Restoring the Creator-Creature Relation Psalms 57:5 “Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.” (KJV) Restoring signifies there is something out of the whack that needs to be renewed and returned back to its original state. A lot of times when we have relationships out of whack it is because of the sin nature, it is usually caused by someone taking their focus off God and focusing on themselves. Tozer says, “The cause of all our human miseries is a radical moral dislocation, an upset in our relation to God and to each other.” So what happened to that relationship, what caused that relationship to deteriorate? The “Fall” of man was the beginning of the deterioration in the Creator-Creature relationship. Romans 1:25 shows us how we exchange the truth of God for a lie and end up serving the creature rather than the Creator:
Romans 1:25 "who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever." (NKJV) It is only through a proper relationship with our Creator that we can experience true happiness. So what can restore our relationship with our Creator? Let's look at: 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV) Essentially, salvation is the restoration of a right relation between man and his Creator. The scripture says "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation”. When a person truly believes in Christ, God places and positions him in Christ, in all that Christ is. We need to walk in His spirit and live our lives in Christ day by day, keeping our focus on God and not on ourselves. Romans 8:1, 4 shows us that we need to walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. 1
Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (NKJV) Romans 8:4 “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (NKJV) When we sin against God we need to ask for forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (NKJV)
Scripture teaches us that we are to be "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. Titus 2:12 “teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,” (NKJV) Our lives should bear the fruit of the Spirit as it shows in Galatians 5:22-23. Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” (NKJV) Tozer spoke of the importance of a "fixed center against which everything else is measured". So what do we fix our center on? What do we measure everything by? We must begin with God – God is the only one we should measure everything by. Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the Lord, I do not change”. (NKJV) God doesn’t change and He is the only one that can say that! We don’t want to measure something that changes all the time. It is not going to work. There is no change possible in God. God never differs from Himself. If we can get a hold of this, God can be an anchor to us in the storm, a hiding place in danger. If we could keep our focus on God and look through His eyes the world would look like a better place. When those storms come and we keep our focus on God He will see us through! 2
Remember who God is! Exodus 3:14 says: “And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.' " (NKJV) I AM WHO I AM – Remember who God is! All powerful, all sufficient, all knowing and he never changes! Unfortunately most of our difficulty stems from trying to put God in a box. Trying to modify God to bring Him nearer to our image and what we expect rather that worshiping God for who He is and adjusting our lives accordingly. *Show Video: “We know God is not a Vending Machine. We don’t insert coins, push a button and a treat gets dispensed. Yet many of us go to Him only when we need something. We expect Him to give us what we ask for and when He doesn’t we get upset, irritated and angry. Questions and doubts rise in our minds and we try to force things to go our way. We seek bits of God rather than all that He Is! Which ultimately is a trap that ensnares us and there’s only one way out: ABSOLUTE SERRENDER. God is bigger than the Vending Machine He gets reduced to in our lives. He Created Us! He Loves Us! He Breathed Life Into Us! And He Longs To Have An Intimate Relationship With Us!” As Believers, we know God is not a vending machine, yet many times He gets reduced to one in our lives. We seek after bits of God, rather than surrendering all to Him! Ladies as we surrender our lives to God and get to know Him experientially, we will find an unspeakable joy. We need to stop putting God in a box and acknowledge God for who He is! We are right when, and only when, we stand in a right position relative to God, and we are wrong so far and so long as we stand in any other position! Anyone who might feel reluctant to surrender his will should remember Jesus' words: John 8:34 “Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” (NKJV) We must of necessity be servant to someone, either to God or to sin. 3
