Get a Grip!!!

“There is a time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing”- Ecclesiastes 3:5

Are you gripping or griping? Are you grasping what is going on or gasping for fresh air?

This is not a season to be slipping and sliding around on the deck of the ship in unbelief, fear and anxiety. This is a season to saddle-up, buckle-up and lift your head-up for our redemption draweth nigh. Don’t be the hockey-puck slapped around by all the social media platforms , talking news heads and fear-mongers! Time to buy some sure-grip deck shoes for this boat ride!

Grab your Bible and let’s go for a walk through Scripture to determine what we need to be firmly gripping, intimately embracing and strategically avoiding!

 

Covid-19 has taught us what we “touch” can kill us!  We all have the capacity to be exposed to life-threatening deadly invisible viruses. We can even be a “spreader”  unaware we may be spreading sickness and death to those around us. 

 

This season has pressed an uncomfortable question into my heart, “What am I spreading with my spiritual  touch, my attitude, my words, my deeds?” IS IT…Fear? Love? Healing? Sickness? Good news or bad news? Encouragement or discouragement? Strength? Griping and whining? Grumbling or Gratefulness? Joy or inordinate depression? 

I KNOW this for a fact….Whatever has Gripped me will grip others!

 

 

Is it not interesting the Apostles of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, describe their intimate experience or exposure to the Word of Life , the Incarnation of God Himself as Son, with sensory  words like see, hear and touch!

 

 

The same Greek word is used on all three passages…psélaphaó (psay-laf-ah’-o). This word means to “feel something” with an investigative or light  touch.  The Apostles “touched” God in the Incarnation of Jesus, Yeshuah. The impression  is a light or careful touch to learn the features and facts of what is being “handled”.  Therefore, John the Apostle, was simply saying , “We touched God!” 

 

May we NOT lose our sense of the touch of the sacred in these days of social distancing.  We need to learn to develop to a higher level of efficiency our spiritual faculties to “fellowship” with the Father and the Son and each other to deepen Christian love, joy and mission. 

 

The gentle touch of Jesus is both profound and weighty, transforming our lives from glorious touch to glorious touch! (2 Cor.3:16-17)

 

However, the New Testament  word I discovered is incredibly rich in texture and context.  The word breathed into the hearts of the Apostles was KATALAMBANO.  It describes a variety of actions by which a person is not only ‘exposed’ to the influence of another person or an environment, but “apprehended” by that person or force of nature. The idea is akin to “possessed” for noble or ignoble purposes. 

 

KATALAMBANO is a more aggressive or forceful word than psélaphaó.  In Christ we  experience both the affable  and the arresting touch of God!  I think the way we process the touch of God in our lives is based on His custom-tailored love and our personality. Paul had to be knocked off his high horse and blinded and man-handled to get to the place God wanted him to be. Peter had to be strongly rebuked for his Satanic pride to put in place.  Matthew, the tax-collector, on the other hand, was simply “included” and the spirit of rejection melted as he opened the door to Jesus to have a meal at his house. There is no doubt Jesus’ gentle dealing with Matthew caused a bit of stir among the blue-collar tax paying Galillean’s. 

 

 

Basically, katalambano is to grasp something or someone to hold it closely and forcefully for a desired end or purpose.  This grip can usher you into a different sphere or plane of experience.

 

KATALAMBANO is found in the New Testament fifteen times. The word is used in both negative and positive scenarios.  Physical, mental, moral and spiritual contexts surround the use of this powerful word.  This word is employed to describe an intense spiritual battle between the forces of darkness and the kingdom of God revealed in the personal presence of Jesus Christ by His Spirit. 

 

I believe this devotion and reflection and application can help us navigate these days of determining what we need to “avoid” and what we need to “intensely grasp” to pursue with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

 

Today…is not a time to “shrink back” but lunge forward in loving faith to walk with our Lord Jesus into battle, to hold each other’s hands in purity and to embrace  the sick, the despairing, the timid and the double-minded with compassion and humility. 

 

Endurance is a precious commodity in the End-times and Endurance is fed by FOCUSED-FAITH in God-himself and His word…endurance requires KATALAMBANO!

 

 

Below is listed the three arenas KATALAMBANO is used in the New Testament:

 

1. In the  Realm of Evil & Sin

 

• Ambushed By the Demonic

 

“Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; 18 and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.”

 

Jesus had just been descended from the Mountain of Transfiguration. He cast the “the unclean spirit” out of the boy. He told the disciples, “this kind” (genome; DNA) does not come out but by prayer (some manuscripts add “fasting”). This particular demon had such force it physically harmed this teenager and closed down his auditory and speech centers. 

 

• Ambushed By Sensuality, Sin & Trespass

 

 

The context reveals that the conflict is with the overwhelming power of the sin nature that can ambush the sinner or the saint and propel them to cross lines of morality. The sinner in this arena is “caught in the act of sin” (John 8:4). Or “the trespass” has been revealed by confession or witnesses (Gal.6:1).  For example, David was “caught” in his adultery and murder by the prophet Nathan. David then confessed his sin to God to begin the path of restoration. These two texts are wonderful parallel passages that reveal the gentleness of Jesus to forgive, reconcile and restore the sinner to wholeness and a prescribed path of holiness…”Go and sin no more.” 

 

The counter-attack of Jesus against this kind of aggressive sin is the power of grace manifested in forgiveness and healing!

