Alive

"I can hear the rhythm
of the Lion of the tribe of Judah
He's doing a new thing
So we're singing a new song

He's not a baby in a manger anymore
He's not a broken man on a cross
He didn't stay in the grave
And He's not staying in heaven forever!
He's alive
He's alive
He's alive

He's alive!"

So, in fear of being called crazy charasmatic or "radical" or whatever words people might come up with, I feel something new and different in my heart recently. These words above are from a song by Misty Edwards called People Get Ready, and this week, God has been making these words come alive in my heart. I feel that too often we place Jesus on the Cross so much that we oft forget that He is NO LONGER there, and that He did NOT remain in the grave. Jesus Christ, the Son of God is living among us! It's almost like we are so lost in our own lives and even our church lives that we tragically forget why we are there and who we are there to glorify! God has challenged me in searching my heart to see my motive for worship and my motive for church attendance. Am I there to glorify the name of Jesus Christ and bring an offering to the Lord in my adoration of His beautiful name or am I there because it is Sunday and that is when people get together to worship Him. 

In the last couple of months, the Lord has really challenged me and some close brothers and sisters to abandon our own lives of comfort and schedule to spend as much time as permitted in ministry to our Lord. It has not been an easy experience, and as God has chipped away the rough edges of our hearts, we have seen the Father manifesting Himself in our prayer lives as we pour out our hearts to Him. We all have been sensing an urgency surfacing inside of us that is so overwhelming at times, like God is trying to tell us something in particular. As we spend more and more time with the Lord, He continues to increase this urgency in us, glowing and igniting into a flame nourished by the Fire of the Holy Spirit speaking to us about the Kingdom of Heaven at hand. As the time increases that Jesus has been away from His bride, He has begun to pour out an anxious spirit longing for His arrival. The Sprit of God is raising up children of God that will no longer settle for a virtual Jesus, but that will bring the Truth to the surface of a fallen culture. That Jesus IS coming back, and that He is coming back for a pure bride, not tarnished complacent lazy people who call on His name in a blasphemous manner likened to a magic eight ball asking Him for answers we are looking for, and if the answer is not what we wanted, we toss it away in disgust. 

We cannot be the generation that sits by and watches as the world waters down the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the living Truth that is being tossed aside. Paul addresses this in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 as he prophetically speaks, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away from the Truth and will turn aside to myths." Wow! As i read this, I felt so disgusted at the amount of people that I personally knew (including myself at times) that ran from the Truth selfishly looking for what they wanted to hear proclaimed. Right before this in verse 2, Paul says, "Be ready in and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction." It is our job as true children of God, saved by the grace of Jesus Christ to rise up out of foolish toiling in the Body of Christ, and to embrace the infallible truth that God speaks throughout scripture. We must know the Word of God, we must know our Lord and Savior, we must be in fellowship with our Father by abiding in Him in and out of season. 

The last scripture that was laid upon me to share today in accordance with what God has been placing so heavily on my heart is 2 Timothy 1:14. Paul states, "Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you." I think that this could quite possibly be one of the most important passages in the whole Bible, as Paul insists that we must protect the treasured gift that God placed in us upon our faith in Jesus Christ! We must guard our hearts from false teachings and false testimony that seeks to abolish what Jesus did, and prove us to be foolish in our belief. In John 14:26 Jesus says, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your rememberance all that I said to you." We must begin to treasure Jesus' words and allow the Spirit to continue to teach us and bring us into rememberance the words that Jesus spoke. 

Father, I pray that through Your grace, You would begin to pour out Your Spirit over a generation of lost souls wandering around aimlessly in the dark. That Father, You would rise up a generation of hungry people, who seek to bring glory to Your wonderful and powerful name! And as we endure the traps and snares of the enemy, that we would be clothed in Your righteousness and power, to be able to withstand and attack lies with Truth. Father, give us a spirit of Truth and appoint us and send us out to labor for the Kingdom of Heaven, that we could bring about glory to Your Name and Kingdom! Father, we love You, we worship your name, O Lord, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Lion of the Tribe of Judah, precious Lamb, we adore you and ask humbly that You would rend the Heavens! Shower us in Your Spirit, wash over us like a rushing wave crashing upon our hearts and covering us in Your grace and Your glory, Lord Jesus!