Confident in love…

Obedience is the means for men to see the work of God. Jesus was obedient unto death, the fruit of which is the Holy Spirit, the Helper, being sent to the body of believers for union and communion unto transformation and the renewing of the mind and the regeneration of the earth. By faith Abraham was ready to offer up Issac on the altar of obedience, for union with God. The prophets have told us time and again that the desire of the Lord is mercy, not sacrifice. Jesus tells us this, “Whoever keeps my commandments, it is he who loves me.” And again, “To obey is better than sacrifice.”

So what is the point of this post? Here I will sum it up. Confidence in love must be married with obedience in order to give birth to a renewed mind. You are not confident in anything if your conscience bears witness against you. However, when we move by the Spirit’s leadings we are confident that we are in a relationship with Him, bearing the fruit of love. There are things that must happen in us in order for us to be confident in love when it comes to us walking with the Lord in any true contemplative depth. Obedience moves us into the place of confidence, and if not our obedience then it was His perfect obedience to the Father that led us to the place of assurance in salvation.

As we grow in Christ then, it is imperitive for us to engage grace in walking the course of His commandments. The depth of our experience in divine love is proportionate to the measure in which we agree with the Spirit’s jeoulosy within us. If we do not attempt to obey then we cannot expect to delve into the depths of His love! His love looks like perfect sacrifice, obedience unto the end and He will have a bride equally yoked in devotion. Amen.

Grateful for true community…

As many of you know, I have been gone for about a week, raising support in Macon, GA. I had thought, up until my return, that I was going solely to raise support and make connections, etc. etc. Well, that was part of it, a good part but not the whole reason.

Today I have just been thinking about how hard it would be, and is, to go hard after God by yourself for any sustained amount of time. Beloved, it is the wisdom of God to give us to each other and to unite us together in spite of our differences. The truth is just this, we need each other in order to stay steady. The whole time I was in Georgia I was enjoying the change of pace, scenery, and people. However, I longed to be back here in K.C. with a company of people who constantly provoke me into living the 1st commandment, all the time! And oh how good it is to be back.

I have heard a few people say throughout the months that there isn’t any real community here or real way to connect or get plugged in and after being gone a few days I just have this to say…..Where else can you be with people who really love Jesus with all their hearts and are actually engaged in it in a full time way, day in and day out? It might be hard to connect with certain people or find a mentor or whatever but that doesn’t really have anything to do with community. The community here is all about magnifying Jesus, all the time and it’s in that context that you meet people that provoke you, share your heart, and agree with your convictions. That to me is true community and I am grateful for it at IHOP K.C. I know we aren’t doing it perfectly by any means but hey, I know it’s a good place to be when you begin to long for it when it’s not there. You can long for Jesus anywhere and indeed we should long for Him everywhere but it’s deeply moving when Joe Smoe that you don’t know becomes your best friend after you have prayed together for two minutes. That’s community and I am grateful for it, it is the bond of peace and the unity of the Spirit.

I encourage you to think today about how hard it would be to stay engaged in intercession for 4 or more hours if you didn’t have that guy on your prayer room team that always encouraged you or that girl right next to you that gives you a word of encouragement just because you love Jesus and she felt led to do it. Be quick to speak gratefully today, even about the things you don’t like cause those are the things that really move you forward, either in tenderness or in bitterness, the choice is up to us.