James 1:27 says:
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
The Lord is uncovering a new hidden meaning in this scripture. Widows and orphans do not have lovers or fathers. These two realities of a lover and a father are two of Gods biggest identities. As Christians we are the sons of God, yet we are also the bride of Christ who Jesus as a bridegroom will be returning for at the second coming.
Those who do not believe in Jesus are both widows and orphans. They do not know God as their loving father. That He is Abba Father. They are orphans. God longs for the hearts, He longs for them to be His sons and daughters. They also do not know Jesus as their Bridegroom. They do not know Him as their lover. He wants to marry His bride. This is not some weird thing. I have mentioned the Bride of Christ and the Bridegroom God in previous posts and I would encourage you to check it out for more insight. This is also a very biblical idea (Isa 61:10; Isa 62:5; Joe 2:16; Matt 9:15; Matt 25; Jhn 3:29; Rev 22:17).
But it goes deeper than this. I think that many believers in the Church today have missed this idea. Many of us are widows. We have not seen the greatest measures of love which are seen in the bridal paradigm. I encourage many of you to search this out. It is the foundation of Christianity. We must know Jesus as this bridegroom who is longing for us.
Us who do know our indentity in this man must begin to care for those who do not. That is what this verse tells us to do:
"... to look after orphans and widows in their distress"
Why are we not doing this? We must build each other up in this idea. He is our Father and our Bridegroom who is returning for us.
The verse goes on and says:
"... and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
None of us do this. We are so decieved by the spirit of this age. We are so caught up in the cares of everyday life. If you really were to calculate all your time, where would it be spent the most. Probably not where it needs to be. I have been thinking about the idea of devotions alot lately and I have come to the conclusion that I do not like them very much. I think that the little 2 minutes books are a great start, but we must move on from that. God must begin to consume us. Spending hours a day with the Lord should not be a task or a hard thing to do. This is not just for the very intense people, or the pastors and teachers, this is for everyone. Our only calling in this life that matters is to know God, to search out who this man is. Why are we not doing this.
I encourage you to really take this serious. Look at your schedule and see what needs to be moved, see what idols need to be taken out of the way to really spend time with your lover. We must keep ourself from being polluted by the world.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
"Behold our God is great..."
"Behold our God is great and we do not know Him." Job 36:26
Jesus is so good. His mercy triumphs over judgment and we must praise Him. He is so good to me especially as I grow into a deep intimate relationship with Him. He has called me personally on a radical lifestyle after Him. What I am talking about really is not radical, but it is living out the Sermon on the Mount. I just want to mention some stories about His faithfulness.
Today I went to school feeling very rough in my flesh. I get to school and my body is physically weak. So as things carry on throughout the day I begin to feel a tiny bit better. The reason here is because I finally followed through with the conviction He had been telling me to do for a good 2 years now which was asking for forgiveness from someone. Immediately I felt free. I felt like a heavy bolder had been lifted off my chest, but my body was still weak. So the day continues on and I can tell I am sick. Earlier when I check my temp it was at 98.3 or something close, but it was not bad. So after school I go to drama practice and I practice for about 1 hour. Then I go and take my temperature and find out that it is now at 104.5. No joke that is what the thermometer said. So I leave. On my way home I call up my friend whose really close to me and told what was going on. She prayed for me over the phone and I got home and the temperature was only 100.0. Yes it really did go down 4.5 degrees. I kind of brush it off for a second but then I think about it and I realized the only reason it went down was because she prayed. I saw the Lords faithfulness. So I went to sleep and woke up and my temperature is now 99.3 and my body no longer aches. This is obviously the hand of God. Get this though this is not the only time that this has happened. The exact same thing happened 3 weeks ago. We must begin to believe God for this and look for it when it cannot be found.
This past weekend I went to a conference at the International House of Prayer in Atlanta (IHOP-Atl). The Lord sent His power with a spirit of wisdom and revelation. The main thing I want to mention about that is the scoffing spirit that makes think we know about God when we truly have no idea who this Man is. Many of us are possessed by this spirit which tells us that we do not need to read the word, we do not need to pray because we know everything. I tell you read Job 38-42 then see what you think you know. We have no clue of the knowledge of God. He is so far above us. Right now I believe the Lord is asking the church today, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand." (Job 38:2) If Job did not understand why do we think we do. We must through everything out the window that we think we know and sit before asking for a true revelation of who He is.
Amen, even so Amen.
Jesus is so good. His mercy triumphs over judgment and we must praise Him. He is so good to me especially as I grow into a deep intimate relationship with Him. He has called me personally on a radical lifestyle after Him. What I am talking about really is not radical, but it is living out the Sermon on the Mount. I just want to mention some stories about His faithfulness.
Today I went to school feeling very rough in my flesh. I get to school and my body is physically weak. So as things carry on throughout the day I begin to feel a tiny bit better. The reason here is because I finally followed through with the conviction He had been telling me to do for a good 2 years now which was asking for forgiveness from someone. Immediately I felt free. I felt like a heavy bolder had been lifted off my chest, but my body was still weak. So the day continues on and I can tell I am sick. Earlier when I check my temp it was at 98.3 or something close, but it was not bad. So after school I go to drama practice and I practice for about 1 hour. Then I go and take my temperature and find out that it is now at 104.5. No joke that is what the thermometer said. So I leave. On my way home I call up my friend whose really close to me and told what was going on. She prayed for me over the phone and I got home and the temperature was only 100.0. Yes it really did go down 4.5 degrees. I kind of brush it off for a second but then I think about it and I realized the only reason it went down was because she prayed. I saw the Lords faithfulness. So I went to sleep and woke up and my temperature is now 99.3 and my body no longer aches. This is obviously the hand of God. Get this though this is not the only time that this has happened. The exact same thing happened 3 weeks ago. We must begin to believe God for this and look for it when it cannot be found.
This past weekend I went to a conference at the International House of Prayer in Atlanta (IHOP-Atl). The Lord sent His power with a spirit of wisdom and revelation. The main thing I want to mention about that is the scoffing spirit that makes think we know about God when we truly have no idea who this Man is. Many of us are possessed by this spirit which tells us that we do not need to read the word, we do not need to pray because we know everything. I tell you read Job 38-42 then see what you think you know. We have no clue of the knowledge of God. He is so far above us. Right now I believe the Lord is asking the church today, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand." (Job 38:2) If Job did not understand why do we think we do. We must through everything out the window that we think we know and sit before asking for a true revelation of who He is.
Amen, even so Amen.
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