Saturday, July 23, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Men after God's own heart.
Forgetting all the mistakes I made in the past, that past that held me as a prisoner and subjected me to it's will. I press on, press to know Him, that know that which has laid hold of me which is the power of Jesus' Resurrection. My heart was tearing apart because of the pain and burden of past affliction and grief. Everyday it comes to haunt me, but like a solid beam of brilliant light ripping through a sea of darkness, this past is held back and I am saved from it because of Jesus brilliance and power to save AND to withhold me. How do I press on? How do I move on? I lay myself down in my brokenness, in His arms.
The one thing that has ahold of me and will not let go, is the same passion which brought Jesus to death on the cross, the same passion brings us to death of this life, and into life in Him. Passion is suffering. Paul said "I suffer all things for the glory of the Lord". To live a life of passion is to live a life of suffering, there is no grey area, there is no in between. Suffering, loneliness, brokenness and poverty, scorn from believers and non-believers. The man who lives passionately will suffer all of these things so that others do not have to. Men like Paul, suffer passion, live passionate lives and bow their knees to Jesus at His beckoning and don't need to be convinced to do so. There is no resistance to the love, the tears, there is no shame in the tears and passionate desire for Jesus. Those who really love with passion will find themselves consumed in every moment with thoughts of their Lord with hearts that beat at every moment to be near a Lord that only demands that you surrender your pain unto Him. They don't need to be convinced to read their Bible more, or to pray 30 minutes once a day, and hope they make it.
"Those who follow me, will suffer passion derision, objection, and subjection to the cross." Life comes through death on the cross suffering for what you know in your heart to be truthful, honest and good. We might have lost sight of all of this as a society, but we will still have one spark of hope if we are calling on Him. All it takes is one spark to ignite all of this dry tinder.
"Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered", there are still those who are enemies of the cross. They did not just exist in Paul's day, and they are in the church. They did not go extinct when Paul, and some are even seem to be God fearing people! It is not the ones who know God's way that are the problem, it is those who seem to know! The real enemy are those within the church who hinder people from entering lives to passionately serve the Lord because these men dont feel "comfortable" with that. They still exist! They hate the tears of lovers of Christ, they hate to see a man or woman shaken by the Lord, and say that they have a demon. They oppress the lovers of God and sell them into slavery to what they think is right for them, for what they are "comfortable" with. They do not recognize the work of the cross in someone and they lash out at others because of this love that has gotten ahold of the lovers of Jesus.
John the baptist was not a voice whispering or talking from the wilderness, he was a voice CRYING from the wilderness passionately preparing people's hearts for the coming of Jesus, and speaking about what was among them, and not for tomorrow. Jesus was there among John's disciples, and John was not looking for escape, he was looking at Jesus. These are the times that we are in now. As everyone spends their time religiously pouring over end time prophecy, which speaks in a whisper, there is a voice desperately crying out to show us Who is among us! We have been missing the work of heart preparedness that the Lord wants to do among us. Men that live passionately for Jesus do not live in the whisper of the end, but in the voice crying about NOW. The end times are not darkness and doom. They are light piercing what is already darkness and doom, a brilliant light that flesh can not stand.
And then when a man sees that all of those things he has lost, given up, surrendered are but rubbish before the Lord, then the Lord can do something in our lives. I can not be molded or shaped into a man of God's own heart without first giving up all that I am, and all that I hold onto "just in case" or " in case of emergency" the things that Paul said "but what things were gain to me" (Phil 3:7) these things are seen for what they are, pure garbage before Jesus. How many can say that as they read these passages in Philippians 3 that they too have come to this place? And how far into this land are we willing to go? Are we just hanging out near the border, in case things get tough and we aren't comfortable? and we don't like it here so we are going to leave this place and go back to what we know already? OR are we willing to take this land without doubting and fear and wandering around for years before we step into our ministry our calling? Have we gotten so spiritually mature in our religious understanding that we no longer need Exodus?
This is what Paul is talking about here. Leaving behind all that he was in "Saul" and all the things that his fellows told him were right and good and true. People talk about how they want to live free, and how they hate slavery, yet when the true freedom shows up they want to murder it. Paul left his "Egypt" which looked good and felt good and gave him a life of prestige and honor among his peers, and riches from those in authority, and went to something better. As it was in the Old Testament, those who hold onto the former ways of fear and doubt will not live to see the promised land, few of the old generation will step into it. The men like Joshua and Caleb that are faithful and are willing to give up all that they believe at any moment, abandoning the old way of doing things and that which they believe makes them who they are in faith, and trust only in Him Who leads, will step into the promises that God has given them for this life.
