Jesus is in the making and what it takes to make disciples of men by way of His cross. I recently saw some youth bound in hand with their bibles in a local coffee shop, and it blessed me. We live in an age where many are seeking for a real expression to relate to this Jesus and His Lordship in their lives. It is a great thing we would aspire to do. It is however, important to remember in this new age where the music seems to lead the discourse, it has always been about the word of the Living God. Here is a thought to add to this modern age perception of all things as Christian. Jesus is not in the hairdo, or in sporting the new tattoo; He is not in the anti-establishment, or in being different for different sake; He is not in strange for strange sake. He is making His mark on men as aliens and strangers because they find a place for humility and brokenness because they are working out their common salvation through the living breathing Word of God. The music, and I love music, should lead me to brokenness, thanksgiving and praise as I walk as His disciple enslaved to nothing in this world, it’s thinking or culture. The music alone will not produce disciples, only a relationship with the Living Word can do that. Is the word you are hearing making you more like Jesus, or are you being defined by the pop-culture you are living in? His cross is not a new concept, but a clear command of the word; it is timeless rugged thing that leaves one strangely following the movement of the Holy Spirit keeping in step as His disciple, shedding the mantle of worldly influences to be uniquely His–He was pierced for a different cause and that will likely leave you more persecuted than popular because the way of the cross will always be the defining mark of real Christianity.
Tag: religion
The Burning Bush
Somewhere on the backside of your wilderness there is a place in God’s presence that will draw you in to captivate your heart and arrest your complete attention. Like Moses in Exodus 3, the burning bush reminds us God is never finished — though we may have long given up. I have recently been reminded that we are living in the last days. Things are out of control, and it seems men’s hearts are so hard. Even believers seem so fixed in just what they know; there is no desire to receive any more than just what they have. It would seem all is well, yet something turns sideways because all is not well, and men are racing over a cliff to destruction with no one to hold them back. It is all indicative of the last times. There seems to be resistance to the truth no matter how hard you try. We are living in days where the people of God often find themselves in a wilderness from wanting to follow God, but genuinely not knowing how. Have you found yourself in a wilderness like Moses running — running from your fear, from your people, from what would be the plan of God for your life — all because you tried to follow God and failed? In these days you had better find that burning bush on the back side of the wilderness you are living in. I believe these days are to be a season of rescue and recovery, but you need the burning bush. You need the Spirit of God to draw you in to look at Him spending time in His presence beholding what consumes, but does not burn up. It is marvelous as Moses said it was. It causes you to remove what is unholy because you got a word from God that says put that down and away from your life and come to me … here on holy ground. There you actually can hear God confirming to you His desire to save — it was His desire all along, and you thought He had forgotten and left you in the wilderness. But He has not forgotten you. You, like Moses, may have had the right idea, but failed to get in on the full plan of God. But now with the bush He includes you, telling you, “I see the affliction of men’s souls, and now I want to use you.” You see, we need the burning bush experience that lies in the wilderness of our struggle, because without it we lack awareness of God’s care or concern. We lack understanding of His plan to include us in the work to liberate men’s bondage. We are in the last days, and men are surely in bondage. If you fail to see that, you are proving you need a touch of the marvelous bush from which God speaks. Somewhere, there in your dry place, He is telling you to stand and see — looking for that bush that burns. It is Christ in you the hope of glory. It is not so far, though you may believe it cannot be found. God will use these very words you are reading now to stir your heart and bring you to find that place. It is a place of power and privilege; it is a place of revelation and inclusion. It is a place in these days you cannot afford to be without. From the bush, He calls us to identity as sons. He says, “Come, and I will send you.” God is saying to us — I will touch your lips and give you a voice so that your slowness of speech will be met with the confidence to declare freedom to every bound place, so the captive souls of men can be made free.
The Application of the Cross
Sometimes I am wanting to find the application of this word into my life, but I’ve got no aptitude for it. To that I would say, “God give me a mind for what you think, so I could be effective as your disciple.” I came across this scripture the other day taken from Isaiah 50 which says; “The Lord has given Me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.” Often, we look for ways to apply this word in our lives only to find the simple truth is not merely conveyed with great oration or vivid illustration. The truth however is best understood by what Jesus said in Luke 14, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” While men often go here and there to find great preaching looking for that one great illustration, nothing connects me to Jesus like the cross. Jesus is affirming the cross as a means of application but more importantly as a means of identity. When by taking up our cross we deny ourselves, we are saying no our thinking and to our own reasoning and even our own cause. When we do that, we are identifying with the thinking that had Him at the cross for us in the first place. Taking up my cross aligns my life with the cause and thinking of Christ. Presently, most Christians know more about God than they are able to apply for lack of the cross. All of us have a cross to be sure, but is yours currently out for repairs? Paul said in Galatians 2:20; “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” Paul saw himself as crucified with Christ because He’d taken up His cross. There was with Paul a death to this world and its thinking, but also the applied ability to actually live as Christ would because he had nothing else to live for. Full faith in Jesus had taken over his mind to actually comprehend the height and depth of Christ’s love for him. That is ultimately what Jesus is saying in Luke 14, namely this: that as long as you have something else your living for, you won’t carry your cross. Jesus is saying, ‘nothing can come ahead of me, so get square with me and I will order your thoughts aright and connect your head with your heart and you will live and speak as my disciple.’
The Anointing of God
1 Jn 2:27 says, ‘You have an anointing you have received from the Father which abides in you.’ Think with me…this is the single most powerful concept that John reminds us of to combat the work of deception which daily presents itself to you. Just think, an anointing that instructs, promotes, and supports the work of your salvation in this present hour. What are you doing with the anointing? How are you treating it? Recently someone gave me an article entitled, “The Man God Uses” (He most surely has an anointing). You have an anointing, I urge you draw near to its application by the power of the Holy Spirit in your life and find a balm which can sooth, heal and restore your life exchanging your weakness for His strength. To every true believer there is given this anointing. It is an anointing that activates truth by informing me of His thoughts toward me. It elevates my relationship with the Father by seeing myself as a son with a rightful place at His table. It covers my life with His power to conform me to His image and enables me to practice victory rather than defeat. It is an anointing that actuates love in my life identifying me as His disciple. The Word says, by this love all men will come to understand that you are identifiably changed and uniquely His. I don’t know about you, but I need such an anointing that can take my feeble “want to” and make it a living reality for His glory to the restoration of others. You want the anointing? Ask for it and don’t stop asking until He gives what He has promised to every son who believes.
GraceLife 