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How Low Can You Go?

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Jonah 2:1, 5-6 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly,…The waters compassed me about, even to [the extinction of] life; the abyss surrounded me, the seaweed was wrapped about my head.6 I went down to the bottoms and the very roots of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever. Yet You have brought up my life from the pit and corruption, O Lord my God.

You don’t get much lower than being surrounded by the abyss and traveling to the bottoms of the mountains. But that’s how low Jonah was lodged in the fish’s belly. How many of you have been there? Isolated, alone, and feeling like the only thing you have left is God (and even that doesn’t feel like enough). The interesting paradox is you are not alone. Others are feeling alone, and that God has abandoned them to their circumstances. Yet Scripture says that is precisely the place He can be found: Isaiah 57:15 “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

What does it mean to be contrite? It means that you feel like you have been crushed, broken, cast down, and made to feel very small. The word lowly implies you have gone as low as you can go, or to humble yourself. Interestingly the Hebrew word for lowly finds it reference to a mountain. How does a mountain become low? The implication is, physically speaking, from an earth bound perspective a mountain is about as high as you can get. For that mountain to be humbled it would have to be leveled, scraped from the earth, sifted, and its debris leveled.

How do you get delivered from the belly of this world system that seeks to chew, devour, and spit you out? Seek for and meet with God. Not in the heights of Heaven but in the depths of your earth. You see you are a son or daughter of Adam. In other words you are but dust. The good news is this is the very place Jesus kneels to make you new. The Hebrew word for bless implies kneeling before, or bending low in order to impart favor, grace, and prosperity. Picture that: The Creator of the Universe kneels before you to impart Grace. What does this mean? If you want to meet with the Godhead you have to join Him in the dust of that which is out of alignment, and harmony with His Holiness (otherness, uniqueness, separateness from all that is average, normal, and expected) In other words you have to acknowledge where you have sinned, or broken agreement with Who He is and God’s original design.

Susanah Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley, was once asked to define sin. She defined it as: anything that weakens one’s reason, impairs their conscience, obscures their sense of God, or diminishes their interest in spiritual things. Essentially, anything that gives the body undue influence over the mind, even if seemingly innocent, is considered sin. Interestingly enough you can actually find a list of things to confess simply by reading the book of Jonah. If you want to seek Jesus in order to meet with Him you have to meet Him in the dust of confession, agreeing with Him about where you have broken agreement.

May I encourage you that during this season of repentance and seeking God that you commit to pray daily the prayer of Jonah for forty days, identifying with Jonah, and his many sins? Here are a few of Jonah’s sins you may need to confess:

Similarities Between Jonah and Us:

  1. Jnh.1:1-3 – Jonah Seeks to run in disobedience from the Word of the Lord – ignoring it. Are you presently obeying all you know from the Word of God, or from His revealed will? Was there something preached yesterday you experienced conviction and correction that you need to put into practice today?
  2. Jnh. 1:3 – Seeks to pay a price to flee from God’s Presence , serving God, and others. Are you seeking God’s Manifested Presence and if so do seek to remain, or to abide? Are you currently, and actively seeking to serve God in personal worship, praise, thanksgiving and prayer on a daily basis? Are you currently serving others in your church or have you been more consumer oriented, centered in yourself, your wants, likes, and dislikes?

Confession & Declaration 25

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1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own, 20 You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.

Scripture records that in our salvation Jesus’ Blood is recreating us to be His Temple. But there’s more. John 14:21, 23 states: The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.].…23 Jesus answered, If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him.

Because you are His Temple, and His Word is finding its home in you, Jesus promises that He is going to reveal Himself to you (make Himself to be clearly seen). Not only that, His Temple is His Home. The Godhead are making their Home in little ol’ you!

Pastor Matthew Redder amply stated: Have you ever shopped at Home Depot? Lowes? Or some other home repair-improvement type store? If you have you’ve inevitably seen the piles of lumber tossed aside that are broken, cracked, warped, crooked, or just plain look bad. These piles of lumber go ignored as faithful builders go for the ‘perfect’ building materials. After all, who in their right mind would ever use “bad” materials to build a house? You just don’t do that – you don’t start with a bad foundation because you know it won’t last. So it’s funny that Jesus builds a very different way. He uses the crooked sticks, the broken sticks, the lame lumber, the stuff that everyone else is looking past and in many cases tosses aside. It’s almost like he DELIGHTS in using materials that everyone else thinks are ‘useless’. It’s almost like he’s loading up his proverbial cart with all the crooked, broken, and warped wood that he can and he’s parading it around – inviting others to question his decision making. “How are you going to build a house with THAT!?!” “Are you blind? That wood is warped, you’ll never pass inspection!” “There is a huge pile of perfectly good material over there, use that.” You can almost hear Jesus’ voice, “No, I’m going to build my house. And nothing is going to stop me.”… “These crooked, warped, broken pieces of wood are perfect and they’re are all mine.” And off he goes, building the spiritual house, one broken stick at a time. One warped 2×4 at a time. One rotten floor joist at a time. And believe me, IN CHRIST we will all pass the inspection as we stand redeemed and justified in HIM alone. What a beautiful picture of the grace of God through the redemption of His son.

“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” – 1 Peter 2:4-5

Declaration 25: My Great High Priest I come before you clothed in Your Priestly garments offering to You my spiritual sacrifice of praise and worship. By and through Your Precious Blood I have been made holy but even great than that Your Kingdom exists inside of me. I am Your Temple, and Your Spiritual House. Thank You Jesus that as I align my life with Your Word in Obedience You make Yourself Known to me. You become real to me. You said in Your Word that if the people didn’t praise You that the rocks would cry out. Well now its my turn as Your living stone to cry out. I cry out that, “I have been made worthy by the Blood of the Lamb to be His Temple!” I cry out that, “I am Jesus’ priest forever!” I cry out that, “The Godhead resides within me!” I cry out, “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world!” I cry out, “Jesus chose a crooked, rotten, broken, cracked and plain life like mine to build His House in!” I cry out, “I have passed inspection as I stand redeemed and justified in Jesus alone!” I cry out, “Nothing is stopping my Master Builder Jesus, as He raises His House in me!” Nothing is going to stop Him! Nothing can stop Him. I am His and He is mine! I cry out, “Hallelujah, thank You Jesus! Thank You Jesus!”