A Call to Intimacy with Jesus

Saints,

Please allow me to share what I pray would be life-giving and encouraging words with you. If you would rather not receive these devotionals, please respond to this email and let me know.

Our Father is so faithful. I know this more now than I did a year ago. I have experienced a deep depression this year—apathy, anger, hopelessness, desiring to wallow alone in my misery, and convinced that God betrayed me. This pit was a place of listening solely to my wavering feelings and not trusting God. Maybe you have been there as well? Even so, God has shown Himself to be healer, anchor, pursuer, enabler and passionately in love with me—with us. Rest assured--our Savior desires us more than we desire Him. Please allow John 17:3 to soak into your hearts.

John 17:3 (ESV)
³ And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

As we have seen before, Jesus modeled oneness with His Father. Please be careful here dear saint—not oneness as merely a “to-do” or obedience accomplished by our own power, but oneness as intimacy and connection to our Heavenly Father who makes this intimacy possible by His Son’s blood and by the power of His grace. It is impossible for us to “try-harder” in ourselves to connect with God. I am convinced more than ever that this oneness with the Father which Jesus modeled is the heart of a life as a Christ-follower/worshiper.

Please embrace the grace and the power of the Spirit to BE in Christ—to do, to live. We cannot overcome depression or trials in our own strength, but Jesus carries us through our trials or sufferings. The end result is kingdom impact and our God's name being glorified. 

Let’s look at prayer as intimacy with Jesus. Prayer is not duty. Prayer is not an item on our to-do list. Prayer is deep connection with the true source of life—the Most High God. Let’s look at one example.

Luke 22:39-46 (ESV)
³⁹ And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.
⁴⁰ And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
⁴¹ And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,
⁴² saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
⁴³ And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.
⁴⁴ And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
⁴⁵ And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,
⁴⁶ and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

 Please read these words by Gary Wilkerson from his book, The Divine Intercessor, p 50.

“The event recorded in Luke 22 occurred just before the last days of Jesus’ life. He could have been addressing a thousand issues, teaching in vital places, or meeting with future leaders of the church, but He wasn’t. Instead, Jesus was giving His time, passion and energy to prayer. We tend to think prayer is an attachment to our many demands and agendas—but to Jesus prayer was His agenda. Nothing drew His heart like communion with the Father and He wanted his disciples to follow His lead.”

Father, help us to pray in true communion with You. Holy spirit, please help us pray as Jesus did. May we commune with You and so be filled with love and grace which will spill out all over this hurting world.

Desperate for more of God, Steve 

A Lesson from Kauai--We Need the Holy Spirit: Part 2

Saints,

In the previous devotional we looked at our need for the Holy Spirit. We reviewed how Peter failed to remain faithful to Christ in his own power, but after receiving the power of God through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he preached powerfully and many lives were changed. He was changed. He was empowered. He was set free from himself. Today, I hope that we will fully embrace our need for the Holy Spirit not only individually, but also corporately. Let’s begin with a lesson from my family vacation.

My family recently received a gift from our relatives—a timeshare unit in Kauai for two weeks. Yes, the trip was amazing. We stayed on the North shore which is well known for its lush, tropical characteristics. This rain forest-like quality is the reason Kauai is known as the Garden Isle. We enjoyed God’s creation. As we basked in the tropical sun, one image impressed me. I saw a waterfall flowing down a mountainside. Please know that the mountains in Kauai are very different than the mountains in Colorado where I live. First of all, many of the Colorado mountain peaks top out at 13,000 and 14,000 feet altitudes. In Kauai the highest point is about 5,500. Also, the streams and rivers in Colorado flow down from melting snow. The waterfall in Kauai was not fed by melting snow, it was fed by rain—almost all the streams and rivers in Kauai have are fed by rain.

Let me share one more fact about the island we visited. The highest point in Kauai receives 420+ inches of rainfall per year. This makes it one of the rainiest spots on earth. So what? This struck me because the entire tropical area of Kauai is fed by consistent, daily rainfall. So the plants below are lush and very green, which in turns feeds the animals and insects—life everywhere.

As I looked at my favorite waterfall every day during our visit, I began to realize that just as this lush tropical well-watered island is fed by the daily rain, so I need daily “rain” from God--His grace. We need God’s grace. We need His Spirit. We cannot live for Him with our energy. It does not work that way.

