By Phil Scovell
She was a self mutilator and just 15 years of age. As an
intercessor, I deeply
wanted to reach her, through prayer, with the truth
that would set her free in God. My
mind was touching on all she was
currently facing and I wondered what I might do to
make it easier for
her. My thoughts, therefore, were on God and what He could do to
reach
her where she was.
When I saw it, I smiled. It was a pleasant memory.
Shortly after losing my sight
at 11 years of age, my mom found a used tandem
bicycle. Friends and family all took
turns with me so I could still
enjoy bike riding. It had been my all time favorite thing to
do as a
kid, besides flying kites and fishing and ice skating and climbing trees and
playing ball and swimming and building model cars and, well, you get the
picture.
When I was outdoors, I normally was on my bike. I rarely walked
anywhere,
even to school, but instead rode my bike. I lived too close
to school to be allowed to ride
but since I was a member of our traffic
patrol squad, protecting the little kids crossing the
streets, in other
words, I was granted a waver. Thus it was I was able to ride my bike the
four blocks to school.
When banana seats came into style, my uncle purchase for me a red
stripped
down stingray bicycle with butterfly handlebars and a long banana
seat. Now I was able
to give my girlfriend from church a ride.
I well remember, shortly after getting my new bike, riding several
miles out into
the country to see my girlfriend. I just couldn't wait
to show off what my new fire engine
red stingray could do with its fancy
speedometer, tremendous speeds, laying rubber
power stops, the long banana
seat so she could rid with me, and popping wheelies as I
navigated just on
the back wheel. She was, I'm sure, spellbound. Yeah, sure!
She lived at the bottom of a very long, and high, hill. I
remember the first, and
only time, I pushed my bike up to 40 miles and hour,
Becky holding on to me for dear
life from the back, as I did my best to keep
the bike from tipping over due to the
sensitivity of the fast downhill
speed. I never was able to accomplish 40 MPH again
unless I was on
that hill near her home.
"What does all this have to do with Jesus?"
I'm glad you asked. To refresh your memory, I was thinking
about my up and
coming prayer session with this 15 year young teenage girl
who had become a self
mutilator. My heart went out to her and I wanted
the Lord to direct me in every way
possible in order to help her to the best
of my ability. The only way I knew of doing such
a thing was to make
sure God was in charge of the prayer session. So, again, I was
thinking about the prayer session soon to come when a childhood memory of
the tandem
bicycle popped to the surface of my thoughts. It was a
pleasant memory and one I often
enjoyed in my array of adolescent
memories. This time, the memory event, for some
reason, was
different. First, I saw just the picture of the tandem bicycle in front of
me.
Then, as I peered into the memory, or what I thought was a memory,
I focused on what I
was seeing. I assumed, and rightfully so, I would
be on the back seat of the bicycle built
for two but I wasn't. I was
on the front and doing the driving, as it were, and, believe it or
not, I
saw Jesus, yes, you heard me, Jesus sitting on the back seat peddling. I
could see a
large shining headlight mounted on the handlebars for conditions
of darkness, obviously,
and an old fashion horn, twisted like a pretzel,
sporting a large trumpet bell for the sound
to exit as you squeezed a big
rubber bulbous ball to make it honk loudly. I smiled again
but in my
thoughts, I protested. "Lord? Shouldn't you be on the front and my
place
should be on the back? After all, you are the Lord of my life so
you should be doing the
steering, directing, driving, and leading."
To my amazement, the picture in my mind remained the same and the
Lord said,
"No. What you see is correct. I am on the back and
you are doing the navigating; I'm
along for the ride. I see where we
are going; don't worry."
I attempted to protest further because this picture had to be
backwards. When the
Holy Spirit reminded me of the truth, I accepted
what I saw with understanding and
greater appreciation of the Lordship of
Christ.
If you've ever heard me teach, read anything I've written, or even
listened to some
of my online audio recordings, you likely have heard me
teach on this familiar passage of
Scripture:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own
understanding. In all your
ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your
paths, (Proverbs 3:5-6 AV).
