The Deepest Mysteries
GO DEEP!
Terry R. Baughman

“Things never discovered or heard of before, things beyond our ability to imagine — these are the many things God has in store for all his lovers. But God now unveils these profound realities to us by the Spirit. Yes, he has revealed to us his inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit, who constantly explores all things” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10 TPT).
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God delights in sharing His deepest thoughts with those who love Him. While some expound on the deep things of God as though they had some private corner on the revelation of God’s wisdom, in reality God is constantly sharing His mysteries with all who will follow and listen. At a crucial point in the ministry of Jesus, parables became His preferred method of teaching. Through various stories Jesus revealed truths concerning the Kingdom of God. When the disciples asked Him why He taught them in parables, He explained, “It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matthew 13:11 NKJ).  

Those who sought to find fault with Jesus’ teaching were confounded by His simple stories with layers of meaning. They could not determine if He spoke against them, or against the political oppressor, or if there was any threat to His lessons. On the other hand, Christ’s followers received the message, and often Jesus provided a key to understanding. This insider knowledge was because they believed in Jesus, they embraced His mission, and they readily received the insights He shared. 

God has been in the business of revelation since the beginning. It is His desire to be known by His people, those who love Him. From the garden where Adam and Eve enjoyed fellowship with God, to the burning bush where God called Moses to become a deliverer for the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. From the multitude of prophecies and psalms came a high view of God, His power, His everlasting mercy, and eternal presence with His people. 

One psalmist declared, “No wonder I’m so glad; I can’t keep it in! Lord, I’m shouting with glee over all you’ve done, for all you’ve done for me: what mighty miracles and your power at work—just to name a few! Depths of purpose and layers of meaning saturate everything you do. Such amazing mysteries are found within every miracle that nearly everyone seems to miss. Those with no discernment can never really discover the deep and glorious secrets hidden in your ways” (Psalm 92:4-6 TPT). Peter explained the source of these insights, “Prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21 NIV).

Jesus revealed that when He returned in the Spirit, greater insight would be achieved. He said, “When the truth-giving Spirit comes, he will unveil the reality of every truth within you. He won’t speak on his own, but only what he hears from the Father, and he will reveal prophetically to you what is to come” (John 16:13 TPT). The reality of His pure revelation is yet to be fully realized. Paul wrote, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, … God has revealed to us by his Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10 NIV). The understanding we receive through the Spirit is the unveiling of “profound realities.”  Jesus has “revealed to us his inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:10 TPT).
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As much as we can receive, at the capacity we can understand, God delights in revealing the infinite depths of His thoughts and plans. There is so much more in store for the follower of Christ as we explore the deep things of God. Yet, in Job we read, “How great is God—beyond our understanding!” (Job 36:26 NIV). We continue to explore the expansion of His revealed purpose and seek to know more of His mysteries, and God is pleased in our quest.  


Theme passage:
“Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life” (Ephesians 3:17 TPT).

The Deep Kindness of His Love
GO DEEP!
Terry R. Baughman

“My deep need calls out to the deep kindness of your love. Your waterfall of weeping sent waves of sorrow over my soul, carrying me away, cascading over me like a thundering cataract” (Psalms 42:7 TPT).

Considering the vastness of God's love, Frederick Martin Lehman (in 1917) wrote, “Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made; were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade; to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry; nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky. O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure -- the saints’ and angels’ song.” In effort to begin to comprehend God's love we resort to poetry to capture the essence of its greatness. 

We turn to the Psalms in order to find voice and adequate terms to express the majesty of God’s kindness toward us. David wrote, “Your righteousness is unmovable, just like the mighty mountains. Your judgments are as full of wisdom as the oceans are full of water. Your tender care and kindness leave no one forgotten, not a man or even a mouse. O God, how extravagant is your cherishing love! All mankind can find a hiding place under the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 36:6-7 TPT). There is room for all under His covering. His cherishing love is extravagant. A contemporary songwriter said, “There's no end to Your love, You’re with us, … There's nothing in this world, that could take You away, You’re with us!” (Written by Reuben Morgan & Dylan Thomas, Hillsong).