The one thing that has ahold of me and will not let go, is the same passion which brought Jesus to death on the cross, the same passion brings us to death of this life, and into life in Him. Passion is suffering. Paul said "I suffer all things for the glory of the Lord". To live a life of passion is to live a life of suffering, there is no grey area, there is no in between. Suffering, loneliness, brokenness and poverty, scorn from believers and non-believers. The man who lives passionately will suffer all of these things so that others do not have to. Men like Paul, suffer passion, live passionate lives and bow their knees to Jesus at His beckoning and don't need to be convinced to do so. There is no resistance to the love, the tears, there is no shame in the tears and passionate desire for Jesus. Those who really love with passion will find themselves consumed in every moment with thoughts of their Lord with hearts that beat at every moment to be near a Lord that only demands that you surrender your pain unto Him. They don't need to be convinced to read their Bible more, or to pray 30 minutes once a day, and hope they make it.
"Those who follow me, will suffer passion derision, objection, and subjection to the cross." Life comes through death on the cross suffering for what you know in your heart to be truthful, honest and good. We might have lost sight of all of this as a society, but we will still have one spark of hope if we are calling on Him. All it takes is one spark to ignite all of this dry tinder.
"Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered", there are still those who are enemies of the cross. They did not just exist in Paul's day, and they are in the church. They did not go extinct when Paul, and some are even seem to be God fearing people! It is not the ones who know God's way that are the problem, it is those who seem to know! The real enemy are those within the church who hinder people from entering lives to passionately serve the Lord because these men dont feel "comfortable" with that. They still exist! They hate the tears of lovers of Christ, they hate to see a man or woman shaken by the Lord, and say that they have a demon. They oppress the lovers of God and sell them into slavery to what they think is right for them, for what they are "comfortable" with. They do not recognize the work of the cross in someone and they lash out at others because of this love that has gotten ahold of the lovers of Jesus.
John the baptist was not a voice whispering or talking from the wilderness, he was a voice CRYING from the wilderness passionately preparing people's hearts for the coming of Jesus, and speaking about what was among them, and not for tomorrow. Jesus was there among John's disciples, and John was not looking for escape, he was looking at Jesus. These are the times that we are in now. As everyone spends their time religiously pouring over end time prophecy, which speaks in a whisper, there is a voice desperately crying out to show us Who is among us! We have been missing the work of heart preparedness that the Lord wants to do among us. Men that live passionately for Jesus do not live in the whisper of the end, but in the voice crying about NOW. The end times are not darkness and doom. They are light piercing what is already darkness and doom, a brilliant light that flesh can not stand.
And then when a man sees that all of those things he has lost, given up, surrendered are but rubbish before the Lord, then the Lord can do something in our lives. I can not be molded or shaped into a man of God's own heart without first giving up all that I am, and all that I hold onto "just in case" or " in case of emergency" the things that Paul said "but what things were gain to me" (Phil 3:7) these things are seen for what they are, pure garbage before Jesus. How many can say that as they read these passages in Philippians 3 that they too have come to this place? And how far into this land are we willing to go? Are we just hanging out near the border, in case things get tough and we aren't comfortable? and we don't like it here so we are going to leave this place and go back to what we know already? OR are we willing to take this land without doubting and fear and wandering around for years before we step into our ministry our calling? Have we gotten so spiritually mature in our religious understanding that we no longer need Exodus?
This is what Paul is talking about here. Leaving behind all that he was in "Saul" and all the things that his fellows told him were right and good and true. People talk about how they want to live free, and how they hate slavery, yet when the true freedom shows up they want to murder it. Paul left his "Egypt" which looked good and felt good and gave him a life of prestige and honor among his peers, and riches from those in authority, and went to something better. As it was in the Old Testament, those who hold onto the former ways of fear and doubt will not live to see the promised land, few of the old generation will step into it. The men like Joshua and Caleb that are faithful and are willing to give up all that they believe at any moment, abandoning the old way of doing things and that which they believe makes them who they are in faith, and trust only in Him Who leads, will step into the promises that God has given them for this life.
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