The
Necessity for Understanding & Grasping
the Significance of the Moment
-- 5,000 words--
by
Frank A. Jones
The Word of Truth Ministries
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There
are often words that we think we understand and we take no time to
define them. That is often a grave mistake, especially when it comes
to the things of God. So I want to clarify the terms I am using from
the very start of this discussion. For without clear definitions, one
will not know the limits or structure of what is being said. Grasping:
Grasping has a two-fold meaning. To grasp is to understand and
comprehend a word or a concept mentally. But it is more than that. ft
is to be able to not only understand, but to know how you know what
you know and also the ability to be able to explain it to others. Only
then can one be said to have grasped a concept or an idea. Peter
wrote, "... Be ready always to give an answer to every man that
asks you a reason of the hope that is in you..." In short, be
able to understand well enough to explain to others. [1 Pet. 3:15] In
Matthews 13, Jesus gave the parable of the sowers, and in that parable
he cited the sower whose seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came
and devoured them. When he explained this parable, he said that the
seed sown by the wayside is the word of God that is preached and the
hearers understood it not and Satan comes and takes it away.
When one understands, one grasps; he takes hold of mentally and Satan
cannot take that word away from that person. Grasping
the word is very important to spiritual growth. Many saints have been
saved a long time but they have not grown because they have not
understood the word of God, and Satan has taken that small bit of the
word they hear. To understand, I repeat for emphasis, is to grasp,
take hold of the word of God. This is what Jesus is saying by this
parable. But Jesus is doing more with this parable still. In
that parable Jesus shows what Solomon’s profound insight was when he
said in Proverbs 4, Wisdom is the principal thing; seek wisdom, and
in all thy getting get an understanding. My grandmother often told
us to learn to read. To her, reading was the same as understanding.
She would tell us to learn to read and get an education because no one
can take it from you. Jesus explains Solomon's proverb in a real sense
through His Sower parable. If you can understand the Word of God no
one can take it away from you. That is why Solomon said, In all
your getting, get an understanding. An understanding of a concept
is a mental vice-grip on that concept, and no one can take it from you
because you have grasped it tightly. To
grasp means to take hold spiritually, physically, financially; it is
to have control of an object or thing. One can grasp with the hand,
the mind, etc., depending on the item that is at issue. When Peter was
walking on the water to go to Jesus, he moved his eyes off Jesus and
looked at the waves. At that change of focus, his faith changed and he
began to sink. Crying out to Jesus for help, Jesus extended his hand
and Peter took hold of it; Peter grasped Jesus' hand and was saved.
That was a physical act of grasping. So one can physically,
intellectually, and spiritually grasp a matter. Indeed, if we are
going to be saved, and go on to perfection, we all must grasp Jesus’
hand, as Peter did. [Heb.
6] Significance:
Significance is importance. But it is a bit more than mere importance.
For importance may focus one's effort on superficial importance,
immediate importance, temporal importance. Significance, as used here,
is an importance that concerns itself for one's well being in a
profound way; it is an importance that is crucial to a entity's
existence or being. It is an importance that in its absence, such an
existence of being would not occur. Significance here used is the same
as being crucial. Moment:
A moment is not a
minute, an hour, a day, a week, or any other period of single time.
