In my daily reading plan I was reading through Deuteronomy chapters 4 and was struck by a verse that began my mind expanding and applying truth to my life and the lives of those I lead. Moses records these words,
And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of
Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, (Deuteronomy 4:37)
It is clear that the people of Israel are being reminded of the mighty work that the Lord had accomplished for them in Egypt as a call for them to not get spiritually or mentally lost when they come into the land He is promising them. He is reminding them of this because we are often negligent of holding the work of God in our lives close to our hearts when we are in a new and exiting place in our lives. It is easy to love the blessing and miss the Blesser.
Moses, however, is not only reminding them of the fact of their deliverance but the essence of what made this deliverance possible. God had delivered them "with his own presence" and by his great power." These two phrases got me thinking about the nature of deliverance, pondering the divine origin of our deliverance and also the human responsibility for our deliverance. I want to make a connection in what I think Moses is teaching and then show how this applies to our own daily lives in order to make an incredible point I believe we all should not just read, but ponder.
The Connection
In verse 37 Moses is reminding the people of God that it was by the active presence of God that the they were able to see, experience and participate in the great power of God in delivering them from Egypt. In other words, God's presence was actively for them and by His presence He delivered a great and mighty work before their eyes. It was God's work but, it was also their work.
Moses had to obey the command of the Lord to deal with Pharaoh those multiple times even when the Lord told Moses He would harden Pharaoh's heart. The people had to obey God by following Moses' leadership even when, at times, it seemed a bit shaky and strange. Moses, again, had to obey the Lord at the edge of the Red Sea, sticking His staff into the water so that it could part. Yes, God had delivered Israel but Israel had participated in God's mission to deliver them.
The Point
From that perspective we must learn something vital and powerful if we are to taste the glories of what Israel saw and experienced. The only way we will experience the practical and daily power of God's deliverance from sinful pattern of act or thought and be able to walk in that deliverance is by the active presence of God. Israel could not walk in the deliverance that the Lord had promised to them if the Lord's presence was not with and for them and the same is true with Christ-followers today. The difference - and it is a major one - is that the presence of God for Christians now resides within us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you (John 14:18)
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:23)
27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory
of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ's presence within us is our authority and our strength. We are no longer in need of waiting for the external presence to move for us; he is actively moving and powerfully present in us accomplishing the purposes for our lives internally. Yet, we must be careful to note this reality and never forget it:
Christ's presence "in us" is only active "for us" when we are participating in the Mission of
God which centers on the expansion of His glory in us by our daily communion with Him.
Let us never forget that the Spirit of God in us will only move and be active for us when we are walking In Him. It is only by doing this that we fight against the passions that seek to conform our life and mind towards sin. "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). Therefore, it is only as we participate with the Presence of God within us (Holy Spirit) that we will be enabled to walk in the deliverance we have in Christ.
Let me make a statement that might be a bit bold, but I believe it to be true. There are always and only two reasons why a Christian, one who is already liberated from the bondage of sin, would be living in bondage to its ways and thinking:
He or she has quit, actively and aggressively, battling temptations to sin by a neglect of their daily and intimate communion with the Lord. They have ceased, for whatever reason, to battle against temptation in their refusal to immerse themselves in the Word and surrender themselves in prayer. No one who is wrapped in the Word and covered in prayer lives bound to sin. It is not that they will not fall short, but falling short is totally opposite of living bound to sin. We have all experienced our moments of struggle but we can all experience deliverance because that is the power of the resurrection which daily communion with the Lord rekindles and reconnects within us. That is why Paul said that he continually longed to "know him and the power of his resurrection (Philippians 3:10). Our walking in the deliverance we have in Christ will not be experienced in our lives until we actively participate in God's mission for our lives which centered around the Word and prayer.
He or she is not participating in the mission of God which includes consistent worship (together with the saints on Sunday) and consistent witness to unbelievers about the gospel the what Christ has for those who trust Him. The enemy knows better than we that the presence of the Lord is our only hope against the presence of sin and the origin of the power of deliverance. So, he will agitate your life to keep you from communion with God, community with the saints and confessing Christ towards unbelievers. He knows that the Spirit is active and manifestly present in the lives of those saints who are dependently living by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:17) and on mission with Him.
So if you are battling with pattern of sin in your life or mind wage war in the three ways I just listed above: communion, community and confessing. If we want to walk in deliverance we will need to the Lord's presence to fight for us but in order experience this active presence of Christ we will need to be participating in His mission. His mission is God's Global Fame and Glory.