You may be thinking, well that is really obvious. Yes, most of us would agree that we know about these truths…we need God, He is our redeemer, He is our sustainer, He is our savior. But, if you are like me you may know about these truths without really living them. You may know them, but not receive them deep in your soul.

Let me give you an example from the Bible. Abraham was given a promise from God that he would have a son. Even so, at some point Abraham decided to not live by the fact that God is faithful and that God would keep His promises. He chose to help God out with his own energy. He caused an "Ishmael" in his life—a lesser blessing than what God intended. Just like Abraham, we can approach living for God by thanking God for taking our sin penalty away and then in essence say to God, “Thanks God for the help, we can take it from here.” What would this look like? How would this reliance on self play out in our lives? This might look like keeping a personal mental account of our good works in contrast to our sins. We decide to engage in a kind of “sin management.” As long as we perceive that our sin column is lower than our good works column, then we our okay—life is good. But, when the sin column gets too high, we our alarmed and decide to double our efforts to get balanced again. Do you see how much of “self” is in this approach? In reality, only Jesus is qualified to "manage our sin."

Of course all of this is poor thinking—not Biblical. But, I submit to you that we sometimes live like this. This approach to living the Christian life is basically a self-righteousness based approach. We decide the level of sin which is alright for us. We determine how much effort is required to fix our own sin problem.  

Over the past few months, I have been through a struggle—one which allowed me to see more clearly this process play out in my own life. So, I began to approach this problem by increasing my effort to solve it and fix it. I only made it worse. Fortunately, God has patiently shown me that I cannot fix my problem. In fact I can do nothing before Him. He is God. I am not. I am to submit and trust. He leads, redeems, loves, heals, and fixes problems.

So, I need God. I absolutely need God. Without His grace, I sin. I ruin relationships. Without complete dependence on God with confidence, I cannot live in or through or for God. Without His grace, His name is not honored in life. Without His grace and the power of His Spirit, His kingdom is not benefited through my life--others do not experience His love in me.

This complete reliance on God and our deep need is mentioned by the author of Hebrews in 4:16,

Hebrews 4:16 (NASB)
¹⁶ Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

I submit to you that our time of need is all the time.

As we saw in Peter, we need God. We need His grace. We need His Spirit. Not merely to help us live our lives, but to live at all, we need God. This is the truth God has helped me see more clearly that just as Kauai needs that consistent rain, so we need consistent grace to rain done on us. Yes, we all need this. Let’s admit it.

Again, as we saw in the last devotional, Peter failed without God’s power. Like peter, we need the Spirit of God. Just as we individually need the Spirit of God, the church also needs the Spirit—to corporately unite in her need for the Spirit. No, I am not making this up—remember the early church and the day of Pentecost. Just as we individually need the power of God, we corporately need the power of God. Our part in this is to agree with God. Believe Him. He is right and true. His plan is the only one. We need God’s power in our lives and in His church.

In closing, please answer this question, “Do I live my life with a complete dependence on God with confidence in God?” Let the Holy Spirit guide your answer, lest you be too hasty to say “yes!”

I write this because His love compels me to. His grace is sufficient. I pray that these words encourage you toward deeper dependence on God and intimacy with Him.

Completely dependent on His grace, Steve 

We Need the Holy Spirit: Part One

We Need the Holy Spirit: Part 1

Saints,

Let’s look at the life of Peter in order to gain insight into how to live our lives with greater eternal impact. Peter had good teaching. Remember he spent about three years walking with and hearing Jesus teach. He saw Jesus forgive sins. He saw Jesus heal the sick and shut the mouths of demons—even cast out demons. He saw Jesus control nature.  Peter saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. Yet, during the night of Jesus’ betrayal, Peter denied that he knew Jesus three times. Peter had the desire to be faithful, but lacked the power to be faithful. In this failure, he wept. He wept bitterly. I’m sure we would have wept bitterly too if we were there in Peter’s sandals.

Think through this with me. Peter had great teaching. He was taught deep kingdom truths by our Savior. Peter was there. Haven’t we all dreamed of being there to hear Jesus teach in person? I would think teaching coming from Christ Himself would ensure spiritual success, wouldn’t it?  Not necessarily, remember that Jesus said it is for our good that he would go away, for then he will send a helper.

