In my devotional time this morning I had one of those..."wow, this is profound" kind of moments. Occasionally I will get out Oswald Chambers devotional called, "My Utmost for His Highest". Todays devotion was titled, "The Absoluteness of Christ". In the devo Chambers says, "The type of Christian experience in the NT is that of personal passionate devotion to the person of Jesus Christ."
So here's the deal. I had to think about my life and how devoted am I to passionately pursue Jesus Christ himself vs just trying to be more pious and act all good and religious. I have to say that at times it's all about just trying to act nice, to be considerate, to be good. But here's the difference. When we passionately pursue our relationship with Jesus Christ and are filled with the power of His Spirit, the Kingdom of God comes and transforms us from the inside out.
I admit that I know this. But it was like the HS was reminding me to not stray off course. To not get caught up into being a good and nice Pastor. But to be a man that humbly and passionately pursues a vital relationship with Jesus. And the beauty of life in the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom comes and exists within me. Then Jesus reveals himself through me! Let Jesus be glorified in all of us through His Kingdom in us! yeah, this is awesome!!
4 comments:
I rented the movie “Amazing Grace” during Thanksgiving weekend. The movie was about William Wilberforce, a devout Christian, who fought tirelessly to end slavery in England. He was portrayed as a passionate man.
The dictionary states that “passion usually implies a strong emotion that has an overpowering or compelling effect.” OK . . . but what makes a person passionate when others are not?
I want to be passionate for God. I want to be passionate for the things He is passionate about. To be compelled to pray, to seek His face, to hear what is on His heart . . . to have my heart beat in unison with His heart . . . to dream His dreams . . . to make a difference both now and for eternity.
I guess you can tell the movie had quite an affect on me. I love stories that inspire. The one question I am asking myself is . . . how am I going to spend the remaining years of my life? I pray it is with God-like passion!
As shown in the life of William Wilberforce, passion compels us to press on into whatever we're pursing. I do believe the closer we allow the Holy Spirit to touch us, the more probable our passion will show itself. The power of His presence (His Kingdom revealed) ignites passion in me that I will not stuff down. I know I'm not a pastor like you, Pastor Kirk, but I do influence people I touch. My heart's desire is to leave them with a little more of the Kingdom than they had before I came. (Hope that makes sense . . .)
I'm with you, Kirk, on the relationship thing. It is very settling to take a deep breath and know I can just "hang out" with Jesus. It's always good to be reminded of this! Thank you!
Well, I also wanted to tell you, Kirk, that my husband and I are very thankful for you! We love the way you talk about the power of the Holy Spirit and have people come up and be prayed for. Both of us were wonderfully delivered by God's very tangible power, through words of knowledge and laying on of hands and prayer, and just the powerful presence of God. So it's so good for us to see that others are having this experience, too. I know God is able to do amazing things!
Thanks again!
Paulette . . . I completely agree with you about the things God is up to among us! Just to tag a little more on to what you mentioned . . . I know as an ongoing experience, I enjoy the things you described. God is at work in our lives and having others pray with us along the way creates such a sense of community. I am praying that people will not see coming to the front to have someone pray for them as a one time experience. Everyone is welcome. . . at any time!
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