Quite simply, this passage of Scripture clearly teaches that Jesus wants to
do whatever we want to
do, (I.E. It is His will for our lives)
Let's read this passage again and examine carefully its individual
parts.
Outline
1. Trust in the LORD with all your heart.
2. And lean not
unto your own understanding.
3. In all your ways acknowledge
him,
4. And he shall direct your paths.
The meaning of the passage is self evident.
1. Trust in the LORD with all YOUR heart.
(Attitude).
2. And lean not unto YOUR own understanding.
(Agreement).
3. In all YOUR ways acknowledge Him.
(Awareness).
4. And he shall direct YOUR paths.
(Application).
Did you notice the word "YOUR" is used in all four statements?
If not, go back and read
it again. In every case, this passage refers
to "YOUR heart," and, "YOUR" own understanding,"
and, "All YOUR ways," and
the final statement of, "YOUR paths." It is impossible, therefore, to
interpret this passage without putting focus on yourself.
Attitude (Trust in the Lord with all your heart).
This is a position of total belief; "With all your heart."
"Trust" is who you are in Christ
and no one can take that relationship with
God away from you because it has been sealed by the
Holy Spirit. The
attitude is where we stand, that is, what we believe. Do you believe God
can do
the things you ask of Him? If not, then you haven't a good
understanding of a covenant
relationship with Him through Jesus Christ who
is, by the way, God's covenant with us.
Agreement (And lean not unto your own understanding).
The word for "lean" is (rely) and the word for "understanding" is
(discernment). In other
words, don't try and figure things out on your
own, using your own logic, or judgment. Trying to
understand God's is
like asking the question, "Can God create a rock so heavy, He can't lift
it?"
Agreement is much more easily understood, or should be, because
it is a simple position of
submission to Christ. No, it doesn't mean
He is above us; that's a given. It means we are in
agreement with Him
through personal identity, thus, submission to his will, or, agreement with
Him in identity.
Awareness (In all your ways acknowledge Him).
God consciousness, which creates spiritual intimacy, is accomplished
through prayer.
Prayer is exchanging your thoughts for God's. It
is the experience of oneness with Him. Trying
to use our own
discernment is a waste of spiritual energy and creates circular reasoning.
In short,
don't bother trying to reinvent the theological wheel based upon
what you think is truth. Quite
simply, become aware of His present
through prayer. No, you don't need to speak out loud; your
thoughts
are good enough for Him. Likewise, it is your thoughts where He will be
heard and
found by way of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, (See Romans
8:26-27).
The Hebrew word for "acknowledge" is a word that will surprise
you. It is the
same word used in Genesis 4:1 which says And Adam knew
Eve his wife and she
conceived." Yes, that's right. It is the
word for sexual intercourse, (I.E. Sexual
intimacy). The question then
becomes, do we know God that well, and a good followup
question would be,
does He know us that well? How much do we favor God in all our
ways? Are we spiritually intimate with Him? I realize this is a
concept impossible for
most of us to believe, let alone apply to our daily
lives, yet, there it is; big as life. Right
in the Bible. So
what are we going to do about it? Do we explain our way around and
away from such Biblical exegesis? Surely it isn't what God really
means; is it? If God
does not say what He means, how are we going to
confess His promises which He has
spoken to us and for us for our spiritual
benefit? Without a doubt, Proverbs 3:5 and 6 is a
promise to God's
children. Should we explain it away in order to escape personal
embarrassment? How about sweeping it under the rug and just not
talking about it?
Better yet, let's just take a sharp pair of scissors
and snip out this radical passage of
Scripture and then we won't even have
to worry about explaining it. Instead of doing any
of this, why not
just explain it and except it and receive it since it is God's truth?
Sexual intercourse, within the limitations and boundaries of marriage
depicts oneness.
The Bible, for that matter, calls it "One flesh,"
(See Genesis 2:24). Jesus furthermore confirmed
such is the case in
the New Testament, (See Matthew 19:5). The act of oneness in marriage is a
demonstration of identity between a husband and wife in love until parted by
death. So, what in
the world does it mean in this passage when it says
we are to acknowledge Him in all our ways?"
