Giving God First Place

The Christian life is a continuous journey requiring unwavering stability, especially amidst trials and spiritual warfare. This stability is achieved not by avoiding difficulty, but by building one’s life on the solid foundation of righteousness and prioritizing an intimate love exchange with Jesus Christ. Drawing on the wisdom of spiritual leaders and scriptural principles, this summary details the necessary steps to remain steadfast, arming believers against distraction, betrayal, and the constant bombardment of the accuser.

1. The Foundation of Stability: Righteousness and the Word

The Bible clearly teaches that trials and storms will beat against every believer’s life, regardless of their foundation, but only those built on the solid rock will remain unmoved.

A. Righteousness as the Solid Rock

The sources assert that the foundation for stability is righteousness. Jesus stated that the wise man hears His sayings and does them, building his house on solid rock, enabling it to withstand the wind, rain, and storms. These trials always come “for the sake of the word,” attempting to yank the truth out of the believer.

The path to stability requires receiving the implanted word with meekness, which is “able to save your soul”. Conversely, the person who hears and does not do the Word is likened to one who looks in a mirror and immediately forgets who they are; stability is thus tied to identity in Christ.

B. The Power of Identity and Forgiveness

To maintain intimacy, believers must operate from a place of son consciousness, not sin consciousness.

• Forgiven and Forgotten: The key to continuous connection is realizing and believing that one has been forgiven and their sins have been forgotten. If a believer makes a mistake, confessing it leads to God faithfully and justly cleansing “all unrighteousness”.
• The Price of Value: The price paid for the believer was Jesus Christ, confirming that heaven went bankrupt so that God could get them back. This value means the believer can approach God without focusing on their “faults, failures, [or] shortcomings”.
• Hating Sin: When a believer steps into the righteousness that Jesus provided, their heart begins to hate sin. Joy is linked to the hate of sin and the love of righteousness.

2. The Discipline of Intimacy: Staying at His Feet

Maintaining a continuous “sweet love exchange with Jesus” is the primary defense against spiritual distraction and turmoil.

A. Prioritizing Delight

Without delighting in the Lord, the entire Christian journey “just falls apart”. The desire must be to “stay the course” and remain steady in the Word and in prayer, recognizing that all potential hardships are merely distractions attempting to take one off course.

B. Practical Steps for Stability (Deuteronomy 33:3)

Stability, even in the midst of betrayal or intense pressure, relies on three practical, daily commitments:

1. Secure in His Love: Recognize and be assured of God’s love: “He loves his people”. This knowledge is the bedrock of remaining stable.
2. Protected in His Hand: Believe that God shields and protects them: “all your holy ones are in your hand”. The believer is kept in God’s hand, assured that all their days were written before they were lived.
3. Receiving His Word: Their job is to “stay at his feet and receive his words”. This consistent receiving of the Word is the “key to stability in the midst of turmoil”.

C. The Challenge of Stillness

The secret place requires actively harnessing any thought that attempts to come up against the knowledge of Christ.

• Fighting the War: While intimacy is a love exchange, it is also a real war—a battle to “snuggle and don’t struggle”.
• Single Desire: The mind is scattered when there are “other desires than just God alone”. Stillness is achieved by having a single desire unto God, recognizing that “everything else is inferior”.
• Recognizing God Within: When the mind is scattered in prayer, the solution is not seeking outwardly, but recognizing the presence of God within. The gospel makes us one with God, meaning the Christian is no longer seeking God through “hoops” but believing that “He is here”.

3. The Test of Trust: Betrayal and Persecution

The deepest level of intimacy and revelation is often found in the most painful experiences, particularly betrayal and persecution.

A. Betrayal as a Spiritual Test

The sources suggest that betrayal is encountered on the other side of absolute commitment, just as Jesus was betrayed immediately before He handed out the elements of communion.

• Deepest Intimacy: One of the “deepest places” intimacy is found is in the midst of “absolute betrayal and absolute everybody coming against you,” where one discovers that God loves them the most.
• Arming Against Pain: It is essential to arm Christians for the reality of betrayal and avoid the temptation to rely on human love in comfortable places, which can lead to great pain. In pain, believers must bring those thoughts captive and focus on Jesus, recognizing that “his bread and his body is worth it”.

B. Happiness in Persecution

The Bible redefines happiness, linking it not to carnal desire, but to enduring persecution for righteousness’ sake.

• The Beatitudes: Jesus called those who hunger and thirst for righteousness “blessed” (happy), but immediately followed this by declaring, “Blessed are those that are persecuted for righteousness sake”.
• Trust, Not Defense: The cross we pick up often involves being misunderstood, insulted, hated, or persecuted. The response is not to defend ourselves or fight, but to trust God completely. Happiness in persecution turns the believer’s eyes to the reward of Christ.
• The Refuge: Believers will never truly know the Lord as refuge unless they are forced to take refuge. God sometimes allows rain and trials to teach that He is a tower of strength against the enemy and a place to which they may continually come.