Not Just for Kids

Have you read the story of Jonah lately? Every time my grandson and I read the Bible together, we read about Jonah—how he didn’t obey God, fled and got swallowed up by a whale. Read Jonah to get the whole story—it’s not just for kids!

Today I read the book of Jonah on my own. What caught my attention was his faith in God.

In Jonah 4:2 he says this about God;

I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, One who relents from doing harm

Jonah knew the character of God and had faith that He wouldn’t be anything but faithful. Why then did Jonah disobey God and run the other way?

Basically, Jonah did not let his faith in God change him.

He lived a life where He knew all about God but didn’t actually know Him.

I’ve lived this lifestyle and understand how comforting it can be. But the truth is—in living this lifestyle we miss the whole point.

Our faith in God must rearrange our life—transform us—causing us to become who we know God is. It must also draw us near to Him—where we actually know Him and experience what we believe. Knowing God causes personal relationship—relationship leads to obedience—the more we are with Jesus the more we become like Him.

Our goal in life is to live and be like Jesus. Please be encouraged to let your faith in God transform you.

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Passion

If someone invited you to a party using these words; “The party will be dull, pretty much boring and very stale—you should come”—would you go? I think not.

How about relationship? What if a young man has interest in a young lady and when asking her to date him uses this line, “I really like you and want to date you, but first you must know—it will be a very dreary and lifeless relationship.” What girl, in her right mind, would date a guy with that personality and perspective?

What would be missing from such a relationship? Passion.

There are a couple of meanings to the word passion—the passion I’m referring to is the zest in life.

The opposite of passion is—mundane, routine, common, boring.

Passion causes people to go beyond normal—in life, relationships, work and play.

All my kids love and play extreme sports. Why play chess for a hobby when you have rock climbing or MMA? Hockey, dirt bike riding, white water rafting, kayaking, snowboarding, skateboarding and skydiving? They are passionate people and could never be satisfied with anything dull or commonplace.

Likewise we should press the limits on our Christianity. Always moving forward—insistent on loving and knowing God more—adamant in service—courageously sharing our faith—undaunted by culture and boldly exhibiting godly character.  We are to be people who go beyond normal in everyday life—faith filled people who represent God—people consumed with passion!

When God created us He set passion inside of us. Just look at the young—who live with child-like wonder, excitement, and enthusiasm about everything they encounter.

Our relationship with God should be one of passion, where we crave His Holy Spirit, and His presence. A relationship packed with zeal and fervor—not mundane—birthed out of obligation.

Matthew 22:37 boldly states what is most important in life,

To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. (NKJ)

Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence. (MSG)

It takes passion to love God in this manner.

Many things steal passion—heartache, sickness, offense, doubt, disobedience, selfishness and busyness. Mainly the devil—he loves to usurp our passion, along with it he steals our faith. He is master at causing situations to arise where we question and doubt God’s goodness. It’s what he lives for.

Along with passion for God we must have passion for His Word. God’s Word amongst many things, is where we read about the greatest love story ever! Not only that—but in His Word is the secret to living life skillfully.

John 1:1 says,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

If you love God and are in a relationship with Him—filled with His Spirit, then you also love His Word and are in relationship with it as well. We must diligently guard our passion for the Bible—the sneaky devil is expert at making the Word seem uninteresting and irrelevant.

Last but not least—another area where passion gets evaporated by the enemy is where church is concerned.

Psalm 69:9 says,

Passion for your house has consumed me

We should be passionate for our church—if we belong to God, then church is our house and we should passionately—with all our heart—not just out of duty—love to be there, serve there and be a part of what God is doing in our local church.

The reason the devil loves to steal passion for God’s house is the isolation factor—he isolates the weak and picks them off. He initiates grumbling, offense and disunity—which make church seem routine and pointless. Fact is—passionless church goers weaken the church.

We have to be intentional in protecting our passion. Making sure not to waste our affections on trivial things of this world.

What’s your passion level? Has the enemy seized your passion for God, His Word and His house?

An incredible attribute of God is his loving-kindness. He will never be content with allowing the devil to steal from His people! He has made a way for each of us, by His grace, to take back what the puny devil steals. It will take an act of our strong self-will, but after that it’s a cake-walk.

We must simply use our will, to turn to God—access grace, confess our passionlessness and lean into His great and awesome love. With an open embrace He welcomes us—here we exchange our dryness for a greater thirst.

Please be encouraged to ask God for more passion—and it will be yours!

Is God Narcissistic?

Have you ever wondered why God wants us to praise, glorify and worship Him? Love Him, seek and obey Him? Could it be that He is narcissistic and vain? One who barley knows Him might think so.

The truth is, God is secure in His position of creator and Lord of all. He does not need puny humans to worship Him so He can feel secure. He’s not on a power trip, rallying people to Himself so He looks all powerful and good. No, He actually is all powerful and good; in fact He’s the essence of good and the author of power.

All knowing God understands what will transpire in our heart and life when we exalt Him. He doesn’t want us to give Him all our adoration because it will benefit Him—just the opposite—it will benefit us!

God the Father, is a good parent, always looking out for and preferring His kids, making sure the best happens for them. This is why He wants us to live our life in complete surrender to Him and His ways, where His perfect will can be done in our lives. Essentially He knows what’s best and wants to bless us.

