One of my goals in writing is to bring immediate help to every hungry Disciple who knows they want more and need more of Jesus, fast! It is to those who have the spirit and urgency of David that I write. Listen to his words: “Hasten to save me Lord, come quickly to help me. I am poor and needy” (Psalm 70:1, 5). There is a depth, release, and brilliance to the Christ Life that most of us know we are missing. How often I have prayed the words of David in Psalm 68–71, those wondrous words and wisdom of his older age. Knowing my own sins and weaknesses, I have great difficulty feeling the same emotion of revenge David felt toward his enemies. Of course, some of those actions were more brutal and vicious than I have ever experienced. Nevertheless, I do enter fully into David’s heart and quest to praise and grasp the sweet splendor of our Savior Lord’s intent in my life. His words bring redemptive energy and hope into my daily existence. The secret is learning how this release of positive power can happen on an almost minute-by-minute basis.
“Do not hide your Face and empowering Presence from your servant; answer me quickly for I am in big trouble. Come near and rescue me; deliver me and redeem me because of my destructive and depressing foes (other people, demonic deception, exhausting circumstances, cultural lies and my own foolishness).” Psalm 69:17-18 (HDM)
“… I am poor, bewildered, weak and needy; come quickly to me O God as fast as You can! You alone are my only help and my only deliverer. I’m finally seeing that clearly; O Lord, do not delay.” Psalm 70:15 (HDM)
How wondrous was my discovery of these words so many decades ago! How frequently have I prayed them! I should have embraced them more often and more fully! The older I get, the more regularly they are on my lips. I only regret I have been so slow to recognize and receive the implications of their power and healing. Space prohibits my plunging into the riches of these four chapters, Psalm 68–71. They are attributed to David, although Psalm 71’s authorship is not stated. I suggest David is the author because the essence of four of his other great psalms (22, 31, 35, and 40) is contained in 71. This psalm’s position between David’s Psalm 70 and Solomon’s Psalm 72 is also evidence of a Davidic summary of his life (see 71:18). All of us experience the stimulating ups and sickening downs of life, just as David did. I am strengthened when I see this great man’s desperation and his cries for help. I have felt the weight, despair, and panic of similar emotions in my own heart! I’m confident most of my readers are right there with me!
My present testimony is one of increasing praise, calm, and contentment! As I “put” more and more of my aging in Christ’s reality, I find a liberating release from what matters least, and I gain fresh excitement about what matters most! I promise you, it’s a great relief the older I get. One of the greatest blessings in life is reserved for those who “age biblically.” We have learned how to get quick help from the Lord!
My prayer has so often been, “Lord Jesus, help me quick”, or just “Lord, help me!” The reality of this expectation is what I seek to share in my writing. I yearn to help my fellow strugglers find more and deeper Jesus Truth and ingest it more quickly! The key insight about instant help is that even “instant” takes time. Instant help is not primarily deliverance from an issue but to be exposed to Christ’s mind about the issue. It takes time to learn the mind of Christ. But He has promised to teach us and show us His thoughts on His schedule according to our need and our maturity. If we continue to follow Him, we will always know enough of His mind to help ourselves instantly. Real help that will last and change us comes from no other source. I call this the principle of “rapid, radical release.”
Even a tiny bit of Christ’s mind on whatever huge issue you sense you are facing can radically alter its reality on your life. It’s amazing how a Christ-promise more fully understood can rapidly move you to an attitude of calmness, confidence, and contentment. You literally experience a release “from” the unending churn of human frustration, failure, and falleness and find entrance “to” the Savior’s present purposes of readying you for Kingdom destiny!
The most thrilling thing is that this can be an almost minute-by-minute activity and adventure. This kind of daily existence will be as rapid, radical, and releasing as our mature yielding hungers for it to be. It is the essence of our Lord’s invitation, “come after Me” (Luke 9:23). It is what Paul means when he says, “For me to be most fully alive means I am continually consumed with Christ” (Phil. 1:21, HDM). Hallelujah! This doesn’t mean there is more religion, more church, more good rules, more prayer or Bible reading, or more good deeds in our life! Nor does it mean not finding more fun, more achievement, more relaxation, more pleasure, and more satisfaction in our minutes. What it does mean is that we find the presence of the Messiah in all of our minutes. Once this begins to happen in a big way, we find the reality of the new life the Master has invited us to live.
When people see the reality of this rapid, radical release in you, they will understand what the Lord meant when He said “come after Me!” It is then they might want to chase Jesus for themselves. We would do well by asking this penetrating question: “How many people think of chasing Jesus because of my life?” Answering this question is the true measure of our witnessing. We can prove this best by being an example of finding His presence in our minutes.
This post was originally published on November 11, 2010 on the blog, Bullets for the Battle. To read archives of Pastor McCarty’s blog posts, visit bulletsforthebattle.blogspot.com.
