Devotion or Superstition

"For I passed by, and beheld your devotions; I found an alter with this inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you." Acts 17:23 For a moment forget this was Paul speaking to the crowd in Athens, and hear God speaking into that part of our life which is most precious to Him ... "For I passed by and tried to join in on your devotions. ...Why do you so flippantly and superstitiously worship ... me? I want you to know ... that I desire you to really know, that I love you."

Up until now, after years of walking with the King, no matter how early I would awaken and race to the sanctuary ... I would find Him waiting. It frustrated me a little because of the naive concepts that I had fastened to my heart (like instant cliché fixes for the moment) in order to hype the moment in an attempt to bring the miraculous into the doldrums of daily living. Those superstitious type of concepts would frustrate me to no end ... so I would turn them against me ... "Lord, how am I ever to rise up with wings as eagles, if in rushing to wait on you ... You are always ahead of me, waiting for me?" "What good is praying if you already know what I need before I ask?" Woe...our wicked hearts are good at flipping the precious promises of God and molding them into disappointments because of our inability to wait ... and enjoy His presence.

....He loved us first.
....He called us first.
....He waited for us first.
"Many a believer will "amen" these concepts, while in the congregation of the redeemed. But when the door is opened to daily living, we will live a lifetime under the whispers of inconsequential learning, superstitious traditions, and negative self prophecies. We will spend our prime time wincing at the discomforts of disorganization, pointing out the flaws in the efforts of others, disposing of joy while despising the obvious blessings, and cursing our own lives with negative prophecies of future failure BECAUSE ... "God will do good things for others but not for me ... because I am specially set aside as a target of woe ...(eyes go shut)?"

When will we truly and daily welcome His continuous active care within the realm of our focus, with "eyes wide open" and "lives fully engaged", we could truly live within the unfolding wonders of His desire for us. Instead of treating activities of devotion as an interruption or a dutiful task, our souls waking desire could be to fellowship with our God!

....He is loving first. Receive that continuous flow of His goodness.
....He is calling first. Be quiet and listen to His voice that carries your name.
....He is waiting first. Be thankful for He never leaves you nor abandons you.
And He knows the critical importance of getting His Word to us (like an emergency transfusion, into our lives to literally quicken us and keep us alive).

Why will we be content to continue to sing songs with longings like "Open the eyes of my heart, open the eyes of my heart ... I want to see you" and then walk out of the congregational time with no further expectation? Because ...if we were to be honest ... the song is missing what we rarely would dare say in the congregation, but is being muttered under our breath ..."under my terms and within my schedule".

Do you think it was a moment of weakness, when in the Garden of Gethsemane, our Lord said "Not my will but thine be done."? No...that was an eternally courageous moment where Jesus submitted the will of the seen to the greater Will of the Unseen. Looking at the momentary and devastatingly painful Roman Cross, Jesus' hope was built on the same promise as ours ... " and the third day I will rise" ... And the tomb would be robbed by the Resurrected Life that would emerge.

O to live with a daily expectation of the revealing of His mercies, as new every morning!

("Many waters taken into and expelled from our lives cannot quench love, and overwhelming torrential floods cannot drown it; If a man would give all of the worldly treasures of his existence for love, his dwelling place would be utterly desolate of his time, attention, and possessions; and sooner or later there would be a "condemned" or "no trespassing" sign on the door because of LOVE" - Devotional Paraphrase of Song of Solomon 8:7)

Here is the take away -- He is more devoted to your devotion than you will ever be...you cannot earn deeper devotion by your physical strength or mental acumen; but during those private moments where you abandon all else, He will take you deeper and pull you closer ... HE ACTIVELY DESIRES YOU FIRST.

HLFA,

Jeff

A Letter From my Heart to my Heart

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; for as it is written, the just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for GOD hath showed it unto them." Romans 1:16-18

Buckle your seatbelt for this next moment of devotional surgery: Daily - Walking among mankind (there are souls that need to be radically attached by faith to the Good News of Jesus), I dare not put on the pious vesture of a disfiguring and dishonoring appearance of disgrace. By Adorning the Gospel with a mute and powerless faith that holds the truth captive, hidden and unexplained... many who desire a reason for the hope that is in a "Follower of Christ" will be left in the "Darkness" of unbelief. This mute ashamed life actually gives glory to ungodliness and unrighteousness that is holding mankind in the chains of unrighteousness... If God has spoken into us and showed the truth miraculously to us, then what gives us the right to ration out the Gospel in places, portions and seasons that we declare as our "way" to expose faith ... He hath said, for time and eternity, "Now is the accepted time, Now is the Day of Salvation!" Who are we to hold down the truth in silence?

8-18-2016

Dear Heart of Hearts,

I felt the pain, and I held the tears in momentary suspension after an abrupt end of a business phone conversation today. There wasn’t even the human courtesy of a “good-bye”, just the silence of a rude disconnect. A potential brother on the other end of the phone refuses to acknowledge a spiritual existence in the name of “it is just business”.

