Mercy. I do!
Y'all... the Enemy (aka: Satan, the devil, the serpent, the great deceiver) knows his time is growing short and his is ramping up his game now, more than ever before, with no other mission and objective than to "steal, kill & destroy" (John 10:10) our lives and I for one am over it!
As a believer in Jesus Christ, I know the end result of this battle – the One who is Faithful and True and who wears the “Victor’s crown”! (John 16:33)
I hear talk about revival & have personally been asking God for revival in our land that we would see a movement of God in my lifetime, but goodness gracious it has to start in ME... in US as believers!! We must move to a place where we see things through the lens of an eternal perspective... "not what is seen but what is unseen" (2 Cor. 4:18)! That this “struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph. 6:12)
We must self-examine our own lives, motives, leadership, how we see people, how we treat people, how we love people and most importantly what we are doing with the life-saving, hope-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ! This self-examination has to start within… not pointing blame or casting stones at other people or other believers, gag!
If we call ourselves "Christians" that means "little Christ" --- and I for one know I have a long way to go but goodness, I pray that I at least look more like him today than I did yesterday!! God for bid, that my heart and soul wouldn’t been so deceived and blinded to think that I am living Righteous, and doing all "the right things", and yet have Jesus look at me and say "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." (Luke 6:45) -- "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught." (Matthew 15:8/Isaiah 29:13) Or to be apart of a majority of Christians today that could hear the words “depart from Me, I never KNEW you!” (Matthew 7:23)
Tragedy! That is not me, I want nothing to do with that kind of life, nor that kind of “religion” or lukewarm faith (Rev. 3:16).
I want my life to count for the Gospel, to have Faith, BIG faith in my God, who is all powerful, all knowing, unconditionally loving, my Living water, my Daily Bread, my Hope, my Rock, my Savior and my Friend! A Faith that is LIVED OUT and is GENUINE, AUTHENTIC, PASSIONATE, REAL, TRUE, and ZEALOUS for my Jesus and His Word.
As I look around and hear daily of things in the media happening in our world and where Christian leaders are even tied to the daily “media drama” on social media or the news, or I hear of friends who serve the church in full time ministry that are struggling, the devastation and natural disasters that seem to be happening daily all around the world, the election that has every one up in arms and in a tizzy about the future, the marriages that are failing, homes being ripped apart, children that are prodigals - running from God, the hatred and racism that has plagued our country, the death and grief experienced first hand to many that I love and are close to that will never make sense this side of Heaven, the corruption, greed, pride & manipulation masked by “righteousness” and I HAVE to pause and remind myself that this is NOT MY HOME.
My soul longs for a heavenly place. To be with my Jesus. Where there will be no more pain, no more hate, no more weeping, no sickness, no death, no more presidential elections or race riots, no more divorce, or abortions, no more heartache or grief. (Revelation 21)
Yet, in the mean time, God still has me here. To be a Light. To make a difference. To spread the Good News that changes lives, restores marriages, heals the deepest wounds, offers forgiveness and reconciliation, gives hope when life feels hopeless, lifts the darkness of fear and anxiety, and one that sees the captives SET FREE! (Luke 4:18) And may we run our race of this life well, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Even as sit here writing this, a Jehovah’s Witness couple came to my door inviting me to their church and had a moment, to love them, not to argue or condemn them for their beliefs but to take hold of the moment not to hide in the other room and await them to walk away from my front door, but to answer the door with a smile, love and the hope I have and tell them about my Jesus. Now I pray that a seed of Truth was planted in that conversation and that they saw and heard something different about me and the way I live my life because of who my Faith is in. He is “the Way, the Truth, & the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Him” (John 14:6)
You see this Enemy, this very real enemy that we have that we are warned about in scripture by Jesus himself in John 10:10 – “The thief comes to steal, kill & destroy --- BUT…. I have come that YOU may have LIFE and have it ABUNDANTLY!!!” He hates us. Deceives us. Tricks us. Lies to us. And ultimately wants to destroy us.
But my Jesus… gave His very life so that we can be set free, forgiven of our sins and through surrender to Him can spend eternity in a real place called heaven with Him. (Romans 3:22-23, 6:6-7, 6:23, Romans 8:1-2, Romans 10:9-13)
This isn’t a fairytale or a story from a story book… No, far from it.
THIS is freedom!
This is the Gospel.
This love COMPELS me… and should COMPEL all of us who have surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ to live and look DIFFERENTLY than those without it.
“Oh God, begin in me. Kindle a fire in my heart and my soul for people. That I would love and see people the way you do. And oh, how I long for the day when we’re all Home with You!”
Revelation 21
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.[a] 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children."
