FOOD FOR THOUGHT: ARE WE REALLY DESPERATE? You may be familiar with the music of Michael W. Smith. He sings some very powerful and theologically rich songs. One of my favorites is Breathe. I think it captures well the heart of Peter in today’s scripture. Here are the opening words, “This is the air I breathe; Your holy presence living in me. This is my daily bread; This is my daily bread; Your very word spoken to me, And I I'm desperate for you, And I, I'm lost without you.” He repeats the phrase “I’m desperate for you” throughout his song. It appears six times. As you know I am not a music guy by any means. I am clueless about those funny symbols in hymn books or those numbers 4/4 or 3/3 at the start of hymns. And when I read the word “refrain”, I am tempted to stop singing and keep silent. I mean, doesn’t “refrain” mean to “hold oneself back, to curb oneself”? I may lack knowledge of music, but I love music and especially music that “sings the Bible” like the song I just mentioned by Michael W. Smith. And how does his song “sing the Bible”? By identifying the very place Peter found himself in today’s scripture and every Christian must get to if they are to enjoy the abundant life Jesus promised (John 10:10). That place is spiritual desperation.
How spiritually desperate are we today? The definition of desperate is “suffering unbearable need” or to “undertake as a last resort.” Now take a quick heart check – are we experiencing the type of spiritual desperation we see in Peter – “Lord, to whom shall we go?” Is there such a burden in our lives that says, “Jesus, I so need You all the time and if You don’t come through for me, I am done?” A good way to know if we are getting to that healthy point of spiritual desperation is to consider our approach toward prayer. If we are at the place of spiritual desperation, our lives will be lived in prayer. I didn’t say we will go to prayer meetings (please, come to them, though). I said, “Our lives will be lived in prayer.” Prayer is both a means of communing with God and depending upon God. Do we see prayer, daily prayer, and continual prayer throughout the day, as an absolute necessity in our lives? Charles Spurgeon once said, “Prayer has become as essential to me as the heaving of my lungs and the beating of my pulse.” Could we say that and do our lives back up our words?
Spiritual desperation, knowing and experiencing our absolute need of the Lord Jesus, occurs in the heart, mind, and lives of Jesus’ sheep when we truly grasp the magnitude of what it means to be a Christian. We are called to represent Christ all the time, everywhere. We are called to die to ourselves and serve others consistently. We are called to suffer for His Gospel. We are called to bear the burdens of others. We are called to fight the devil, flesh and world. And many more things that are completely out of the realm of human capacity or ability. Do we feel it? Do we feel the Divine constraint upon us that says, “This is what I am calling you to be and do in My Name as My sheep?” And being overwhelmed by what the Lord places upon us, does such constraint take us to our prayer closet, in desperation, good desperation, to seek to know Him and hear these sweet words, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9)? It is spiritual desperate people who come to know spiritual dependency on the Lord Jesus. This produces a life of seeking communion with Him in prayer. Prayer becomes our life, not a part of our life, and we truly learn to walk and talk with Him all throughout our days and circumstances. The result will be exactly what Paul proclaimed, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9b). Our prayerlessness speaks a lot about our spiritual condition and one thing it reveals is we simply are not spiritually desperate enough for Jesus. There is still too much self-sufficiency and self-reliance that needs to be removed. And God in His great mercy and love will ensure we get to the place of spiritual desperation. It is there we know the sustaining love and enabling grace of Jesus to do and be all He has privileged us to do and be in His world.
PRAYER: “Lord, thank You that You so love me You will remove all forms of self-sufficiency in me.”
QUOTE: “The knowledge and experience of Christ’s love will be for those who desperately cling to Him.”
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