Yet it is about time, but time in a unique way. A moment can be a
second, a minute, a day or a year, depending on the events or
circumstances that are occurring in that period of time, that moment. A
moment is a concept bigger than the word itself. It is a concept that
men of letters and thought have lingered in discussions about. Men
have studied how the moment can capture and overthrow mankind and how
it can propel them beyond themselves into greatness. It
is in the moment that men have seen the limits of their financial
and moral strength and being unable to endure or cope with the
intensity of that moment, they resort to desperate means; it is
also in the intensity of the moment that men have captured greatness
beyond their understood abilities. Greatness is never achieved
without that moment of intensity; nor is failure without that
moment of temptation, which can overcome and slay a man. It is
during the intensity of the moment that cannot be endured that
men place the pistol to their heads. Even the great Apostle Paul
was in such distress of the moment that he said he despaired
even to his own life. [2
Cor. 1:8] The moment is always a windmill: it can cast one down into the dust or one up into the stars of heaven. Your fate is determined by how you wrestle with your windmill of the moment. The young man who seeks a wife, a good thing, a helpmate, looks out and sees sisters wanting to be found. Then he sees a female who is anything but the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31. She comes at him with things that are premature for the status of their relationship; she offers things he should not have and things she should not now give. She promises behavior she never intends to honor, but in the midst of that intensity of opportunity and her vaunted promises, he succumbs to untoward desires and finds himself matched with anything but a helpmate and a virtuous woman. This occurs in the moment of his wrestling with the windmill. A
moment has an intense situation or set of circumstances in it and one
must confront, wrestle with, and master or be mastered by the
circumstances of the moment. Time is something different than a
moment. Thinking
Differently: We
normally think that a moment is time, but we should look at time
differently than we generally do. We should look at many things quite
differently than we have looked at them. Too often, we become immersed
in our own notions and behaviors and refuse to see another way of
behavior or life. Sometimes, if we look at things differently, we may
see them correctly. God said through Isaiah that His ways are not
our ways; His thoughts are not our thoughts. [Isa.55:8]
When we think differently, we start, quite possibly, to think the way
God intended us to think. Too often, those who have been in the church
too long have their own set ways of thinking, and those ways defy the
Word of God. [Mat 15] They behave
in accord with church customs, church conventions, church dogma, and
the customs of men that have nothing to do with the Word of God.
Saints should be guided by the Word of God. But so should churches;
yet many times churches are guided by men who put the Word of God
aside or behind them, instead of before them as a lamp unto their
feet…. Albert
Einstein was a child who saw things so differently that many thought
he was a bit retarded and slow. But he kept seeing things differently
even into adulthood; and as he continued to see things differently,
frail society finally rose to his level and realized that all the
while he was seeing things clearly and correctly, and it was the rest
of us who saw things incorrectly. If we look at things a bit
differently, we may see things as God sees them. About
Time: Martin
Luther King, Jr., looked at things a bit differently as well.
In all of his brilliance, which one can fully start to appreciate
when reading his A Letter From A Birmingham Jail, one of
the masterpieces of American literature, they had him locked away
in a jail cell. This is the road of the defiantly brilliant or
the defiantly godly man. And the ignorant do this to their harm.
He examined this notion of time, as they tried to slow his and
America’s march to freedom. They told him, change takes time.
But he looked at the time and its supposed medicinal properties
and argued that there is nothing medicinal about time; instead,
time, he argued, is really neutral. It is what individuals do
in the space of time that is important. Time doesn't heal all wounds; time doesn't heal the broken-hearted; time
doesn't make us forget. These are only clichés of men who have
not really grasped the concept of time. As
one measures salt by a spoon, length by inches, and weight by pounds,
one measures continuity of existence by time. Time is a measuring rod
by which we calculate an entity's beginning, middle, and end. Our
entire system of reasoning is calculated based on a time model. We
ask: when did this begin; how long has this been; is a certain thing
going on; when did it end? These are systems of reasoning based on the
model we get from time. We are creatures of time. Consider
this quandary:
Since time measures continuity of existence, and continuity of
existence depends upon a beginning, middle, and an ending, time
has no applicability for an entity that has no beginning of days nor
ending of years. For such an entity exists in another sphere that some
call infinity and I call eternity, not in time.
