I had no school today so I decided to make lunch at home. I was looking through a cookbook and saw this really yummy recipe for chicken. I went to buy some ingredients and started to make the chicken along with some mashed-potatoes. And after I made it, the smell of the Italian seasoning and the white wine sauce brought me to Heaven. And I ate my lunch and posted my status on facebook: "made for lunch...mushroom, garlic, cranberry stuffed chicken breasts with italian and basil seasoning; garlic basil mashed potatoes; all poured with a chicken broth with white wine sause (: ..and a coke." And I was just thinking of how I should have taken pictures so people could at least see what I made.
But then a thought came to me. Even if I took some pictures of my meal and showed it on facebook, people still wouldn't experience what I cooked. It's like when I watch the food channel or the travel channel, where they show like deep fried food, and steaks, and seafood, and how to make this and that. And I'm always saying to the tv, "Oh my God that looks so good!" But it in the end all I see are colored pixels on a screen or a colored picture in a cookbook. I can hear and read and see all I want about the food and how delicious it is, but in the end they are just words and pictures that I can't experience for myself.
The Bible is the same. If I tell you all the goodness and power in the stories of the Bible but you don't experience it, then its just another history lecture. Then the Bible is nothing more than a book of the experiences of people in the past. But God is the same from beginning to end. He doesn't change and His love and presence does not change either. You need to get out of just knowing and teaching people theology and history. It's time to ask for heaven to come down so that the presence and power of God can fall on those you encounter, that they may experience the transforming power of the Love of Jesus Christ.
Stop giving history lectures and theology to the lost and broken. Start giving the Love of Jesus and the presence of the God of Heaven and of earth! "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another." As the bride of Jesus and the host of the Holy Spirit, you constantly owe others the everlasting Love of your Savior and God. God's love is not meant to be a lake that is stopped inside of you by theology and wisdom. It is meant to be a river that flows from you that is supported by the wisdom and knowledge of the Truth but is to be pushed to fall upon and to consume others through the power of the Kingdom of God! "For the Kingdom of heaven is not of talk. It is of power!"
We need theology, we need bible studies, we need to memorize scriptures, we need to understand the stories and the Truth of His word. But if we say we have the best armor, the longest firing range, the best radar detection, the finest and most advance technology, and the best firing capabilities...but we have not left the docks, nor the barracks, nor the runway, nor fired a single shot while two kingdoms are at war...we might as well live in a military museum so people can just see the descriptions of us but not see us in real action...
Yes, we need the bible and the scriptures to present the gospel. But when he is alone and we don't comfort him, when she needs forgiveness but we are too stubborn to forgive, when he is in need of money but we are too worried that he might be trying to cheat us, when she falls in this world and we gossip about her faults, when he is drunk with alcohol and sex but we are to clouded by our judgment and view him as insignificant, when she rejects us and we become prideful and say "whatever it's your loss"...how much more different are we than the pharisees? Than this world? Than the person we were before we were kissed by Jesus and hugged by His Spirit?
Ask God to fill you with His presence, that when you love, not just teach and share, that His power and transforming Love can touch their hearts, that they can experience the same God that changed your life forever!
God release your kingdom realities upon my brother and sister right now. That they can feel your touch and empower them with courage and boldness to take your amazing Love to those they encounter everyday. Father, I ask for your favor to be upon those who read this. Bide any complacent and hardened hearts, any pride, jealousy, or anger in Jesus' name. And I loose peace and joy that comes from Your Son, I release blessing on them and boldness and strength to overcome their fears and worries in Jesus' name. Father hear my invitation to invade this place. Hear my call for revival. God, my God...come and show us just how beautiful and good You are!
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