Physical versus Spiritual Fitness

               As I was working out this afternoon I asked God to speak something to me that I could blog about. Ironically He began to speak to me about the parallelism between physically working out and spiritually working out. I do not consider myself a fitness guru although I have been around fitness for about 9 years. I have worked in plenty of gyms, and at times I was considered a gym rat. I am also not a spiritual guru either. All I know is what my Father tells me (John 5:19).

                God first began to speak to me about the breaking down of muscle in our bodies with each exercise that we do. With each lift of a dumbbell the muscle in our arms begin to tear away and break down. With each lift the muscle becomes more weak leading to muscular fatigue. It doesn’t matter how many reps you do or the weight it is the form in which you do it and the drive that you have to do it that matters. When working out I like to push myself to limit that my body will allow me to go. It is no different with me in the Spiritual realm. When I first started working out I could only rep 135 on bench press, but through time, hard work, and dedication I progressed to 165 with 20lb resistance bands. We may start out in prayer at first with just about 5 minutes a day, but as time progresses and you began to grow that spiritual muscle the time in prayer will increase. At the start point of working out again I get fatigued quicker than I usually did when I was working out more recently and this is due to my lack of endurance. As a runner I started off running a mile here and there, and after much training and building endurance I was able to run over 14 miles without ceasing. In Hebrews 12:1 talks about letting us run the race with endurance. Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:27 speaks of buffeting his body into submission. We all have a starting point with God and I am not saying that he cannot take you to a place of the same knowledge as Paul in an instant, but most of the time it takes the progression and patience of building endurance. If I would have tried to start out running 14 miles the first day I decided to run I would have probably hurt myself and would have more than likely failed in such a lofty goal. I have injured myself running by pushing my body too far for where my endurance was at. Even though I reached the goal of where I wanted to go I hurt myself in the process. This is the same in the Spirit. When we try to do things that are not in our spiritual endurance we can possibly injure ourselves or others. This could be seen in maybe cutting people down with the Word instead of exhorting them, or even stepping out in the ministry too soon only to have people around you wound and tear you down. I have seen and experienced both of these situations happen. When you get injured it takes time to heal before you are able to start training for the race again, and it is frustrating to have to put something off which you long to accomplish. In 2 Corinthians 13:9 Paul states that when we are weak He is strong. Just when we are working out and weakening our muscles we are doing so that in full knowledge that they will rebuild and grow stronger. Many of us have trouble weakening ourselves before the Lord and allowing ourselves to fully trust Him and to be our strength. Like building our physical bodies our spiritual bodies show growth over time and with progress. Nobody walks into a gym that has never worked out and walks out with a perfect physique. We are in a society of instant gratification and that affects our drive and effort to accomplish anything. In working out people take supplements, steroids, and fat burners that in effect destroy your body but show results on the outside. People want the same thing in the Spirit. Nobody wants to work for what they get anymore. Building your spiritual muscle takes time. You build this muscle by spending time with God, and building a relationship with Him. He then in turn begins to weed out all the impurities of your heart, and shows you things (Revelation 4:1) that help strengthen you.

