God's Intent...

God is reproducing Himself

God's purpose is something far bigger and far more important than we can totally comprehend. He is reproducing Himself. In broad generalities this purpose is shown in the opening chapters of Genesis. Right from the beginning, God wants to make sure that we understand where He is headed with His Word so that we can begin to process the information that comes along as we are guided into changing behavior and ingraining new spiritual objectives that the powerful truths of His purpose present. Spiritual objectives such as increased compassion, the certainty of faith, and sacrificial worship. The first most important clue…we are created in His image. Embedded in this image is the accommodating power of choice. This empowers us to heed God’s instructions in the very beginning, to choose life consciously, to avoid sin and death with the utmost of energy. Here is the intent of this purpose: that we be transformed from glory to glory - from the glory of man to the glory of God.  

What truth can give us the confidence that we know and are fulfilling God’s purpose for our life? After all we are in a chaotic and unsettling time. It is sometimes hard to understand what God’s purposes may be and especially how God’s purposes are being worked out in our lives. This may not be yet revealed to us but this we do know…that God is indeed working out His plans in our lives. He uses His sovereign authority to determine the revelations His purposes contain and the sequence in which they are given and brought forth.  May we hear this suggestion: we can’t work it up on our own through human intellect and positive thinking. Rather, it is produced by the Holy Spirit, who works primarily, though not exclusively, through the holy scripture, which He uses to enlighten our minds and kindle faith in our hearts.  It’s as though God presents us through reasoning His character, purpose, and plan. We must intricately approach our need for guidance in the present time, which seem so urgent, in the context of God’s larger purpose. We must situate ourselves in a spiritual framework, whereby we can more readily discern and embrace God’s purposes in the unique circumstances of our lives, keeping uppermost in our minds that the God of the bible is our God of purpose. Specific purposes. And His purposes extend from eternity past to eternity future, encompassing not only the ultimate destiny of His creation, but every aspect of our personal lives, as well.  

Specific purposes

Everything was set determinately clear, fixed, and exact in counsel from the beginning. Then the employment of immense power and wisdom gave notice of the purposes by staging in the beginning, defined limits, periods of time, orders of precedence, essential events, settled consequences, certainty of truth. Before ever anything was brought forth, the Triune, in accord declared, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’. With that, the forever faithful has assurance and comfort of knowing that God is more than simply a purposeful, all-powerful Creator; God is good! God is going to reveal Himself in deeper ways by demonstrating more of His sovereign purposes and power by calling those who accept the gift of His Son to be as saviors of the world. God…has purposes and performs particular actions,…does one thing and not another, is a choosing, commanding, prohibiting God with a determinate character. Have you ever consciously wondered why God ceased a previous system, an array of disparate parts, an earth without form, void, and dark and fashioned them into a form appropriate for His next step? Supreme order and direction in what He will reveal originates in and from Him. Though normally invisible to humanity, He is clearly in control, initiating what will happen and also continuing to completion what He began. God readies His purpose for man that was determined. The orderly progression of time began, and activity continues as God arranges the environment in which purposed intentional events will take place in both a natural and spiritual progression. First, there must be light. From this point on, everything coming into view is made new. The “let there be” is purposefully instructive. His purpose is that we become as fully manifested in His image as He was when He made that pronouncement and remains to this day. The Father and Son are eternal spirit Beings of awesome intellect, character, power, and purpose. Being in the image of God does not mean becoming God. We were to choose to not know evil. And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. But what had the first pair reasoned to be the full effect of what was said. God implies that from the beginning, He intended that mankind live forever! He means “forever”, even as He and the Son live forever. From the beginning in counsel, God providenced the “in the beginning”. It was His ultimate purpose that, when His creative efforts are complete, those whom He created would live forever in His image. And God made sure that the first pair was not ignorant of the truth. Let’s offer a conceptualization of this performance; divine love shall be brought to its most glorious perfection in every faithfilled individual ransomed by Christ. Then, in every heart, that love which now seems but a spark, shall be kindled to a bright and glowing flame, and every ransomed soul shall be as it were in a blaze of divine and holy love, and shall remain and grow in this glorious perfection and blessedness throughout all eternity.  