John 16:7 (NIV)
“But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

So, friend, what do you rely on as you serve God? Are you like Peter, trying to rely on your good learning, your own experience or your own power? Or, are you relying on the Holy Spirit in you, following the Spirit and listening to his promptings? Are you saying in essence, “God, thanks for your saving power in my life, but I’ll take it from here.” Or, do you align with Jesus in John 15:5 by declaring in your heart, “God, I can do nothing apart from you, lead on.”

As we continue to look at Peter, we see a big difference between Luke 22:60-62 where he denied knowing Jesus and Acts 2 where Peter preached boldly—his first sermon. What made this difference? Again, Peter “knew” good information–good teaching in both scenes. The difference was the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2 we find the disciples waiting in prayer. As they waited, God sent the Holy Spirit and the church was born. At this point, Peter was a different man. He had a spirit of power love and a sound mind, not a spirit of fear anymore. It is as if through the Holy Spirit, Peter’s faith was stronger. We need this same Holy Spirit today. Ah, you say, “But we have the Spirit, we are the temple of the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 6:19) Yes, we are. Even so, we don’t always yield to the Spirit.

Remember Peter wept bitterly—he failed. He denied the most important person in his life. This had to leave a deep wound inside Peter. I imagine Peter at the day of Pentecost was painfully aware of his past mistake. Maybe Peter was hoping Jesus would somehow strengthen him to be more faithful next time. Maybe Peter knew that unless God changed him, he would fail again. I imagine Peter was ready to surrender to whatever God would do. What about you and me? Do we surrender? Do we follow his quiet voice or his compelling leading? Do we have the desire to be faithful to Christ which Peter had even though he did not have the Holy Spirit to help him yet?

Let’s be plain here. We are talking about a God-given desire for kingdom things—a desire to be full of faith and to see revival, unity in churches, empowered pastors, faithful Christ-followers, faithful husbands and wives, and the gospel being spread throughout our nation and the world, not only that--but mature disciples being made. Maybe our desire for these things is far too weak. If so, this is what I challenge us to do, ask God for a desire for him and his kingdom which will consume your life. Peter had this desire, but his desire needed Holy Spirit power to back it up. In contrast to Peter, we have the Holy Spirit power for we are the temple of the Spirit, but at times we lack this strong desire for God and his kingdom on earth which Peter had. Our need is to ask the Father to grant us this desire for him—a desire which consumes our lives. When deep desire for God is joined with Holy Spirit power, God’s kingdom is impacted. This is exactly what happened when the Spirit came at Pentecost—Peter preached powerfully and many responded.  Please know that both the Spirit and the desire come from God.

E. M. Bounds wrote of this desire as recorded by Dorsett in E.M. Bounds, Man of Prayer, p 134.

“Prayer ought to enter into the spiritual habits, but it ceases to be prayer when it is carried on by habit only…Desire gives fervor to prayer. The soul cannot be listless when some great desire fixes and inflames it…Strong desire makes strong prayers…The neglect of prayer is the fearful token of dead spiritual desires. The soul has turned away from God when the desire after him no longer presses it into the closet. There can be no true praying without desire.”

So, we come to these questions:

1) “Do we run our lives on the strength of our training and knowledge?” or, “Do we yield to Jesus Christ and his Spirit as leader and director of our lives?” Peter had great training, but without God’s Spirit, he failed. This is the point. We will fail, too, if we do not intentionally yield to and follow God and rely on the Holy Spirit. The difference for Peter was the Holy Spirit. The difference for us is the Holy Spirit.

2) Will we boldly ask God for a life-consuming desire for Him and His kingdom? When Peter’s desire to be faithful was empowered by the Holy Spirit, he became a part of the birth of the church.

Oh God, give us a compelling desire for you. May every Christ-follower’s motive be to have their lives spent for you.

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve 

Abide More Deeply in Christ

Saints,

May you be encouraged by this devotional.

Let’s start with Jesus' teaching on living a fruitful life.

