Random Concern - Face vs Promise

I really do want to be more concerned with the person and character of God, not just the promises.

I have realized something very refreshing about God. Which I'm sure isn't a new revelation to a lot of people. But to me it's like a an ice cold glass of milk on hot day (Substitute your favorite beverage for milk). It's always cold, wet, satisfying and refreshing. That is that when I chase after God, His promises come to pass. But the opposite is also true. I get frustrated when I sit around waiting for a promise to manifest and it doesn't happen.

I guess it's part of the whole backwards kingdom logic: last to be first; weak to be strong; humble to be lifted foolish to be wise; die to live. And the opposite is true also. The more I seek the latter the more I feel like the former. What an anti culture dilemma. There's a "squirrel" causing another Random Thought on Promises. I'll leave that alone for now simply knowing that God is faithful to His Promises because He is the "Promise Keeper". All that said because it is so easy to get consumed in chasing the promises instead of the Promise Maker.

Being concerned with the person and nature of God takes on a completely different attitude. It's the true essence of the marriage vows: "in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sadness and in joy," At the time we don't ask the question "how sick, how poor, how bad or how sad?" Though some may act that way in divorce court (another squirrel).

All we know and all we are concerned with and even consumed with is being with the person we are about to call our spouse. Happily Ever After! amen.

This is where I want to be all the time with my God. I want to be concerned about His person. To know him deeper to know Him at a different level. The beauty of it is that when I study and His character, I experience His Person.

Scriptures than like
2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

This shows us His character IS merciful, forgiving, healing and loving. And we can experience His person if we would pray and seek His Face. The mistake that we have made is that we have created a formula and we miss the point. This isn't just a promise it's an invitation.

We should accept the invitation to sincerely and seriously seek God's face without any reward. Our concern should be to experience His Person. That process humbles us. His Presence reveals and forces us to turn from wickedness and respond "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined!" (Isaiah 6:5). If we would learn to be satisfied with that we would then learn His Character. We would see a glimpse of how amazing He Is. The manifestation of His promise simply proves His Character.

The new testament gives us a similar invitation in Matthew 6:25-34 to be more concerned about His Kingdom and Righteousness through that He will reveal His Character and Person.
not worry about the .

Here's one more scripture that speaks for itself
Psalm 9:10
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

The consequence for being concerned about God's Character and Person is promises manifested but that should not be the motivation.

I want my prayer to continue to be that of the psalmist:
My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek. (Psalm 27:8)

I do believe we can have the latter when we submit to the former!!

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Random Zeal Thought

From the outside looking in ... Zeal could like Madness ... No wonder some people think I'm CRAZY.. :-D

Random Zeal Thought
Thinking like a puppy

Zeal defined
–noun : fervor for a person, cause, or object; eager desire or endeavor; enthusiastic diligence; ardor.
—Synonyms intensity, passion.

2 Samuel 6:22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."

I remember when I first came into a personal relationship with Jesus. An older man said to me "son never let that fire burn out" He was talking about the obvious passion that I had for the LORD my Master. I must have had that excited tail wagging hyper puppy look in my eyes waiting for my Master to throw the ball -- yelping and peeing all over the place.

I also remember while I was dreaming about planting LWF that someone commented about my 'zeal'. That it would be Zeal that would help grow the church. Now that was an encouraging Word. (There was a second part to that, but she never told me. Now for years I've wondered about that).

Truth be told I still am excited for my Master to throw the ball but I've learned not to pee all over the place and to sit, a sign of maturity.

The best part is that when He throws the ball I get to chase it and bring it back to Him.
He then encourages me and I get more excited. I think He likes it when I give it all I've got just to bring the ball (Glory) back to Him.

My RANDOM thought:
Can zeal be taken as arrogance?
Even if it's Zeal towards the Master?
Inside the church by the church?

If we take the above scripture incident out of context and just look at what David said to Michal it sounds very arrogant.

Almost sounds like kids on the playground taunting one another "He chose me and not your father".

If we put it back in the context of who David is, we can begin to see that David was lost in the moment of praise. His surroundings are no longer relevant. Worshiping God is the purpose and center of his 'zeal'

Unfortunately there are some that would see this behavior, call it foolishness and believe that David is just trying to bring attention to himself.

His dancing, leaping could be considered a performance, but it is for an audience of One.

So what then do we do and say concerning Zeal?

I want to be so consumed with Worship that if I happen to say or do something that looks foolish. Then let me be a fool for Jesus.

Master throw the Ball and I'll bring it back to YOU... and I won't let the Squirrels distract me !!

Is MORE of God Random or Radical?

A devotional I was reading ended with this prayer:

"Lord, not more people, but more of You. Let me wait upon You, keep me faithful, send Your Holy Spirit. If You then send growth as well, I'll thank You and see it as an added blessing. Amen."

This particular prayer took me into so many random thoughts that I felt like my tiny brain was going to explode. There is so much going on right now and then... This prayer...

My randomness today begins with wanting to just jump up and agree with this type of prayer. How beautiful, simple but yet so intimate. More of YOU LORD, fill me to overflow!

As I mutter those words a small voice in my own head asks --> Has this become another cliche prayer? Do we really understand what we are praying for? Do I know? Or does it feel good praying it?

I'm quickly reminded of what the presence of God has done through out scripture:

At the Temple dedication

-- More of God? What if it means being paralyzed with awe?

Isaiah in the presence of the LORD cried "Woe to me!" and "I am ruined!" (Isa 6)

-- More of God? What if it means realizing how insignificant I am in His Presence?

At Mount Sinai when God showed up they trembled with fear and said "do not have God speak to us or we will die." (Ex 20)

-- More of God? What if it means death?

To ask God for more of Him is absolutely radical. It goes beyond a random thought or a feel good experience. When we intentionally make this request we begin to get a little glimpse of Him.