In spite of sin, God’s purposes continue to move toward fulfillment through His elect, then finally and supremely through Jesus, God’s own Son. We are commissioned to go into the world and teach the word of truth to people where they are. If called by God, they will be born again. This begins the process of transformation designed to conform them to the likeness of Jesus, displaying His grace and glory in this present time to make them fit to live in His presence. These will come to know that they are God’s works of art, created in Christ to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for them to do. These will manifest the change of heart and character that comes from the new birth - the process of becoming holy in daily life through grateful, spirit-empowered obedience. Being “holy” is the unfolding of a metamorphosis as we follow the teaching and example of Jesus, drawn forward by a grateful love. It is guided by holy scripture, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and manifested in the fruit of the Spirit, as we contend against the world, the flesh, and the enemy of God. The position of being set apart as God’s child, which is conferred upon us through new birth, justification and adoption into God’s family, and the process of change, sanctification, makes that position a progressively experienced reality. The goal of this process is to “be conformed to the image of His Son”, and it happens as we “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship” and seek to “be transformed by the renewal of our mind”. This involves every area of personal and moral and spiritual life, whether one is educated or illiterate. We were known, consecrated, and appointed before formed in the womb. And now God has purposed to reveal His Son in us. God’s calling us is predicated upon this: that we embrace His grace and love through faith in Jesus His Son Christ and that we respond to His grace with wholehearted surrender and the pursuit of Christlikeness. God calls us by a direct word or in rare cases, a word through others, or through an unusual circumstance. But normally, He works through a process using His written word, by which any other guidance must be judged. This process, which we usually find too slow, is purposeful, for it serves to draw us closer to Him in prayer, to keep us dependent on His word and Spirit, to help us surrender to His will, and to teach us about Himself and His ways and to so grow our faith as to have complete dependence upon Him. In a word, it is for our maturing.   

process of growing in Christ is slow

Think of the choices that we make each moment. How they forge the context in which God’s purposes are worked out; more important, they shape our lives and contribute to our transformation. It is an inescapable law of life that we make our choices, then our choices make us. Choices are transformative - for good or ill. This is why God calls us to reason. Every time we make a choice we turn the central part of ourselves, the part of us that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before the choice was made. It is so very important to reason with God for wisdom and guidance that unfold truth that establishes faith. We gain much insight and wisdom from the relevant biblical precepts and promises of God. Humility of heart and reverence for God are essential in God’s guiding us. He counsels us with His eye on us, indicating a more personal level of guidance. So, this is not a automated process of studying the bible as a book of rules, regulations, policies, and procedures, then coming up with the right answer. Rather, God is personally guiding and directing us through the Holy Spirit opening our understanding to the meaning and application of His word to the circumstances of our lives and the situations we face based upon His purpose for us. Choose not to be spiritually dull and rebellious to His guidance but rather docile and surrendered. We are to have wholehearted surrender and active faith in our commitment and trust to do His will whether we like it or not. We must resist the tendency to rely on our own understanding and instead seek God’s wisdom. We are to subordinate our understanding to God and His wisdom and never default to “what feels right”. Trusting God means waiting in the posture of faith. God sometimes uses delays to work deeply in our lives, testing our motives, deepening our faith, developing our patience, and aligning the circumstances required for His answer. Only then will we be in a position for Him to direct our paths. There is also a place to “listen to wise counsel and accept good instruction” from spiritually mature believers, parents or friends, who are known to be wise, godly, and well grounded in scripture, who have your back and want the right for you. All of this must be done with serious prayer and sometimes fasting and sometimes journaling your discourse with God. Have the confident assurance that in everything God has a purpose.    

There is a caveat to the purposes of God that is so confounding. It is truly a mystery. Let’s reason here with God…we are always living in God’s purpose. God is God and He works all things, including our life, according to His purposes. Nothing can happen without God ordaining it. He has numbered our days and will fulfill every purpose He has for us.

He has numbered our days

However, our choices also really matter. In some ways, this is a mystery not fully understood, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. God’s purpose already determined, yet my choice matters…? We are created so uniquely that the pursuit of God is not optional. It is not an “extra” that a person might grow into after he comes to faith. God knows this and from a relationship, not choosing God renders you purposeless. See, God wants to give us purpose. He wants to bestow divine wisdom on us. He gave us faith that we would expect Him to give us purpose to begin to understand the heart of God.   

