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!

Jamaica Missions date 20090619

Loving Teenagers every where
Friday night preached at Rock Teens -- what an amazing night!
I couldn't believe how nervous I was that night. More than normal. At times it felt like my heart was going to pound right out of my chest.

We worshiped then played some games. By the time our team shared there testimonies, I was screaming on the inside ... "Let Me Loose!"

I Shared a Message on Worship is Universal. It was one of those roller coaster sermons.
Hilarious at times, Thought provoking and Challenging. I love those.

At the end we had an amazing time of worship and two salvations. Pastor Omar blessed my socks off when he closed the service reciting the three take home points:

Thoughtfully -- “with MY mind”
Passionately -- “with MY Heart and Soul”
Practically -- “with MY Strength”

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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

Jamaica Missions date 20090617

My Babies aren't babies anymore
I love watching people grow. I would rather take the back seat and see others' develop and grow in there walk with the Lord. What a blessing it was to see Marlee, Iesha, Lydia, Maddie and Sami just pray out loud and in public.

I saw Marlee take authority in her prayer and lead others in boldness. Natural Leader among leaders. Iesha came out of her shell for the first time and prayed as if she had been doing this for years. The rest of the girls that were there with me were just as amazing.

David jr. delivered such a powerful Gospel message at the end of the skit. There is a fire anointing on him.

Brings a tear to my eye. Most of my babies aren't babies anymore they are might warriors. I didn't even see it happen. I am so proud of each of them.

Speak or Hold your Peace
There was an interesting encounter that I had with a Rasta. Just when I was thought I was done and on my way to the construction site. P. Courtney calls me back to deal with what appears to be a "situation". There was a gentleman (Rasta) that wanted to share somethings over the microphone. He said that after he was done that I then could say anything I pleased about what he said. Talk about my fear of the unknown.

I mentioned to him that I didn't know if it was a good idea since I had young kids around and I didn't want anything inappropriate to be said. At that moment it appeared that I might have offended him. But I looked into his eyes as he pointed to his 5yr old and said "I have kids here to and I would not say anything inappropriate" He seemed sincere.
As quickly as I could muster up an inside prayer... I said OK... With such Peace.

Strange thing was that there was a "combat" type of feeling in the air. It would be hard to explain it. As if he was in my face challenging everything that I believed to be true. Is God really that big? Would everyone then look at as us as a bunch of 'posers'? Could God really show up in this situation?
--But something rose up inside of me that made every fiber of my being cry out inside... God I need you right now cause I don't know what to do.

So I handed the Rasta the mic. He began to speak. He called it a chant but to me it sounded more like a Rap or Poetry. But it wasn't what he said ... that actually was very good. He was talking about the virtue of a woman and how beautiful they are. How we need to honor and respect them and how it is Jah (God) who created them. But through out all that he said he was staring me down and I him. We were only a foot apart. As if we were about ready to just brawl. He was ranting and I was agreeing for the most part.

As all this was happening I heard in the corner of my ear through all the yelling some of our girls praying in the spirit. This I guess is the part were maybe I should have felt peace. But the feeling I had was of RAW POWER and Boldness. I think it was more of the feeling "there are more with us then against us". ... As the RASTA gave me the Mic. I began to Bless the Almighty and the kids around me joined in. I didn't want to leave any doubt that Jesus is the one we worship.

What a divine time of prayer... Total dependence on Jesus!

Faith Building Up
I also prayed for another man and his healing.. how amazing that would be for God to heal him and be a testimony in this village. I'm realizing now that this was simply my faith building up for what was to come

Dreams do come True
While I was working I had mentioned to the team that I want to be able to have a service where people get saved and immediately get baptized. This happened near the baptism that was built.
It was kind of cool to see this built from concrete right into the foundation of the building.. That almost sounds like a title of a sermon... But I regress .....
So we were talking and I said how cool it would be if God would just allow us to baptize some people in this tank Sunday morning.

2 Hours later Sister Maureen introduces me to the father of the girl who died..
{There was a young girl who died in the village 3weeks ago for no apparent reason}
He mentions that he wants to be baptized... 'Is this a Resurrection from the dead opportunity' is what I thought as well?

God Moment with an Orange
So there we are. This guy who just lost his 19yr old daughter and me just hanging out talking about his situation, his hurt, his life and why he want to be baptized as I just shared my orange with him... Felt like we were taking communion at a deeper level.
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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