Nothing demonstrates God’s love like His response to our great need. The wretchedness of our condition fails to diminish God's great love. In spite of our unworthiness, His grace is plenteous. John Newton penned the song, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see.” This former slave-trader, overwhelmed with his sinful life, found God’s grace to be far beyond expectation, and God’s favor to be faithful to meet his need.

It seems God delights in demonstrating His great love to humanity. The most sinful individual, the most impossible situation, the most flagrant of offenders, God reaches out for them all to love them to the place of salvation. He draws them to the cross, forgives their sin, and showers them with grace. There is no way we can comprehend that kind of love, or explain the far-reaches of His redeeming grace. 

Love is a powerful force for good, and God is love! While we were still in our sins, Christ died for us that we might be saved. (See Romans 5:8.) John said it best, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJ).

Our great need draws the response of God. There is something about the despair of the afflicted that attracts the compassion and care of the Savior. In the midst of ministry Jesus saw the tremendous need of humanity. Matthew said, “When He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36 NKJ). Or as the Psalmist said, “My deep need calls out to the deep kindness of your love.” 

When we approach God in humility we will find an abundance of grace. Scripture states, “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6 NKJ). Recognizing our need is the first step to redemption. When we come face to face with our failure, we find the grace to repent and be reconciled to God. John said, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 NKJ). God will meet us in love when we call out to Him in our deep need. We will find deep kindness in Him!
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Theme passage:
“Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life” (Ephesians 3:17 TPT).

The Call of the Deep
GO DEEP!
Terry R. Baughman

“Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me—A prayer to the God of my life” (Psalms 42:7-8 NKJ).

God's desire for relationship with humanity brings His active involvement and presence into our lives. Likewise God has instilled within us a longing for connection to the spiritual. So much so, there is a natural void in our souls when we have no relationship with him.

The psalmist revealed there was a deep need within, a longing for the presence of God, in our hearts. In the same text from The Passion Translation, He said, “My deep need calls out to the deep kindness of your love. Your waterfall of weeping sent waves of sorrow over my soul, carrying me away, cascading over me like a thundering cataract” (Psalm 42:7 TPT).

This reciprocal longing for connection with the Almighty, led God to create everything that we see. He took personal attention to the creation of the first man and woman (Adam and Eve), with the intention that He might have someone with which to communicate and to enjoy time together. It is apparent from the text of Genesis that God walked with them, communicating with them in their evening walks. After the first sin, when their eyes were open to their nakedness, they hid from the face of God, and were shamed by the purity of His voice. Relationship was broken and trust was destroyed. 

Though these first humans were separated from this sacred scene they had once enjoyed, there remained the deep desire for communion with God. Blaise Pascal, a philosopher and theologian, observed that man, “tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself” (Pensees, by Blaise Pascal). This thought has often been quoted as the “God-shaped hole within the heart.”

Search where we may, there is nothing on earth that can adequately fill the longing for God, but God Himself. There is no relationship on earth that can replace the spiritual communion we can have in His Spirit. God created us for relationship and we can enjoy many relationships with others, but none will take the place of the One who is the “infinite and immutable.”

Christ’s answer for the aching separation of sin was the provision of a sacrifice. In the Garden, a lamb was slain to provide clothing for the outcasts from the paradise of God. God clothed them and covered them with the skins and wool of the sacrifice. A principle was established and blood sacrifices were offered in abundance throughout the Old Testament, and the wrath of God was appeased by the atoning blood of the lamb. 

All this blood, all these sacrifices, provided atonement year after year as sins were pushed ahead in the anticipation of a perfect lamb in the fulness of time. John the Baptist saw the fulfillment of the promise when He proclaimed Jesus to be, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 NKJ). Looking back at Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, Peter stated that we were redeemed, “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19 NKJ). Jesus provided the atonement that saves us from our sins, but also restores a relationship with God! 

