Deeper Yearning for His Embrace: Crossroads to Freedom, #2

By Riaan Engelbrecht

This series started 20 years ago with 'Crossroads to Freedom', which was written at the time to help believers, young and mature, to appreciate the greatness, the goodness, the majesty and the love of Christ. For we are all on a spiritual journey, one where we choose daily to either follow the Lord or follow our path. Deeper Yearning for His Embrace Vol 2 is part of the three additional works that continue with the theme of encouraging the believer, and also the non-believer, to truly seek the Lord, to know Him, to hunger and thirst for His Presence. The series contains two decades of wisdom and knowledge as gathered by the author on his spiritual journey with a majestic, magnificent and glorious God. Even though the series is presented in an easy reading style, so often reminiscent of devotionals, it strives to maintain a high standard of theological correctness to uphold the eternal and true foundation of the Gospel. These volumes of work will inspire a person to seek a closer walk with God, to know His heart more intimately, to discover His will, to know the way of His Kingdom and to embrace His beauty. Be blessed on your journey with the loving God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Riaan Engelbrecht
• Release date: Nov 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201291495

Riaan Engelbrecht

Ps Riaan Engelbrecht is the founder of Avishua Ministries, the vice-president of Lighthouse Ministries International and the station manager of Lighthouse Radio. His ministry deals primarily with the prophetic, but he also has a passion to teach the Truth of the Lord Jesus and His Kingdom for only the Truth of the Lord sets us free (John 8:32).  He is also a qualified and seasoned journalist.

Book preview

Also by the same author:

Life and Death

The Holy Spirit Volumes 1 and 2

The Disciple of God Volumes 1 and 3

Evangelism

Deliverance Volumes 1 to 3

The Prophet of God

Walking in God’s Wisdom

Abiding in the Fullness of God

Perilous Days: Volumes 1 to 6

The Destructive Isms of our Age

The Way of the Lord

Pursuit of Holiness: Mortification, Abandonment, Purification

Seeking a Deeper Life with God

A Deeper yearning for His embrace

The Crossroads to Freedom

The Greatness of God

Collection of Prophetic Thoughts and Teachings

Move of Glory, Deliverance and Refinement

The Nation, the Church, the Believer

The Church is on a Threshing Floor

Quenching the Spirit: Dangers of Cult-Like hyper-authoritarian Churches

God of Law and Order

The Will of the Lord

The Kingdom of God

End of Days, God’s Kingdom and the Dragon’s Empire

A Disciple’s Foundation of Spirit and Truth

Deeper Yearning for His Embrace

This is a distributed edition from Avishua Ministries.

The author’s intellectual property rights are protected by international Copyright law. You are licensed to use this digital copy strictly for your personal enjoyment only: it must not be redistributed or offered for sale in any form.

Scriptures quotes from the New Kings James Bible, Amplified, and the New International Version.

For more free study material and audio visit http://avishuaministries.wixsite.com/avishua

An unexpected journey

Job 36:26: Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; nor can the number of His years be discovered.

The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit are regarded as two of the most epic fantasies ever written. The Hobbit deals with Bilbo Baggins who leads a simple life with his fellow hobbits in the shire until Gandalf arrives and convinces him to join a group of dwarves on a quest to reclaim the kingdom of Erebor. The journey takes Bilbo on a path through treacherous lands swarming with orcs, goblins and other dangers.

At one stage Bilbo Baggins says I'm going on an adventure!

So why are we talking about fantasy when talking about our journey with God, since God is not a fantasy! The journey of Baggins is one of an incredible adventure, of exploration, of friendship, of danger, of self-discovery and yes, eventually of triumph. The title of the first instalment of the movie franchise is called An Unexpected Journey.

Our life with God is like an unexpected journey. Twenty years ago I wrote Crossroads to Freedom. It was my first book. I was a very young Christian. You can say I was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed (alert and eager with lots of energy)! The short volume of work is meant to take the reader on a journey with God, explaining in simple terms the journey of following Christ, and how this journey is wonderful, glorious and blessed as we seek to embrace the Lord's gift of salvation, redemption and hope. After all, we are all at a crossroads in our lives and we need to decide if we are either following Jesus or not.

Since writing that first book back when it seems life was simpler, I have found life has been quite unexpected with the Lord! My journey with God has been filled with two decades of numerous twists to the plot that I never even could fathom, comprehend or foretold. It has been a journey of constantly learning, growing, developing, making mistakes, and a journey of many dangers, trials and tribulations. It reminds me of the journey of good old Baggins, who never in his wildest dreams could understand how his life would change the day that Gandalf arrived at his door.