God's mind is absolutely undivided. This means that His sovereignty can never be separated from His love; His grace cannot be separated from His omniscience; His judgment cannot be separated from either His mercy or His wrath. God is absolutely and constantly purposing change that was determined in His counsel because His faithful providence cannot be separated from any other of His attributes. God is whole and complete. Under every circumstance, He is never confused or uncertain about what to do. He is always headed in the right direction, which is to complete His purpose. It is absolutely impossible for Him to do anything that is not wise and at the same time loving. It is He who tells us how to live and how to be like Him. What God is has awesome ramifications for us because we are so different, and He wants us to be like Him, to be one with Him, to be whole, to be complete, to be undivided in mind with Him. Becoming this way requires a measure of cooperation from us. And God gives every person that measure. Note this spectacular performance. God is always working two things at once: He is performing His overall purposes for His creation, and simultaneously working His specific purposes for us as individuals and for His people. Out of this comes a principle. God is Jehovah-jireh, Jehovahnissi, Jehovah-shalom. He is Jehovah God, the Eternal who sees, the Eternal who provides.   

Many have not yet heard the call. But God is certainly manipulating events to His own ends in their world as well as ours. God determines their preappointed times as well as where they will come to where we are to hear of Him. This means that He has predestined when they will rise to understanding and when they will fade from self. God has overseen the path of every person, the coming and going of every kingdom, the ploys of devils, and the gathering of His Israel nation over millennia, and has kept all of them moving toward the successful conclusion of His purpose! What kind of God is this we serve? How awesome His mind, purpose, wisdom, and love! Man does not merely owe his life to God's creative acts, but his movements across time are to the very extent ordered by our Sovereign God. Almighty God works in this manner to the end that all might seek and find Him. God's purpose is all that counts! In addition, since He is God, He can bring it to pass. God has the right, the will, and the loving nature to do anything He pleases to anybody at any time - and good will result. God’s sovereignty and involvement with the details of events persist from beginning to end; everything happens when, where, and how God planned. Our acceptance shows our faith in God. Through it all we trusts Him, not fully understanding every detail sometimes until after it is over. But God works throughout moments, days, years and in all the details toward a purpose and a time He has determined in advance.  

The need for a relationship with our Creator is beginning to emerge. A spiritual creation, a

creation

process begun in Eden continues. Not as an expression of newness in the sense of “makeover.” The sense of being completely and newly formed. God’s hand forming every part how He wants it and determining how every part would function with every other system in His creation. A purposed person as a new individual with a new family, a new set of values, new motivations, and new possessions. Nothing new in this sense creates itself. But in Christ we have an idea what it is we are in the process of becoming. Are we making ourselves spiritually? We are no more making ourselves spiritually than we did physically. However, this creation is far more difficult and important because it requires our mindful and willing cooperation with our Creator. God’s determination is of such a high purpose that He clearly and precisely allows us to foresee where our spiritual Creator is headed. To say it bluntly, without God's calling to His election, found in His purpose which creates the relationship with Him, there is no possibility whatever of knowing anything meaningful about what God is in the process of creating, and therefore no eternal, spiritual salvation would exist. God is purposing us for everlasting life. Therefore, it is our responsibility always to do whatever is necessary to seek Him and glorify Him, helping to keep the relationship going and knowledge increasing. Without the relationship that He invited us into, there is no possibility of ever accomplishing the end that He is heading toward and yielding to what He desires. It is as though He has removed the cherubims from the eastward entry of Jesus to allow us back into the Garden of Eden, right into the very source of every good and perfect gift that will enable us to glorify Him by fulfilling our responsibilities to Him. It is as if He says, as He opens the gate, “now there, let's begin the next step in My overall purpose!”  