Paul wrote, “Look at you now! Everything is new! Although you were once distant and far away from God, now you have been brought delightfully close to him through the sacred blood of Jesus—you have actually been united to Christ! Our reconciling “Peace” is Jesus!” (Ephesians 2:13-14 TPT). We can daily celebrate our reconciliation. Constantly, we can rejoice in the restoration of our relationship. Join the singers of Korah’s clan and continue the chorus, “All through the day Yahweh has commanded his endless love to pour over me. Through the night I sing his songs and my praises to the living God” (Psalm 42:8 TPT). The deep calls us still. 
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Theme passage:
“Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life” (Ephesians 3:17 TPT).

The Word of the Deep
GO DEEP!
Terry R. Baughman

“Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides”  (Psalms 119:89-90 NKJ).

Deep sea divers experience incredible pressure as they descend into deeper waters. Divers cannot go more than 130 feet deep without great risk to their health and wellbeing. Swimmers can feel that increase of pressure even at depths of ten feet, so how much more intense is it to go further into deep water? 

In June of 2023, OceanGate launched a submergible capsule, named the Titan, into the Atlantic Ocean with five male passengers. Each had paid large sums of money to be passengers to witness firsthand the wreckage of the great Titanic, on the ocean floor over 12,000 feet below the surface. The sub had completed several dives in 2021 and 2022 before the fateful final dive for the Titan. Somewhere in transit to the wreckage, a catastrophic failure of the hull of the tiny capsule caused a massive implosion killing all who were aboard. The wreckage of the submergible was finally located about 1600 feet from the hull of the Titanic. 

The pressure increases in our lives as we seek new depths in our spiritual experience. We must prepare ourselves for the onslaught of the enemy of our souls, as we draw closer to His purposes. However, we can be assured, the power within us is greater than the pressure around us. God’s Spirit equalizes the oppression and empowers us to prevail against all external forces. John said, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 NKJ).

Jesus gives us more grace as we humbly seek Him. (See James 4:17.) We need not fear any outside pressure when we are fully surrounded by His arms of protection. Paul observed that, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Romans 5:20 NKJ). He will not allow us to be crushed, He surrounds us with His protection. Holiness is protection, separation is a shield. His name is a strong tower we can run to and be saved.

The Word of God is forever. It is established in heaven and there is no end to its reach. The text in The Passion translation said, “Standing firm in the heavens and fastened to eternity is the Word of God. Your faithfulness flows from one generation to the next …” (Psalms 119:89 TPT).

The Word of God is unsearchable. We might say it is “un-google-able,” or unknowable. It is deep, inexhaustible, and unexplainable. Then why read or study it? We find that the more we explore, the more we find in His Word. There is just no limit to its depths. The prophet said, “The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable” (Isaiah 40:28 NKJ). The New Living Translation said, “No one can measure the depths of his understanding.” The Passion Translation wrote, “His intelligence is unlimited; he is never puzzled over what to do!” Keep exploring; just know that we will never know it all! God is so deep we will never reach His limits. There will always be more to experience, more to know, and explore. Paul exclaimed, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33-34 NKJ).

The Word IS God. John wrote, “In the Beginning was the Word … and the Word was God,” then he continued, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1; 14 NKJ). It is impossible to separate God from the Word. He is the living Word. He is One. This Word is Forever settled in Heaven. He is not subject to revisionist history, political correction or liberal cancellation. If anything needs adjustment, it is our interpretation or understanding. The Word is revealed to us progressively. We move from, “faith to faith.” Paul reminded us, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17 NKJ). 

When He speaks, everything becomes clearer. The deep does not elevate us, it exalts Him. Understanding brings humility and resists pride. The Word, living in our hearts, insulates us from external pressure and enables us to dive deeper in Him. Let us experience the Word of the deep. 

Theme passage:
“Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life” (Ephesians 3:17 TPT).