Letting Go of your wisdom

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:19-25

Jesus always sought communion with our Father throughout His life and ministry. He is the example and epitome of what seeking the Kingdom and communing with the Father looks like. One of His gifts to us is the ability to come to a Holy, secret place with the Father whenever we choose. Out of this space we seek with the Father, we will operate out of Divine overflow, with genuine sincerity, clarity, and encouragement towards others. Jesus is seen throughout the New Testament retreating to God’s presence before or after large decisions and actions. He always looks to be guided and filled up by God, even though He is God. A challenge to us is, although Jesus is fully God and fully man as one, He still NEEDED to get with the Father to find center in His earthly life and ministry, so who are we to think we don’t need to regularly retreat to God’s presence for the same thing. We need God even more so, because we are not Divine, we are just human, and more importantly Jesus knew that we needed access to God, therefore He became that intermediary for us. We are in complete reliance on God for our redemption, yet somehow, many times we treat our lives as if we know what is best, by busying ourselves, and complicating our days. Jesus as fully man did neither, He was intentional and simple with how He lived and taught. There was one clear and true vision for His life, that was to look clearly and steadily at God to lead His life on earth, and serve Him well. So that is what we are to do in the midst of any and all circumstance and not allow our sinful bodies to busy our minds and distract us from a righteous path. Jesus never looks back on the past fretting over things that have happened, or is found busily running around trying to ‘fix’ or ‘manage’ things of the present or future. He is steady in His approach to life, feeling fully, the emotional spectrum of humanity, knowing His purpose, and yet He is steady in His focus on God no matter what the day brings. So what does that look like? We will walk through places where Jesus sought solitude to find simplicity with God in His ministry.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2

The enemy wants to keep you out of the presence of God and our battle is to seek freedom through simplicity in our lives. The enemy will tempt you into toiling away at all of these distractions and you end up sacrificing time and emotion to things outside of your purpose and control. The past is in the past, let go of it. Present struggles are temporary, and God is greater than those too. The greatest question posed to me lately is, where are my eyes? Busyness and worry of life fade when I look at the Father, realizing He just asks me to sit still and see, that if I’m looking at Him and walking side by side, then everything is taken care of. The busyness of life fades in completion; all those struggles with all of those people and situations fade because He is sovereign over it, greater than my toiling. God is simple with us, asking us to seek first the Kingdom of God in everything. In doing that we are able to un-complicate the choices we make and this allows us to put our focus in the right place.

Solitude allows us the space and clarity to hear the Father’s voice and gain trust, understanding, and guidance. When we look at Jesus, He continually kept His life simple by retreating to solitude with the Father to find strength (Matt 4:1-11) knowledge (Luke 6:12), softening of His heart (Matt 14:13), restoration (Matt 14:23 Mark 6:31), renewed humility (Luke 5:16) hear/see God (Matt 17:1-9), and clarity/obedience (Matt 26:36-46). He did this many times after tragedy, after miracles, before facing trial, before making large decisions etc. Jesus prioritized solitude with the Father regularly in His ministry in order to align His heart with Him. Simplicity in our lives comes with one single move which is to allow Him Lord over our lives.

Strength

In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus finds strength in the Lord when He is led by the Spirit to the wilderness for 40 days to then be tempted by Satan at the end of those 40 days. Jesus sought communion with the Father during that time in order to sustain Him as He fasted in the wilderness alone. Without the Father sustaining His every fiber, Jesus human body would not have had the strength to withstand that time. He would have completely fallen apart as a human and needed to rely on God to sustain Him and see Him to the other side of that 40 days and leave victorious over Satan walking away physically and spiritually full.

Knowledge

In Luke 6:12, Jesus is at the point in His ministry where He is ready to choose His apostles. Instead of relying on His own Divine nature to choose them, He understands the importance of the choices He will make and that they are to be appointed by the Father. Each of those people would be pivotal to the spread of early Christianity. Jesus sought out solitude on a mountain to pray over each person He was to choose and hear God’s voice to confirm each person chosen as an apostle.

Softening of the Heart

In Matthew 14:13 Jesus receives the news of John the Baptists death from His apostles and immediately retreats to a boat by Himself to sit in the presence of God. He is fully human and feels the well of emotions of losing such a person in His life, which is very painful. He seeks God’s presence knowing God will soften His heart not allowing it to harden against people, and in that space God is able to comfort Him and heal Him so He is able to go back out and continue to serve without the crippling pain of loss. Immediately after the news, and seeking solitude, He ended up feeding the five thousand.

Restoration and Recovery

In Matthew 14:23 Jesus has just fed the five thousand and seeks out solitude with God once again so He could sit in prayer and find restoration and recovery for His heart and His strength. He sends His disciples ahead on the boat, and He went up to the mountain again to sit and soak. He knows He needs this time so He can center Himself again and be filled.

Renewed Humility

In Luke 5:16 Jesus is approached by a sick man, with leprosy, and is begged to heal him. Jesus of course heals the man and encourages him to tell no one but instead to go to the priest and make an offering for his cleansing. Of course many people hear about the miraculous healing and find Jesus, gathering to be healed by Him. Based on the scripture, it was multiple crowds in multiple places. Instead of bolstering Himself on each occasion and making a scene, He retreats to a solitary place to pray each time. Jesus could have easily healed everyone on every occasion. That would not have been out of a place of humility, seems like something we would do if we had the opportunity. Instead He sought God’s will and found renewed humility each time He was confronted with healing large crowds. Jesus was more interested in God’s will for His interaction with people than He was with healing them. WOW.

Hearing and Seeing the Lord

In Matthew 17:1-9 Jesus brings three of His disciples up to a high mountain to be so they can see and hear God in all His glory. Jesus reveals Himself physically, as Divine to them on top of a mountain. He allows them to see who He is, as well as see an interaction with Elijah and Moses upon the mountain. During this interaction God the Father speaks to them and the disciples fall to their faces frightened by the presence, and Jesus reassures them that it is okay. Here we have a full view of what solitude on our ‘mountain’ with God looks like. This is so important! This is the intimacy God desires to have with each of us, so we can know Him.

Clarity and Obedience

In Matthew 26:36-46 Jesus is found in the Garden of Gethsemane before His betrayal and arrest. He knew what was to come, and knew He was to be obedient to God in allowing the arrest and crucifixion to go forward. He also knew how much strength and fortitude it would take to abide in God’s will for His life and death. Jesus prays three times for clarity and to be encouraged in His obedience by the Father. This is MASSIVE, Jesus would have abided either way, but He knew the importance of encouragement and clarity from the Father. He knew He needed that to get past the finish line and truly abide in God, even though He knew full well the outcome, and is also fully Divine. Even with all of Jesus’ knowledge and Divinity, He NEEDED God. He NEEDED HIS ENCOURAGEMENT and GUIDANCE.

Suffice to say these are all amazing examples to us of how Jesus sought time with the Father. God is here to restore us to His vision for our lives if we choose to sit with Him. Jesus could not have completed His ministry and been our sinless Savior without it. He would not be the model for our lives if He didn’t seek communion with God regularly for a complete filling of His soul. Jesus as fully human and fully divine shows us how desperately we need God as Father and Lord over our lives, to walk a simple walk, uncomplicated, with clear lines of what we are to be doing and how we are supposed to do it. He desires our whole heart and eyes to be set on Him, only then can we walk freely with no chains. Jesus gave us that, so lets go. Walk in freedom friends.

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

Matthew 26:36-46