Discernment

I write this knowing some people will take this as me judging... but I am not trying to judge, I am just trying to say what is on my heart. I think sometimes, in the Church, we only want to hear the "nice" things and whenever someone says something that offends us, we immediately mark is off as judgment. In my opinion, if you look throughout the Bible God constantly offended people by calling them out on their religous idiocy so to speak. I don't know about you, but I want God to offend me, I love when He offends me, because it shows me where I have gone wrong and where He can come and shed light. My pursuit in this life is to be just like Him, and if He must come and offend me to make me more and more like Him, then heck everything inside of me is all for Him offending.

So, now to my point....
Lately, I have been so riveted and sombered by the lack of discernment in the Body of Christ. It seems, so many people just go with the motions, without every really stopping and looking at what exactly is happening.
We get so caught up in what we think revival is going to look like, and then whenever what we think it's going to look like happens, we quickly jump on a band wagon, most of us with very good intentions. But, have you ever just stopped and said, "Jesus, I want you to define Revival!" I think so often we end up boxing God in without knowing it because in our minds we paint this picture of what it looks like. We say people out in the Holy Ghost is Revival, and yes, I am very much sure that is part of it. But, why can't revival also be apart of the quiet and peaceful moments when God literally just comes and shakes up our ideologies? Or, why can't it be when we are in the supermarket and we see a need and begin to pray for someone? Why can't that be Revival?

I think so often when we see someone who is prophetic, or healing, or doing signs and wonders, we run to them without any discretion, forgetting that the Bible says that those who know nothing about Jesus are going to be able to do the very same things. Now, we all know that these very things are the things we are to walk in, and rightly so. We are called to bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to earth, through the signs, the wonders and the miracles. But, we must be ever careful of the band wagons we jump on without asking God if it is even Him.

Guys, there are two worlds....a light one and the dark one, and they are both very supernatural. Especially, in the days we are living we must be able to discern the difference and press into the light. And through Jesus and Jesus alone see those signs, wonders, and miracles!

Anywayz, I hope I expressed myself well, and you understand. If not, I am sorry, I certainly tried.

Peace.Love.Joy.

Authenticity of His love.

This is an exerpt from One Tree Hill last episode, it's between one of the main characters and a young boy at a young kids home....
Clay-"Nice shot! You got another one of those?" (as the boy shoots the ball)
"You got an agent?"
Boy-"I don't need your charity today."
Clay-"You got a name?"
(as they begin to play some ball together)
Boy- "I know what you're doing, you're letting the poor kid win. That's what you all do, show up, volunteer for a few hours, make yourselves feel good about whatever."

This really portrayed to me the issue of love and kindness to others.
The truth is, anyone, and everyone can lend a helping hand.
Those who believe in Jesus and those who do not....not even a bit.

So what is the defining factor that separates us (the Christians) from the others?
It's love.
and Yes, the world can love. But, their love can only go so far, it's just human love. It's nothing supernatural.
We have this love. This supernatural love that extends past the world's mindsets and leaps right into their very hearts. It goes beyond their thinking. It's truly unexplainable.
The reason?
Because, it is supernatural. It's Jesus' love. A love no man could touch.

My point,
that the world knows what is real, what is authentic.
We must tap into the realness of who Jesus is, His love,
and use that to effect those around us, those hurting, those lost.
We literally have the key to transforms lives, and in turn transform a nation; a world....
just, simply with His
LOVE.

Peace.Love.Joy.

Fear.

Fear.
It plays some kind of role in most of our lives.
From the littlest things, to the biggest.

I, personally, have allowed fear to stop me from doing so much.
I have allowed it to tell me, I can't.
But, the truth is I can.
And, I will.

I have concluded, that everything that I am fearful of,
due to past hurts, I will no longer let it stop me.
When I am faced with a circumstance to be afraid of,
I am going to just Jump,
and do it.

Fear is ridiculous,
and has nothing on me.

I will dream.
I will fly.
Fear won't be able to do anything about it either.

Just inner ramblings.

Peace. Love. Joy.

Isaiah 1:17

"Seek justice,
encourage the opressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow."

I want this verse to mark my life.