 

The New Testament advocates (CLICK LINK),  “NO MAN LEFT BEHIND”!  The word of God commands us to go behind enemy lines and lay hold of a brother and sister and bring them back to safety and place of healing and restoration. 

 

2.  In the Realm of the Intellect

 

KATALAMBANO is experienced in the  arena of the mind to comprehend what is normally incomprehensible. This “comprehension” is like connecting the dots between the action and the purpose. The invigoration of the mind by the Holy Spirit always leads the ignition  of the will unto obedience to the Gospel and Cause of Jesus Christ. 

 

Each couplet below has an Action and a Purpose.

 

• The act of Preaching is where men & women  can KATALAMBANO/comprehend God’s Authority and experience or witness His justice in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

It dawned on the chief priests,  elders of Israel and Festus (in Paul’s trial) that John Peter and Paul  had authority from Jesus Christ to proclaim and to perform miracles. Their intellectual and educational arrogance prevented them initially from taking seriously what the young apostles were teaching. In Acts 4, with such force this realization captured their minds and they let Peter and John out of prison with a warning to not preach about the resurrection of Yeshuah. After Festus investigated, Paul was found innocent in this lower court  but sent to Nero for a further trial in accordance with the will of God to preach the Gospel in Rome.

 

 

• By Vision from the Holy Spirit we can KATALAMBANO/comprehend the Inclusive Grace of God toward All Gentiles

 

 

Incredible synergy develops between Peter’s personal presence among the Gentile and his previous vision in Joppa. The dot’s are connected between obedience,  the vision, the man, the Gentiles and preaching. Like seeing the Aurora Borealis for the first time Peter comprehends the inclusion by grace of the Gentiles into the covenant and promises of God to Israel. God the Father through the propitiation in the blood of Jesus has reconciled all men to Himself  and thus all are welcome through repentance and faith. Without this comprehension Chrisitianity would have remained a sect within Judaism and the early church would have likely ceased to grow or totally die out.

 

KATALAMBANO shatters barriers between different peoples and groups.  KATALAMBANO overcomes estrangement based on culture, creed and customs, fusing a common center of gathering around the grace and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be prepared to go where you NEVER thought you would go because of the inherent propulsionary power of comprehending the radical reconciling power of Jesus Christ’s blood.  Like a Tennessee blood-hound we follow the unprejudiced blood of the Lamb of God into all peoples, tribes, kingdoms and nations of the world. 

 

• By Prayer & Fellowship We can KATALAMBANO/Comprehend the Immeasurable Nature of God’s Love

 

 

Divinely bestowed KATALAMBANO by the Father is what launches into the immeasurable continent of Christ to behold the wonder of His divine nature and eternal attributes.  Like Lewis & Clark we strike out to map the wilderness of His unexplored grace. KATALAMBANO begs us to move past the breakers of doubt and double-mindedness to catch the winds of vision and mission for the cause of Christ.  Together, and only together can we harness the wind of the Spirit that plunges into arenas only survivable by God’s holy protection promised to those who “GO” into all the world to preach the gospel, teaching and making disciples of all men (Matt.28:19-20). 

 

Don’t be a Shire-bound hobbit like Bilbo, Frodo or Sam-wise ….get out of your Shire, your comfort zone….Adventure out!!!!

 

Bilbo Baggins experiences KATALAMBANO (Open Link)  https://youtu.be/G0k3kHtyoqc

 

3. In the Realm of the  Christian Spirituality

 

Clearly, the grasp of God has transferred from the power  of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom is the redemption the forgiveness of sins (Col.1:13-14).  The hand of God precedes our grip on the things of God.  Ezra, the restoration priest, was very aware of the “hand of God” that had gripped him to rebuild the Temple.  Ezra reveals several way the sure grip of God works in our lives to save us, heal us and rebuild our lives:

• Ezra 8:31- To deliver His people from the world, the flesh and the devil (Babylon) 
• Ezra 7:28- To raise up leadership among the people of God to do His work
• Ezra 7:6- To release provision and protection for the work of God
• Ezekiel 8:1-3- To give vision of God and reveal idolatry in the midst of God’s people
• 2 Kings 6:1-7- To recover from a fall and be restored to our calling in ministry. The prophetic disciple lost his “iron axe head” and was instructed by Elisha to re-GRIP it with an outstretched hand….Hallelujah!!!!

My favorite New Testament story about the saving clutch of Jesus is when Peter was walking on the water and he was overcome with fear and he began to sink…”he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matt.14:30-31).

His grip upon us transfers His strength in to us by the impartation of the Holy Spirit who becomes our strength to grab a hold of the things of God.

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The graph below suggests 4 realms or arenas the Christian can practice the discipline of KATALAMBANO!  We know God in Christ has KATALAMBANO’D us!  

 

Therefore, our calculated and only appropriate reciprocal response is to KATALAMBANO Jesus…EMBRACE the following with ardent HOPE, sober-watchful Readiness, FAITH-filled self-mastery and LOVE with endurance!

 

The fruit will be power, victory, readiness and godly pleasure!  May we grasp each area like the disciple who clutches the “plow” of the kingdom and never looks back!

 

 

Father, we are so thankful and indebted to walk worthy of our calling in Jesus Christ. Help us firmly grasp, as we have been firmly grasped, the resurrection of Your Son Jesus, self-control of the Holy Spirit, and faith-righteousness.  Wake us up, sober us up so we will be prepared to hold fast the promises of the coming day of the Lord. We firmly take hold of our stewardship to be faithful in the little things as we await your return and Your reward. Amen