John 15:5 (ESV) 
⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

“Whoever abides in me…”

Recently, my wife, Lisa reminded me of the story about Hezekiah and how he prayed. Please notice how God responds to Hezekiah’s prayer.

2 Kings 19:14-20 (NASB) 
¹⁴ Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.
¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, "O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
¹⁶ "Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
¹⁷ "Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands
¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.
¹⁹ "Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God."
²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.'

When the enemy threatened Hezekiah, he took the issue to God—he opened the enemy’s letter before the Lord on the altar. He prayed. (Oh, how I long for the necessity of prayer to be solidified in our minds and hearts.) Hezekiah demonstrated true faith. He believed. He trusted God. He surrendered. Let’s be clear here. Hezekiah had other choices. He could have reached out to another nation like Egypt—pursued a treaty. No, his instinct was to turn to God—to pray. I believe our Father is holding out his arms to us saying, “Child, why do you choose to live with so little of my power, joy, provision, and love. I have so much more for you. Just ask. Come to me.” Why do we live with so little of God and His supernatural doings? I believe we live with so little of God because deep down we are okay with that. We trust our own abilities.  We say, “After all, God gave me my mind, so I will trust in the mind God gave me and hope for the best.” But, Jesus says, “…he who abides in me…” Brothers and sisters, it is time for Christ-followers to get the truth of our utter dependence on God settled into our lives.

The church today needs to seek after God. This reminds me of Hosea. Hosea called the people to return to God (Hosea 6:3).

“So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as the dawn; and he will come to us like rain, like the spring watering the earth.”

Yes, for you, Christ-follower, it is time to press on to abide in Jesus. This is the only way. Why is it that we think we can do so much on our own? If this need to depend on God sounds strange to you, think of Paul. What was Paul when he was known as Saul up to before God intervened in his life?  The answer is that Paul was destroying the church. What was Peter’s best effort before the Holy Spirit changed him? The answer is that Peter in his own power, denied Christ. So, saints, what will we accomplish that has eternal significance on our own? The answer is, apart from Christ, we accomplish absolutely nothing.

Maybe your thinking, “Well, this is not very encouraging.” If so, then consider this:  We must remember that it is only Jesus that has the power to change a person’s heart—to make us righteous before a holy God. Let us determine right now that we will depend and rely completely on God. When the church stands on complete dependence on God, we will see the power of God work. I know that you (like me) must be tired of seeing “human-sized” results or fruit. The results of human effort may suffice in business enterprises, but it is worthless in God’s kingdom.

You may wonder what Hezekiah’s prayer has to do with Jesus’ teaching on abiding and fruit bearing. I submit to you that prayer is one of the most significant ways we abide in Christ. Think of it. You connect with the heart of the Father as you pray for His kingdom, His purposes, and His glory. We lose ourselves in Him. Is that not abiding?

So, brothers and sisters, we must decide. Will we depend on God like Hezekiah or will we depend on ourselves? How do we depend on God? One very effective way to depend on God is to pray. Remember, the early church prayed and Peter was released from prison. In fact, I witnessed God doing this same miracle of releasing Christian prisoners from jail in the past two weeks. Prayer is God’s plan for us to engage Him to impact His kingdom—embrace this truth!  

Please read about abiding as Watchman Nee describes it in his book, “The Normal Christian Life,”

“I have illustrated this from the electric light. You are in a room and it is growing dark. You would like to have the light on in order to read. There is a reading-lamp on the table beside you. What do you do? Do you watch it intently to see if the light will come on? Do you take a cloth and polish the bulb? No, you get up and cross over to the other side of the room where the switch is on the wall, and you turn the current on. You turn your attention to the source of power and when you have taken the necessary action there the light comes on here.

So in our walk with the Lord our attention must be fixed on Christ. “Abide in me, and I in you” is the divine order. Faith in the objective facts makes those facts true subjectively. As the apostle Paul puts it, “We all…beholding…the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 mg.). The same principle holds good in the matter of fruitfulness of life: “He that abideth in me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit.” (John 15:5). We do not try to produce fruit or concentrate upon fruit produced. Our business is to look away to him. As we do so he undertakes to fulfill his word in us.