Tozer says: “The sinner prides himself on his independence, completely overlooking the fact that he is the weak slave of the sins that rule his members. The man who surrenders to Christ exchanges a cruel slave driver for a kind and gentle Master whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.”—Pursuit of God, The What is the proof of what or whom we are serving? We can see through the choices that we make day after day. Where is your focus? Do we exalt God above everything else in our lives? Nothing will or can restore order till our hearts make the great decision: God will be exalted above everything in my life! Psalms 21:13 “Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power.” (NKJV) I like how Tozer said: “Psalm 21:13 is the language of victorious spiritual experience. It is a little key to unlock the door to great treasures of grace. It is central in the life of God in the soul.” When we exalt God with our life and our lips together – I am talking about when our actions meet up with our words of praise exalting our creator, life will cease to be complicated. We will rest totally in God’s loving arms. It is important to give God His proper honor. Sometimes we give others honor that really should have gone to God. Sometimes we take the credit and honor for ourselves when in actuality the honor should go to God. Revelation 4:11 "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created." (NKJV) We owe God every honor that is in our power to give Him. 1 Samuel 2:30 “…for those who honor Me I will honor…) (NKJV) John 12:26 “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” (NKJV) Notice in these verses that it shows that when we honor God He will honor us. We also see in scripture how there are consequences when we do not honor God. In 1 Samuel chapter four we see the consequences of not showing God honor. Eli and his sons are place in the priesthood with the stipulation that they honor God in 4
their lives. This they fail to do and God sends Samuel to announce the consequences. Eli and his two sons, Hophni and Phineas dishonored the Ark of God and used it as a lucky charm instead of showing reverence. Because of their dishonor, Israel was defeated, there was a great slaughter where Eli’s two sons died and the Ark fell into the hands of the enemy. When Eli heard this he fell off the seat backward and broke his neck and died. 1 Samuel 4:17-18 “So the messenger answered and said, "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead; and the ark of God has been captured." 18 Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy.” (NKJV) This tragedy was due to Eli’s failure to honor God. Ladies, we really need to watch our motives. We need to ask, am I giving God honor or am I taking the honor for myself. Tozer also shows us how when we honestly try to glorify God in our earthly walk that God winks at weakness and overlooks failures as he pours grace upon His servants. As we have seen with Abraham, Jacob, David, and Daniel. The man of God set his heart to exalt God above all; God accepted his intention as fact and acted accordingly. Not perfection, but holy intention made the difference. We are not perfect ladies, but God does look at our intent. He knows what the intention of your heart is. The whole course of the life is upset by failure to put God where he belongs. We exalt ourselves instead of God and the curse follows. In our desire after God we need to keep in mind that God also has a desire towards us, that we would make the once-for-all decision to exalt Him over all, to surrender our total being to Him and show Him honor and glory in everything that we do. This God-above-all position is not easy to do. The mind may approve it while not having the consent of the will to put it into effect. Ladies, we still have a sin nature and it will get in the way. We may desire to exalt God above everything but we need His help to do this. It is through His power that 5
we defeat the sin nature. But, the more we rip out the things in our lives that take the place of God, the more we will draw closer to God. God sees our heart and He knows our intentions. Tozer says: “While the imagination races ahead to honor God, the will may lag behind and the man must make the decision before the heart can know any real satisfaction. God wants the whole person and He will not rest till He gets us in entirety. No part of the man will do.” —Pursuit of God, The Ladies, we need to surrender all of our life to God and give Him the Glory for everything in our lives. We need to throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus and mean every word we are saying. We need to ask God to help us surrender all to Him to help us live in His glory. We need to recognize that God is the “I AM”! He is our creator, our savior, our provider. He deserves all our love and respect!
Tozer's Prayer: O God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. Nothing of earth's treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou art glorified in my life. Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt be above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the earth. Be Thou exalted above my comforts. Though it means the loss of bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses, I shall keep my vow made this day before Thee. Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me ambitious to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my name be forgotten as a dream. Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place of honor, above my ambitions, above my likes and dislikes, above my family, my health and even my life itself. Let me sink that Thou mayest rise above. Ride forth upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little beast, a colt, the foal of an ass, and let me hear the children cry to Thee, "Hosanna in the highest." Amen. —Pursuit of God, The
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