{"id":651,"date":"2016-09-04T07:45:25","date_gmt":"2016-09-03T21:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/?p=651"},"modified":"2016-09-04T07:45:25","modified_gmt":"2016-09-03T21:45:25","slug":"restfully-available-instantly-obedient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/2016\/09\/04\/restfully-available-instantly-obedient\/","title":{"rendered":"Restfully Available, Instantly Obedient"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 6:7-8 7<\/sup>And he touched my mouth and said: \u201cBehold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. 8<\/sup>And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, \u201cWhom shall I send, and who will go for us?\u201d Then I said, \u201cHere I am! Send me.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Our Reality:<\/h2>\n

Isaiah\u2019s response to God\u2019s forgiveness is an incredible example to us. He didn\u2019t know what the task was, or where God needed someone to go, but when he recognized what God had done for him, his immediate response was, \u201cI am available!\u201d Knowing he was forgiven, he acted as if he was forgiven, and said, \u201cThere is nothing else more important\u2026 I am here, right now, send me.\u201d<\/p>\n

How does the knowledge of God\u2019s love and His forgiveness of you affect your life?<\/p>\n

Our Responsibility:<\/h2>\n

\u201cGod sent us His Son not just to get you and me out of hell and into heaven, but to get the God of heaven into you and me,\u201d \u201cso it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.\u201d <\/em>(Ian Thomas, Gal 2:20)<\/p>\n

Colossians 1:27 tells me that the hope of glory, the answer to this hope that I can live a life pleasing and honoring to God, is Christ in me! Ephesians 3:8 describes Christ in me as “unsearchable riches.” Colossians 2:3 also says that “in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”<\/p>\n

When the truth of our forgiveness really sinks in, it should produce an increasing desire to understand and know Him. Paul\u2019s words in Philippians 3:10 are a great example to us; \u201cFor my determined purpose is that I may know Him\u2014that 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, and that I may in that same way come to know the power out-flowing from His resurrection\u201d<\/em> (Philippians 3:10, AMP).<\/p>\n

As we grow in acquaintance with Christ, Paul\u2019s words in Philippians 1:21 should become our prayer, \u201cFor me to live is Christ and to die is gain.\u201d \u201cI am a redeemed sinner, and the risen Jesus has come to reinvade my humanity so that He can serve with my hands, walk with my feet, speak with my lips, see with my eyes, hear with my ears, think with my mind, and love with my heart, so that to me, to live now is Christ. It is my privilege as a forgiven sinner to place my humanity at His disposal so that others looking at me will see Him behaving, just as those who looked at Jesus saw His Father behaving.\u201d (Ian Thomas)<\/p>\n

Our Response: Restfully Available, Instantly Obedient.<\/h2>\n

The knowledge of his forgiveness produced in Isaiah an attitude of restful availability, while at the same time, instantly obedient. Paul\u2019s growing understanding of His savior also produced an attitude of restful availability (For me to live is Christ) and the attitude of instant obedience (Col 1:28-2:2)<\/p>\n

    \n
  • How are you allowing the Lord Jesus to serve with your hands?<\/li>\n
  • How can you allow Him to walk with your feet?<\/li>\n
  • How can you allow Him to speak with your lips?<\/li>\n
  • How can you allow Him to see with your eyes? \u2022 How can you allow Him to hear with your ears?<\/li>\n
  • How can you allow Him to think with your mind?<\/li>\n
  • How can you allow Him to love with your heart?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Our Request<\/h2>\n

    Lord, thank you for the men and women and the boys and girls whose faces I have never looked and whose names I have never heard, but to whom you are going to speak and to whose lives you are going to add your life.. Redeemed from darkness, taken out of death, raised into life from the power of your resurrection. I thank you for defeated, frustrated exhausted Christians who you are going to emancipate and lead into the glorious secret of living life as God intended life to be. Lord, it’s wonderful. I don’t know who they are, or where they live. I don’t know at what corner I am going to meet them, but it as sure as the dawn. Because it’s just like you to do things like that. And I am available. That’s the privilege you have given to me! No matter what I am doing, no matter where I am going, I want to proceed with this as my prayer, “Lord, how do you want to use me to be a blessing through this activity?” I am available.<\/em> (Ian Thomas)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Isaiah 6:7-8 7And he touched my mouth and said: \u201cBehold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. 8And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, \u201cWhom shall I send, and who will go for us?\u201d Then I said, \u201cHere I am! Send me.\u201d Our Reality: Isaiah\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48601],"tags":[448,637],"class_list":{"0":"post-651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-dear-brothers-and-sisters","7":"tag-ethnos360","8":"tag-new-tribes-mission","9":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}