I tremble inside because he openly wears a uniform to announce that he is a unique member of his Kingdom class, while denying the NOW existence of eternity. His sect still holds a strange separation that is touted "as for the sake of holiness", but it appears to be in place to protect their corner of the kingdom from outsiders who may bring in impurities?

So - Hell has a sign on this side of the great Chasm between Earth and its horrendous burning, "no second chance", gnashing of teeth, weeping and wailing eternity that reads - "Closed during business hours!" Go figure???

The world of men that feel the lost-ness of their lives are dying to know that The Faith that brings abundant, eternal life is not held selfishly captive by a chosen few. O the ache that I carry when I find that the Glory of God is suppressed by vain philosophical living and life robbing traditions (that in light of the FREE GIFT OF GOD are edging on blasphemy); an ache so purifyingly disruptive that I can taste the metallic acidity of the corrosion of power. My God, my God ...why have they forsaken Thee?

As the tears dropped from my eyes and cascaded to my cheeks – I bowed my soul before the Lover of it: "Father, When will we learn that you SO LOVED THE WORLD, that You gave, willingly, your eternal pride and joy, Jesus, ---He, who is everything that is sacred, was sacrificed on His cruel crux of sin's death for “whosoever” believes. Who am I to decide ...who, when, and why the Gospel should be given?"

His Love For All... has pressed and pierced into my heart and yours,

Jeff

Provoked Yet

Are we provoked yet? Bankrupt? Heart failing? Heart growing cold? The typical and success driven answer is "NO!" (I don't think so?)

The measure of a successful life today is truly not being weighed against eternity. A solitary individual that truly gives his life for others is seen as an awkward splinter in the posterior of the "success-purpose driven machine". Amidst the pummel of C.Y.B. rules, laws, regulations, processes and peer pressures that are being sublimely coerced upon this last generation of believers, a solitary heart-wrenching-ache for the welfare of the eternal life of others has no place. Politically correct? Socially acceptable? Culturally relevant? Faith muted? Emotionally neutral? Expressionally blank? What monster has ripped the true God connection out of life? What is this Leviathan(Stop here and read Job 41 to get a feel for this monster)?

Their plan seemed noble enough, "The CL Team - Conquer Leviathan"(that was the name they coined for their Monster Demolition Enterprise - yep , you read right! They were going to take on the most dreaded monster that had plagued mankind since the first dawn in the Garden). There seemed to be a great rallying around this idea exploited by the media that surrounded the "CL Team, especially among their peers and contemporaries. Strangely enough it was mysteriously funded by an anonymous but solid, well connected lender. And the team was sent off with great fanfare on its journey to what they felt was an almost guaranteed success. But there was a fatal flaw in their endeavor: They underestimated the reach of the monster that they were up against, for the Lender and monster were one in the same. Oh if only they had hearkened unto the Voice from the vanishing point --- Job 41:8 - "Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more".

Leviathan has a subtle goal - lead men into idolatry. Many a modern man will think of idolatry as a form of primitive worship of personally fabricated statues or a fearful worship of natural elements such as storms and volcanoes. But this is where Leviathan steps in and encourages us to not be so ignorant; be true to yourself because you are the master of your own destiny ... listen to your heart and obey that voice inside you. Sounds pretty good, especially if Leviathan has already turned his screw-like tentacles deep into the fear side of our conscious existence.

Leviathan, secretly joins in on our fears, and attends to our trembling by creating an airtight defense for our self preserving reactions. "It is only natural!" He borrows from our pain's natural reflexes and gains a "buy in" by preying hard on potential catastrophic results, and offering "better" choices for comfort. Then he causes his constituents: to desire more self preserving motives, and to borrow more and more self entitled philosophies, until the monster becomes the Only Lender. Under the guise of "We deserve better", he lays the snare with a utopian idea of that we control the outcome of our destiny. This is where idolatry is most acceptable and the Voice of God becomes refutable.

Danger - Danger - Danger!!! (Unless God is in control, we are out of control.)

Acts 17:16 - The Apostle stood amidst those that were now bankrupt to idolatry, like many believers are doing today...Job 41(Enter Leviathan) ...We will never be provoked to desire the direction and presence of God if our minds are being loaned out to a culture of pride, if our living borrows against the future of others, and our heart is in debt to a culture that has a place for God... He is at our disposal??

Here is the kicker --- Emilio passed away and I didn't even know. Who even cares? Some may ask Emilio who? If I were to tell you, you will be relieved to know that he was no one truly important to you ... that way you will not have to challenge or charge your heart with any accountability. And the song plays on "Another one bites the dust!"

Revelation 20:15 - "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."   ---- We are far too Sophisticated to believe in a place of literal eternal torment - and Leviathan said, "GOT YOU!"

Does that remotely provoke you?

HLFA,

Jeff