Such is our adventures with God. Scriptures talk about how God knocks on our door. He invites us to let Him in. Revelation 3 says, 20: Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. When God comes knocking on our door and when we say yes Lord then you must be ready for the adventure of your life. In the Hobbit, Bilbo’s life was unexplainably and inexplicably interrupted when Gandalf knocked on his door.

For Scriptures speaks about how many are the plans of man but only the plan of God prevails (.Proverbs 19:21). God in His Sovereignty and greatness has mapped out a journey for all of us, no matter who we think we are and if we are worthy or not. Psalm 139 says, 13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. We can either trust God to show us the way or we can try and forge ahead ourselves. In the Hobbit, Bilbo would have been unwise not to seek the help of wise Gandalf. While this book by JRR Tolkien is a mere fantasy, how much more must we not seek the help of God who is all-wise and full of knowledge?

At the end of 2001, I heard the knock loud and clear. I knew I had to open the proverbial door lest the darkness swallows me completely and whole. Little did I know what lay in store as God indeed comes to interrupt our lives. It truly becomes an unexpected adventure! And for those who truly yield and submit unto God, this journey with God will be filled with ups and downs, and will most likely be filled with danger and strife, yet it will also be filled with joy, thrills, gladness and above all, triumph! For Jesus is our redeemer, hope, saviour and refuge.  Yet, it is all about yielding and submitting to God. Matthew 6 says, 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Yes, we must surrender our lives to God and trust and have faith in His plan and purpose for our lives.

The reality is that God has a purpose for all our lives. He has a plan for each and every one of us the day we are born. Yet the choice lies with us to fully embrace it or not. And one stage in the hobbit trilogy, we find Bilbo saying Only thing to do! On we go! when they are faced with another challenge and obstacle in their quest. This is indeed how it is with God. With God, the only thing we can do is to go on with a heart assured that He knows the way and He knows the path. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:7: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Yes, the journey through life, even with God, may at times be daunting and fraught with danger and threats and pain, but we can endure in His love and strength. For Scriptures also says that God’s grace is sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9) so that we can endure and fulfil God’s plan for our lives,

With God, there is no going back. We cannot go sideways as also stated by Bilbo. We can only go on, no matter where the road and journey take us because with God all things are indeed possible. The Apostle Paul certain went on despite the challenges, for he found his reward in God and in God was his delight and hope. In Colossians 3, Paul wrote 23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for[a] you serve the Lord Christ. Yes, God does reward us for embracing Him, His way, His will, His goodness and His plan and purpose.

As mentioned, my journey of proverbial valleys and mountains, of toil and bliss, was way beyond my insight or even imagination! Yet God knows, God sees and plans. Yet while the journey remains unexpected, and most of the time mysterious, it remains exhilarating and exciting. Yes, it is not always glamorous, and sometimes it is a real fight and at times the struggles are evident, but God is our rescuer and hope.

The reality is, God is mysterious. We can know Him by the Scriptures and in our relationship with Him, yet all that we can do is to follow Him day by day. All that we can do is to obey where He leads, but sometimes where He leads and how He guides is beyond our scope of understanding. The very essence of a mystery makes it hard to grasp. You can’t put a mystery in a box or accurately predict its nature. Why? Because mysteries contain elements that are not yet clearly perceived. God’s ways are inscrutable (impossible to understand or interpret) not because He’s trying to hide something from us, but because our limited human understanding lacks the capacity to grasp the full scope of His sovereignty.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9).

The big struggle we have is whether or not we will embrace them. There is a blessing and a hope that comes from embracing God’s ways. The phrase God works in mysterious ways doesn’t appear in the Bible, but Scripture is filled with examples that exemplify the saying. Imagine how shocked Abraham must have been when God commanded him to offer Isaac as a human sacrifice (Genesis 22). Yet this event would point to the prophetic action of Jesus dying for our sins. Consider young Joseph’s disillusionment when he was sold into slavery, wrongly accused of rape, and imprisoned before God made his dream a reality (Genesis 37, 39-45). Yet he was pivotal in establishing Israel’s future.

God also bound the prophet, Ezekiel, with ropes after He instructs Him to lie on his left side for 390 days, then his right side for 40 days. During that time God initially instructs Ezekiel that he cannot eat anything except bread cooked over human dung (Ezekiel 4:1-16). So Scripture is full of proof that God doesn’t act or think as humans do. He is the definition and definer of all that is good, holy, and right. Many times our finite brains can’t comprehend His infinite plans, but that doesn’t mean that God wants us to remain ignorant about His character or His ways. Hosea 6:3 says, Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth.