I want Jesus to:
Help me to see injustice,
so I can seek justice.
Help me to see the oppressed,
so I can encourage them.
Help me to see the fatherless,
so I can defend their cause.
Help me to see the widow,
so I can plead her case.

It's all about our eyes being open. There are people all around us. Crying out. Crying for that one person to fight for justice in their unjust circumstance. They want just one person to tell them they are special and that their life does have value. They want someone to come alongside them, when they have no earthly father to fight for them.

The awesome thing is we can be that person.
All we have to do is open our eyes to the people,
the lives all around us,
everday.

Everyone has a story.
So, Jesus...
open my eyes to the countless stories that surround me on a daily basis.
I want to be apart of those stories.
To be the essence of Your kingdom,
of who You are,
on this earth.

Peace.Love.Joy.

Restless Discomfort.

In every generation there are those that rise,
they rise above the status quo,
above what people say is the norm.
They decide to not simply fit in with those around them,
but to literally infect those around them.
Infect with what you ask?
The beautiful pursuit of their heart,
to one thing, and one thing alone,
their beautiful Jesus!

It's the very essence of who they are,
they allow this man named Jesus,
to shape their very identity.
He becomes the focus of their lives,
their every thought, their every breath.

When we look back upon the people who have walked the earth before us,
these burning ones stick out like sore thumbs.
Amy Carmichael, A.W. Tozer, Keith Green, Corrie Ten Boom, Jonathan Edwards, Oswald Chambers.
To name a few.
When you look at each man or woman,
the underlying thing that consumed every fiber of their being was Jesus...
and Jesus alone.
These burning ones, they were so consumed by the call.
They had mass amounts of people falling on their faces,
just simply because of their burning passion.
They were, simply put,
consumed, with one thing...
His heart.
Their desire, their whole life was based around...
Loving the ones He loves,
Moving where He moves,
being who He is.

I want that.
I don't want complacency.
I want to rise above the status quo in my generation.
I want to love the one's no one loves.
I want the prostitutes, the druggies,
the untouchables.
And, I want to be blessed with a restless discomfort all the days of my life.
So that I never become complacent in this.
That I ever burn with a fiery passion shut up in my bones.

The one thing, I want constantly playing on my mind, is this radical quote from Leanord Ravenhill:
"Are the things you're living for, worth Christ dying for?"

Peace.Love.Joy.

Uncomfortable.

We as humans, we long to be comfortable.
Comfortable is ultimately natural for us.
We enjoy it, we seek it out.

The thing is when we create a comfortable relationship with our Jesus...
we get to this point with Him where we've experienced a lot, and we are satisfied with that.
Then we stop, and we stay in that little spot, and we ultimately create our own little Jesus,
because we don't allow Him to be Him. We don't allow Him to take us to new places.
We just decide to settle in, and get cozy with what is comfortable to us.

Ah, how I pray I ever stay humble before His beautiful face,
so that I may never become comfortable.
I want to forever be uncomfortable.
I want to wake up every day with a challenge...
a challenge to go deeper...
wider..
higher.
I want to fly.
And then I want to fly again and again to new places with Him;
never becoming satisfied.
That is my pray for my life, that whatever happens down this journey I am on,
that I never, ever get comfortable.

Peace.Love.Joy.

Following the call.

Sometimes, I think it would be so much easier NOT to follow the "call",
it would be so much easier to not be consumed with all of that.
But, then I think about how every waking moment I didn't follow the "call",
that exact thing would constantly be whispering in my ear, pounding on my chest.
I could never escape it...
it would always be apart of me,
I could never change that.
My very DNA breathes the "call",
and it really is the only purpose of my existence.
So, I have come to the conclusion that I am just going to embrace what is hard, because in the end the satisfaction I get from following the "call" on my life is so much greater than anything that I had to conquer to get there. In the end, when I look back, the battle it took to get where I am, it will seem like nothing at all.
I will only be able to bask in His goodness, His love,
the very essence of who He is.
So, I say come whatever it may,
just so I can experience that beautiful bliss of serving Him,
that nothing in this world could come close to fulfilling in me.
I can't fight who I was made to be; the very essence of who I am.

Peace. Love. Joy.