How do we abide? “Of God are ye in Christ Jesus.” It was the work of God to put you there and he has done it. Now stay there! Do not be moved back onto your own ground. Never look at yourself as if you were not in Christ. Look at Christ, and see yourself in him. Abide in him. Rest in the fact that God has put you in his Son, and live in the expectation that he will complete his work in you. It is for him to make good the glorious promise that “sin shall not have dominion over you” (Romans 6:14).”

Saints, it is time. Deeply abide in Christ. Rely on God—pray. Pray like Hezekiah. Pray like the early church. Pray like Jesus—In Jesus name, to impact the Father’s kingdom, to glorify the Father’s name, based on God’s Word, as led by the Holy Spirit, to bring eternal impact.

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve 

A Vision of Christ-Followers Calling Out to God

Saints,

Before we get started in our devotion on prayer, I must share a prayer request. Please pray earnestly for our brother “Jose” (name changed for security purposes) from outside the US. He was recently beaten and then jailed for his faith. There is a real possibility that he will be killed.  Please pray with passion that God will intervene and rescue our brother so that he will be able to continue to make disciples. This reminds me of the early church as they prayed for the imprisoned Peter in Acts 12.

It is time to come together to pray, yes, for our brother ”Jose,” but also for God’s name to be glorified, for God’s will to be done here on earth, and for God’s kingdom to move forward. Our God is worthy to be worshipped by every human being on the planet—even that would not be enough to adequately praise our God. 

Can you imagine many Christ-followers coming together for earnest prayer for the church and revival?

Back to the early church, as they gathered and prayed earnestly for the imprisoned Peter in Acts 12:5. 

Acts 12:5 (ESV) ⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. 

Those prayer-warriors loved Peter. They loved God. They wanted others to hear Peter teach about the power of the gospel and Jesus Christ. They desired more for God’s kingdom. It is easy to see what “drove” the early church to cry out to God for Peter. But, what caused Daniel to pray for 21 days as described in Daniel chapter nine. Whatever caused Daniel to cry out to God like that is exactly what we need today in the church. We must be driven to pray.

Imagine with me a room filled with hundreds of Christ-followers engaged in prayer. Each one calls out to God at the same time. You hear wailing, moaning, crying, talking, whispering, and even singing. The room is filled with the Holy Spirit. Tears are shed. Some are praying so hard their heads hurt. Some are aching with a desire to see their prayers answered. Some are so consumed with zeal that they cannot even speak. They pray with intensity and fervor as only those who know that prayer is God’s method for engaging and changing lives.  What are they praying for? I envision they hurt, pray, and cry-out to God for His church. They ask God that His name will be glorified in His church—that God will use Her to transform this dark, deceived world one heart at a time. In short, they pray for Holy Spirit-driven revival. I am convinced we need the Holy Spirit more than we realize.

To our minds, this kind of prayer may seem far-fetched. Even so, please agree with me in asking God to see Christ-followers, surrendered, and resolute, engaging in Bible-based, faith-filled, Holy Spirit-driven, kingdom centered, selfless prayer in Jesus name.

If this kind of prayer seems strange to you, ask the Father to grant you a fresh fire and zeal for His kingdom—this God-given fire will drive you to pray. If history proves true, we will see revival as Christ-followers become dissatisfied with the status quo and cry out to God for His power to change His church, to change our communities, and cities. Remember this is in no way for our reputations—this is only for God and His glory. All eternity is about God and His glory. 

Please God! Deepen our walks with you. Awaken your people. Revive your church!  

Desperate for more of God, Steve

Depending On and Desperate for the Holy Spirit

When you look at the church, do you see the glory of Christ?

(Depending on and desperate for the Holy Spirit)

Saints,

I recently was reminded that the church is the bride of Christ—Christ’s glory (Eph 5:27). I found myself wondering how the church seemed to reflect so little of Christ’s glory. Recently, a few inches of snow fell on our city. The white snow reflected the sunlight making the daylight seem even brighter. This reminded me of how the church should reflect the love and power of Jesus. Folks who don’t know God should be squinting because of the glorious bright-white church radiating her savior’s glory. In reality, it seems the church is dusty and doesn’t reflect Christ as well as she should. Why is this so? 

