God Hunger – Meditations For A Life Of LongingSample

Inside-Out

We live in a world dominated by an orphan spirit. It teaches people to be defensive, self-reliant, self-sufficient. It militates against the vulnerability and dependence called for by Father God as we take on His kingdom values.

We have been trained by an orphan world that says we must prove ourselves capable. This is a religious lie. We are not built for independence. In fact, the moment we decide to kill our independence, admit our own incapability, give up and look to the Father, is the moment of our greatest victory.

Resolutions and commitments to change our behavior won’t work. Allowing God to change our heart – and the subsequent outworking of that change affecting our behavior – will transform us. Striving is the counterfeit of yielding. Religion attempts to transform us from the outside-in and does not work. The kingdom operates from the inside-out, and it does work, bringing about spiritual transformation.

In order to give up our self-reliance and yield to God’s work in our life we need to learn humility. The orphan spirit is rooted in pride and control. It is offended by the prospect of making ourselves vulnerable. Yet, humble people cannot be humiliated or offended, because their self-focus has vanished, swallowed up by their love for God, themselves and others.

Perfectionism and control tend to produce only shame and fear. But when we are justified by Christ’s perfection through faith in the finished work of the cross, He becomes our perfection. Suddenly, we are enough. We measure up. Slowly, our self-criticism and our judgment of others falls away, because we realize that everyone is significant.

Let’s get rid of our pride, because God resists the proud. Let’s choose to go low and God will lift us up. Let’s embrace the inside-out working of the Holy Spirit in our lives and look towards the glory that God desires to bring through His grace.