                I like to have a healthy diet. Do I do it all the time? No, but I try my best to put the best things into my body that sustains all the hard work that I do to get it in shape.  To build muscle it is no secret that you must intake good sources of protein whether it be fish, shakes, peanut butter, or turkey to name a few. Having a body that is in shape does not only require working out, but proper diet as well. This is also no different than with our spiritual bodies. In John 6:54 Jesus stated that whoever eats of His flesh and drinks of His blood will be raised up in the last day. I had read this scripture last night and really laughed at such a statement, because I am sure the ones He spoke it to thought He was mad. They probably wondered why the heck am I going to eat Your flesh and drink Your blood. I love how Jesus challenged people’s minds and did so by making no sense in the natural, but caused them to pursue the knowledge of God instead of man. Concerning physical fitness the flesh would be meat or protein and the blood would be water. To gain the optimal results with physical fitness you need to eat healthy protein and fats, and cut all sugary drink and stick to water. In the Spirit the flesh is His Word and the blood is His presence. If we along with weakening ourselves dive into the Word, and spend time in His presence our Spirit man becomes fit for ministry. Psalms 34:8 says to taste and see that the Lord is good. We are to intake His Word as food for our Spirit to feed our Spirit and to drink of His presence so that it does not become parched. When we are focused on the excellent things or food of God we begin to forget the bad things that we used to consume.  As I cut my sugar and fatty foods that I used to love to eat and got more focused on eating healthy and working out I began to lose my desire for those things that brought my body toxins. The closer we get to God and the more we hunger and thirst for more of Him (Matthew 5:6) the less we are interested in the same pleasures we used to indulge ourselves in that kept us from knowing God. The closer you get to God the less the good things of this world mean to you. In good things I am not necessarily saying that they are sinful things, but that they defer the anointing and do not draw you closer to Him. There are times when I indulge myself in permissible pleasures as a time of leisure, but shortly I realize that it doesn’t satisfy my Spirit like time with Him does. The same goes with my eating habits. At times I allow myself to delve into a plate of friend chicken or something else that is not good for my body, but then realize afterward that it does not satisfy my body or make it feel any better. In fact, in doing so I realize it makes my body feel worse. There are people that I know that look to be in excellent physical shape or are skinny, but the garbage that they put in their body is in turn ruining the inside of their bodies. The people in the fitness world believe it or not are some of the unhealthiest people you will ever meet. I know this by firsthand experience. Some of the people in gyms do more cocaine, drink more alcohol, smoke more cigarettes, and eat more fried food then the people working hard to change their bodies. The outside of a man is not what God sees, because He only sees a person’s heart (Luke 12:34). You can look good on the outside, but have clogged arteries, high blood pressure, and diabetes on the inside. The people in the church sometimes try so hard to save face to show everyone how holy they are by showing up on Sunday, but when they leave they are worse than most of the nonbelievers. This is why most people hate Christians, because like personal trainers we are the biggest hypocrites in the world. We want to flex the muscles on the outside, but show nobody the fat dying blob of a spirit on the inside. It matters not to me what people are showing me what they are doing on the outside, because it is what is in your heart that God really cares about. You can go to church every day and read the Word, but if you have no revelation of Word or no intimate relationship with God your heart is not changed. It is time to get out of a religious mindset of showing how great you are by your head knowledge and your big outward muscle, and it is an hour to learn meekness from Jesus and learn how to build your spiritual muscle through intimacy with Christ.

The Heartbeat of Christ

         There is only one man recorded in the Word that had the liberty to hear the very heartbeat of Christ Himself. The man that was granted such an amazing experience was one of His disciples, John the Beloved.  Now take a moment to really think about how this looked? Why he did it? What did others think when he did it? What did he hear? How did Jesus feel when John laid his head humbly on His chest? In modern society just the very thought or sight of a man laying his head on another’s chest to hear His heartbeat would make most cringe with uncomforting feelings . Society has perverted the very beauty of such a thing that occurred. Wouldn’t you jump at the chance to lay your ear upon Christ’s chest? John was so in love with Christ that he longed to hear the very rhythm of the center of Christ that pumped life throughout His body. Just image how it would be to hear the very heart that was pumping out the blood that was poured out for our salvation. The very thought of being privileged to experience the sound of His heartbeat makes me tingle with excitement and filled with overwhelming love all in the same moment.  I fight back tears even as I write this thinking of the incremental thumps against my ear of the heart of the very One who loves me more than life itself. When I close my eyes I can go to that very scene at the dinner table and instead of John it is I that is lying on His chest.  I can feel His chest rise up in down with each breath.  I can hear the soft breeze of air pour from His nostrils as I get in that place of intimacy with him. I can sense nobody’s eyes on me except for the pair that matter, as they burn with desire for me. Sorry I was getting so drawn in by this reality I had to stop writing for a moment because, this was becoming so very real to me as if I was inscribed in the very pages of this story. I believe John heard what any of us would hear when we hear the heartbeat of a human, just a beautiful rhythm that beats with a melody. I am sure it meant more to John than just a rhythm, but the fact that he loved Jesus so much that he longed to hear His heart. I can tell you that as I got lost in the visual journey of this story His heartbeat seemed to pour out an ever enthralling love. When my head hit His chest I was overtaken by His love and manifest presence. I could feel Him in the very room. It was like He was sitting on the bed right next to me as I am writing this. I am sure Jesus was overwhelmed that one of His disciples loved Him enough to humble himself before others just to show affection to the Savior of all. He was probably so captivated by John at that moment knowing that at one time He would get to be the Bridegroom to the Bride.  His eyes were probably burning then as they are today. Jesus’s eyes burn like fire (Revelation 1:14) with a burning passion of desire for us, yearning to have an intimate and holy union with us. I know that when I allowed myself to imagine this story and to make it personal that He was just a pleased with me laying my head on His chest as He was with John the Beloved. I can see His countenance of joy and delight as I long to hear His beat with a love song. The other disciples may have not understood why John did such a thing and possibly judged him for doing so. They may have even scoffed at such an antic, and mocked him amongst each other. I am sure that some that read this will mock the very idea of me placing myself in John’s shoes, and allowing myself to get lost in such visualization. Persecution cannot bother me as long as I am in the love place with Christ. The only way others can affect me is when I allow my head to be removed from the very bosom of Christ, and start to listen to the cluttered heartbeat of the world. We have the very opportunity to hear the heartbeat of Christ everyday as it beats a melody not only in our heart, but in our spirit as well.  Since Christ dwells within us so does His very heartbeat (Colossians 1:17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist). If we allow ourselves to tap into the reality that we are Christ in the spirit as we are ourselves in the flesh we would be able to tap into His very heart, thoughts, desires, dreams, and words.

