“Thus said the LORD (Yehovah) who is planning it,
The LORD (Yehovah) who is shaping it to bring it about,
Whose name is LORD (Yehovah):
Call to Me, and I will answer you,
I will tell you wondrous things,
Secrets you have not known.”
Jeremiah 33:2-3 NJPS
Is there a stirring in your spirit – a sense that the “same old – same old” patterns are no longer sufficient? Then, may this encourage you: It is time to call out to God – and then stay “tuned in” to receive what He shares with you. We need His revelation to strengthen and inform our spirits and hearts for the next season.
Who are we – that we could have such standing to call out to the Creator of the Universe – and that He would actually answer us? It is because He has provided for us to be "perfect" - like He is.
Pastor Brent Lokker spoke powerfully last Saturday (July 13, 2013) about a deep and liberating understanding of what Papa means when He calls us to be “perfect” (ta-miym).
Genesis 17:1 relates:
“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD (Yehovah) appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God (El Shaddai); walk before me, and be thou perfect (ta-miym).” (KJV)
And in Matthew 5:48 (NKJV), Jesus told His disciples:
“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Brent shared that the Hebrew תמים (ta-miym) has the meanings of:
"Complete, whole, entire, sound, unimpaired, innocent, healthful, having integrity, completed time."
Tamam, the root word for tamiym has further meanings: 2) to be finished, come to an end, cease and 4) to be consumed, be exhausted, be spent.
Brent explained from this: That when we come “to the end of ourselves”; when we cease to trying live independently of God (which was essentially the temptation of Eve and Adam in the Garden) – that Jesus has opened the way for us to walk in child-like innocence and whole-heartedness with our Daddy.
This is good news! Much better than assuming that God expects us to “perfect” ourselves!
Going back to Jeremiah 33; the prophet Jeremiah was writing this while he was in prison and while the Babylonians were in the process of conquering Jerusalem. The answer that God wanted to reveal as Jeremiah "called out" – was God's provision for a new covenant: “They shall be My people and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good;…” Jeremiah 32:38-40a NKJV
And then God revealed to Jeremiah that His means for establishing this new covenant would be by causing “to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness on the earth.” Jer 33:15 We now know this Branch is our Messiah Jesus.
I believe that God’s invitation to Jeremiah – and to us to “Call out” to Him - is so that we strongly reach out with our heart to Him. And His answer for us will be about “the Branch” – about His Son reigning in our hearts – and extending His realm over the earth. Our heart-call will be answered by more of Him!
Abraham – our father in this faith-walk, often passionately called out to God (see Genesis 13:4 and 21:33 for examples).
Have you felt besieged or “hemmed” in? Has it felt hard to worship God with your whole heart? Then, this is a “perfect” time to call out to Abba - and experience how He answers you. His answer will always involve Jesus and the new covenant cut with His body and established with His blood.
"16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
Eph 3:16-19 NKJV
We need (and we thankfully have) eternity to explore these dimensions, these territories of His love for each one of us. I look forward to hearing about how He answers you for your next season.
Joyfully,
Russ Fochler
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