To be haunted by God may seem like a strange description of our relationship with Him, as is the title of this writing. We associate the word "haunting" with horror stories and ghosts, but one of the root meanings of the word "haunt" is for there to be a persistent sense of a person in our conscious minds. In this case, that Person is Jesus Christ. When He is constantly in our thoughts, then the fiery darts that the enemy is constantly throwing at our minds have no place to take hold. All the fear, worry, and trepidation that the enemy would have us held captive in, become powerless in our lives. Chambers says that "they become an effective barricade against the onslaughts of the enemy."
So few of us live in the reality of Acts 17:28. We know "in theory" that it's true, that it's Him that we live, that our being, our existence is anchored. Too rarely is it our reality. Each week our churches are filled with people who have been held captive by feelings and thoughts of fear, anxiety, and memories of yesterday.
The devil is expert at assaulting our minds with what has happened to us, what is happening now, and what may yet happen in the future. We are paralyzed by his attacks. We cry for deliverance but seem unable to grasp that we already have it in Jesus Christ. We know that He's real, but somehow, He just doesn't seem real to us. We don't know how to make Him so, yet the means of it are not difficult. It will however, require us to develop a new way of thinking and seeing what is happening in us and around us.
It begins in our hearts and spreads to our minds. We have to decide that we are going to seek Him, know Him, and be in relationship with Him as we never have before. Paul said that the overwhelming desire of His life was to know Him, and that must become ours as well. Our prayers mustn't just be about what we want Him to do or give, but about who we wish Him to be in us and for us. We want Him to reveal Himself to us in ever deeper ways. As we do this, we ask Him to direct our thoughts to His promises, to what He's said, to the truth of His Word. We ask Him to more and more give us "the mind of Christ," that we might see things as He does. In short, we ask that we might His perspective on everything, a Kingdom based perspective and not an earthly one. What will begin to happen and increase, is the reality of Acts 17:28 in our lives. In every aspect of our lives and thinking, there is a sense of His Presence. He's not shut off from anything and so He does "haunt" us with His Presence. Then, as Chambers says, all the destructive and fiery darts and arrows that Satan relentlessly throws at our minds are extinguished by our conscious awareness of His Presence in our entire being.
We are all going to be haunted by something. The source of it will either be rooted in this fallen world, and the result will be the destruction listed above, or, it will be rooted in His Kingdom life, yielding the peace and joy that only He can give. Are you ready to be "haunted by Jesus?"
Blessings,
Blessings,
Pastor O
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