The Secret of Radiation Therapy

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ll of us struggle to overcome sin. The Bible describes this struggle as “striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:4). Some struggle more than others, partly because their history of worldly living has caused the roots of sin to become more deeply entrenched in their being. Regardless of the intensity of our own personal struggle, each of us has wished at times that we could

gain victory more completely over sinful patterns.

The pathway to victory over habitual sins is multifaceted and includes repentance, renouncing of old patterns, prayers of agree- ment, accountability, forgiveness, self-denial, etc. However, I want to focus in this chapter on one secret to overcoming sin that is sometimes overlooked or forgotten. I call it, “exposing yourself to the radiation of God’s presence and word.”

Sin is like a cancer; God’s presence is like radiation on that cancer. The longer you’re in His presence, soaking in His word and basking in His love, the more power you’re ingesting into the very fiber of your being.

The only way we change is when we come close to the Lord. His presence is the place of change. Distancing ourselves from God always produces spiritual regression; proximity to God always produces spiritual progression. The purpose of the voice

Secrets of the Secret Place

of condemnation is to push you away from His presence—that which is the very source of your victory. The purpose of the voice of conviction is to press you into the face of Christ. You can dis- tinguish between conviction and condemnation by considering which direction the voice is goading you—toward or away from the Lord.

God has always longed to draw close to man, but whenever He did, people died. The Law (Genesis to Deuteronomy) unfolds the passionate story of how an altogether holy God with great longings for His people tries to draw close to them, only to face the recurrent frustration of having to kill them for their outright rebellion and transgression. The Old Covenant had a fatal flaw. It required the people to keep their distance because of God’s holiness. If they crossed the line, they would die. So many were dying in the wilderness that eventually the people said to Moses, “‘Surely we die, we perish, we all perish! Whoever even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD must die. Shall we all utterly die?’” (Numbers 17:12-13). God was also aware of the problem, for He said to them, “‘I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way’” (Exodus 33:3). According to Deuteronomy 5:25-27, the people told Moses they would die if they came close to God, so they asked Moses to draw near to God on their behalf. God’s response was, “‘They are right in all that they have spoken’” (Deu- teronomy 5:28). So God agreed with them and kept His distance. This produced a vicious downward cycle, however. The people had to maintain their distance in order to survive, but their distance from God caused them to deteriorate into further sin—which in turn required that they maintain their distance. This was a hope- less pattern that God had to remedy, and the only solution was the cross of Christ. Now, through the blood of the cross, sinful man is able to come into the immediate presence of the holy God and subject himself to the glory that will change him. As we surrender to this glory, we are being changed into the likeness of the glory of Christ! The amazing part is this—that despite our weakness and failure and sinfulness we are now able to come into the im- mediate presence of the altogether Holy One! What a privilege! Only a fool would neglect or avoid this place of glorious change

The Secret of Radiation Therapy

and delightful intimacy. God has killed Himself (literally) to go out of His way to bring us into His presence.

When we step into the presence of God, we are exposing our- selves to eternally powerful forces. Everything within us changes when we touch the radiating glory that emits from His face. “For the LORD God is a sun” (Psalm 84:11). The sun provides heat, light, energy, and ultraviolet rays—radiation. When we place ourselves in the sun of His countenance, the radiation of His glory does violence to those cancerous iniquities that we often feel helpless to fully overcome. Time in His presence is perhaps the most potent procedure to deal with the chronic sin issues that plague us.

You don’t know you’re being exposed to radiation when it first happens. People who get sun-burned don’t realize they’ve been exposed to excessive radiation until after the damage is done. The effects of radiation are always delayed. The same is true of God’s glory. When you spend time in His presence, your first thought is, “This isn’t accomplishing anything.” However, if you will believe the truth and just devote yourself to mega-amounts of time in His presence, the effects of spending time with Him will eventually manifest.

I have experienced this first-hand, and I would to God that you would hear and believe what I’m telling you. Powerful things happen inside when you spend time with God. When you’re in His presence for extended periods, the molecular composition of your soul gets restructured. You start to think differently, and you don’t even know why. You start to have different passions and interests, and you don’t even know why. God is changing you on the inside in ways you can’t cognitively analyze. All you know is, sinful affections that once pulled at your soul no longer have their former power over you. The secret is simply this: large chunks of time in God’s presence—loving Him and imbibing His word.

One last thought and this chapter is done. When Moses was on the mountain with God for eighty days, in the immediacy of God’s fiery glory, the only reasonable explanation for his not dying from the radiation exposure is to suggest that God still withheld from Moses the full strength of His glory. However, the

Secrets of the Secret Place

story would also suggest that God helped Moses to “build up” an ability to sustain such a tremendous exposure of glory. The principle is this: The more time you spend in His presence, the greater your tolerance becomes for even greater manifestations of radiance and glory. Could we say that you begin to develop a Son-tan? Those who expose themselves to large quantities of the radiation of God’s glory become candidates for even greater glory. “From glory to glory.”

Makes you want to run into the secret place, doesn’t it?!

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