Time cannot reckon or measure an existence that always was and always
shall be. Furthermore, time cannot measure an existence that has no
ending. For time to be a measuring rod, it must have a beginning and
an ending. I
submit to you Jesus, the Lord from Glory--one without father or
mother, beginning of life or ending of years. There was never
a time when he did not exist--He always did exist; there will
never be a time when he will not exist. Moses, the man of God
who talked with God mouth to mouth, wrote in Psalms 90, "Before
the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the
earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God". From eternity to eternity, God is
GOD! In Bethlehem, 2000 years ago, God stepped out of eternity into our time to do a work that had already been done in eternity. For he has declared the end from the beginning; from ancient times, He has declared things that are not then and now done, and He also declared that His council [the things that He has said] will stand and He will do all His pleasure. [Isa.46:10] The things He declared in eternity were declared for time, so He had to come into time to do them. (Note Roman 9, a chapter few ministers will touch, Paul says that before Esau or Jacob was born—Eph. 1:5, before the foundation of the world—God declared in eternity what He would do in time: Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. This is the election of God.) When there was no one in time acceptable or strong enough to do this particular work of man’s salvation, which He had declared in eternity, His own right arm brought salvation—He, himself, did the work After three and a half years, the work was completed and His disciples watched Him step back into eternity and promised to return for us, that where he is there shall we be also. This is the hope of the believer. God
has always allowed himself and his angels the option of moving into
and through time and eternity. The various appearances of God and
angels to men in the Old Testament were instances of God and angels
stepping in and out of time and eternity. But
one day, an angel of God will set one foot on the earth and one on the
sea and declare that time will be no more. [Rev. 10]
Time will no longer be used to measure continuity of existence; we
will step into eternity with God and ever be with the Lord. [Rev
21-22] The Apostle John saw the New Jerusalem coming down from God
out of heaven; with a declaration that the tabernacle of God will be
with men in eternity. Whatever space God tabernacles in is eternity.
And when the tabernacle of God is with men, men will inhabit
eternity with God. A
moment is a space
in time where situations, circumstances, and conditions align
themselves for our windmill experience. It is that one moment in time
where we must grasp the significance of that moment, those
circumstances, and those conditions to either be cast down into the
dust or up into the stars. How we react to situations and
circumstances in that space we call a moment will determine the
outcome. The same moment in time can kill or it can make alive,
depending on whether one grasps the significance of the moment. Moses
grasped the significance of the moment as he walked on the backside of
the mountain and spotted a burning bush that was not consumed by its
burning. Grasping the significance of that event, he turned aside and
questioned what he saw. And as he approached to behold the
circumstances, God called to him and told him to take off his shoes
because he was standing on holy ground. It was what Moses did with
the moment that determined what God did with him. Had Moses gone on
without a concern for the circumstances and significance of that
moment, he would have never grasped the moment; and he would have
never led his people out of Egyptian slavery. The
moment is that space in time when you are called upon to act, to
commit, the make a choice that could be pivotal to the rest of your
life or to your eternal salvation. Moses grasped the significance
of his moment and became the liberator of his people. But more
important than that; he gained favor with God. When he was
hesitant to go to Pharaoh, claiming poor speech, God showed Moses the
standing that He had given him: "I have made you a god to
Pharaoh, and Aaron is your Prophet." Because Moses had
grasped the significance of the moment on the back side of the
mountain, God elevated him to that of a god, and God talked with Moses
mouth to mouth. Saul
still breathing out threats against the people of God as he traveled
to Damascus was rendered powerless by a force he had never
encountered. On the ground he grasped that he was being dominated by a
greater power than he had ever experienced. Grasping the significance
of this situation and his circumstances, he asked that power, “Who
are you, Lord." and the Lord said to Saul, " I am
Jesus, whom thou persecuteth." Saul realizing the error of
his ways and the gravity of this moment, acted with the wisdom and
prudence the moment required; he asked, "What will you have me
do?" Were
his response different from that, he would have been lost forever. It
was in that moment in time, the man Saul appreciated and acted
prudently, capturing the significance of the moment to become Paul.
