Launch deeper
Don’t stay shallow.
Specific thoughts began to fill my mind around Easter this year. I wondered, is this all there is to the resurrection of Jesus? I felt something was missing. It felt like there had to be more to the resurrection of Jesus. But what led to my question?
I have lived in a few countries and served at different churches. I met and served with wonderful Christians. I learned a lot from every church. However, I looked at my life personally and many people around me and realized that our Christian experience revolved around certain things. There was a typical pattern.
Imagine a young Christian that recently graduated. One of the top prayer requests is either a good job or a great business idea. Once the fellow starts a new job or business, finding a spouse is the central prayer point after a couple of years. As soon as a spouse is found, the prayer points increase:
- Finding a good home to rent or buy.
- Having children.
- Money for a car.
- Provision to sustain the household and the in-laws etc.
Around this time, the young Christian is in middle age. They start to worry and pray about schools for their kids and how to raise tuition. At this point, if they haven’t built or bought a house, it becomes a significant prayer point. If a mishap happens and one of them loses a job or a terrible sickness attacks a household member, the prayer focus switches to that. These prayer points continue until the kids leave for college and graduate. After graduation, the kids are inducted into the cycle where their parents began. Meanwhile, the parents now pray for a suitable spouse for their kid, and the process continues.
I am sure you get the picture. Please note that all these requests are valid and essential. But as you can see, our lives bear significant similarities. No wonder the Bible said:
That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. — Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NKJV)
So, the cycle continues. Then I asked myself. Is this the real purpose for which Jesus died? Is this all there is to the Christian’s life? What if you get everything you asked for, i.e., wealth, a great family, a healthy family etc? What next?
Then I realized. This chase after daily sustenance is a very subtle attack from the devil. We focus on what seems overwhelming at the moment because it is close while missing the important.
I began to listen to messages, and God showed me mercy. He began to open up His Word to me. I realized that many things we spend hours and years praying for are already ours, e.g., divine health, wealth etc. We simply need to take it by faith.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” — Romans 1:17 (NKJV)
The devil’s attack is this: he deceives us about our rights (using ignorance, misguided and often sincere teachers, friends or situations), and that way, he keeps our focus on the minor things but also on things we already have while ensuring we ignore the more profound things.
No wonder the Bible also said:
Therefore my people have gone into captivity, Because they have no knowledge; Their honorable men are famished, And their multitude dried up with thirst. — Isaiah 5:13 (NKJV)
That passage is true. The lack of knowledge of our rights in Christ keeps us in bondage to the world and the devil. The devil will take us for a ride if we don’t know our rights. He will make sure we pursue a mirage until we are old. We will focus on the minor while ignoring the major. We keep running the rat (need-based) cycle until we eventually leave the Earth.
Since we knowing our rights is the foundation for launching deeper, the next question is: how do we know our rights in Christ?
Through God’s Word. We need to read our Bible with an open, humble heart. Then choose to hold scripture above all else (even our experience). People will say we are crazy, but they said Jesus had a demon, too. So we are in good company. Ask God to tear down the devil’s strongholds in our minds. Meditate on His Word in the Bible to build new fortresses. And then keep following the word, and we will find a different world in the depths.
If we realize the truth about our rights in Christ, our prayer life will change radically. We won’t pray from the point of need anymore but rather from a son’s position. It becomes an intimate relationship, not a need-based relationship. That’s already a significant step into depth — a relationship with God based on intimacy, not based on our selfish needs.
But there are more profound mysteries. There are deeper things God wants to do through us that would transform our generation and bring Glory to His name.
Our intimate relationship with God will lead us to search out the purposes of God and why God created us in the first place. Then we will seek to fulfil our part in that purpose out of love for Him. We will even seek out more about Him because our vision of Him becomes purer and purer daily. And the daily discovery of Him never ends.
Wouldn’t you say this cycle of knowing Him deeper daily is better than the shallow need-based cycle?
So, leave the shallows, and launch into the deep.
When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” — Luke 5:4 (NKJV)
