The Normal Christian Life

Continual Abiding

Reese Howells and Smith Wigglesworth both had testimonies of simply walking near someone and people sensing a holy presence of God and even being convicted of sin around them. What did they find in God? Was it a special place in God that is not available to all?

I believe a place of ever deeper abiding is the path God would call all of us to, even becoming the “Normal Christian Life”. It is not about being “God’s man” or more special or more loved. It is about a place of ever deeper surrender to the greatest love and fulfillment we were created to live in. I think many that found this place were often quite hidden and unknown. I feel that in this hour of ever increasing world turmoil the depths of God will be ever more available and it will not just be a select few finding this place.

Law and Sin

Rom.3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

What is sin and law? I believe at its core it is independence, self-life. Adam and Eve ate from the wrong tree to know good and evil so they could be as gods and judge for themselves what is right and wrong. They wanted to be in control and to live their own lives.

Romans 4:14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect.

The Jews thought they could be righteous by keeping law, being circumcised, keeping the Sabbath holy, not touching the leper, etc. It was an outward expression of what all of us actually do in one way or another.

The Pharisees just took it to an extreme which God uses as an example for our instruction. If we are not careful, we miss the point since our law practices are so much more subtle. When I am in independence, living my own life, in control, I am, in effect, trying to attain my own righteousness under law. Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight. There are only two alternatives - we are either in faith or in our own efforts.

Romans 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed… even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.

It is not just a one-time surrender at salvation; it is a daily yielding. We can start with prayer. Not praying is certainly a sign that I think I can handle my life all by myself. So keeping a prayer time is an act of faith. “God I believe you care for me and that left to myself I can do no good thing. So I come to You in prayer, to wait on You, submitting my time to you, believing that You hear me and that I am in Your presence. I come to express my love and rejoice in Your will in whatever it is You have for me.”

If my prayer time consists of God pouring out revelation, I rejoice. If it is a dry time and I feel nothing at all, I show my faithfulness and also rejoice. Knowing that God gives me what is best for me at any given time. I acknowledge that dry times are perfect for cleansing my heart to better seek God’s face and not just His hand.

These attitudes in prayer can then begin to carry over into my day. In that slow line at the grocery store or in traffic, “God I accept Your will and rejoice and give thanks in all things. You order my steps and work all things for good. I surrender what I want”. When I get frustrated, display irritation, get pushy, I have taken back control, no longer believing God will take care of me. This is the path of learning to follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes. Even to submit when God asks me to bear the burdens of that difficult person I work with and win them through covering love or even surrender to go to the mission field!

Rm.4:3 Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him as righteousness. This is at the crux of everything. I am either believing God or in my own strength, independence, eating from the wrong tree. The deeper life is really quite simple, so simple we can easily miss it!