It's this glimpse that makes us cry out, desire, plead for more. The amazing part is that the more of Him we receive the More of Him we have to give or there won't be enough room for more of Him...

So then I say more of YOU LORD!! Paralyze me, Crush me, Kill me if YOU must but fill me with More of YOU!

Random Drowning Thought

Someone is drowning! what do you do?

Throw them a life preserver?

Jump in after them?

My knee jerk response to this random question would be "BOTH"!! -- But as always my mind begins to wander. (caution -- being in my mind is not a safe place at times -- jk)

Now the hard questions are asked. You know?!? the what if's of life that make Black and White turn into Grey.

Would our reaction change if the person drowning was different?

Stranger, Friend, Enemy, Child, or Spouse...

The hope here is that we would react the same for each one of them. Nevertheless the urgency and desperation would feel different. Maybe few people would admit if it were a stranger or someone we didn't like that maybe we would hesitate. Silently that someone else would come to the rescue.

Here's another what if... What if we didn't know how to swim? Would our response change in comparison to someone that does know how to swim? These random questions are necessary to ask.

The truth is that it wouldn't matter if I knew how to swim or lost my life for someone I love. I would jump in and trust the life preserver would save us both.

When I was in High School I remember the purpose of wrestling practice. The coach drilled into us every move. We practiced slow, fast, alone and with others. He wanted us to know those moves better than we know ourselves. He was teaching us to counter and react for every move the opponent would make. There was no doubt. If the our opponent would try to take us down by our legs ... our body would naturally sprawl out and counter.

This is the very reason why these questions need to be asked. We need to practice and know what our response would be if we came across someone who was dying -- regardless of who they are.

Another random thought crosses my mind now. Are we aware of how many people are drowning around us? The urgency may be different but the result is still death.

There are people drowning; hurting, struggling, hopeless and helpless...

Anyone willing to jump and let Jesus be the Life Preserver?

People really don't care how much we know until they know how much we care!

Jamaica Missions date 20090621

Amazing service!!!
Please read the Jamaica Blogs Amazing Stories
Here's my summary:
3 Healed, 4 saved, 1 Baptized Water, 1 Baby dedication, 1 Baptized in Holy Spirit... The only think left was to have wedding because in that environment a funeral might have turned into a resurrection.

Amazing Timing!!!
The building was finished just in time for the service. I am completely convinced that the Thursday night prayer meeting prepared us all for what God wanted to do Sunday.

Amazing Presence!!!
The presence of Holy Spirit was in that place and He was so Amazing!!!
I was able to basically just give the invitation and people came. Our students were ready and interceding. They prayed for the sick, hurting and the needy. I was so amazed on how they just brought Heaven down to touch earth.

Amazing Touch!!!
I personally was touched in such a way that I knew that if we just asked for it there God was going to do it. So we asked! Before I prayed for Javon the little boy who WAS deaf and mute. He was wailing his arms around and wanted to run away. His mother brought him to me. I remember scooping him up and for a few seconds he went limp in my arms as I cried out to God for a Healing touch. I remember reminding God {as if He needed to be} that this was his child. In the midst of that I put him back down and others continued to press in and through. But I felt a release and assurance that it was done.

Amazing Testimonies!!!
All that were healed were able to give testimony of God's power. Though Javon had not yet manifested the healing. We received testimony the following day. As he was in his right mind - playing, responding to words, and speaking.

We received other encouraging testimonies of God's goodness.

Amazing Ending!!!
As God is so FAMOUS for giving us the desires of our heart.
We closed the service with one of our own getting Water Baptized. Gabby gave her testimony and it was just the cherry on top of the whip cream.

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I am so thankful to everyone that made this possible for me to go. I can not repay what you have sown into my life. To everyone that was on this trip... I love you so much... You have each impacted me and allowed me grow closer to Jesus... But To God be the Glory... Every little bit of it, for everything... !!! pastor cj

Jamaica Missions date 20090618

Chapel Service Teen Challenge Jamaica
Preached "God is Closer than you think.
Everyone responded amazingly well. Incredible time at the altars praying for these men seeking God with everything that is in them.
We had 3 Salvations -- To God be the Glory!!

Recovery is a Process
Later did one-one counseling. I walked away realizing that aftercare is going to be so vital for these men once they get out. One year is not enough.

Mountain Top Experience (ok so it was ontop of roof)

But OH MY!!! GOD showed up!!

So we are up there and it looks like we are almost done. P. Courtney looks at me as if to close in prayer. But I'm confused because it just didn't "feel" right. So I confirmed verbally with her and she nodded back. Later I find out that if I would have just closed that she would have been seriously disappointed. I would have too because we would have missed God.

I basically just asked who is tired, scared or in need of more Power... I explained the purpose of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit -- Receive Power to be witness' -- We then began to pray for one another and then BAM!!! Trevor received the Baptism and others were filled up to over flowing. P. Courtney best describes it in the Jamaica Blog
She says -- That time of worship went from being a 2-song sing-along to a 2 hour prayer time, with the whole team crying out to God from the bottom of their hearts for the town of 8 Mile. Our prayer echoed the words of the song, Hosanna :

I see a generation rising up to take their place
With selfless faith, with selfless faith.

I see a near revival, stirring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees, we're on our knees.

Heal my heart and make me clean.
Open up my eyes to the things unseen.
Show me how to love like you have loved me.

Break my heart for what breaks yours.
Everything I am for your kingdom Lord,
As I walk from earth into eternity.
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I am so thankful to everyone that made this possible for me to go. I can not repay what you have sown into my life. To everyone that was on this trip... I love you so much... You have each impacted me and allowed me grow closer to Jesus... But To God be the Glory... Every little bit of it, for everything... !!! pastor cj