Some have grasped the significance of the moment and been cast up into the stars of God and other men have not grasped the significance of the moment and have been cast down unto destruction. The
story of Esau and Jacob is such a lesson in contrasts. One day, Esau
came into the house where his brother Jacob was cooking potage. Esau
over-emphasized his physical need as he petitioned Jacob for food.
Jacob grasped the significance of the moment and tendered potage to
Esau, if Esau would surrender his birthright--his standing with God,
which was his right to receive the covenant of God as handed down from
his father Isaac. Esau looked at his hunger, his pain, his physical
need; Jacob looked at the intensity of the moment and heard the call
of God--he saw and desired the spiritual things of God. So in that
moment in time, Esau failed to grasp the significance of that moment,
exclaiming, "What good is this birthright if I die?" and
he sold the birthright for a bowl of food in his moment of hunger.
Jacob, by contrast, saw, understood, and grasped the significance of
the moment and skillfully captured the things of God. No
doubt that moment of hunger seemed like an eternity to Esau, but it
was only a moment. One can never grasp the things of God when he or
she is focused on self. Because Adam and Eve were focused on God, they
felt no shame that they were naked. But when they focused on
themselves, they saw they were naked and they were ashamed. It will
always be the case that when we focus on ourselves, we will see that
we are naked. Focusing on God gives us clothing—He cloths us with
His righteousness, hence, we are the righteousness of God in Christ
Jesus. God symbolized that in Genesis 3:21. Moses could have thought, "I had better not get too close to this bush because in the desert there are no rivers of water to put out this fire, and I may be burned.” That would have been a focus on self. Be assured, when we focus on self, our focus is Satan-inspired. When we concern ourselves with ourselves, and measure ourselves by ourselves, we are not only not wise, but that action is often Satan-inspired. [2 Cor. 10:12] God is our shield and buckle; God is our ever-present help, and we should look to him. Jacob
perceived the significance of the moment, and as he grasped its
significance, he acted prudently, capturing the birthright--standing
with God--and positioned himself, when the time came, to receive
the promise of God, the next step. When we grasp the significance
of the moment, we position ourselves for greater adventures with
God. But if we fail to be courageous and take the first step,
we will never take the next step, and we will never, therefore,
walk with God. For to walk with God is to take step by step, line
by line, precept by precept, here a little, there a little and
allow our steps to be ordered by the Lord. [Psa. 37:23; Isa.
28:9-11]. This
series of events occurred not in a day or a week, but over a space of
time. It was a long moment in time filled with failures to comprehend
the significance of the moment by one and an instance of appreciation
of that moment by another. A
moment can be a second, an hour , a year, or any space in time. It is
not the time that makes the difference, but the events in that space
and how we respond to those events or circumstances. Esau
wept and begged his father, but the blessing was gone. He had
failed to grasp the significance of the moment and lost out for
all times. [Genesis 27]
That is the awesome choice by which we hang in the balance when our windmill
moment is before us. Sometimes, the moment of trial seems long, and it tells us that it is eternity, or at least longer and harder than it is, but we must recognize it as a moment of test and trial, and also as a moment of opportunity that will pass. Unlike
Esau, Job was a perfect man and clearly saw the significance of
his long moment; he grasped that moment against all odds and his
so-called friends and declared that all the days of his appointed
time he would wait until his change came. He understood that moments
of test and trial pass into the past; he understood that they
would be things to look back upon and measure his actions during
those times. And during his tests and trials, his days were pregnant
with intensity and pain, distrust and abuse, heartaches and bodily
torment, and disappointments. But he waited and knew that it
would pass. When all the wise men of the East saw things differently
from him, he maintained his integrity and his way of looking at
life and his relationship with God. He saw it differently; he
saw it as God saw it! The Bible is full of instances of failures to see the significance of the moment and victories over the moment of test and trial. Time does not allow me to speak of Jonah, Deborah the prophetess, and many others who either perceived or failed to perceive and grasp the significance of their windmill moment. The
Day of Pentecost
was the day the church doors were first opened by Peter. The Bible