I believe one reason the church seems to lack the glory of her Savior is that those that make up the church aren’t dependent on God to accomplish the church’s God-given mission. Remember Jesus says apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). This is God’s church, God’s kingdom; we cannot do God’s work with man’s strength, plans, or tenacity. If we try to, we end up with man’s results—a dead, or at best, a sleepy church. This short devotional is a plea to pray—a plea to call on the name of the Lord. God is worthy of all our lives—every minute, dollar, and bit of energy. He is worthy to be sought after in prayer. This is not a plea to pray for our nation, although that is a good thing. This is a plea for the bride of Christ to arise and pray for God’s kingdom, for revival, for salvation, for pastors, for a holy church, and for God’s name to be glorified as His church radiates with His power and love.

We have looked at Andrew Murray’s (a Dutch Reform missionary to Africa) writings before. Please read this excerpt from his book, The State of the Church, written over 100 years ago. 

“In the church the question is always coming up: what is the reason that Christianity has so little power and so little fulfills all the wonderful promises that it makes? You will find everywhere that the thoughts and plans of how the church can carry on its work center in what man’s wisdom can devise and his zeal and energy can accomplish. Common thinking is that if men will only keep up their courage and do their work faithfully, everything must come out all right. How seldom this great truth is insisted on: that the Holy Spirit is our only power! An entire and absolute surrender to Him is our only hope. How seldom one hears from the leaders, to whom the church looks for its guidance, the clear and unceasing summons: Brethren, pray.

We must pray more; we must pray without ceasing. Prayer will bring blessing. The measure of our prayer is the measure of our power. Every deeper insight into what Christianity is, and into what our daily life ought to be—and into what ministry is and needs—will all lead us to the one deep conviction: Christianity is nothing unless it is supernatural. Our Christian life and work must fail unless we live deeply rooted in the power of God’s inspired Word, in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and in the importunate prayer to which the promise of the Father will most surely be given.

All this brings us to the last lesson this statement is going to teach us: there is no hope for the restoration of the church, no hope of its being lifted into the abundant life of Christ, unless we return to God. In no other way can we be fitted in holiness and strength for the work that is so urgently calling—the work of making Christ known to every living person.”

Let me interject. If we think the church exists merely to allow our kids to have a nice, positive place to spend Wednesday nights, or, if we think the church exists merely to be our support group—we probably don’t need much of the Holy Spirit. But, brothers and sisters, if the church is called and created to reach the world for Christ, then we are dead in the water without the Holy Spirit.

How much is the church reflecting the glory of Christ? Not nearly enough! We desperately need revival. We need the power and love and conviction of God to pour out into His churches. We must embrace the Christ-given purpose of the church—to be His witness and make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8). This mission will be done through God’s power.

Let me share one more perspective on the need for prayer and the need for God to accomplish His mission through us as Jim Cymbala describes it in his book, Fresh Wind Fresh Fire (p 49).

“Prayer cannot be truly taught by principles and seminars and symposiums. It has to be born out of a whole environment of felt need. If I say, “I ought to pray,” I will soon run out of motivation and quit; the flesh is too strong. I have to be driven to pray.”

Brothers and sisters, let us remember that God’s mission for His church will only be accomplished as we call out and depend on God’s Spirit.

God, please bring revival that your name will be glorified, your will be done, your kingdom come!

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve 

Do You Know How Much You are Loved?

Saints,

We are loved with an unconditional, life-transforming—world changing love. We cannot earn this love. God pours out His love on us.

As I spoke with my Christ-following friend from Iran recently, he commented on how his country needs God’s love. He said his fellow countrymen want to know real love—God’s love. I thought about Iran and her people hearing the gospel and coming to God as God’s life-changing love draws them. This reminded me that God’s life-changing love draws Christ-followers in America and all over the world as well. God’s love even continues to draw “seasoned saints” and continues to draw Christ-followers who have forgotten how much Jesus loves them.

What we are talking about here is relationship with God. The kind of relationship with God that Adam had in the garden. Picture this, God comes to Adam in the morning and says, “Adam come with me. Let’s walk.” Can you imagine God coming to you and saying, “Steve, let’s walk. I want to spend time with you?” How does that statement affect you? Are you surprised to think that the most high creator, sustainer God would want to spend time with you? This should not be a surprise to us because as Jesus spoke of eternal life, He described it as “knowing” God and knowing Jesus whom He sent.

