God is Reorienting Us by Chalis Butler
Chalis Butler
Jesus called twelve young men to become His disciples, and when they said yes, they entered into (and later authored) the most extraordinary story the world would ever hear. They walked with Jesus for three years, watching and listening as He interacted fearlessly and compassionately with all ‘classes’ of people, spoke with authority of a heavenly Kingdom, challenged people with spiritual truth, healed people who had been living with permanent disabilities and diseases, and performed miracles.
The disciples were young fishermen. They had grown up learning the Torah, the Law and the Prophets, and they knew that a Messiah was going to come. But they had an expectation that He would deliver Israel from oppressive, Roman rule and establish an earthly, political Kingdom.
This was their starting point when they met Jesus. I try to imagine what it must have been like for them. As they chose to walk and live with Jesus, they listened and often struggled to understand His radical message. They were witnessing impossible miracles. They must have been having ‘whoa!’ moments all the time! They must have lived in a heightened state of wonder—What just happened? What will He do next? Three years of this, and when Jesus asked Peter, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ Peter knew. He and the other disciples had seen more than enough to recognize that Jesus was who He said He was. They knew Him to be God’s Son, their long-awaited Messiah, their Deliverer.
But remember their expectation. Even when Jesus predicted His death and resurrection, they could not understand. Three times, He told them He would be killed and that He would rise again to life. Once, Peter ‘took Him aside and began to rebuke Him’ (Mark 8:31-33). Another time, they ‘did not understand this saying and were afraid to ask Him’ (Mark 9:30-32). And a third time, Scripture says ‘but they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken’ (Luke 18:31-34).
Because they had such a strong, deeply held belief and expectation that an earthly king would set up an earthly kingdom, they ‘had no grid’ for what Jesus was telling them. How could He die if He, the Messiah, could raise people from the dead? And how could he become Israel’s king if he was killed?
And so as Jesus was taken to be tried and crucified, and His closest friends and followers watched it all unfold, what horror and pain they must have felt. What incredible devastation. They were now grieving not only the traumatic loss of their beloved teacher and close friend, but also the loss of hope and expectation of the long-awaited deliverance of the Messiah.
They had been on the mountain top with Jesus, and now they were walking through the valley—without Him.
This was their state when Mary Magdalene came to them. Mark tells us that when she came and told them that Jesus was alive, they didn’t believe her. It is understandable. After all they had been through, I’m sure they were not only grieving, but wrestling with what had just happened. I would imagine that in trying to make sense of things, they might have been asking a lot of questions. ‘Who was Jesus, really? If He was the Son of God, why didn’t He save Himself? If He was the Messiah, why didn’t He deliver us?’
God allowed them to experience all of this, even the devastation. Because what felt like devastation to the disciples was, in the heavens, accomplishing something immeasurably, unfathomably good. Only Christ’s death could make possible our salvation, and the redemption of all things.
Disoriented
After all they had been through, the disciples had to be disoriented. Maybe this is why they had a hard time believing when they heard that He was alive.
I believe that like the disciples, we are living in a time that has been disorienting for many of us.
There are many ways we can become disoriented. Difficult circumstances. Pain. Loss. Change. Disappointment. Even mountaintop experiences can be disorienting because when we come back down from the mountain, everything looks different. Emotional healing can be disorienting because healing brings change in perspective and dynamics in relationships. And we have to relearn how to live and interact with people we love in healthier ways.
Like the disciples, I believe God is in the process of uprooting our long-held traditions and systems. He is allowing us to experience a Disorienting.
Hebrews 12:26-27 says But now He has promised, saying, yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this, “Yet once more” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Reoriented
Now this is the beautiful part of the disciples’ story: Jesus spent 40 days with the disciples after His resurrection. I think of this as such a sweet, healing time for them, reunited with Jesus. Yet more than that, the reality and the significance of what Jesus had just done must have been settling into their spirits, slowly but surely. It was supernatural, everything that had happened. The teachings of Jesus (spiritual truth) and the spiritual realm must have become much more real to them. And during that time, Jesus was tarrying with them there, reminding them of all He had taught them before.