teaches that the 120 disciples and followers of Jesus, which included
his mother and James, his brother, were in the Upper Room waiting for
the promise that Jesus had instructed them to wait for. They had not been told what it would be like, feel like, or how it would make them behavior. But when it came, they knew what it was. When one receives the Holy Spirit of God, one will know it. God’s spirit doesn’t baptize with or in secrecy. Notice how the first introduction of the Spirit was to those disciples at Jerusalem: There came a noise that was much like a mighty rushing wind sound. And that sound, that noise, filled all the house where the disciples were--the Upper Room. Then there appeared atop each one of their heads, cloven tongues that looked like fire. After that noise and cloven tongues, the disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost and they begin to speak with other tongues as the Spirit of God gave them the ability to speak. They begin to make noise that was also noised abroad. Seemingly, the noise that came into the Upper Room and the noise that they were making by speaking in tongues were heard beyond the Upper Room, out into the community. At that particular
time there were men from every part of the earth in Jerusalem,
and these men heard the disciples speaking in the tongues that
they were born in. And the multitude was split--some
grasped the significance of the moment and others mocked, saying,
"They are drunk with new wine." But Peter would
not allow the significance of this moment to escape him or this
crowd that had turned aside, even as Moses did, to see this wonder.
Peter stood up and beckoned their attention, explaining that they,
the disciples, could not be drunk as some of the crowd supposed
because the hour for drinking was too early. Instead, he preached
that what this crowd was witnessing in the disciples was the promise
of the father, which Joel the Prophet had prophesized about.
After
having gotten their attention on that, he preached Christ, a man
approved of God ; he contended stoutly that when David said God would
not allow his darling to see corruption, David did not speak of
himself but of Christ. Hence, Jesus, he preached, although crucified
by wicked hands, has arisen from the dead because it was not
possible that death could hold him. And Jesus was the first
fruit of those who slept. So
powerfully anointed were Peter's words that these men saw the
grave significance of their actions and this moment, and asked
Peter and the disciples, What must we do? These
men recognized that this was an hour, a moment, a space in time
that they had to confront with a great deal of wisdom; they could
not ignore the confluence of events and circumstances that impregnated
this moment. This was their windmill that would either cast them
into the dust or up into the heavens. Their actions in response
to this situation and confluence of events would determine what
their destiny would be. These hearers of the first church sermon
grasped the significance of the moment and their hearts were flooded
with repentance for the wickedness that they and their fathers
had done; they were repentant of their past ungodly actions. Their question
to Peter and the rest of the disciples was met with the Balm of
Gilead that God had prepared in eternity and brought into time.
What Peter offered as an answer to their question was the answer
for all of mankind. To attest to that fact, God had assembled
men from every nation under heaven; He had assembled the world
there at Jerusalem, and even as God spoke to Adam (man) and therefore
spoke to all of humanity in the Garden of Eden, God was again
using these men as all of mankind to ask God about a way out of
human sin. Therefore, when Peter spoke, his words were the words
of God to all mankind.
God's
answer to their question, What must we do? was this:
Repent and be baptize in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sin and God will fill them (you) with the Holy Ghost. Furthermore,
Peter preached by God that this promise he was extending to them is extended
to their children and their children's children and to the
Gentiles as well. As he
continued, he said, neither is there salvation in any other name. For
there is no other name under heaven, given among men whereby we MUST
be saved, except the high and holy name of Jesus Christ. God
has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall
confess that he is Lord to the Glory of God! Those
men from every nation were baptized in the only name that can wash
away sin: Jesus. And 3,000 souls were added to the church. Finally,
each individual must come to grips and wrestle with the windmill
moment that God sets before him/her. Sometimes that moment is pregnant
with opportunities that can help us through a period of despair;
sometimes that moment will determine if we are going to remain in that
despair. God sets before us good and evil, a blessing and a cursing.