John 13:23-26

23 Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.

Leaning-Intensely/To lie outstretched/Commit/Kneel Down/ Purpose/Abide/Covenant

Bosom-Creek (Which water flows) (He laid himself on the place that love flowed from)

Creek- A natural stream of water smaller than a river (and often a tributary of a river)

Loved-To breath after/ To Befriend/Desire/Delight in/To take for oneself/Passion/Fierceness/ Have affection for

         When John leaned His head of Jesus’ bosom he did it with intensity for love for Him. John had the revelation of burning desire of love for Jesus as He did for John. John saw Jesus as the Bridegroom and him as the Bride. He outstretched himself before Jesus in full surrender and humbled himself before Him. He committed his life and love to Christ. He purposed in His heart to love Him. He made the decision to abide in Him and in doing so allowed Christ to abide in him as well. There was a unifying of the marriage through the simple act of longing to hear His heartbeat. In that moment Christ made a covenant with Him. John received the promises of God at this moment.

         John laid His head on His bosom or creek where His love and blood flowed from. John wanted to hear where His covenant and love came from. He was listening to God’s very Word by just hearing His heartbeat.  Out of the center of his very being is where the living Word is. In the flesh John got to hear the heartbeat of Christ, but in the Spirit he heard the living Word, the testimony of Christ, and the life source to all humanity. His heart beats as a melodic song of love for each of us.

         In turn Jesus panted after John. John was a friend of the Bridegroom at this moment. Jesus desired to be with John, He delighted in Him, He took John for Himself only, He had a burning passion with great fierceness for John, and had much affection for Him. When we give ourselves to Christ He does everything He did with John with us. He longs for us to be His friend, and the only one in His heart. He burns for us with passion and fierceness. He is a jealous God of love.

24 Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke.

         I think it was interesting that they asked John the one who laid His head on Jesus’ chest who was the one who was going to betray Him. They did not directly ask Jesus Himself, but had the one who was in the intimate place with God ask Him the question.  They asked John, because He was a friend of the Bridegroom at that moment. John came into covenant with God when he lay prostrate on His heart.  When we subject ourselves to get in the place of hearing God’s heartbeat people are drawn to the passion that you have for God. Often they grow inquisitive and want to know what God has been telling you.  The more knowledge you have of God, and the closer your relationship grows in Him the more opportunity you have to mentor. Each step closer to God comes more responsibility not only for the fact that you are held accountable for what you know, but the fact that now there are people that you can hold accountable.

25 Then, leaning back on Jesus' breast, he said to Him, "Lord, who is it?"

Breast- It means the same thing that leaning meant in verse 23. Tithimi in Jewish.  Intensely/To lie outstretched/Commit/Kneel Down/ Purpose/Abide/Covenant

         Jesus always answers us when we ask Him a question, because of His burning passion for us. John laid his head back down on His heart and asked God the question in the secret place with Him. He reminded Jesus of His covenant with him when he leaned his head back on His bosom. He was like remember the covenant You made with us out of the place of love. John was asking what was on His heart. He wanted to know what He knew, and feel what He felt.  Since He abided in John and John in Him, John used his Spirit man to ask God who would betray Him. This is the perfect picture of the Bride and Bridegroom experience. We are to abide in each other in unity, and communicate to each other. John asks the question and Jesus answers. Jesus keeps the covenant that He has with John and John keeps the covenant that he has with Jesus. This is astounding that John understood the covenant with Christ and the reality of Him, and walked as a friend of the Bridegroom even before Christ died.

