Monday, June 29, 2015

The Fervent Prayer of a Righteous Child


Give me strength, Lord. Give me words to say. Fill my mouth with grace and my heart with truth. Give me Your love for everyone and keep my fire lit. May my robes be perfumed with You, that others may perceive I have been with Christ - give me courage to be an ambassador of Heaven.

Keep my feet on the straight and narrow and may lives be changed because through me, others encounter You. Help me to be discerning, that I may know right from wrong, good doctrine from bad doctrine, and proper hermeneutics.

Bring peace to my life - and if that is not Your will, give me the grace to endure.

Let nothing unsavory pass my lips, but only words that build up and edify.


Jonathan Edwards once prayed to be the one Christian in his generation who would be the most holy and Christlike:

On the supposition, that there never was to be but one individual in the world, at any one time, who was properly a complete Christian, in all respects of a right stamp, having Christianity always shining in its true luster, and appearing excellent and lovely, from whatever part and under whatever character viewed: Resolved, to act just as I would do, if I strove with all my might to be that one, who should live in my time. ~~Resolution 63

As the chiefest among sinners, I don't think I have the right to pray that prayer -- is it humble to ask for such? But in the spirit of that prayer, may I be a Christian others see Christ abiding in, and see His life flowing more abundantly through me. May I inspire others with a hunger for the same, as one match lights another.

I do not ask to be like Westley, who prayed for people to come and watch him burn - no, I want to light others on fire as well so they too may kindle hearts and minds to Your truth. But I can do none of this on my own strength - be with me, Lord Jesus, as a lily among thorns. Keep my eyes ever on You, keep my heart beating in time with Yours.

Pour out Your Spirit on this generation through the fountain of Living Water flowing from my heart and from the hearts of others like me. Teach us to worship in Spirit and Truth - teach us the path of righteousness for Your name's sake.

Illuminate Your Word to be the light unto our paths and a lamp unto our feet. Compel Your Church to return to her first love and treasure You as the pearl in the field they'd gladly sell everything for.


May Your Gospel come alive and burn in our hearts with a zeal for our God that cannot be fathomed. Keep our thoughts on what is good, and pure, and holy, and direct our focus on being Your hands and Your feet in this broken, dying world.

Raise us up to show the world true Christianity as it is meant to be: Glorifying Christ, exalting Your Word, and having beautiful feet, which brings the good news upon the mountains, publishes peace and happiness, and publishes salvation, saying unto Zion,

"Your God reigns!"

Praise the Lord! May it be, my precious Yeshua. The fervent prayer of a righteous child can accomplish much. May this little prayer of mine find others to pray the same; may You fan these flames, and exceedingly abundantly enable this prayer to accomplish above all I can ask or think among the hearts of Your people -- a wildfire of the Spirit of God!

Until we fly away to Glory, this is my prayer, in Jesus' name.

AMEN.



Wednesday, June 24, 2015

May the Engine of My Life be the Glory of God


No one understands me.
No one is as dedicated to God as I am.
No one seems to care about Him like I do.

Have you ever had similar thoughts about yourself? I've had a few ponderings on this blog about loneliness and solitude before. I've often had long thoughts about my entire life and how things have coalesced throughout my days. I don't know about you, but I see a pattern about myself. It intrigued me enough to blog about it and find out how many others, if any, might agree with me.

At one time or another, we have all felt like loners. We might have a certain hobby or interest that others don't share. Maybe depression isolates us. Perhaps we live alone. Maybe we lost someone close to us. Our parents don't understand us. Our spouses are clueless. Our friends are selfish. There are many ways to feel like a loner or an outcast. However, for a certain kind of people, this seems to be the brew that raises up many an introvert - those who thrive on their own company and feel drained by the company of others.

The Good Lord has a place for all kinds of personality types at His table, but it would seem the introverts are His closest friends. The Puritans spent many long hours pouring over the Word of God in their studies. Men like Jonathan Edwards did the same. Spurgeon spent countless hours writing, editing, studying, and reading for the Lord. Tozer and Lewis also prefered the four walls of their libraries to worldly interaction. Down through the ages, you can spot them if you know what to look for. Men and women who lock themselves away, who feel uncomfortable in social circles, and yet, despite their solitude, they end up doing amazing things for the Kingdom of God.

These are the thinkers, the ones who spend time with Jesus. And not just "some" time, but a lot of time. Most of their time. They get what Paul meant when he said "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17). Jesus is not an untouchable deity but a magnificent reality in their lives. He walks with them in the cool of the day. He is the driving force of their existence. There's something different about these people. Just being around them makes one want to be a better person. Others start guarding their mouths. In fact, some might actually become happier in their presence, and find the fog of their own reality lifts just a bit. Why is that?