We must choose how we wrestle with our windmill moment. But be
assured, we are not wrestling against flesh and blood. Often we are
wrestling against and sometimes with principalities and powers. Jacob,
just before he was to meet Esau after many years, wrestled with God in
prayer one night. And in that moment pregnant with opportunity, Jacob,
a man now experienced in wrestling with moments of significance,
understood what was before him. The angel wanted to be loosed, but
Jacob captured the moment, understood and grasped the significance and
refused to let go until he was blessed. Indeed, it was a battle to get
the blessings of God—his thigh was thrown out of joint, but he
refused to let go until he was blessed. The angel said to Jacob, Let
me go, for the day breaketh. But Jacob prevailed and God elevated him
to a prince who had standing with God and man. [Genesis
32] That is the type of prayer that gets the attention of God! I was talking with a friend about how God was answering prayers, and she was provoked to Godly jealousy. She said, "I need to give you my list." Many saints want to give their prayer list to someone else to petition God for them, but Jacob gave us a pattern of persevering in prayer: he refused to let go of God until God blessed him. No one is going to get his prayers through to God until he/she understands and applies Matthews 11. The Kingdom heaven is taken by spiritual force. And as Jacob was, so must you be a violent man/women. Note Matthews 8 of the Widow Woman and the unjust judge. Jesus, in a sense, applauded that woman’s persistence in prayer. She, like Jacob, prevailed. James
wrote that the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous man
avails much. [James 5] You cannot pray a wimpiest prayer and expect that the demons of hell
will allow that to get through to God! Have you not read and understood
Daniel’s prayer and the angel that was sent to answer him? [Dan.
10] God allowed us to see some of the mechanisms of prayer and answering
of prayer that we could be encouraged in our prayer lives. We
must refuse the let go of the throne of grace until we have found
help in our time of trouble. We have to come boldly, not as wimps
or we won't get anything from God. God
sets before us moments of significance; how will you respond to
your moment? Esther was raised to the throne because God was going
to confront her with a moment of significance that she had to
grasp and act prudently or else the whole of Israel would have
been destroyed. It
is important that you realize that sometimes, others have to help
you see the significance of a certain moment. Mordiacai, Esther’s
uncle, had to go to her, even as Phillip went to the Ethiopian
Eunuch, and prevail on her to see he moment. When the man of God
prevails on you, how will you respond? For that will be your moment. A
number of years ago, I pastured a small church in Richmond, CA.
The church was small, but the Spirit of God was great in our midst.
One night a woman came into the assembly as we preached the Word
of God. She had heard the Word, and as we took her home, I said
to her that she should come to Bible Class that Tuesday night.
This woman, no doubt, was so accustomed to the self-called and
self-anointed ministers who are led by their own spirits that
she thought my humble nature was placing me into that class of
ministers also. But I was neither self-called nor self-anointed.
The hand of God was on me then as it is now! But she was smug
in her respond to the invitation I offered. She said, “Every
time I go to one of these little churches, the minister is always
asking me to come over and help them.”
Of course, she had not heard the voice of God that was
in my voice. It said, Come back for Bible Class. That was
not a request for help; that was an offer of help. That
Tuesday night, she was not among our chosen few. Smug though she was
with me, she did not know the difference between a real man of God and
a regular man who says he’s of God. She attempted to be smug
with me, but she was rejecting God. I knew this because I had read
Samuel’s lament about the people of Israel wanting a king. God told
Samuel that the people had not rejected him; they had rejected God. [Sam.
8] Wednesday morning came, and I was called on the job and asked by her live-in lover to come to that woman’s house. That evening, I went to her house to discover that God had turned her over to the Devil. She couldn’t talk; Satan had possessed her, and she was placed in an insane institution later that night. She failed to understand and grasp the significance of her windmill moment, so she was thrown down into the dust of Satan. Each one of us must grasp the significance of the moment that is before us. []
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