“How To Walk Close To God During Troubled Times”
Session Two
Part A
By Nita Johnson
Seattle Services
If you had an opportunity, do you think you would choose to go into union with Christ? The Lord wants to give that to us – each of us. It is really up to us – will we do what is required?
My previous secretary and I were out for a walk, she and I would go out five days a week and walk for two hours through a park that looked more like a nature park than a park. It was an extraordinary place to walk. While we walked we would either pray or go through scripture together. We had this little box of cardboard scriptures and each time we would take one or two so that we could talk about the Word. This particular day the scripture was about God's love for His Church and the greatness of the calling upon her. We were in discussion when suddenly I found myself in Heaven in His throne room. The Lord was weeping. He said to me, "Do you know what it is like to want something with all of your heart? To desire something to the point that you would do anything to bring it about?" Well, He already knew the answer to that question as He knows me better than I do. He followed that with as a series of questions beginning with Creation. He asked, "Do you know why I created Heaven and earth?"
Now, I tell people all the time I learned a long time ago that when the Lord asks a question He is not necessarily looking for an answer. (I share this with you now so when He visits you, you can learn lessons from me on what not to do.) Remember, He already knows all the answers. At times, He simply wants to hear what I know or what I would like to know. Having learned from previous experiences, I try to just look at Him and wait on Him to see which it is. Again He posed the question. "Do you know why I created Heaven and earth?" I said, "No, Lord." He said, "So that I could make a garden."
Amazing isn’t it? He created Heaven and earth so He could make the trees, the greenery, all the beautiful things that He put in Heaven and earth. Then He said to me, "Do you know why I did that?" "No, Lord, I don't." And He said, "So that I could create the animals that I wanted to put in the garden and in various places of the world."
Well, we went on and on and on, one issue after another, until finally He said to me, "Do you know why I wanted to create a garden?" I was feeling very overwhelmed by this time. Tears starting to well up in the Lord's eyes and He said to me, "I wanted to create that for you. I wanted to create a special place for man." I said to Him - I mean the very first thought that went through my mind is the Great Sin - and I said, "Why? You knew what we were going to do to You. Why? Why would You want to do that?" I was thinking about how much I love Him – I am sure that is what you would be thinking as well – and that even now so many years later I would do anything to stop what happened but I couldn’t. It's already occurred.
Finally, a teardrop fell from His eye onto His cheek as He thought of the great love that He has for every human being. I said to Him, "Lord, we are so sorry for what we did to You." He said, "Wait! Wait!" Suddenly I realized there is something wonderful about to be said. He said, "Wait! There was a hunger in My heart, a hunger that was so great that it had to be met." I said, "Lord, what was that hunger?" He said, "That I would have a people that would give up anything that I ask, and do whatever I would demand of them in order to live in Me." I could see the hunger He was talking about in His eyes because it's there. I was looking at it. "I had to have that hunger met," He said. The cross was not a bad thing. It was a good thing because at last, My heart's desire would be fulfilled.
I want you to know and understand how much God loves you. He doesn't see things the way you do or the way I do. What He sees is a plan, a plan for eternity. I wish I'd known that I was going to share that with you tonight because I would have liked to have given it to you verbatim. It was so rich and so wonderful, so pure. But regardless, it's still a wonderful experience. And the Bible tells us all about it, right? It takes a few more pages than I have available here, to do so, but the Word tells the story of His great love, and His great sacrifice to have union with His creation. This is a beautiful drama unfolding in the sands of time where we are learning more and more and more about God.
I can remember being a child hearing these words, "The days are coming when knowledge will increase." As a child I thought, "Knowledge of what?" And I've always wondered; knowledge of what, what are we supposed to look for? This was a constant question within me because I was really a lover of knowledge. A knowledge of what? Well, one of the things is the knowledge of God, His plans, His purposes, those things that only He can give, and only He can know, that will lead us closer and closer to the destiny that He has designed for us.
How many of you would like to have that kind of talk with the Lord? "You know the destiny thing, Lord, I'm sure that we both have an idea of what we want my destiny to be and it would be great to know Your thoughts on that." Amen? Unfortunately, it doesn't happen that way.
We want to learn how to walk with Jesus.
Romans 13:12-14 (AMP)
“The night is far gone and the day is almost here. Let us then drop (fling away) the works and deeds of darkness and put on the [full] armor of light. Let us live and conduct ourselves honorably and becomingly as in the [open light of] day, not in reveling (carousing) and drunkenness, not in immorality and debauchery (sensuality and licentiousness), not in quarreling and jealousy. But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and make no provision for [indulging] the flesh [put a stop to thinking about the evil cravings of your physical nature] to [gratify its] desires (lusts).”
It's amazing, isn’t it? Clothe yourself with Christ. Clothe yourself with Christ. It's not offered to us as a suggestion. But an instruction: “clothe yourself with Christ.” Well, how do you do that? How do you clothe yourself with another man? It's a mystery. It's a mystery of the life of the spirit, the Spirit of Christ. In order to become like Him, you have to let Him fill Himself with you. You have to give up your desires and your designs. You have to cease with this constant need that we have to be worshiped and adored by other people. We have to come to a place where we don't want to be seen, we don't want to be heard, we don't even want to be lifted up as being noteworthy.
Now, this may seem to a lot of people to carry very little weight, but when you walk with Jesus and you see what He is, you see how He is, you see His kind of thoughts, His kind of sacrifices, His kind of doings and you compare it to yourself, it can be disheartening. It helps you know that you must allow Him to change you. That is lesson number one in entering into union. You've got to be willing to be changed. It is the biggest problem anyone has that has a quest for union.
To be continued next week
In His Amazing love,
Nita Johnson