All my life, I've been odd. Odd for God. Whenever I got my allowance, I went to the Christian bookstore and bought some new cassette or poster. The walls of my room were covered with Jesus. My favorite movies were The Ten Commandments and Jesus of Nazareth. I only listened to Christian music. I wore Christian t-shirts, and once drew an epic, awesome Lion of Judah on the back of my jean jacket (I still daydream about that thing). I drew crosses on my book covers and assignments. I got baptized, went to Christian concerts, and Harvest Crusades. Named most of my children with names from the Bible, and even throughout my time in the wilderness away from God, I never stopped listening to my music or praying (somewhat tepidly). Now, I have this blog, I minister on Facebook, and I've written a couple of books for Jesus. The walls of my house are still decorated with Him, and loud Christian music flows from my car windows.

But more than all of this outward Christian fluff, my heart has always been set on a singular course. The only star in my sky is the Bright and Morning Star. I have had many loves, but the Love of my life is Jesus Christ. There has been none more faithful, more peaceful, or more awe-inspiring than the One who sits upon the Throne of Grace. Without our hearts in tune with His, everything we do is vanity. It wouldn't matter how many concerts I attended or how many books I've written. If my heart isn't right with God, it isn't right.

And therein lies the conundrum for the Christian introvert. While many Christians have a right heart toward God, there are only a scant few who actively pursue Him. We beat our drums, we send up our prayers, we praise the Living God, but for whatever reason, likely His reason alone, our faith goes deeper than the superficial. We want more than praise songs, more than sermons. We want more than missions, more than Bible studies. At the heart of it all, we want to know CHRIST and Him crucified.


I have a saying that just came to me one day during my private prayer time and it was so deep, I shared it with my Facebook and Twitter followers. It reads, "May the engine of my life be the glory of God." How many Christians can actually claim that over their own lives? Is the driving force behind all you do done for GOD'S glory? Is it really? This is the essence of 1 Corinthians 10:31.

I may not have always been a shining example of Christ to the world, and those closest to me know how often I've let them down in one way or another. But it's this "otherness" toward God that I've always had, a desire to push, to know, to glorify. A need to pursue, to understand, to exemplify. I suppose the Scriptures would call this "hungering and thirsting for righteousness". This is more than claiming to be Christian and surfing the waves of salvation - this is deep-sea diving and bringing up pearls and sunken treasure. This is a willingness to plunder the depths, breadths, and heights of God in a way no one else seems to dare. Far beyond what He can give us is the drive to obtain HIM and no other.

And that brings us to the main thrust of this post, what I have been mulling over for a few days now.


We are all made righteous in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), and we are all holy in the sense that we're set apart in God, by God, and for God. But there's a handful of Christians who truly do consecrate themselves actively, not passively. God seems to grant them the grace to long for and pant after holiness, which sets themselves further apart, even from other Christians.

THIS is the golden thread woven down throughout all the days of my life. In my salvation, I was made holy, set apart in God through Christ Jesus our Lord. Throughout my sanctification, I am made holy by God and through the power of His grace. Why? For what purpose? So that I may be made holy FOR God, to be holy as He is holy.

This world is a vastly UNholy place. When true holiness takes root, people notice. It's strange, this holiness. It's laughable, terrible, and beautiful all rolled up into one. The world doesn't know what to do with holiness. So they either revere it, are speechless by it, or shun it altogether. This is why people's attitudes change when they're in the presence of holiness.

God has me on a very specific path to know Him, one that others have trod. But since we're so few and far between, we can sometimes feel alone. Brethren, you are NOT alone. You are not awkward, strange, or foolish to want more of God - you are HOLY, set apart for the Master's use. Everyone who has ever pursued God in Scripture has been on their own holy path. The prophets were alone. John the Baptist was alone. The Apostle Paul knew he was different than everyone else. I'm sure he felt alone. John the Apostle was definitely alone. And then there's Jesus - who's the holiest of any of us, and He made it a point to be alone, and not just "alone", but alone with God.

Holiness is more than doing good deeds. Often we think of it as such. But it's much more living and active than that. It's deliberately grabbing a hold of God and not letting go until He reveals Himself to you, like Jacob who wrestled with Him. You will not leave the fight unscathed. Neither did Jacob; he walked with a limp for the rest of his life. But as the Michael Card lyrics go, "Pain's the path to blessing - Love will fight us to be found". 

God calls every believer to be holy at this level. And while we are all made righteous in Christ, only a few step out of the boat. Only a few are called up to the Mount of Transfiguration. Those of us who desire to lean our heads upon Yeshua's chest are the Peters, James', and Johns of the faith. We are His inner circle. And while we may spend many hours cloistered away with Jesus and away from the world, it is arguable, brethren, that this is what is needed to change the world.

How do you be like Jesus? You spend time with Jesus. And spending time with Jesus makes you holy and set apart from all others. Embrace your holiness, therefore, and ask God for a life more abundant, and for rivers of Living Water to flow from your heart.