We are to take certain factors into consideration, because they affect our lives. And God does have an overall purpose. How near is Jesus’ return?  Might there be occasions when God deeply tests our faith because other people's situations whose lives touch on ours must be resolved first? We may be called to suffer mightily in the process, not really understanding what is happening. We appeal to God, but we hear no answer because other things were being worked out through, around, for and about someone in our sphere, of which we are totally unaware. We are not privy to every purpose God has for another. The individual may not know until the episode is resolved. We may have to endure much emotional anguish while the whole situation plays out. For a while, God was a God from afar. But faith tells us that God was near because He strengthened us. We limit not God. He can work from afar for our good while always being nearby. As we think on God and His intent, remembering His purpose, we no longer think and act from an earthly point of view. Our minds open the possibility of an "above the sun" perspective of life that can teach us that God is to be considered in all things. By being a means of helping Him to form us into what He desires, our internal disgust with self can motivate cooperation with God and produce growth to maturity. God's calling, His reasoning with us, and the revelation of Himself and His purpose are favors beyond calculation. We have only one opportunity for salvation. Tremendous gain rests in what the called children of God are experiencing. We must choose to direct our lives to follow an "above the sun" perspective so that our lives are not meaningless. The choice lies between searching out earthly imaginings or submitting to what God has revealed. Understanding God’s purposes reveals much about our consideration for Christ. God's concern is for events in life involving moral, spiritual, and ethical choices. Whether one chooses a red or blue car makes no difference morally, but

red car or blue car?

whether we buy a car when other family needs are more pressing is another situation altogether. This choice may shape character and therefore purpose. Too many today are stiff-necked, opinionated, and self-willed. Sometimes this occurs because of ignorance or cultural influences. Far too often however, the cause of our poor moral and ethical choices is pride and self-righteousness. So much so, to the point that some will actually choose the lake of fire! Others, though their inferior works burn because of their poor choices, God will mercifully spare them.  In this we come to know that prayer's major purpose is to give us an additional, effective way to draw near to and harmonize with the Spirit. We must have access to God…to His nature to live right, to live according to His purpose. So what is meant as God says He changes not. He has never altered His purpose from the beginning. Because God has a purpose that He has been working out from the very beginning, He looked beyond what people do to destroy and remove themselves from His purpose. God, in a sense, overlooks what people do all the way to the last day, to the conclusion of His purpose for them. He did not carelessly call us. We may want to consider more deeply how valuable our conduct and attitude are to the entirety of the purpose of God. No challenge in our life is without divine purpose and approval. God's providence is in control in every aspect of our lives. We understand, if we are His election, that God assigns a place in the outworking of His purpose to everyone He calls. We must respond to God's grace, to His calling, to His gift of Christ, to His gift of the Holy Spirit, to His gift of revealing to us knowledge and understanding of what is happening. We must respond - that is, love God in return. We must be one of "the called according to His purpose," one of the elect.   

God is reproducing Himself. He will not limit His options to avoid offending a humanity that lacks His Spirit and is therefore wholly incapable of sharing His perspective. He will bring His purpose about. His purpose and plan, is a mystery, a secret that is impossible to penetrate except by reasoning with God Himself. Man would never find out what God intends, except that God gives it to us by revelation. We have in no way earned this revelation. We have it because it pleased God to give it to us. He withholds it from others, but He has given it to us. He is in no way beholden to us, as if He owed us something. We could dig in His Word over our entire lifetimes and never come to what He freely gives to us for His purposes, for His own reasons. Had we not responded to and accepted His command to come we would never have caught the vision of His purpose. If you are called as His election in His purpose you are as the one man among the many at the Pool of Bethesda. Why was this one purposed? It was God’s will. Clearly, He treats and responds to individuals according to the counsel of His own mind, and He answers to no one. He does this even in the lives of His children. What right do we have to murmur about the discomforts He creates for us to endure and grow within? He could rescue everybody in every uncomfortable circumstance, but He does not. Have we fully accepted that He may choose difficult things for us? Pay attention intensely to what God is doing in our lives! What we see going on in the world during our time has not been brought to pass by men but by the invisible God. This unseen

unseen hand

hand is manipulating events so that the person of faith can understand that history is not an endless cycle of repetition; it is getting ready to end. God is drawing things to a conclusion. When we come to understand the design of His purpose we will come to the wisdom to understand the overall subject is the return of Jesus Christ. Then will be revealed to us the whole panorama of God’s purpose. God has the whole process planned out, and He is so confident of His ability to accomplish it that He perceives it as already done!  

He knows the end from the beginning…