26 Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it." And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.

                It is an hour that we become as John the Beloved, and lay ourselves prostrate on His chest to hear what God is speaking. We should not come to Him just to get an answer, but come to Him because of our love for Him. Yes, God will answer you if you simply ask, but how close would you get to someone that was too busy asking questions and never took the time to listen.  Allow yourselves to be in a quiet place with God listening to what He has to speak to your heart. Humble yourselves and make the time you spend with God all about Him and not all about you. I promise you that in doing so that not only will your questions be answered, but you will go into a deeper realm of love with Him. Psalms 46:10 says to be still and know that I am God. If you go to Him to hear His heartbeat instead of going with a list of wants a deeper relationship of intimacy will begin to take root. This is something that happens over much time and practice. I have been for the past few weeks incorporating times of prayer with being still and listening to what He has to say. At first I did not hear His voice, but after a week or so in doing this I have had more visions, dreams, and words from God in a shorter period of time than ever before.  I have also increased my time of praying in the spirit which has helped me communicate with God Spirit to spirit. I pray that at some point that my heartbeat and His heartbeat beat simultaneously in perfect unison. This is not to say that at times my heart and desires are the same as His, but I want to be at the point where there is a heart transplant of His heart into mine. I want to be able to feel what He feels, burn for what He burns for, dream what He dreams, and pray what He prays. A relationship with God is based on one very firm foundation, and I believe without it there can be no relationship and that one thing is love. Be encouraged that there is no one set way to communicate with God, to hear His heartbeat, to accrue His intimacy, and to develop a relationship with Him. Each person has their own way of building a relationship with God. Allow yourself to discern what works best for you, and remember no matter how much you do or don’t do God will always be speaking to you it is just a matter of if you are listening or not. Hear the heartbeat of God!

Selah!

Cultivating Intimacy With God

There are so many facets of God at times it seems as if we will never understand Him at all. What I have learned that in the love place that I am in with Him is that I need to cultivate oil with Him in order to remain in the place I am in and to move forward.  When I say cultivate oil I mean to stay in an intimate place with Him in His presence. He is the Omnipresent God and His very presence is always in the atmosphere. His presence to me is a flowing of constant love. His presence and love is there for us it is just a matter if we decide to tap ourselves into the spiritual realm to collect and acquire it. In this post I am going to discuss how to cultivate oil and why there is a need to.

Luke 10:39-42

39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.

40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me."

41 And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.

42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."

We need to learn how to slow ourselves down and make sure that we are not too busy to spend time with God. It is easy to get caught up in the business of life, and forget to sit at Jesus’s feet to hear what He has to say. We need to take time in our lives to lay our ear on His chest as John did in order to hear His heartbeat. His heart beats a melody, and at times we are out of sync with the beat that He wants us to walk to. The beat is a love place of communion with Him. His heart throbs out of a longing to have time with us where we sit and listen to what He has to say. Cultivating intimacy with Him is not about us going to Him with everything and crying out asking, “Why God? Why is the always happening to me? I need Your help.” Yes, it is not wrong to go to Him, but we need to learn a balance of talking and listening. Martha was mad because she was doing all this work and still was unable to find a resting place to hear His voice. If you are not hearing from God it may be cause by constant need to be busy, and talking instead of listening. I challenge those who read this to sit in be quite and for about 15 minutes a day and see if you do not hear from God. He is always speaking. It may not be in the loud thundering voice like we all want, but in the Word it also says that He speaks in a small still and quiet voice (1 Kings 19:12).

Psalms 46:10

10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Be still-Consume/Heal

Know- familiar friend

I am only focusing on the beginning of this scripture where God says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” To be still means to consume and to know means a familiar friend. Basically what God is saying is that we need to relax and consume Him, and understand that we friends of the Bridegroom. I have a very hard time sitting still, because I am a very social and active person. I am learning how to sit still and hear His voice. Through the few weeks that I have practiced this He has given me dreams and visions, and I have learned how to hear His voice more clearly. The act of consuming means to engage yourself fully in something. When we are quiet and listening to Him we are fully engaged in conversation of the spirit. Being quiet with God is one of the most intimate places you can ever be at. It is said that when you are comfortable and know somebody you can spend time with them without saying a word. The same goes for God. Maybe we are so uncomfortable with God that we must spend all of our time with Him talking, because we are afraid of what He might say. He is a loving God, and everything He has told me has been for the better for my life. He wants us to succeed and flourish as Brides. He wants us and burns for us to dwell in an intimate place with Him.