Beside, aren't we supposed
to be following Jesus?
Shepherd And Sheep
But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him
the porter openeth; and
the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own
sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when
he putteth forth his own
sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his
voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they
know not the voice of
strangers. (John 10:2-5 AV)
Here is a wonderful passage of Scripture which not only confirms
Jesus leads His sheep
but He knows them individually by name. Words
once carried with them power and authority.
In fact, words are so
powerful, one day God spoke and said, "Light!" The Bible says, "And there
was light." Unfortunately, in today's society, words have been reduced
to symbols printed on a
page whereby our signature is required to legally
confirm we will abide by the contract. Let me
ask you this
question. If you are married, did you sign an agreement, and, no, I am not
speaking
of a prenuptial, to confirm your love for each other? Of
course, the real truth is that we spoke
what is known as vows, words, to one
another and we, from that point forward, live by those
words which we spoke
before God and man. Thus, a wedding is still a good picture of how
powerful words can, and, should be.
The difference in King Solomon's explanation of God awareness and
that found in John's
Gospel concerning the leading of the sheep is Lordship
verses leadership. The act of sexual
intercourse is often called the
"consummation" of those vows we verbalized, that is to say, words
confirmed
intimately. John 10:4 is in reference to following Him by His voice.
Proverbs 3:5 and
6 relates to our identity with Christ through
oneness.
Jesus leading His sheep by name is to take them to a place where they
will be safe, have
plenty to eat, and a place they can grow. Our
Proverbs passage is not referring to our growth but
of our relationship with
Him; it is in reference to our identity in Him. In short, our oneness with
him as we acknowledge Him in every way in life. That's personal;
that's love!
Application (And He shall direct Your Paths).
When I realized the Lord was telling me that He wanted to do what I
wanted to do, this
final phrase of the passage came to mine. I
wouldn't have believed it otherwise but there it was,
big as life, and
offering total theological confirmation of what He had just said within my
thoughts as I prayed. You see, I always thought it was the other way
around, that is, we gave up
things, and sacrificed things, in order to be
closer to Him. We, in other words, wanted to be with
Him when the real
truth is, He wants to be with us. "Why?" You are going to hate
yourself for
missing this one. Because He loves us.
Conclusion
When I share these things I see in the Spirit, I'm referring, of
course, to the Holy Spirit,
people often find what I say theologically
ridiculous. This is generally due to being taught the
opposite of who,
and what, Jesus is, and what He wants to do. He wants to be with us.
He wants
to do what we want to do.
Let me target something worth accentuating. If what I'm saying
is true, wouldn't
believing God, and His promise in His Holy Word, be that
much easier to embrace? Hence,
answers to our prayers; our petitions,
the things we ask of Him through prayer. He will direct our
paths, not
His paths; He knows where He is going. He confirms, in this passage, He
will direct
our paths. What happens if we make a wrong turn?
That's easy. He will point us in the right
direction because He is our
Director. It's like riding a bicycle; you never forget.
One final thing worth mentioning. Have you ever ridden a tandem
bicycle alone?
I have, just to be silly, and there isn't much to it,
other than being more than a little
awkward. Plus, you cannot gain as
much speed as you can when someone is on the back
pumping in tandem with you
up front. Your balance, especially when making sharp
turns, needs more
alertness and caution as well. Not only that, people seeing you riding
alone on a tandem bike, point you out, laugh, and comment on how stupid you
look
riding alone. Get the picture? Riding alone isn't safe,
looks dumb, and your speed
capability is cut in half. And you thought
having Jesus riding on the back was dumb.
Think again and read
Proverbs 3:5-6 a few times and see if what I said make sense. You
might as well not ride at all than to ride by yourself without the Chief
Director on the
back giving instructions: "And He will direct your
paths." Its double or nothing. So,
which do you want?
Safe Place Fellowship
Phil Scovell
Denver, Colorado USA
Mountain
Time Zone
Office Phone: 303-955-8309