So on the journey with God, we must seek Him, yet also know He is mysterious. Yet we have to trust and have faith in God, and we need to listen and follow. When we seek God, He promises to open our understanding in supernatural ways and reveal Himself to us (Proverbs 2:3-6, Proverbs 25:2, Proverbs 28:5, Jeremiah 29:13). As God reveals Himself to us, our need to be in control of all of life’s mysteries fades, our faith deepens, and our ability to trust Him is perfected. We are given the power to walk in full confidence that our mysterious God is faithful and true. And, therefore, we can fully embrace the unexpected journey, and we can complete the race and hold onto the faith in Christ!

In 1771 William Cowper wrote Conflict: Light Shining Out of Darkness, which was later titled God Moves and published in the Olney Hymnal. It goes as follows (I find this so beautiful:

God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm. Ye fearful saints fresh courage take, the clouds ye so much dread, Are big with mercy, and shall break, In blessings on your head. His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding ev'ry hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flow'r. Blind unbelief is sure to err, and scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain

The simple Gospel

At times, we are in danger of making the Gospel too complicated. The Lord’s work and glory are to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men and women. The simply Gospel speaks of a life reconnected to Christ, so that we may know life, hope, life and freedom. While sin and transgression do dim the light of Christ in our lives, the true, pure, simple gospel of Christ remains the saving doctrine of Christ, which is available to all God’s children.

John 3:16 is the simple Gospel. It declares that Jesus died for our sins so that ALL mankind may be saved. Yes, the Gospel is for all and makes free anyone who believes in Jesus. Matthew 28 is the simple instruction to the Church on how to preach the Gospel. The commands of Jesus to ‘go’ and ‘follow’ are the simple instructions of being a disciple. And while there is a great necessity for teaching and mentoring disciples, to bring someone to Christ and the declaration of the Gospel should remain a simple message of hope, redemption and restoration.

The other day, I listened to a song called Talking to Jesus. It speaks of a man who was led to the Lord because of his grandmother who spoke to Jesus. And because she spoke, he was now talking to Jesus. And as years passed, because he was talking to Jesus, now his son was also talking to Jesus. This is the Gospel in its simplicity – it is about getting people to talk to Jesus. Not just talking about Jesus, but talking to Him. For that speaks of relationship, and not religion. We are called to have a living and real relationship with a living and real God!

In John 4:4-42, we read the story of Jesus who was going through Samaria sat down by Jacob’s well, being wearied from His journey. He met a woman of Samaria who came to draw water. Jesus witnesses to her about Him being the Saviour and the Messiah. The story reminds us how God loves to fellowship with us. He wants to talk to us, share His heart, thoughts and the ways of the Kingdom. Jesus died and rose so that we can talk to God. For our Lord is not dead, He is alive. He is not distant, aloof and neither does He not care about us. He knows the number of hair on our head (Luke 12:7). So the Gospel is about fellowship between God and those who believe in Him. It is about God wanting to talk to all of His creation, which is evident in John 3:16.

The world should see Christ in us. It is that simple. They should see His light, love, truth, holiness and purity reflected in our lifestyle, conduct, speech and our faith. If the world sees Christ in us and we are talking to Jesus, then this world will be drawn from the dark to the light. We must, therefore, not at times overcomplicate the Gospel.  It is about talking to Jesus. Knowing Him. Loving Him. Following Him. For that is the Gospel of the Kingdom. And the rest shall be added.

May the simplicity of His love burn in our hearts. May the simplicity of the truth of John 3:16 consumes us. May the simplicity of obeying the Great Commission be our call of duty. And may we keep talking to Jesus. For then soon more people will be talking to Jesus! Glory to God.

Trust in the all-sufficiency and inerrancy of Scriptures

2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

In Numbers 23:19 we read, 19 God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Titus 1:2 also speaks about how God cannot lie. In fact, John 8:44 states that the devil is the father of lies, therefore the one who lies. This is not the case with God. We, therefore, serve a faithful God who is true to His Word. We can trust the Word for it is true because God is true.

John 1 speaks of Jesus and it says 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God). Jesus is the Truth, Way and Life. God is true to every Word that he speaks. During His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus said in Matthew 4: 4 But He answered and said, It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ The Word of God is our source of nourishment, hope and strength. The Word of God is true. We can trust what the Word of God says for its