He was reorienting them. Before His death, there were many things the disciples would not understand until afterwards. Now they would be able to hear and understand.
Luke 24:44,45 says Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
In this season, when God is allowing things to be shaken, when we have felt disoriented by much that we have seen and heard over the last few years, God is doing something good. I believe that just as Jesus spent those 40 days with His disciples, ‘opening their understanding’ and giving them a fresh revelation and comprehension of the Scriptures, God is doing this same thing for us today. He is reorienting us.
He has allowed our expectations to be disappointed. He has allowed our systems and traditions to become disrupted, and many areas of our lives to experience a ‘shaking.’ But there is a purpose. God is also adjusting our paradigm so that we will see through His lens, to see things His Way, from His Kingdom perspective. He is bringing the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven close to our hearts, and teaching us how to truly allow the Holy Spirit be our compass.
Power of the Holy Spirit
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave his followers this promise: But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me, in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8).
The Holy Spirit did come in a mighty way on the day of Pentecost, and continued with them as they carried out the words Jesus had spoken to them—to be His witnesses and carry His message to the world. Jesus didn’t leave them—His Holy Spirit was with them, the same Holy Spirit that lives within us.
Mark 16:20 records that …they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.
This was written after Jesus had already ascended. He had not left them, but was ‘working with them.’ Today, Jesus is still with us, working with us (and working within us). The Holy Spirit gives us power, not just for signs and wonders (the mountaintop), but for life, faith, obedience, and perseverance in the ‘valley’ of our ordinary, and sometimes difficult, lives.
The Greek word for power is dýnamis, which can mean: force, miraculous power or miracle, mighty deed, and wonderful work.
But it can also mean: ability, abundance, meaning, and strength.
So we could read Acts 1:8 in many ways: You shall receive strength when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You shall receive ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You shall receive abundance when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You shall receive meaning when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
The power of the Holy Spirit is not reserved for the miraculous and mighty deeds only. The power of the Holy Spirit is given to us to live our lives by His strength, in His abundance, and with meaning because of Him. This is His power at work within us, which invites us to live our every day lives by His ability.
More than any kind of ministry or way we serve God publicly, our lived-out life is what becomes His witness.
2 Peter 1:3-4 highlights this truth so beautifully:
Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited in us by His divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing Him who has called us by name and invited us to come to Him though a glorious manifestation of His goodness. As a result of this, He has given you magnificent promises that are beyond all price, so that through the power of these tremendous promises we can experience partnership with the divine nature, by which you have escaped the corrupt desires that are of the world.
Prayer
Father, we love you and we surrender to what you are doing now in our lives. We invite you to re-orient us to Your Ways, and Your Kingdom truth. Thank You for sending us Your Holy Spirit, and for giving us everything we need for life and godliness. We want to partner with Your divine nature, living by the power of Your Spirit, to bring about Your purposes here on earth. Amen!
Chalis Butler writes from her favorite overstuffed chair in sunny, Central Florida. In the throws of parenting two toddlers, she and her husband vacillate between intentional living and survival mode. This is why her house can look immaculate or appalling on any given day. She has a rocky relationship with coffee. She wears graphic T’s and yoga shorts whenever possible. She loves finding awesome books for a dollar, watching her kids sleep, and pie crust.
Chalis has spent time working with mission teams and teaching English in Haiti; she lived and worked in Australia for three years before returning home to the United States; she spent 16 years teaching music before switching gears to become a stay-at home mom. She recently published “Return to Real: An intimate Look at One Woman’s Journey of Redemption now available through Amazon and The Covenant Center Bookstore. She and her husband Shane are licensed ministers with counseling endorsements through The Covenant Center; while also facilitating one of the worship teams. You can find her online at LoveDweller.com. or contact: info@thecovenantcenter.com.