 60 months. I looked the bike over and it was big and nice, too big for me, but there were 10K worth of chrome worked into the bike. I had to decline the offer but told the man I would ask around to find an interested party. If your interested, I could pm or email you a picture.

 

Shalom,

chris(radar)

[ADVRider]

Chris,

 

Good story on getting the new car. Thanks for the offer on the Harley, but probably not my thing. At least not a 98 Dyna. I ride a used and paid-for V-Strom 650.

 

I know we are getting a bit off topic, but as in all things, there is a balance. The prosperity group (I believe) has taken a biblical truth and distorted it because they say, "God will provide," but if you listen to them, the provision ends up being on their terms, and in their time. Simply put, these good people try to define what they need. OTOH, it is very precious when there are times and situations where it is clear that God actually does provide materially for His children. I believe in some cases, the Lord actually likes to bless His children with things they actually don't need. Even our earthly fathers do this out of love. But the difference (from the Name-it and claim-it) is the giving is God's perogative, not ours.

[radar]

Thanks for sharing John! Yes, after being content in poverty as Paul stated (Phil 4), I focused more on the evils of having money after I learned the truth about the prosperity crowd. Then when well balanced Christians started telling me that it was okay to be blessed with things that God knows your wants, I did not take them serious as I was bound up in legalism. Over the years and through the hard seasons, I learned to grow content. But having more now means a greater responsibility and a whole new set of problems. I know we are off topic here but I would start another thread as this is worthy of further discussion, but I am afraid I might forget this thought while I have it. An example is the car. The problem is now that I have a little more power and handling. I find myself tempted to road rage that I thought was not a problem like it had been in the past. Maybe this blessing is given to reveal another flaw that God wants to perfect in this creature.

 

It reminds me of a time a few years ago when "I" tried to quit smoking. I struggled for two years, I had the withdrawals, the irritation, the addiction binding me and finally I came to a complete end of myself trying. At that time of giving up the arm of the flesh, I realized I needed pastoral counsel, not on just the cigarettes, but my entire life. I went to my first session and halfway through the session, without us being anywhere on the topic of cigarettes, the pastor changed the subject abruptly and stated that God says it is time to put down the cigarettes. I thought, "well, I must give this a try, seeing how I asked for a pastor and need to get real and not waste anyone's time. Then, the obedience was rewarded as I was delivered immediately and without an mental or physical  problems! I have not smoked cigarettes since that time in 1998. I was in prayer afterwards thanking God for this miraculous deliverance which I knew that only He could do, when I had this thought. "You could have been delivered sooner, but you were false in your heart, outwardly rejoicing at others testimonies of their deliverance from the cigarettes, but in you heart doubting the truth of their statements and thinking that I was holding out cruelly on you". I repented of that deception, and looking back, can see no other way God could reveal to me the total healing of the secret sin I was committing at that time. I feel that is what is occurring with the new blessings.

 

Yes, I agree, I have been blessed with more than, better than, and with things that I did not really need. But first, I had to be in obedience to support the church of God and be a blessing to others. An example is the homeless mission I used to direct. Through the funds that God has provided, I am able to pay the rent and provide some needed necessities. I also have to give time at that mission because just paying the rent is not enough, I spend time witnessing and bring hope to those that have turned their back on the poor and homeless by sharing God's good news and His love, praying with them and exhorting them on into their weak faith. They have been brought to the end of themselves and knowing who and what the remedy is, I can show them the more excellent way. It was the directorship that caused problems and was one of the reasons I left the fellowship of my old church. But God revealed that He wanted me to maintain the mission as good fruit was there. We did not have politics or drama, we are a house of prayer and healing. I am in complete joy that a wonderful lady has now assumed the directorship. She is organized and has accomplished things that I did not see or do, revealing that this was the will of God. At first it was hard to give money into a ministry that had rejected me. But after seeing the results, I have come to peace with it and the others there. Although I am at a new fellowship where the teaching is going on, with two occasions in the week to attend. This was lost at my old fellowship, and as I stepped up and tried to start teaching myself, I was not supported after two sessions at the fellowship, and my teaching position taken away there and  from the 90 day program guys who enjoyed the fellowship during the teaching times. You will suffer persecution in doing the right thing, and I am disappointed in one way, but thankful that God is not finished with me yet as He has somethings to teach me before I can teach others. I just have to wait for His perfect timing and direction. I still keep in contact with the fellowship and have not been cast out of the ministry. Sometimes I think they only keep me around for the money but have to take that thought captive to the obedience of Christ and not listen to Satan's tauntings. God will take judge his own people. I need to show love and keep my eyes on Jesus!

 

Thanks for sharing John...

 

Kindest Regards.

chris(radar)

[ADVRider]

Chris,

 

As far as the testings on increased blessings and responsibility, there is the verse, "to whom much is given, much is required." I think the biggest difficulty we all face is how we process our faith. Too often, we jump straight to legalism and performance-oriented responses for these types of concerns. We want to figure it out as soon as possible, because certainty makes us feels better. I do agree there are times when material things do complicate life. I've been blessed with some things a little late in life too, but the key I guess is to learn to use them and not let them use you. I try not to overthink some of this though.

 

On a spiritual level, I realized one day that when you begin to remove some of the legalisms a person could hold on to, then struggle can begin to enter in. Think about it; if your faith is not made up of a bunch of rules, Then what is left? What is left is our heart, which is what God wanted to interact with all along. But if our walk is based not on rules (laws), but on our heart, then our heart is exposed by the One who knows it. That type of exposure makes us uncomfortable because it removes our legalisms that we often use to make us feel "correct" and "dialed-in." My main point though is we can be both, too easy on ourself with the legalisms, or too hard. The key is letting the Holy Spirit truly reveal our heart to us in a manner that we can recognize and know when it is Him and then so we can agree with Him, and repent if necessary. In my experience, it has been easier to be hard on myself, rather than the other way. I've also found God can speak if He is not happy with something. So that is where I try to leave it nowadays. And I try not to spiritualize everything, because even God is practical with our needs too. Sorry, I am majorly rambling now; long day. Over and out.

[robo328]

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Heb 11:6

 

Oswald Chambers, in" My Utmost...", writes of how God will peel away, those who brought us up in The Lord along the way, and we begin to look at Jesus only. I found this to be true in my life- How I need less of the "three points, and a prayer" messages(nothing wrong with those, BTW), and less wondering how (enter name of a fellow Saint) would react to this or that, but rather recalling what God's Word has to say concerning His promise, and asking for His Strength to endure, or to press on, convinced He has commissioned me , to do what ever it is I am doing.