This past week we learned about prayer and evangelism, then today, Monday 10/12, in class we talked about revival and intimacy with God. Here are the highlights.
Prayer is one of the greatest tools the Lord has given believers. If we love Jesus and we are not praying then we are not growing. Nick Brent, the speaker, gave an excellent visual of how prayer works that made me really understand. God is sovereign, everything He wants to accomplish he could with so much ease. But He loves us and wants to partner with us, because of that there are things he reserves for us to do. He holds back and wants us to seek and partner with him to do the thing. Guys that is CRAZY! There are things the Lord set apart for us do WITH HIM. That is where prayer comes in, we need to seek him. We don't seek him in prayer just to get the assignment, no He is much better than that. We seek him to get to know him. Through knowing Him we begin to understand Him, to understand Truth, to understand how he created and wants thing to be. Through that he lays out a calling that not only changes the world but gives us insight to who he is. So don't just pray over food and when you are stressed. Go daily before His throne, petition him with request, and seek to understand even a glimpse of the immense love He has for you.
Evangelism is something every Christian should also be doing as a believer. There is no spiritual "Elite" that is called to it. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) is for anyone with faith in Jesus. "Go and make disciples of all nations" & "teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." The Christian life should consist of more than just getting a little fill Sundays or Wednesday then living in stress and worldliness the other day casually looking up a verse of the day. We should be studious students of the word, we should have the most peace, the most joy. That is our inheritance. That is what Jesus died for. That does not mean your life is perfect, it means that we have a peace and savior that is greater than any circumstance. Evangelism should come from an overflow of this. Whether it is on the streets or in your workplace or in the grocery store. If Jesus is willing to die so that every person could enter Heaven, our discomfort/embarrassment is not an excuse to let people know it.
Revival and Intimacy. We have been hearing for the past 20-30 years or more that revival is coming. Guys, it is here. I am going to go off into more of this in the next post so I won't go more into it right now. But a good nugget is, "Worship needs to go before to break up spiritual ground before physical ground can be taken." Now, Intimacy. In order for transformation to take place we need make sure we are loving God first more than any others, even more than the ministry we are in. Becoming a mature Christian requires intimacy with God. That means believing what God says about you and really living that out. A way to get a good picture of that is reading Song of Solomon. It is Hebrew poetry so really take time to understand it and ask God for revelation but it is sooo good! There are three characters in it "He" = God "She" = the church/Christian and " Others/ Daughter of Jerusalem" = people yet to put their faith in God. Understanding the road to maturity and intimacy that every Christian can get to. A last nugget that was said that wrecked my life was this: " God made us each individually, so your communication and love to the Father is fresh. So yes He loves every human . But we are each distinct in His eyes." In Song of Solomon God says to the church (or "He" says to "She") Let me see your face let me hear your voice for your face is lovely and your voice is sweet. He is not just giving us some little compliment there. He is saying come into my presence I just wanna see your face, I just wanna hear your voice. You don't have to do anything, we don't have to even talk about anything specific I just wanna be with you. The creator of the universe desires relationship with you. For a long time in my faith when it talks about how we will be known by our fruits, I thought that our fruits were the number of signs, wonders, and disciples we bring in. But that's not it. Our fruit is the obedience of our lives, its our yes. Our reward is the pleasure of the Lord that comes from our obedience. It is that simple.
Guys I am falling in love with Jesus in a whole new way. I love him because He first love me. Not just a bit, but so sacrificially and with all that can be given. If He is willing to give his life for us, the least we can do is give our life to Him. Get as close and intimate to God on Earth as you can. When we get to Heaven we are going to be able to look at Him face to face in full glory. We don't want to be there wishing we had given more. Even with your best efforts He is SO good it says we will experience loss. I promise you we will not get to eternity wishing we had finished that Netflix show or became an Instagram influencer. Ask God to reveal more of himself to you today. Give your yes and obedience to him. You won't regret it.
Comments