Head Over Heels/Compulsion 311

"... that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17-19

"We love Him because He first loved us."
I John 4:19

Recently I had an opportunity once again to share Jesus with a close relative.
The objections popped up over and over as my wife and I tried to explain why it is that we believe.
The usual questions arose: how can we know for sure there is a God?
How can God allow terrible things to happen to innocent people, what about aliens,
if there is a God how do you know we have the right "religion"?
"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." I Corinthians 2:14 
I was compelled in our discussions to keep coming back to my testimony and the very thing that won my heart and soul: that God loved me and knew everything about me even when I thought of myself as a lost cause, with a love so furious that He sent His only Son to bear the penalty I (we) deserved, making a way for me (us) out of hell and into eternity in heaven.
I was aware of all his questions, all his issues, because I was in the very same place, BC- before Christ- but every pre-BC paradigm has been overturned- "for the love of Christ compels me" (2 Cor.5:14a). It is my prayer for him, and for every other "pre-believer",  that they would be seized by the revelation of God's love, falling head over heels in love with the Ultimate Lover, and be compelled, drawn and driven, receiving all that God has for them.
Come quickly Lord Jesus!

Church in Unlikely Places 192

"For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Matthew 18:20

I had a praise and worship session recently with a brother and sister in the Lord in an unlikely place: my showroom office. I am not at all unaccustomed to having"church" anywhere and everywhere, but how breathtaking when He chooses to just show up!
These friends came looking just for a car, or so they thought…it was a divine appointment.
There was laughter, testimony, praise, prayer, and tears as we fellowshipped about spiritual things, and testified about things the Lord is done, and is doing even now.
Jesus told his disciples: "For where two or three gather in my Name, there I am with them."
There is no better purpose or reason to gather together than under the banner of Jesus.
In Him we are meant to live, move, and have our being-living epistles, living stones…
each of us an important addition branching out from the Chief Cornerstone.
Take any and every opportunity to gather, beloved, exalting His Holy Name-
as there is no "inappropriate" place or time for events such as this.

Water and Stone

There are times in our lives where we find ourselves in a desert. 

We may feel parched, dry, covered with the dust of our toil and struggles. 

Weary and  exhausted, we find ourselves spiritually panting for the refreshment of "mayim chaim"- living water.  

The revival and restoration that only the Ruach HaKodesh, 

the Holy Spirit, can bring: 

"As the deer pants for streams of water,

    so my soul pants for you, my God.

² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.    
When can I go and meet with God?"
    
Psalm 42:1-2

It is times like these that we must go to the Rock:

"From the ends of the earth I call to you,
    I call as my heart grows faint;    lead me to the rock that is higher than I."

The children of Israel sojourned in the desert and water poured from a rock as Moses followed the Lord's commands. To my spirit rock (stone) is a picture of strength, stability, and the basis of where renewal and revival emanates from.

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
Isaiah 40:28-31


Lean on the Rock today beloved, and be restored as you soak in the mayim chaim.

A Conversation with An Atheist 187

"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,"
1 Peter 3:15

"They overcame  by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. "
Revelation 12:11

Recently I had an opportunity to share my testimony with an Jewish atheist. Yes, there is such a thing...and in fact I was also one. When I think about what an atheist should "look" like  she did not fit that bill at all.  She was an older woman in her 70's, very cordial. She told me that she was a "rational and intelligent thinker", and was an epidemiologist. She only believed in what she could see, measure, and evaluate.
But there was something in life that is missing for her...
I didn't debate with her, instead the answer I gave her was what Yeshua had done in and is doing through me, my history. As I recounted  how I came to know this Yeshua/Jesus, the tremendous impact of reading the bible (Gospel of John) for the first time, the tears welled up in her eyes as they did mine, and I could see that her hardened heart was touched, that a seed had been planted.

"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building."
1 Corinthians 3:5-9

Eric Liddell, the Scottish runner/missionary immortalized in the film, Chariots of Fire, said:
"We are all missionaries…wherever we go, we either bring people nearer to Christ, or we repel them from Christ."

We never know how the things we say or do may influence those around us.
Sometimes it is not the "information" but what has been imparted that makes an impact.
Sometimes we plant, sometimes we water, and sometimes we harvest.
Those around us are watching and  listening.
Let's remember that the fields are ripe with the harvest,
and we are all called to tend those fields.