In and Within 5 Getting Our Bearings Within

[HKHaugan]

In and Within 5  Getting Our Bearings Within

 

 "And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?  "Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace (Mt.6:5-6 The Message Bible).”

 

That paraphrase is a great way to start.  You can’t exhaust the many ways and places you and the Lord God can meet.  The basic idea is to consciously retreat into the presence of the Father.  Paul makes it clear that the body is the temple of the soul (1Cor.3:16), our ‘in and within’ worship center.  He is always available.  Our going is within and making space within to be with Him within. As Jesus told us, “The Kingdom of God is within (Lk.17:21).”  This is not ‘navel-gazing.’  This is God-gazing, not with your physical eyes but with the eyes of your heart (Eph.1:18).   Your closet, your room, the space within you allow Jesus to walk into is where the Father will reveal Himself. 

 

The best visual you can use to guide your time with the Father is the Cross.  The Cross gives us perspective, context and entry.  In the Garden Jesus, anticipating the Cross, lifted His eyes to His Father there, praying for Himself, for His disciples and for us.  On the Cross He prayed to His Father with salvation for mankind, past, present and future, in His heart.  When He told us to take up our cross every day and follow Him, prayer within would reveal His presence, His will and His Spirit.  Here He would show us who we really are, what we really are, why we are, how we are to be and where He wants us to go.  Our concentration would be on who He is, where He is and what He can accomplish in us.  The Cross, with its vertical beam, gets us to look up which is our first priority.  Its horizontal beam will engage our vision when we leave our inner rooms and see them in relationship to the world around us.  The Cross is where we begin in and within.  As Jesus said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (Jn.12:32).” 

 

The Cross reminds us of the nature of the Father.  He is our personal Father who loves us so much that He sent His Son to bear our punishment, take our place, stand in for us and sacrifice Himself that we might each be a personal temple for the Father’s presence.  No longer ‘out there’ but ‘in and within.’  He is a spiritual Father whose will created a physical universe, a material environment, to give us life within and without.  He is a graceful (full-of-grace) Father, who sustains and maintains the universe in spite of evil and sin so that we can come to Him ‘in and within’ and enjoy His presence.  He knows our individual minds and hearts.  He is patient, He waits, He comforts, He supports, he feeds and He energizes.  He is always at work.  His will is to reconcile all existence it Himself and give us each a part in that work the proof of which is His willingness to relate to each of us personally in Jesus Christ.

 

Perhaps the best place to follow Him ‘in and within’ is the prayer Jesus taught us to open the door to our temple and walk in where the Father waits.  We want to explore that prayer and mine its nuggets.  Therefore I would ask your indulgence and request your praying that prayer before we walk in it together. 

 

“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

 Give us this day our daily bread.

 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

 

Some questions to ask before we get into it:

 

What does it say about the Father?

What does it say about the world?

What does it say about us, who we are, where we are, what we do and where we are going?

 

Until the next, may God bless your ‘in and within’ exploration.