To know Him, the power of His resurrection, sharing in His sufferings.
1 Thessalonians 5:10-18:
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Joy comes from living a life of unceasing prayer... never ending conversation with the Lord, as if He is always by your side...because, well... He is. It is relationship. I've been seeking more joy and love in my life lately, and have found myself sorely lacking in trusting God enough to seek intimacy with Him. I don't want to wait until tragedy strikes to find myself with no choice but to trust Him completely, so i started praying...hey, here i am God, take me, take all of me.
I'm finding the deeper im willing to go in love and intimacy with the Lord, the more love flows in and out of me and effects every part of my life and my being. Being a worship artist, that means stop worrying about what others think, worrying about offending someone and love on God and let Him love on me. I guess i was guarding my heart from possible rejection as if what others think or say matters.
Guarding your heart can feel safe but sometimes we miss the Lord in the process. Its like cholesterol meds... they kick out the bad stuff but also the good...That can become extreme...I've said here lately since i arrived and visited churches in southern Oregon that the church leaderships seem so intense about keeping an eye out for wolves to guard their flock that they turn into wolves at the same time and spook the sheep that come in looking for pasture.
Another thing that has come from this transforming work of the Holy Spirit in my life has been that i've learned its ok to feel, deeper than i have allowed before. It's ok to express myself and not worry about how others respond. I think i did this to accomplish some kind of self control. Well, i'm certain if God were psychologically diagnosed, He would be branded as crazy. He is with us in our deepest sorrows - the desert. He is with us in our highest highs - the mountaintops. He has been through them all with us and been afflicted by His church just as we have been by others and ourselves...and He created us with these highs and lows...in His image...it comes down to how we respond to adversity, and that is affected by just how deeply we love and trust God.
I've been going through the experiences of a broken romantic relationship process recently. As i was talking to God about it, venting is more the word, i cried out to the Lord why wont she ever be intimate with me, have i not loved her with my whole heart? God responded "I know how you feel, why wont My bride be intimate with Me? Did i not give My Son as a sign of My love for her? Why won't YOU be intimate with me?"
Ouch
So i've stopped whining His ear about that broken love relationship and started whispering in His ear of my love for Him. Wow. It absolutely opened the floodgates of heaven in my spirit man. Im not saying, do step 1, then 2 and 3 and you'll have... and then He'll give you...no... there's no formula. No 10-step program to intimacy with God. Sorry. Just get alone with Him and listen for His still small voice. And when we, a cell of the church, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, get it right, you will be amazed at the snowball effect on those around you... family, friends, your own outlook, your church, and its ever expanding.
If you break your foot, does it affect the rest of your body? Of course. Your arms have to use crutches, you can't carry things with your hands because they are occupied with the crutches, your legs can't put pressure on the wounded foot. The other foot has to take the majority of the weight. The hips get sore from shifting the weight to one side. That doesn't mean those other parts are broken too though. We are the body of Christ. Where one church hurts the rest of us are affected. And we have one standing in the gap for us... Christ Jesus... When the church practices Christian capitalism - judges, competes, even condemns another church, another brother, a fallen saint, we have just shown the world we are no different or better than they are so why would they want to seek the God we say we serve? They are watching.
I understand one might consider the conservative approach. Our comfort zones are... well... comfortable. Safe. I can tell you though that i hear God calling His bride out of our boats, out onto the water... into the deep and into His arms like never before. That gift of intimacy and passion is crying out for the love and intimacy our bridegroom longs to have with us. God sees us through the precious blood of Jesus, and in that we are made beautiful inside and out, just how God created us to be...
A bird with wings was meant to fly, not sit in a nest and marvel at the other birds flying by. God wants to wreck our lives for Him. He wants us to fully understand the new covenant His Son signed with His blood. he wants us to stop building our kingdoms within the Kingdom, stop building monuments to ourselves and our accomplishments...
buildings that come with huge mortgage payments that put pastors into slavery to those who are wealthy and give much...buildings that sit empty 6 1/2 days a week while the homeless sleep under bridges and in campsites in the cold night air. Where are the adult bible colleges? Where are the ministries to the homeless? Why are they funded by the government? When did it become the taxpayer's responsibility to do the work of the church? Does the Word not say to bear up one another's burdens?
God longs to take you/the church out into the deep waters, where deep cries out to deep...where you will be blessed beyond measure, beyond your wildest dreams...
where your planting (ministry) will bear an orchard of fruit trees for the Kingdom. He wants to transplant you by a river of living water where you'll produce a harvest for the Kingdom and drink of the waters of His river and never thirst again. And the tree in the middle of the river, with the leaves for healing the nations will bring you, the bride, and this once great country back to life again.
"Well, i'm certain if God were psychologically diagnosed, He would be branded as crazy."
Corinthians chapters 1,2and.3 support this 100%... but that is the easy part and can even be declared with a sense of pride reveling in the fact we have secret knowledge the world doesn't understand. However what we sometimes forget is there is a distasteful side unsuited to our palate. As we are identified with Him, are we to willing to be thought the Fool?