John 17:3

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Do you know God? Do you know Jesus? Do you know how much you are loved? Or, do you merely know something about God? Whether we are pre-Christians in Iran or 47 year old American believers who have known Christ for 36 years, we all need to deeply know God’s love for us. When we deeply know God’s love for us, our lives change. Knowing God’s love is a significant part of the abundant life Jesus speaks of in John.

John 10:10
¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Know Jesus—know God. Consider this quote by Thomas a Kempis from The Imitation of Christ,

“Prop yourself up with and for Christ if you wish to live with Christ. If just once you could perfectly enter the inner life of Jesus and experience a little of His passionate love, then you would not care at all about what you might gain or lose in life. You would even bear insults gladly, for the love of Jesus makes a person think of himself in a very humble way.”

How would you feel if Jesus asked you to go on a walk right now? Would you be too busy? Too tired? Would you be worried about what He might ask you or want to talk about with you? Would you feel shame to be in His presence?

Your answers can reveal how complete your understanding of God’s love for you really is. Do your answers point to a deep, transforming understanding and acceptance of the love of Jesus?

Let’s look at the disciple John as an example of someone who deeply knew God’s love. Remember chapter thirteen of John’s gospel where we find Jesus gathering his disciples for one last time of fellowship before his death and resurrection. To help us see this scene more clearly, read the following excerpt from Howard Baker’s book, Soul Keeping, pg 79.

“…Following His incredible act of love and humility in washing the feet of the disciples, Jesus predicted that one of them would betray Him. This prompted suspicious looks and quiet questions among all of the disciples except one—John. While the others were relying on their understanding to try to ascertain the identity of the betrayer, John was leaning on the breast of Jesus in devoted affection. “

I have often wondered, “How could it be that Jesus loved John more than the others?” Looking back on my question, I realize this assumption is not true. Jesus loved them all the same. The difference is that somehow John seemed to understand the depth of Jesus’ love for him more than the others, at least at this point in the story. His understanding of Jesus’ love for him affected John’s behavior. Note that following this scene in his gospel, John referred to himself as the “disciple whom Jesus loved" (see John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20.)

Baker continues,

“The affects of experiencing the love of Jesus are immediately evident in John’s life. He was the only disciple at the cross (John 19:26-30). He was the first to the tomb and the first to believe in the resurrection (John 20:1-9). He was the first to recognize the risen Jesus (John 21:1-14). And he was the first to follow the resurrected Lord (John 21:15-25).

If we are willing to be people “whom Jesus loves” we will see the same effects in our lives. Just as John did, we will gladly share in the sufferings of Christ. The experience of being loved will strengthen our faith, just as it did for John. It will give us spiritual insight to recognize Jesus in surprising places. And finally, when we are loved and know it, we will follow Jesus, just as John did.  In fact, when we know we are loved, we follow not as a disciple or as a servant, but as a beloved in passionate pursuit of the lover of our souls.”

To sum up, John loved. Everything he did was deeply connected to God’s love--not the love he conjured up on his own, but the transforming love Jesus had for him. This is the point. Are we like John? Do we love, serve, minister and pray because of Jesus’ deep life-changing love? Remember what John was like before He came to know Jesus love—a “son of thunder,” angry, trying to accomplish his will in his strength.

Let us ask the Father in the name of Jesus that we will know Jesus’ love for us—like John knew His love so that we are transformed completely. We will live differently. We will love unconditionally as we are filled with this kind of love. This love--truly known, will deeply impact those around us whether they are within our faith families or without.

1 John 4:18-19 (NASB)
¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
¹⁹ We love, because He first loved us.

I am convinced that when the church will stand up and radiate the glory and holiness given her by Christ, when she stands up in the power she has in the Holy Spirit, when she stands up completely surrendered to her Savior, when she engages in Bible-based, Spirit-led, kingdom-focused prayer in Jesus name, then she will impact lives. The Spirit-driven church will impact cities. The surrendered church will impact states. The self-less, Holy Spirit empowered church will impact nations. The church is Christ’s glory. We must awaken from our culturally induced stupor. Church, arise! Know your Savior’s love like the Apostle John knew His love. Be transformed by it.

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve