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The Quest for Significance
Where does the Christian find his or her identity and sense of worth? From a
career... relationships... a ministry? This is too often the case. However,
Jesus pointed us away from the realms of outward accomplishments and the honor
of man to the inward encounter with the burning affections of God's heart as
a means of discovering our true identity and sense of significance.
The Free and Eternal Gift of Greatness
God has given us something amazingly powerful in the fact that He desires and
pursues us. He has given us the free gift of greatness. Everyone that is born
again by the blood of Jesus, in receiving eternal life, the gift of righteousness,
and the indwelling Spirit, has received the free and eternal gift of greatness
and success automatically at the new birth. When we said yes to the grace of
God, Hebrews 2:7-9 says that God crowned us with glory and honor. In that hour
we became great beyond exaggeration, and the Lord ordained that the fact of
this new identity would profoundly change the way we view ourselves.
What the Scripture says about those that have been crowned with glory and honor
is profound. The least believer is high above the highest angel in privilege.
Beloved, we are the bride of Christ, and will rule and reign with Him forever
in resurrected bodies. We are the sons of the most high God forever. The angels
don't have any of these dimensions as a part of their experience. Imagine how
the thief on the cross felt when he stepped over the line of death into Paradise.
I can imagine he said something like this, "If I had known I was a king, I would
never have been a thief!"
I don't believe the angels have gotten over it yet, that human beings made of
clay, some of whom were fraternizing with demons, or living in rebellion, disobedience,
or perversion, can be so set free, so cleaned up, so crowned with glory, and
that they alone would be invited into intimate partnership and intimate fellowship
with God Himself. I think they are still looking at us, and at each other, and
saying something like, "How do you figure this?!"
The Divine Romance of Discovery
One of the great challenges of our growth in the grace of God is to progressively
discover the greatness and beauty that we possess in the new birth. Paul states
that our lives are hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3), and this is the essence
of the challenge. The greatness and beauty that we received as a gift is veiled,
hidden from our eyes and the eyes of those before whom we live. God sees our
greatness, of course, as do the angels, but the full dignity of our lives is
significantly hidden from us, and we cannot know it fully until the Lord is
revealed to us in fullness, and we see Him face to face. It is a magnificent
adventure, a romance beyond imagination, to go on the journey of a lifetime
spent discovering the significance God has placed upon us. The unfolding of
this romance is meant to empower us to live a life of extravagant obedience
to Him.
I believe this tremendous experience of the divine romance, understanding and
discovering His beauty and our beauty, His passion awakening our passion, is
the highest motivational strategy the Holy Spirit has ordained for the end time
church. It is this discovery that empowers us to love our lives not even unto
death. We will stand in the face of martyrdom by the grace of God with a lovesick
heart motivated by passion and pleasure, a heart steadfast, a heart on fire,
supernaturally empowered by these truths, and by the Holy Spirit.
Living Beyond Our Performance
This is what Jesus came to establish for us at the Cross in the atonement. If
we can understand this issue of greatness related to salvation, it would also
settle a lot of our anxiety to achieve a greatness outside the grace of God,
even in the midst of ministry. It is the most natural thing for us to strive
to achieve our sense of worth or success based on external recognition. However,
this type of outcome-based living will never replenish and sustain our hearts.
In the end, it leaves us broken and hurting, because we cannot control the outcome
of every situation which affects this kind of identity. So how do we re-orient
our hearts from this performance- or outcome-based identity to a true biblical
sense of worth? Jesus admonished the Pharisees that they needed to experience
the love of God, and thus discover the honor that comes from Him alone.
Living Understanding Issuing From Encounter
In John 5:38-44, Jesus sets forth stunning principles as to how He carried his
heart in the realm of man because He had experienced the love of God, and knew
who He was in God's eyes. In verse 38, He tells the Pharisees plainly that His
Word is not abiding in them. This seems a shocking statement, as the Pharisees
were, to others, men mighty in the Word. However, they had biblical information,
not living understanding. They had searched the Scriptures, Jesus said, but
they were not willing to come to Him that they might have life. In other words,
Jesus is saying they have studied the Bible with the presupposition that Bible
information in itself gives an encounter with eternal life. Of course, we know
this is false. Eternal life is a person, the Godhead. Then, in verse 42, he
says something very powerful - that they do not have the love of God in them.
He says this in the context of speaking about receiving honor from men. Why
did Jesus connect an experience of the love of God with receiving honor?
Very simply put, there is only one place we can discover our worth, and know
the true honor that has been bestowed upon us, and this place is the realm of
encounter with the love of God. In Ephesians 3:18, Paul talks about the height,
width, depth, and length of the love of God. He says it is incomprehensible;
no one can fully comprehend it in this age. The main problem with the Pharisees
is that they did not have living experience with this ultimate reality, the
vast ocean of the burning desires of God's heart. They had no chance of living
right. They were disconnected from the only place of discovery of who they were.
They had no choice but to seek the honor of men. We cannot repent of seeking
honor, it is part of who God made us to be. But true honor that satisfies the
soul can only be found in knowing who we are before God.
The Son's Honor and Glory
In 2 Peter 1:17, Peter is talking about the mount of transfiguration of Matthew
17. It is many years later, and Peter says that on the mount Jesus received
from the Father honor and glory. When did Jesus receive from the Father honor
and glory? When the voice came to Him, saying, basically, I love you, I love
you, I love you! This honor prepared Jesus in His humanity for the crucifixion.
The way that God chose to prepare Jesus, in His human weakness, for the crucifixion
was by giving Him the revelation of His honor and His glory. This is the same
way the Father feeds our hearts, and sustains us in times of trial and tribulation
- by telling us what we look like to Him. When God wants to get someone free
from an addiction, He tells them how awesome they are!
Encounter in the secret place of your life with the God of love, where He will
reveal His burning heart of pleasure over you, and show you your destiny as
the partner of Jesus Christ forever is the only method God has chosen to establish
your sense of worth. My personal ministry could disappear in the next few months,
or I could reach hundreds of millions, and it would not affect the essential
greatness of who I am before God when I stand before Him. God is not going to
look at how big the crowds are, or how many people listened or did not listen.
He will look at whether I said yes to His love, and became a lover of God. When
I stand before God, He is not going to ask me how big the conferences were.
He will not ask me how well I preached, or wrote books. He is going to ask us
about the realm of love. He will say, 'I loved you. Did you receive it? Did
you respond back to Me in love?' Love will be the only currency we take with
us to the eternal city. We are loved and we are lovers, therefore we are profoundly
successful.
What Are You First: A Worker or a Lover? - Avoiding
Burnout
Many Christians who reach out to others burn out quickly because they launch
out into ministry before they establish in themselves the foundation of being
lovers of God. Discouragement, despair, boredom and frustration will inevitably
occur if we do not recognize that we are first called to be lovers.
Yes, it is true that God has called us to be workers. Yes, we are called to
be servants. We are called to bear the inconveniences of being caregivers to
other people. But we must remember that such works of service are a part of
the second commandment; they are an overflow of the first commandment. (See
Matthew 22:37)
What happens when we want to first be workers or fighters for the truths of
our particular religious system? What happens if we first want to be students
or to disciple others? What happens when our first priority is to fulfill the
Great Commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature?
(See Mark 6:15.)
Devastating things can happen when we place ministry to others and the Great
Commission first in our lives. The first thing to go wrong is burnout.
When we are lovers first, when the first commandment is first, our sacrifice
and labor are rewarded. This reward is twofold: (1) The Holy Spirit communicates
to us that God loves us. (2) We become a vessel through which the Father's love
for Jesus flows back to Him. This twofold reward keeps us invigorated, and therefore
we avoid much of the burnout so common today.
God fashioned us to receive love and to be vessels through which His affection
flows back to Him. It just feels right when we experience His love in our moments
of weakness and distress. At such times we can have the Father's affection and
enjoyment for Jesus pulsating through our hearts back to God.
The reward of our labors is that we get to enjoy being a lover as the primary
preoccupation of our lives. It's a pleasure beyond compare. But we suffer greatly
when we are workers first. When workers are mistreated, when the anointing of
God does not show up as we want or when circumstances disappoint us, we have
nothing to fall back on - except waiting for heaven. The result of such pressure
is usually burnout.
But the outcome is far different for lovers. As a lover first, now when I experience
attacks from other people, when I am undermined, when things don't work out,
or when disappointment comes while I am laboring for the gospel, I can always
run back to the secret place. I still have a secret place of pleasure where
I am immersed in the knowledge that God loves me. This is where God imparts
back to me a little bit of the Father's love for His Son. This is true spiritual
pleasure!
Pleasures in God Reduce Burnout
God has ordained many pleasures for believers. There are physical, emotional,
and intellectual pleasures, all of which are ordained by God. But no pleasure
is more intense than the pleasure that comes when God communicates Himself to
the human spirit. In the little moments when God communicates His passion for
me, I experience what life is all about. It is life at its very best.
Such tender moments with God cause life and spiritual vitality to be replenished
deep within. Of course, we do not experience an unbroken sense of God's love
in this life. Such dramatic touches of God's presence tend to wane. Only in
heaven will we enjoy the continual ecstasy of his presence. But during my tender
moments with God in this life, I say to myself and to God, "Oh yes, I like life.
Life is good!"
As God pours His love into me, that same love flows through me back to Him.
As I am loving Him back, greater revelation of His affection and beauty comes
to me, and the cycle just gets richer and richer. Just like anyone else, I am
a regular person, saved and kept by grace. I experience seasons of spiritual
pleasure, and then I go through times of dryness and dullness, wherein I get
mad, glad, sad, and feel all of the other human emotions.
But burnout occurs when we do not experience the pleasure of the Christian life
found in a love relationship with God. I try to be careful not to exaggerate
the intensity of such encounters with the Holy Spirit, for I don't want to encourage
you to reach for a particular experience instead of seeking after God Himself
and letting Him reveal Himself to you as an individual. This is important because
getting focused on unrealistic spiritual expectations can actually lead to feeling
condemned and discouraged, and leave you doubting whether God loves you or not.
However, feeling loved - a little bit - and feeling love for God - a little
bit - has a dramatically powerful impact upon the human spirit. I don't cry
out this message because I want to be a noble soldier for God. I'm committed
to sharing this message, to crying out the necessity of putting the first commandment
first, because I've experienced a reality that the body of Christ has within
its reach. But we must refocus our souls; we must put first things first to
realize the awesome spiritual pleasures of walking in a love relationship with
Christ.
Living by Love
His embraces have staying power in our lives. Even the remembrance of His past
embraces holds me steady when I go for weeks or months at a time without a fresh
encounter of His love. In dry times, when the heavens feel like brass, I remember
the seasons when I have felt his embrace. The memory of the splendor and pleasure
of past intimacy with Jesus keeps me going. Admittedly, I do not like dry seasons,
and I resist them. But after awhile, I realize that my dry seasons can help
me grow. I recognize that dryness is used by God to strengthen me for the future.
In His love and tender mercy, God has shown me that along with needing His embrace,
I also need times of dryness. I need both of these to mature properly.
Living by love and finding strength in God's embrace will revolutionize your
Christian life, for people who are in love quit a lot less then people who are
not in love. When a person is in love, he simply does not give up nearly as
easily. Being in love will prop us up and strengthen us when we're tempted to
let go. Are you a lover first, or a worker? The way in which you order your
life relative to these two commandments makes all the difference in the world.
Being a Lover Reduces Temptation
Being a lover of God not only reduces burnout, it also reduces temptation. This
is because satisfied people sin less. Much of the sin in the body of Christ
is a wrong response to pain, fear, and the need for comfort. Sin is a false
comfort that people use as a prop to get then through seasons of pain. Many
people get into sin because they feel beaten up and abandoned by God and men.
Even though they are not truly abandoned, they feel as if they are. So they
reach out for immediate comfort in status, financial gain, or wrong expressions
of sexuality. Although they are not sinless, spiritually satisfied people do
sin less.
Being a Lover Reduces Strife
Happy people also fight less. I get beaten up by rejection and criticism just
as everybody else does. I even get beaten up by believers who say false and
evil things about me. These attacks come from people close to me and also from
people whom I have never even met.
I do not always respond positively to such attacks, even when I am in a season
in which I am sensing the communion of the Holy Spirit. But when I have that
little bit of happiness that comes from feeling the embrace of God I fight people
a whole lot less! It reminds me of how I felt when I first met my wife. I was
so lovesick with infatuation that if some guy had stolen my car, I would have
said, "You can have my car. And here, do you want my wallet, too?" Satisfied
people just fight less.
The body of Christ simply will not function properly until the first commandment
is where it is supposed to be, in first place. This is absolutely imperative
to the health of the body of Christ. I appreciate people whose number one drive
is the Great Commission and relationships. But I also know that until being
a lover of God becomes their first priority, they will burn out, be tempted,
and become entangled in strife.
Driven by Love
The apostle Paul said, "The love of Christ constraineth us" (2 Cor. 5:14). The
word constrain means "to grip tightly." Paul was motivated by Christ's love
working in him and through him. God's love became a driving force in all he
did. It is the very power of living in godliness. I encourage people to focus
on enjoying God more, not trying harder to overcome sin.
Many people are driven by fear instead of by affection for God. In fact, I often
recognize fear in many of my friends. I even see it in my own heart at times.
When fear comes, we must respond by throwing ourselves into the first commandment.
I become far more stable in the second commandment and the Great Commission
when the first commandment is first in my life. The wonder, freedom, power,
and pleasure of this is within the reach of every Christian, because it is the
work of the Holy Spirit in the human spirit.
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Onething Young Adult Gathering
28-31st December 2003, Kansas City
Featuring:
- Delirious?
- Charlie Hall
- Jason Upton
- Mike Bickle
- Lou Engle
See www.fotb.com or call 816.763.0200 to register.
Today, across the world, God is orchestrating a young adult movement
of worshipers that will embrace radical lifestyles and see a great harvest of
souls. This movement will be a "people of Onething." Mary of Bethany sat earnestly
at the feet of Jesus to hear His word and from that place of devotion she impacted
the lives of many around her. Jesus said of her, "one thing is needed, and Mary
has chosen that good part" (Lk. 10:42). In that same spirit King David said,
"one thing I have desired... to behold the beauty of the LORD" (Ps. 27:4). He
too impacted many thousands of lives because of his intimate walk with God.
In the same way during this gathering, we will be offering ourselves to God
in passionate worship and prophetic music. Come and experience night and day
extravagant worship as we encounter God together. The premise of this conference
is that God would raise up 'forerunners' of the gospel of Christ before His
second coming, men and women who will truly hear the voice of God and prepare
the way like John the Baptist did.
We are living in strategic times. Great revival is coming along with God's judgments,
which will shake everything. God is looking for young forerunners who will live
with reckless abandon and fearless devotion to Him. Young adults today are crying
out, "Yes, we will do the extreme thing for God. We will pay the price. We will
live holy, counter-culture lives." Many have endured much pain, rejection and
loneliness, being greatly misunderstood; yet they are being prepared in the
secret place of intimacy for a supernatural release. They are responding to
God by embracing lives of prayer and fasting. They are weak in themselves, but
will be strong in Him.
This year's gathering promises to be the best yet with worship from Jason Upton,
Charlie Hall, Delirious? and many from the International House of Prayer in
Kansas City. Come and be strengthened with others and equipped to walk out the
first and second commandment with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.
The Holy Spirit pours out God's very affection into the human heart regardless
of our personality type or history of bondage, regardless of where we've been
wounded or how we've been broken. It's a supernatural activity that transcends
the human condition.
As Paul says, "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been
poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:5).
As we position our souls to make the first commandment first, we will be lovers
before we are workers. We will be worshipers before we are warriors. Through
Christ's loving embrace, He will show us that we are to be a bride before we
are an army.
To donate by regular mail, use this
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The Elijah List
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that you keep Elijah List website, email contact info, and author contact information
intact. Thank you and blessings, Steve Shultz, Publisher, The Elijah List
http://www.elijahlist.com
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Growing
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