PULL ME A LITTLE CLOSER... DRAW ME A LITTLE DEEPER... I WANT TO KNOW YOUR HEART...

We express our hunger for God in many ways, especially during tender moments of corporate worship... Goosebumps all aglow. Real hunger for God is described in the Beatitudes:”Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” In the Greek, this passage expresses a dichotomy between the two states of “unquenchable desire” and “complete satisfaction”, which can only exist simultaneously in the Kingdom, portraying a deep consuming growing hunger, abundantly satisfied yet never relieved... the hunger growing with each filling. “Spiritually prosperous are the ones who continually crave right standing with God, because they themselves shall be filled so as to be completely satisfied, while ever wanting more.” (Matt. 5:6, John’s translation). This should be the “normal” for serious saints... people with panting souls...

So... just how hungry are we? Are these expressions of our hunger for God indicative of passionate hunger or spiritual blindness? How we spend our time is a good prognosticator of where our heart is, telling the real story of our passion for God. Am I passionately pursuing God in worship, prayer, and study of His word, mind set on things above... preoccupied with God and His Kingdom 24/7? Do I have righteous fruit bearing witness to my hunger for God? Or, am I a Sunday Wonder, preoccupied with watching TV, playing with my toys, enjoying the pleasures of Earth-Life while pursuing “My Best Life Now.” Talk is Cheap, as they say, but God isn’t buying: “Seek My face ... Draw near to Me, and I will draw near to you.” Sounds like a command...

A heart set on the cares, pleasures, desires and riches of Earth-Life is not hungry for God, and will soon suffocate the Kingdom-Life in these pursuits: To be forewarned is to be forearmed. When we pursue the one pursuing us... we run into His open arms. Without pursuit... without hunger, we are running away from God’s pursuit... running from the great lover of our soul... running toward lover’s less wild. We deceive ourselves if we think lip service will fool God... that Goosebumps are some kind of affirmation of our passion for Him... that professed hunger without the accompanying works and fruit demonstrating real hunger is somehow OK. Faith without works is dead... ditto hunger. Saints, it is time for some Self examination... for God is saying: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Passion for God, hungering and thirsting for Him... white-hot pursuit of Him, opens this door into sweet communion with our Lord... koinonia, fellowship with God...

AS THE DEER PANTS FOR STREAMS OF WATER

SO MY SOUL PANTS FOR YOU

MY GOD

BAKING A LOVE-CAKE

The stench of modernism has left its indelible mark on the Christian culture of today.  Knowledge is valued above all and everything has a recipe - just follow the formula.  But relationship is a heart thing, an experiential process involving trust, friendship and ultimately love birthed over time, love that makes us transparent to the object of our love, where we risk all for a deeper more intimate love. 

The scriptures are a love story, wrought with the very emotions of God.  The history of mankind is an emotional experience beginning with a tragic relational break with God followed by a disturbing relational history away from God and collimating in a relationship dynamic man must embrace in order to have relational intimacy with God once again. Relational Intimacy with God heals man of all the wounds he experienced while trying to satisfy his need for divine relationship... for wholeness, in a not so divine world. 

The gospel of Jesus is all about our relationship with Jesus rather than about formulas, systems of truth tenants, ideas or theology.  These things are nice in that they compute easily into memory and make us feel spiritual, and possibly prideful, as we share our knowledge, but they may also blind us to the absolute necessity of intimate relationship that must be developed between our heart and God’s heart, for us truly to become His followers... love-slaves... adopted sons and daughters... friends...

 Formula Christianity gives people a false sense of security – that all one must do is complete a set of requirements... a check list, while stealing the sincerity and humility with which we should engage God in search of personal relationship.  A person must understand that Jesus is alive, that He exists, that He is God, that He is in authority, that we need to submit to Him, that He has the power to save, that He loves us very much, and that He died to reestablish relationship with us, and so on.  All of these are ideas embedded in a relational dynamic, a mysterious interaction between the heart of a person and the heart of God.  Becoming a Christian is more like falling in love than baking a cake.

LET’S FALL IN LOVE

NEGATIVE CONFESSION

Many Christians believe God’s children are to “speak what is not as if it were, and to speak what is as if it were not”, as a positive confession demonstrating their faith, citing Romans 4:17 as their proof text: “(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” Paul is giving a discourse proving God’s promise to Abraham was “of faith that it might be according to grace” (vs. 16), as part of a broader discourse on justification by faith. Notice in the relevant phrase “God, who gives ... “, that it is God performing the action. The phrase “gives life to the dead” is a direct reference to Abraham’s impotence and Sarah’s bareness, a kind of deadness which God supernaturally overturned... restoring their vitality, giving life through Isaac, the spiritual progenitor of God’s promise. Notice, this verse does not say God calls things that are, as though they do not exist; but rather, that God calls those things which do not exist as though they do exist. God called Abraham the “father of many nations” when he was old and without children, calling those things which did not exist as though they did. There is no denial of reality here, but simply a declaration that God’s sovereignty trumps man’s reality. Authentic faith does not pretend no problem exists... does not ignore adversity, but believes God’s word in the face of adversity and affliction. “Positive Confession” is really a gimmick to try to boaster faith, a well meant lie but a lie all the same... a Negative Confession. Authentic faith does not deny life’s adversities... the obstacles at hand... sickness... financial need, etc., but recognizes God’s ability to change one’s circumstances declaring God is greater than any obstacle of life. Only God gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that He has foretold and promised as if they already existed... Only God...

GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY TRUMPS MAN’S REALITY