Matthew 25:1-13

25 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,

4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

6 "And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!'

7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

8 And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'

9 But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.'

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

11 "Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!'

12 But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.'

13 "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

A quick breakdown of what each thing and character are in this parable is the following:

Oil-Intimacy with God

Lamp- Our ministry or life

Virgins-The Brides or church

Bridegroom-Christ

If you notice the virgins that took no oil with them were considered foolish and were not allowed to the wedding. The wise virgins that brought the oil with them were allowed to the wedding, because Jesus the Bridegroom knew them intimately. Many people try to pursue their ministries before they pursue an intimate place with God which causes them to burn out and grow weary. Those who cultivate intimacy with Him are able to keep their ministries burning, because of the love place that they are in with Him. When Christ comes back for the wedding I do not want to be like one of the foolish virgins and not get let in the first day of the wedding, because of my lack of intimacy with God. This is not to say that the foolish virgins did not get to go to the wedding, but as Jewish custom is only the closest family gets to come to the first day of the wedding out of the seven days. These foolish virgins did not lose their salvation, or get rejected from the love of God. They just did not know God as closely as the wise virgins did, because they took the time to sit at His feet, to be still and know His voice, and took time in prayer and worship to pursue the knowledge of who He is. I got something about the oil from one of Mike Bickle’s teachings and it is pasted below. In fact many of the things about the Bridegroom that I have learned has come from some of his notes.

1. It tenderizes our heart, enabling us to feel more of God’s desire for us.

2. It enlarges our desire for Him by encountering His desire for us.

3. It illuminates our understanding with revelation of God’s beauty.

4. It imparts zeal for righteousness, which helps us in our struggle with besetting sins.

Intimacy with God does so much for our walk with God it really is one of the most important things to gain as we grow in Him. We can cultivate is through prayer, fasting, worship, reading His Word, meditating on His Word, or even simply saying “I Love You”.  There is no formula to creating intimacy with God, or how to pursue Him, it is really all about a relationship. Building a relationship with God allows you to get to know Him intimately. Each of us is going to know God differently, and see different facets of Him. I urge you in your desire for more of God. Keep digging and tapping in to all the wonderful beauty that He is. Allow yourselves to be overtaken by zeal for your love for Him and I promise you that He has even more zeal for you. He is the Bridegroom and we are His Brides. His eyes burn of fire to meet us in the intimate place, so that He can speak He love into your spiritual ears. I constantly remind God how much I love Him and how much He means to me. I thank the Holy Spirit for being my teacher, abiding in me, communicating what God is saying, and breathing fresh revelation and power into my spirit. Find your own ways of being intimate with God, and I promise you that you will in Him to a deeper level.  Be encouraged this relationship of Bride and Bridegroom is not only for me, but is for us all.

Seek His Face

                I haven’t written anything in what seems like an eternity since I am used to writing daily in a journal that I keep on the side of my bed. It isn’t like a dear diary type journal, but a journal filled with notes and revelation that God has poured out to me daily and here and there a song.  At the beginning of January God had spoken to me about what the year was to be and how it was going to unfold. I was glad He said something because I have growing ever frustrated with the stagnant flow of the day to day grind. I felt as if I was pushing and pushing and nothing was ever going to come to fruition. One thing He spoke to me was “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10). Anybody that knows me knows that I do not sit still very often. In fact I have quite a difficult time doing so. Last Sunday at church that very same word was confirmed to me by Lavonne when she said that God told us to “Be still and know that I am God.” God was saying that this is an hour of rest, your promises I have given you are at hand and now it is time to relax and seek and touch my face.

                I understand the phrase, “Seek my face”, but I at times are confused on how to do so. I begin to read and dig to find the meaning of this face seeking. My favorite version of this scripture is in the amplified.

Psalms 27:8

8 You have said, Seek My face [inquire for and require My presence as your vital need]. My heart says to You, Your face (Your presence), Lord, will I seek, inquire for, and require [of necessity and on the authority of Your Word].

