The Deeper Life

The Deeper Life "But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed." (Isa 53:5 NIV) Beloved, God intended that we be led by Him. The bible says we should walk in the ways of God. Yet not many people truly walk in the ways of God and are led by His spirit. We are living in a time when many Christian's walk is based on their own terms, and wonder why they end up with a superficial spirituality.

Most people's definition of "blessed" means that everyone in my family is in near perfect health, I've got the near perfect job, near perfect family, and money in the bank. Let's look again. Countless thousands of believers have taken a spiritual detour and missed the deeper life with God. When walking the path that God has for us, we often don't feel blessed, but actually hard-pressed. Pressed, as in "crushed" as an olive in a press. God has to "crush us" to work in us the precious oil of joy that only comes through being pressed and perhaps even crushed by His loving hand. Jesus is the supreme example of being crushed. He was crushed for our iniquities. The problem today, is that in the context of a post-western materialistic, consumer driven culture, we are tempted to believe that we are not blessed when we face all kinds of trials and hardships. We have mistakenly believed that something is wrong with us, when in fact we are blessed of God! For example: when any hardship comes our way, we often wonder whether we have been abandoned by God or are under His discipline. Hence, our prayers become repetitive pleas that God will show us that He is still with us. Yet, could there be anything to make His love and commitment to us more clear than the cross? The truth is, we need to take the "road less traveled". We must want to be led on God's journey even when it involves suffering, hardship and discomfort. In time, if we don't hit the eject button, we will find that we have grown to be conformed to the magnificent image of Christ Himself. So, if you look at your life and think you have become less rather than more, that is actually a good thing (as crazy as it sounds). We need to decrease so that He might increase in our lives. We need to be reminded that God is leading us not to self-fulfillment, but to take up our cross and die to self that we may truly live. Not very appealing to most, but indeed it is the blessed road less traveled. It's a road of walking by faith and not sight. It's a path of risk taking and making hard decisions without leaning on your own understanding, but trusting God. It's the road of humility that sometimes includes making great mistakes. However, we must not forget that it is the path that leads to the better life. We will find that it is really, after all, the pathway to the Deeper Life. Copyrighted 2005 Heart's Desire Ministries