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sbm SusanBottgerMinistries |
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How Do You Define Deep? Deep things are a mystery. In the 70’s, my friends and I used to sit around contemplating and philosophizing over the pressing issues of life. We’d say, “Man, that’s deep.” There were many things we knew were beyond our comprehension or scope of understanding. Deep things go beneath the surface. There is no risk in staying at a surface level. Everything is standard, predictable, and routine. Being in deep however, is a risk and it has a price. When you go below the surface, you enter the realm of the unpredictable, the atypical, and the world of possibility. If one is to go deep, it will be personally costly. There is always a price to pay. Deep things make significant changes in a person’s life. Surface level changes never really become internal, but going deep is invasive. It penetrates to the core of your being and impacts not only who you are, but who you will become. When someone experiences something, either a trauma or an event which affects them deeply, it may create lifelong changes in a person’s perspective and behavior. There’s no turning back or pretending it didn’t happen. Once experienced, the person is forever changed, and other people may not be able to understand or relate. Deep Calls to Deep: (Psalm 42:7) When you go into a lake, the top layer is warm and comfortable. It’s easy to want to stay there in the shallows, but deep calls to you as you become more experienced. You move out farther into the deeper area. It’s a little bit colder and less comfortable, but more exciting because now your feet can only barely touch the bottom. You have to trust more at this level. Then you see someone diving below the surface and going deep into the water. They seem so free and full of joy to be able to go down into the depths and come up again when they need to. You start to want what they have, and again deep calls to deep. You decide that the way to freedom, real freedom is to dive in too, not quite knowing what it will be like, but watching and wanting more than fearing the possibilities of failure. You hold your breath, say a prayer and take the plunge. No holding back, nothing on reserve, you begin to realize that you could be so totally over your head that there’s no chance of survival. Yet, there’s a sense of being drawn and compelled to enter the deep. As your head dips below the surface there’s an initial shock and a bit of panic. Did I do the right thing? What if I can’t breathe? What do I do now? But once the plunge is taken, there’s no turning back. Suddenly your eyes are open and you see things that you never saw before. You know things that you couldn’t know had you stayed on the surface and you experience a depth of reality that you never imagined. Coming up for air is an exhilarating feeling because you know that it will enable you to go back down to this new place again. You can’t wait for the refreshing, so you ca return to the mysteries of this new place. When you try to explain what you’ve experienced in the depths, others look at you in disbelief. How can it be? They’ve never seen such things. Perhaps, they think, the cold temperature has gotten to your brain. Perhaps you’re lying to make yourself look more important than other people. Maybe, you just want everyone to pay attention to you. The skeptics contrive a million reasons why what you’ve experienced can’t be so. They wish they could go with you into the deep, but aren’t willing to take the risk. Other things are more of a priority to them. God’s Economics in the Depths The irony of God’s way is his upside-down economy. The deeper we go, the higher he takes us. The lower we bring ourselves, the higher he lifts us up. The deeper our commitment, the more fully we see the unfathomable depths of Jesus. The questions are NOT: 1. How deep are you, and how deep are you willing to go? 2. How much are you willing to cut away? 3. How much are you willing to sacrifice to understand the mysteries and the depths of Christ? While these questions are all part of the scenario, they are not primary. The real questions are: 1. How high do you want to climb? 2. How high do you want to soar with the power of the Holy Spirit and the intimacy with the Lords that produces unspeakable riches in relationship, in gifting, in faith, in hope, joy, and unbridled trust? 3. How free do you want to be? When you know the answers to these questions, then you’ll know how deep you’re willing to go. How Deep Did Jesus Go? Jesus himself was our example. Jesus suffered the depths of physical torture, and rejection at Calvary (Mark 15). Jesus went to the depths of Hell to get those who had died in faith. Jesus told Peter, launch out into the deep (Luke 5:4). He knew there would be no fish to catch in the shallow waters. You can’t become mature until you’re willing to get deeper. Jesus love penetrates to the depths of our souls, even through the hardest of hearts. Getting Deep is a Process Don’t get anxious or worried. Depth and maturity take time! God is gracious with us and knows that we’re in the process of becoming more and more like him each day. He changes us from glory to glory. (II Corinthians 3:18) Some personalities are reserved, while others love to be over their heads. Some have been hurt or disappointed and are fearful of going deep. God is the only source of love, and He will never hurt you. He will never leave you or forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5) He is the same God that hung, bled and died on Calvary’s cross so that you could experience this freedom from the penalty of sin, freedom to live the Kingdom of God here on earth. He knew the depths of your heart and soul before you were even a thought in your parent’s mind. (Psalm 139) That’s deep! He won’t force you to go deep with him, but the Holy Spirit will draw you into the depths. He has so much waiting for you that you will never have the privilege to experience unless you go into the deep. How Do I Get Deeper? 1. Recommit yourself to Christ. It’s all or nothing. He doesn’t want you halfway. (Revelation 3:15-16) If you’ve never done this see the Salvation section of this website. If at some point in your life received Christ, but have turned away or have not been actively living your faith, make a new start right now! Pray this prayer where you sit:
Lord Jesus, Congratulations and Welcome Home! You’ve been officially restored as a child of God. The Bible says that if we confess our sins God is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from everything wrong thing in our past. Now tell someone and take the next step. 2. Get Baptized No matter how long or short of a time you’ve been a believer, it is crucial for you to make a public commitment to Christ through water baptism. Baptism is a step in obedience to the Word of God (Acts 2:38) After reading about Jesus’ baptism in the New Testament, I concluded that baptism by immersion was the example he wanted believers to follow. Baptism by immersion is literally, a symbolic picture of the plunge you take into the depths of Christ. (Colossians 2:12-14) Going down under the water represents your identification with Christ in death. The water represents the washing away of your sins and of the old life. Likewise, in coming up out of the water, you are symbolically resurrected or given new life in Christ Jesus. What a beautiful sacrament! Although my parents “sprinkled me” when I was a baby, in accordance with their church tradition, after I rededicated my life to Jesus as an adult I felt compelled to be baptized by immersion. The “sprinkling” was significant to my parents as they dedicated me to the Lord, but I wanted to be baptized the way Jesus was! I wanted to fully experience the grace of God that would wash away my makeup, my hair style, my need to be all put together, my pride and every sin that was holding my back from becoming the person God created me to be. I was willing to drown in the depths of God. 3. Spend time in contemplative prayer. Set aside a quiet place in a specific time to just sit and be still with no agenda on your mind. Let the Lord speak to your heart (Psalm 46:10). Time is not quality, unless it is quantity. This is one of the costs of developing your relationship with the Lord. You will have to put other things aside to hear from the depths of God’s heart to yours. 4. Focus on the Scriptures. Read a very small section of scripture, perhaps the Psalms. Read it slowly. Pray through the scripture, line by line. Concentrate on the message the Lord is speaking to you through his Word (II Timothy 3:16). The Bible is the truth of God that will never lead you in the wrong way. You will know God through knowing what his Word says. 5. Have a time of fasting. Fasting is the act of giving up something of importance to you for a specific time period and using that time to pray instead of doing that activity. It doesn’t always mean giving up food, but any significant thing in your life can be fasted in order to commit the time to hearing God. There were many times when the people of God drew close to him through fasting and prayer. Sometimes it was an act of repentance, sometimes for direction, but always for a deeper relationship with God. 6. Ask God for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit There are times when we are not humanly capable of carrying out God’s plan for us. We lack the power to be victorious over our weaknesses, or we don’t have the words to communicate with God at the level we desire. God delights in empowering his children and we can ask for the Holy Spirit to be manifested in us in order to deepen our relationship with him. (Acts 2:38-39) The manifestation of the Holy Spirit in our lives is a promise to us and to our children. The Baptism of the Spirit gives us God’s supernatural ability to be his witnesses, to pray in the Spirit as evidenced by speaking in other tongues, and to prophesy. For more on receiving the Baptism of the Spirit, go to the teaching on this website. 7. Have a silent retreat with a group of friends. Our world is busy and noisy. We have become so accustomed to it that we hardly notice when the Lord is trying to get our attention. There are too many distractions. Take one day or even a part of the day to be silent before the Lord. You’ll be amazed at what you hear. 8. Focus on the Sacrifice of Christ. We may think we’re deep compared to those around us, but when we see the depth of the sacrifice that our Savior had for all humanity, we are immediately humbled. Now that’s deep! (Philippians 2:6-8) 9. Sing Soft Worship Songs. He show adoration for the most popular movie star or the top sports figure, but when is the last time we showed true adoration for the King of Kings and Lord of Lord? Worship him for who he is and what he means to you personally and to the world. (Psalm 150) 10. Develop your Awareness and Gratitude for who He is and what He’s done. Think about the presence of Jesus radiating out of you. What it would be like without his presence in your life? Where would you be without Jesus? Take an inventory. There’s nothing like looking back to help you gear up for what’s ahead. 11. Reflect on All the Ways God has been Faithful in your Life God is a covenant God, and he keeps his promises even when we aren’t faithful to him. He has ordered your step to give you a great life (Romans 8:28-29). 12. Get outside yourself and get involved in the lives of others who need to see Jesus. One of the best ways to get deeper with God is to connect with his people. It’s not just fellowship with other Christians that you need, but it’s realizing that you have the potential to touch others with the Good News of Jesus. We don’t get deep to get stuck. We get deep so that we will be overflowing with his love to those around us. Our roots grow down deep so we can grow our sphere of influence wide.
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Website Revised: 10/22/2010. Copyright © 2005 [Susan Bottger Ministries]. All rights reserved. |