May others think of JESUS whenever they think of you. Be ye holy as He is holy.



Friday, June 12, 2015

Life More Abundantly - Short Study on John 10:10


Whenever John 10:10 is quoted, it's usually just the first half about Satan, or the last half about Christ. It's not often you hear the entire verse quoted together. But the Lord showed me recently in my personal study time that this Scripture is meant to reflect what Satan does compared to what the Lord does. It is meant to be read as a whole, to compare and contrast the enemy verses the Lord.

Let's break it down -

The thief does not come except to STEAL, KILL, and DESTROY.
The Lord comes that they MAY HAVE, LIFE, MORE ABUNDANTLY

The opposite of steal would be to give. When our Lord says they "may have", He's referring to the gift of His salvation. Not necessarily "will have", because some people don't become Christians. Therefore He comes that they "may have" this gift.

The opposite of kill is to give life. Christ does give life, as He IS the Life. So while the thief wants to steal and kill, the Lord has come to give the gift of Life.

The opposite of destroy is more abundantly. To destroy something is to pull it down, wreck it, demolish, obliterate, or ruin it. To have something in abundance is to have plenty of it, it is lavished upon you, bountiful, copious, and plentiful.

Notice how the words are all present tense. Kill, steal, destroy - these are ongoing, they are in the here and now. He has not "stolen, killed, and destroyed", it is what the thief continues to do. When the Lord gives His rebuttal, His words are present tense as well. May have instead of "have had". Life that's ongoing and eternal, rather than one that can be killed. And more abundantly instead of "in abundance". It assumes a continuance of the abundance - "more abundantly" - as if the abundance is an ever-flowing fountain.

The Lord gives us life, and not just life, but life more abundantly. A better life than these 70-80 years on earth. A life that continues on into eternity. A life with blessings that never end (Ephesians 1:3).

The Lord also does not say "can have life", but rather, "may have life". If you're like me, you probably had those parents or teachers in school who made you say "may I" instead of "can I" when asking a question. We CAN do a lot of things. But the real issue is MAY we do them? We do not mean to ask if we have the ability to do something, rather, we're asking if we have permission.

Here, Christ is saying we MAY have life - if we ask Him, He is willing. He allows anyone who comes to Him to have Life in His name (John 20:31).

The Lord says that He comes that "they" might have life. Who are "they"? In context of John 10, the Lord says He is the Good Shepherd. "They", therefore, are His sheep. Only His sheep may have life more abundantly. Only those who know His voice. Only those whom Christ knows and who knows Christ in return.

Also notice the wording regarding the thief - he does NOT come, except to steal, kill, destroy - while Christ says, "I HAVE COME that they may have life more abundantly". This properly outlines the agendas of each - the thief's only goal is for mayhem and destruction. He does not come for any other purpose than to tear down. The Lord's goal, however, is to give life more abundantly, to build up, and pour out blessings. Not only that, He HAS come for that exact reason, meaning, He has come for a specific purpose - to give His sheep abundant life.

These two opposing agendas also outline the motives behind each - those who hate, will kill and destroy. Those who love, shall give life and build up. Christ is showing us that He came for a purpose, to give us life - which saves us from the thief and proves His love for us. He has also given us the proper perspective to view both Him and the thief. Destruction, death, and theft are all of the Devil while blessings and the abundant life are from Christ.

One more thing about this passage - while the enemy certainly does carry out these atrocities in the world today, I believe Yeshua was being a little more abstract with His words. We gain life everlasting from our understanding of the Gospel and our eyes opening to the truth of Scripture. Once we know how to be born again, we can therefore approach the Throne of Grace. When the enemy comes to "steal, kill, and destroy", I believe the Lord subtly meant that Satan will steal our joy, kill our love, and destroy our passion for Christ if we do not guard our hearts.


Be careful, brethren. The enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 2:8). Guard your heart with your shield of faith and your breastplate of righteousness! If you are a sheep of the Good Shepherd, do not hang around with the wolves. Seek the abundant life that comes from above; seek what Christ Himself has come to give you!

Do you know Yeshua?
Does He know you?



Monday, June 1, 2015

One Day


One day I'll go to Heaven;
my perfect life begun.
One day I'll look upon the face
of God's eternal Son.

One day I'll stand in awe when
His hands shall frame my face.
One day I'll rule and reign with Him
in that wondrous place.

One day His smile will melt my heart;
my gaze for only Him.
One day His glory shall amaze;
His Light shall never dim.

One day His eyes will sparkle
like the diamonds in the sky.
One day my own reflect Him,
destined no more to cry.

One day I'll be with Jesus;
always by His side.
One day His voice will ring out, 
"My well-beloved Bride!"


© Becka Goings