We were made to praise, worship and glorify—it’s woven into our being. We will worship something; be it sports, entertainers, food, self, or beauty. Why not worship someone who really deserves it. God is worthy to be praised, worshipped and glorified, after all He is pretty awesome and He did create the entire universe!

There are countless benefits to worshipping God, I’ll mention just one—it causes us to look up and take our eyes off ourselves, creating an atmosphere where we can draw near to God. In the nearness of God our lives are transformed and we are truly blessed. We are defined by what we worship, being defined by God sounds rather wonderful, doesn’t it?

There was a time (a very long time) in my life where I lived a shallow existence, thinking everything was all about me. During that extremely extended period of self-indulgence, I had the thought that God was selfish and egotistical. It made me mad that He wanted everything. And the one thing that He did give me control over—my will—He wanted me to give that to Him as well. I was upset that He’s a jealous God—jealously wanting all my love and affection.

After I finally admitted my issues to Him, which He already knew and loved me still, He began to help me shift my point of view so I could see the greatness of His love and just how preferring and patient is His character.

Listen to the description of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, keep in mind; God is love.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

According to this passage of scripture God is completely selfless, so there’s no way He could be narcissistic. His unselfish love sent His Son to the cross, making a path for you and I to live—really live—free from the devil’s schemes and plans for our life. Creating a way for us to have eternal life. This love frees us from fear and chaos, filling us with peace, truth and hope.

It turns out the reason God wanted my will was because He knew how self-destructive my will actually is, He wanted to save me from my own self-indulgence.

He’s jealous, not in the same manner that we humans get jealous—in His jealousy He’s selfless. It’s more about watching out for us. His love is expressed in His jealousy—He’s jealous for our heart that it not be given over to sin, pride, hatred, anger, un-forgiveness and fear, He loves us too much to let those cancers shape our life. He would rather we tuck our heart into His presence where it can be nurtured and grow in a flawless environment.

Please be encouraged to examine your heart towards God. I’m praying that you will tuck your heart into His presence, knowing Him deeper still.

Longsuffering

All of God’s attributes are basically jaw droppers and worthy of our praise, but the one I feel compelled to mention in this blog is longsuffering.

Longsuffering is not really a word that we use very much these days and might better be known in today’s culture as patience.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 gives us a very graphic narrative of love. When reading this portion of scripture, keep in mind that God is love; therefore each expression used in depicting love—is an attribute of God.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

(It’s tempting to get distracted and write about love, but I’ll save that for another day!)

God is described as being longsuffering. He is very willing and patient to wait on us to love Him wholeheartedly. He provides volumes of opportunity for our heart to completely fall in love with Him.

Why? Why would God who created the whole universe, not just demand that we love Him?

The truth is, He gave us free will. We are free to love or not love God and we are free to love Him halfheartedly.

God didn’t want to create robots, programed to love Him. He wants people made of flesh and blood—created in His image—to choose to love Him.

When we think of patience we think of waiting, but genuine patience is not exactly about waiting—it’s put to the test in the way one waits.

The Lord is not impatient; He does not wait intolerantly for His creation to get their heart aligned with His. No, instead He offers favor, grace and mercy, that we may see and experience His love.

God is also extremely longsuffering with those that don’t or won’t make Him their Lord. I’ve watched Him over and over again extend His unconditional love to those who disregard Him.

Why is He so longsuffering with people who could care less about Him or His love? The answer is—salvation. He is not willing for anyone to spend eternity in hell—He gives countless opportunities for life change and repentance.

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

He’s longsuffering because of love. He desires to spend eternity with all His children.

I’m most longsuffering with my children. Why? Because I love and believe in them, I know them, I’ve seen their heart from the very beginning. I know their value and potential—I believe in God’s plan for them. I am not willing to just write my kids off when they portray immaturity or stupidity.

I’m by no means saying I’m as patient as God! I’m just trying to paint a picture for you of how loving, tender and longsuffering God is with His Children—with you and me.

As any good parent He does require obedience, but truly—obedience is birthed out of love—if we love God we will obey Him. (John 14:15) If we love Him we will surrender our whole heart and life to Him.

Let’s take this a step further—God calls us to be longsuffering. To suffer long with those He loves—to patiently see them to wholeheartedness in God and to salvation.

In order to do this we must disregard our own feelings and time frame. I’m preaching to the choir here. When people disregard my God, or trample my love and efforts to help them, my flesh wants to write them off and say “Oh well, I tried but it wasn’t received.” I want to protect myself from their rejection. This is where I push past the struggle and align my heart to God’s.

We have to realize it is not about us or about our comfort, but about God’s purposes and eternity. We must believe in God’s plan and purpose for people. We need to see God’s children as we see our own children and extend grace and mercy just as we do to our own.

I want to be a person of longsuffering (and not just with my own kids). What about you? In what ways can you be more longsuffering?

How do we become longsuffering? Patience and love are a fruit of the Spirit—to have this kind of fruit in our life we must continually be filled with the Spirit of God.

Please be encouraged to be more like Jesus and  love with longsuffering just as He loves you!