It Gets Crowded On The Throne

Come and see what God has done, how awesome His works in man’s behalf.--Psalm 66:5

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, did not understand what Jesus was saying, because, like so many of us, he was conditioned to think that the work of God is always done by man, as if God is so small that He needs the help of man. In essence, Nicodemus believed, “God takes care of those who take care of themselves,” being accustomed to thinking that people came into the kingdom through effort, strain, teaching, watching their every move, endless conversation, right training, and persuasive argument. In his mind, men did not change so easily as through God’s working out a conversion by something as natural as birth. Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, had crowded God right off the throne and was not a relaxed man!

Today, it seems so many things are needed to bring about conversion: a new church building, a special service with music perfectly calculated to move the unbeliever, youth discussion groups, psychological counseling, and exegetical preaching. Yes, with all of these surely God will be manipulated to move and bring conversions; the pews will fill and children will no longer experiment with drugs. It is getting more and more crowded on the throne.

The conversion that He brings is not to a system but to spiritual truth; it places concepts
in our being, not in our minds. His conversion is His work and comes only through the
power of the Spirit. There is room for only One on the throne.

When is the last time you looked at life as a system, and not as spiritual truth?  As a life, and not as a Life?  Big difference.

Are we seeing concepts in our being, not in our minds?  Do we recognize God’s work comes only through the power of Holy Spirit?  Our answers line up with one side or the other in Michael’s illustrations.

I think we should ask ourselves some really difficult questions about whether we have been “conditioned” and have become “accustomed” to thinking in the worldly realm or the spiritual realm.

I love the terms “spiritual truth,” “born of the Spirit,” and “power of the Spirit.”  These keep me focused on Who is on the throne.

- Mike Wells