UNCHARTED TERRITORY
Some
people have had the experience of leaving this world’s atmosphere to explore
what lies beyond it. But most of us have no idea how that would be. Even those
who have been in space have not touched the tip of the iceberg of what is
really out there. Although most places in our world have been charted, they
remain unknown and unexplored to us personally.
There
is no place that God has not charted or that is beyond His notice. There is no
place that God has not created. He knows every nook and cranny of this world
and all that lies beyond it. What if God called us to venture out beyond our
comfort zone; to explore a place that is unfamiliar, but where His Spirit will
lead us? He has called us. This place is not a physical place. It is a
spiritual place where Jesus is calling us to venture out in faith. He tells us
to come and explore the kingdom of God. Now is the time when God’s people need
to be alert to the vision He has for them. This is the time when God’s people
need to step out in faith, into the unknown, as He leads them. This is the time
when we need to cry out to God to give us His insight to see people and circumstances
as He sees them, not as we see them in the natural, but as He sees them in the
spirit realm. We need to so solidify our relationship with Jesus that we know
what He is saying to us and how He is leading us. Then we need to activate our
faith to follow Him into uncharted territory.
God
told Abraham to leave all that was familiar to him and start on a journey,
leaving his family behind. God promised Abraham that He would show Him the
place. Talk about uncharted territory! We would have asked God to give us the
address to this place so we could put it in our GPS and get the shortest route.
But sometimes God tells us to follow Him in faith and He will get us to the
destination He has planned for us at the right time. We don’t need the details.
We need discernment and faith in God. We need to learn how to navigate by
following Jesus through this life. It’s not always about the destination.
Sometimes it’s about the journey. Or maybe we just need to experience the
journey to prepare us for our destination.
The
prophet Ezekiel was shown water coming out from under the door of the temple of
God. It began to flow until it was ankle deep, knee deep, hip deep and then it
became a river that could not be crossed. It was water to swim in. The waters
from the temple of God swept through the area and healed the stagnant streams
and rivers, creating new life in them.
This
is the living water Jesus talked about. The water of the Spirit of God that can
be living in us and flowing out of us to bring life to others. This water comes
straight from His dwelling place and we are invited to have this living water
and be led into the depths of God’s Spirit. Our spiritual stagnation can be
healed and we can be refreshed in the living water! What’s more, we can refresh
others!
I
wrote a song called “Wadin Through Life”. It depicts the life of a Christian
who is trying to play it safe instead of surrendering everything to Jesus. Here
are the lyrics:
“Wadin’ through life. All I was doing
was wadin’ through life. Didn’t know if I’d swim or I’d sink. So I stayed on
the river’s brink. Wadin’ through life. All I was doing was wadin’ through
life. Deeper water sure gave me a fright ‘til I found the truth. I said all the
right things, even went to the meetings. But wadin’ ‘round in the shallow end
was not far enough from sin…The ankle-deep waters are refreshing I grant you;
But the fullness comes only when you get deep enough to swim.”
How
deep have you gone into the river of God? Can you still feel the safety net of
the shore under your feet, or are you swimming in the depths of the Holy Spirit,
being held up only by His hand? Are you saved, but not useful? Saved, but not
obedient? Saved, but not whole-heartedly committed? Or are you truly born again
and growing in the Spirit, watching the shore disappear from sight as you enter
the uncharted territory in the depths of God’s Spirit? Jesus is calling you to
come deeper. If you will follow Jesus you can rest in His hands knowing that
there is no uncharted territory with Him. He doesn’t get lost. He doesn’t make
a mistake in calculating the way. Everything is under His control, even our
safety. And He knows every inch of the territory. Are we so close to Jesus that
we know His will in the circumstances that arise in our lives? Are we so
committed to follow His will that we walk out His purposes without a thought of
self?
I
read three titles in the book “My Utmost for His Highest” and could see that
they were three steps toward a life that is totally abandoned to Jesus. So,
while I am using the titles from Oswald Chambers, I will share my own comments.
The
first title is, “Where the sin and the
sorrow cease, and the song and the saint commence.” Our first experience with Jesus is when we are
enlightened to the fact of Who He is, and we make a decision to repent and
follow Him. That is when we are born again. Our life in the kingdom of God
starts right there. The sin in our lives is washed away by Jesus’ blood and we
are made righteous. The sorrow and the emptiness within us ceases as we are
made a new creation. This new creation has the power of the Holy Spirit, and we
know without doubt that we have been changed.
The
second title is, “Where the
self-interest sleeps and the real interest awakens.”
This is where we
realize there is more to our experience with Jesus than “what’s in it for me?”
We see that
being born again is just the beginning of our new life and there is much more ahead
of us if we will follow Jesus. This new birth is like our natural birth in that
we are babies in Christ and are to grow into maturity. We never stop thanking
God for the new life we have, but our vision increases to see the need of
others to have the gospel preached to them. We have our hearts opened to the
fact that we have a spiritual purpose, a holy calling. And we begin to follow
Jesus in that direction. If we are not careful, we can get stuck there, because
it’s easy to make our work in the kingdom all about ourselves. We can get a
haughty, superior spirit if we are not walking humbly with God. But we can do
mighty works when we deny self.
The third title is, “Where the selective affinity dies and the
sanctified abandon lives.” An affinity is a natural liking for or
attraction to a person, thing or idea. In this step of our lives, we don’t just
chose what attracts us about Jesus and His teachings, but follow Him even in
the hard things He teaches and calls us to. Here we give ourselves over
completely to His will without thought to ourselves. We no longer chose what we
will or will not do, but fully surrender to His will. Here we have made the
decision to lay down our life for Him and for those who still don’t know Him,
and those who need to be discipled. Laying down our lives doesn’t necessarily
mean dying. It means that we present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. That
we lay aside our will and desires for the cause of Christ. We embrace the
cross. Is it a burdensome, wearying, sad thing to do? NO! It is our delight to
follow Jesus and to have Him with us every step of the way.
Are we truly following Jesus or are
we still in the same ankle-deep water we started in? Have we progressed in our
walk with Jesus and in our commitment to Him? If we have not been growing in
Christ, we can start today. Wherever we stopped growing, we can begin there to
move into the next step. We can go from ankle-deep to knee-deep to hip-deep and
then into the waters to swim in.
It may be stepping into uncharted
territory for us, but it is certainly not uncharted for God. Jesus said He
would never leave us or forsake us. If He is leading us, we have nothing to
fear. In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul says, “Not that I have already obtained
it [this goal of being Christlike] or have already been made perfect, but I
actively press on so that I may take hold of that [perfection] for which
Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own. Brothers and
sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet; but one thing I
do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to
what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the
[heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” [Amplified Bible]
Don’t draw back in fear. Don’t freeze in place. Keep moving forward regardless
of the uncertainty of the situation. We can trust in the certainty of our God.
He will be there to support us, guide us and strengthen us for the journey.
