Violent Love

I just thought of something....

You know when you are perfectly and incandescently happy and in-love with someone? It doesn't matter what ANYONE says, you love them and you are going to be with them no matter what it takes. Right? More than that, this person says "jump" and its your every pleasure to do so for them. They want to move away to another state, you're there! No matter what. Your friends and family could give you every reason not to, even to the point of disowning you but it matters not because you are fantastically in love with this person. Right? You would do anything at all for them and even more just to be with them and keep them in your life, loving you back. Even to death, in most cases. Isn't that right? Very real love is such a violent thing, isn't it?

But this poses just one question for me: Why aren't we like this with God?!

Ahh, well God is love, is He not? But more than that, we claim to be perfectly in love with Him, even to the point of death. However, our hearts and our actions have something very different to say. You see, because words mean absolutely nothing unless your heart follows. Where your treasure is, there your heart is also, right? Well, is our treasure really in God? We say it is. We'd like to think it is. But is it really? Why do we say we love God but do not act like it? Why do we say we love God and yet still insist on having our own way as if entitled to anything at all? Truth be told, if we really loved God, if we were truly Christians, then we lost our lives at the cross and are no longer desiring anything for ourselves but to give everything inside of us to loving God and glorifiying His Name.

But that's not how we live is it? So are we really Christians then? Do we even love God at all? I don't know. That's something you will need to figure out between you and God.

This life is nothing. God is everything. What kind of love is this that would say, "your sin is Mine, I'll take it to the grave." And yet we give Him nothing. We can offer Him no less than all of our lives, and that isnt even enough, but its all He wants. He is so for real. He has given everything. But we can't even give up an hour of TV for Him. Or whatever it may be. He asks for ALL of us, but we can't even give Him an hour of this meaningless life. So again, I ask you, are we really even Christians at all? Seeing how Christian implies you be like Christ, I'd be willing to say that most times we are not. Not in this culture. Not if we live just like this world. I mean, we have everything already, what do we need God for? Do we really love Him? Or do we love ourselves and think that a prayer to say "sorry" is going to "get us to Heaven"?? Well it doesn't work that way. Why? Because God has said, "The kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force (Mt 11:12)." The love of God is a very violent thing. The wisdom and the love of God was to put His very Son on the cross. What do you think He will do to you then? If He didn't even spare His own Son, what will He do to those who claim Christ with their mouths and yet live every moment to reject and rebel against Him by living for themselves, when they've claimed to die?! Wow.....It isn't about gifts, works, words, or any of those things. It isn't about how well we know scipture compared to the next, it isn't about preaching or teaching or how "spiritual" we percieve ourselves to be. It's about actually loving God and loving others to the fullest extent. It isn't even about us. Its about Him.

Love is a very violent thing. Do we really love God, or do we just say we do because we think that's what will save us? wow....

In the words of King David...

Psalm 27(AMP):

"THE LORD is my Light and my Salvation--whom shall I fear or dread? The Lord is the Refuge and Stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, [even then] in this will I be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; in the secret place of His tent will He hide me; He will set me high upon a rock. And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me; in His tent I will offer sacrifices and shouting of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; have mercy and be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, 'Seek My face [inquire for and require My presence as your vital need].' My heart says to You, 'Your face (Your presence), Lord, will I seek, inquire for, and require [of necessity and on the authority of Your Word].' Hide not Your face from me; turn not Your servant away in anger, You Who have been my help! Cast me not off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation! Although my father and my mother have forsaken me, yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child]. Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain and even path because of my enemies [those who lie in wait for me]. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me; they breathe out cruelty and violence. [What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living! Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord."

Amen.

Beauty For Ashes

The Lord is exceedingly faithful to His word!!! He truly does give beauty for ashes and restores [even 10-fold] what the loscusts have tried to eat away!

This last month has been the best month of my life! There has been so much freedom and so much breakthrough in areas of my life I never thought possible! Though He has bruised me, He has restored me ten million times more. What He has given far exceeds what He has taken away (both inward and outward)! The joy far outways the tribulation. I can even take joy IN the tribulation now! Seriously! I can! I have found myself hearing His voice so much clearer and fear digresses. My boldness has been restored and has even increased! I feel the lion being awakened within me. I praise God for taking those things out of my life! I was so blind not to see it for what it was -- weights that hindered me from running. Now I have begun to go to places I have never gone before. I had no idea the inheritance He has given me! The Lord has even been using me in capasities I never imagined, and yet He has so much more to give!

People perish for lack of vision. We need not to look at what is seen, but what is unseen. I want to be like Paul, a man who was lost in the unseen! God has freely given us ALL things but it takes the SPIRIT to know and see it. Our inheritance through Christ is everything God has to give and the door is WIDE OPEN. We just lack the vision to see the door! Therefore, my journey is this: "I want to know what I have been given that I may lay hold of it!"

The kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the VIOLENT take it by force... Meaning, you ain't gonna get this at a McDonald's drive-thru! You've got to fight, contend, and WAR for it! You were made to know the DEEP things of God! He didn't just die so that we could have fire insurance but so that Heaven can open up into us! That's our inheritance!

I am going to DARE to believe that Jesus died for ME and opened up Heaven for ME. The other day He told me, "No more living in scraps, but FEAST at the table, My daughter!" I believe that with all my heart. He no longer calls me "servant," but He calls me "friend." I've been trying to get into a room I'm already in, contending for breakthrough for the "annointing" when He has said, "You've been given everything already! Just go do it! Dare to believe the inheritance is yours too!"

God is so good to us.

I will no longer be like the elephant at the circus. When they first get an elephant, they tie a chain to their leg and put the other end of the chain to a big wooden peg. So the elephants just walk around the peg all day long. After the elephant gets settled, they actually take off the chain. But when the elephant is set free, it doesn't go anywhere. It will keep walking around the chain because they are comfortable there. It's what they know. They don't even realize they have been set free. How often we do the same. But no more, in Jesus' Name! For whom the Son sets free is free indeed! Amen! I am free. FOR REAL! :)

*~* The JOY of the Lord is my Strength! *~*

The Love of My Life

Oh yes, I have found Him!

How beautiful is HIS face!
...with eyes that burn like fire.

How sweet is HIS Name!
...It is like honey upon my lips.

How precious is HIS Word!
...may it be living and active in my heart.

HE is altogether lovely!
...He is alltogether perfect!

I am in love with a Love that is eternal....

...and HE loves me back...