Knowing God

We only have 3 weeks remaining here in India before heading back to the states for a short break from our travels. May is a big month for us since we get to celebrate Kelsey's birthday and our anniversary - this year Indian style!

Before Kelsey's birthday dinner - May 9th.

Birthday dessert!

Tomorrow makes 3 years of marriage for Kelsey and me. I can confidently say that we are both closer in our relationships with God than we were 3 years ago. We have come a really long way since we met and started dating back in 2010 (most would say I had a lot further to go to get here)! All the while, we are no more or less saved than we were the day the Holy Spirit of God did a miracle in each of our lives. However, things have certainly changed. Our knowledge of the word and knowledge of God has increased significantly. There are things we desired 3 years ago that we don't have the same yearning for any longer. That is how sanctification works. If we claim to be believers, yet we have no desire to know God more, then there is something way off! The closer we become to God, the more our character will resemble that of Jesus. When Jesus is pressed as to what the greatest commandment of the law is, He responds with unmatched wisdom as always: 

And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment." Matthew 22:37‭-‬38 

This seems so simple. "Of course I love God this way" would be the response by many in the American church while giving no thought to what we are actually claiming. I ask this: How can you love someone with all of your heart when you barely even know them? When you barely even spend any time with them? How is that we take things that are essential to the faith of believers and pretend as if we are acting in great faith in doing them!?

"Yes, I read my Bible 3 days this week! I prayed before meals and 2 nights before bed (fell asleep on the couch the other nights). I went to church 2 Sunday's this month!" God is not impressed with our list of chores! Not one single bit. If you read your Bible every single day, spend 30 minutes in prayer and never miss another church service out of obligation - to check a box, God is not pleased. You might gain some head knowledge you didn't have and develop some good habits for your family, but that doesn't impress a Holy God. He wants us to desire Him. He wants us to love Him so much that we hate our own families - our own lives in comparison. My first desires are often times things other than God. I neglect sharing the gospel with people because my desires are things other than God. Kelsey and I have been praying that God would change our hearts when we desire things more than Him. We have been praying that we look on people with love and compassion the same way Jesus did. This happens only if we know Him and desire Him more than anything else.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Psalms 139:23‭-‬24

Slum area here in Nashik

It is almost comical, and sad at the same time, how much we have shortened our church services in the states because our time is "valuable." There is nothing wrong with a short church service. 30 minutes crying out to God in genuine worship is better than 3 hours of fake worship. What if the Holy Spirit is really moving in the service though? We should still just cut it short because our time is valuable and we have a tight schedule? What could possibly be more valuable than time spent in the presence of God? I am saying this to myself too. I want to get to lunch and watch the NFL as much as anyone in the building! What is wrong with this attitude!? 

Kelsey and I were in a 3 hour service Sunday. It was hot. They sang 12 songs. My feet were on fire by the time they stopped singing. The preaching wasn't terribly long (I spoke haha). All this being said, the point isn't that the people at this church are somehow holier because they meet in 105 degrees with no air conditioning for three hours. No, the point is that their attitude of joy, want, and excitement to worship their God, their savior Jesus, was the same at 12:30 pm as it was when they started at 9:30 am. We were actually able to pray for many of the people who stuck around after the sermon. What is the difference then? I would argue that the people came to church for God rather than coming for themselves. They wanted to experience God, worship God, cry out to God. Time was insignificant in this. An hour church service is fine, but we need to start approaching church, devotion time, prayer, and scripture reading with this attitude. 

Prayer at church last weekend

As mentioned in previous posts, Kelsey and I have been reading through the book of Acts. It's awesome to see a lot of the same energy in India that we read about in the early church. Our last two blogs have been about boldness and courage for a good reason. I was watching a Francis Chan sermon this week where he was talking about when the Holy Spirit really showed up in Acts. It wasn't when the apostles were sitting comfortably in the confines of their church singing a song. Undoubtedly, they experienced God in great ways in those times too, but after the Holy Spirit was given at Pentacost, the theme of Acts shifts to the power of God showing up time and time again far outside of the apostles' comfort zones. This is another way to know God more that we have really neglected as believers in the West. In Matthew 10 Jesus is discussing with his disciples the persecution that inevitably awaits when they share the gospel:

When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Matthew 10:19‭-‬20

We met with a pastor today who told us, "First generation believers (those whose parents had no affiliation with Christianity) are more energetic to share their faith than the traditional believers (those born into Christian families)." I shared with him how there were similarities to that within the church in the United States - how a majority of the church is born into a family with some Christian background and simply sits on the sidelines when it comes to sharing the gospel. His response was, "No wonder the church in America isn't growing." - The church in India continues its growth in the face of real persecution by the way. - This is so sad because it's true. Have our hearts really grown so callous that we believe it is everyone's job in the church but our own to obey Jesus and make disciples? We grow closer to God by sharing our testimony and by sharing the gospel. When we experience persecution or ridicule for following Christ and speaking His name, we can count on the Holy Spirit to show up in mighty ways.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2‭-‬4 

Paul understood this and saw it put into practice time and time again. That is how he could look at the church elders in Ephesus who were begging him not to go to Jerusalem and say things like this:

And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:22‭-‬24 

All he knew was that would face imprisonment and affliction in every city. Really poetic! He loved the believers in Ephesus and had a great thing going on there. He was going to leave these new Gentile brothers and sisters, knowing he would never see them again, for a city where many Jews lived that believed he was speaking out against Moses and were determined to kill him. He wasn't scared though. This attitude wasn't one of insanity or lack of common sense. Paul knew God. He spent time with God. He prayed. He studied scripture. He worshipped. And finally, he shared the gospel and witnessed God show up over and over. He didn't do any of that because he thought that it would somehow justify him more. He did it because he loved God with all of his heart, mind and soul, and he wanted to know and experience His goodness and mercy all the more. God's will for Paul to share the gospel was so clear to him because he really knew the character of God on a personal level. It will become clear to us only when we desire God in this same way. 

-Clark

A few more photos below:

Our Society (Apartment complex).

I went to a Burger King here in Nashik, and they gave me a king crown. The kids in my society wanted to pose for a pics while wearing it. 

Motorcycles/mopeds are faster than auto rickshaws.