To seek is to desire and to strive for. In Psalms 27:4 David states that he has one thing that he desires of the Lord that he will seek, so that he can dwell in His house all the days of his life, so that he can gaze at His beauty, and inquire His temple.  When God told me to seek His face He was saying to desire to be with me more than you ever have. He is asking me to go into the secret place with Him. Any time you hang out with God He does not always want you to sit there and pray and worship Him. Sometimes He just wants you to sit there and just merely spend time with Him. You do not have to say anything or you can converse with like you would anyone else. This is an hour that we need to get a personal relationship with God. We as humans have times where we feel lonely and that we have nobody, but ever since I have built a relationship with God I never feel alone. God is Omnipresent, which means He is everywhere all the time. A. W. Tozer stated, “Our pursuit of God is successful just because He is forever seeking to manifest Himself in us.” He just wants to be with us and to manifest His presence in us. He delights in spending time with us, and showing us love and mercy. He is a God of passion and He sees us with eyes of fire burning with love for his Bride.

                I am trying to teach myself to sit and be still so that I can hear the voice of God speak to me clearly so that I can obey Him promptly. There is no worse feeling than having heard the Voice of God and not respond to it in proper timing, or hearing His Voice and not doing what it said to do. We need to sit silently so that we can discern what His Voice is and what is ours. We need to begin to cut the distractions in our lives whatever that may be, and get in tune with what our Spirit is trying to tell us. Our spirit man is always in direct connection with what God is speaking, and God always has something to say it is a matter if we are listening or not. In the beginning God spoke the world into existence. The entire world was formed by the words from God’s mouth. As A.W. Tozer states, “A word is a medium by which thoughts are expressed, and the application of term to the Eternal Son leads us to believe that self-expression is inherent in the Godhead, that God is forever seeking to speak Himself out to His creation. The whole Bible supports the idea. God is speaking. Not God spoke, but God is speaking.” I love how he states that, “Not God spoke, but God is speaking.” God is constantly speaking to us through the Holy Spirit who is constantly listening as a messenger of God. The Holy Spirit lives within us and it is up to us to get in tune with what our Spirit is telling us from a direct line from the throne of God.

                 I was at a wedding this past weekend and I have really been seeking God, and trying to gain as much revelation as I can on the Bridegroom reality. I want to see Him as the Bridegroom more clearly so that I can understand the degree to which He loves me, and how He judges us out of a place of that love. As I was sitting in my chair as the wedding began God told me to watch the Bridegroom’s reaction as his Bride walked in. The Bridegroom’s whole facial expression changed when he looked upon his Bride’s face. His facial expression oozed with joy, passionate love and desire, and a longing for her to be by his side with each step. God clearly spoke to me and said, “Each step that you take closer to Me, My passion, love, joy, and desire grow ever intensely.” I was overwhelmed by the feeling of love not just for the fact that I was at a wedding, but for the fact that God spoke to me and gave me revelation at the wedding which I had asked for Him to do earlier in the morning. His eyes are always fixated on us with a burning desire for closeness with Him. He wants to have a personal relationship with us all. I encourage each and every person reading this blog to seek His face, and to pursue a personal relationship with Him. Allow the Bible to be Your foundation of understanding who God is. I highly recommend each person to read the book by A.W. Tozer Pursuit of God. I never recommend books to people, but this book I stand firm on.

I love each and everyone of y'all from the depths of my soul.

New Year

Ah the New Year where people make goals that they usually do not to keep.  I refuse to make resolutions, because they usually only last for but a few months. I think instead of resolutions we just need to strive to make realistic changes in our lives that will help us progress. I sat outside watching the fireworks after midnight by myself on the tailgate of my dad’s truck. God really begin to speak to me about what is expected, and what is to come for this year.  He told me that this year was going to be the end of a transition, and develop into a year of harvest, that there is going to be a major increase in my life not only financially, but spiritually as well, and that He needs to me to narrow my path with Him a bit more in order to do what He has called me to do.

Matthew 7:14

14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

I studied out this scripture with formal definitions, and in the Greek in Hebrew meanings and what God showed me out of this is this; I need to take me place of a narrow minded walk with Him that lacks tolerance or flexibility with things that are not of Him, that I need to focus more on Him with painstaking care and detailed examination. I do not have this focus my gradual improvement, my growth and development, and my movement forward with Him will be ever more difficult. He wants my focus so that I am not distracted by other things the appeal to my senses.  When I attain these things I am putting my flesh to death to achieve a total connection of soul, mind, and body with Him. All three aspects of my human and spiritual self will be in perfect unity with what He has for me. This is my season to come into possession of this narrow path that I am to walk.

                I am not one to sit here and ramble off a bunch of promises that I will do in the future, but I will say that I will strive for this narrow path using God as my only strength. I am working on making my will and flesh as feeble as I can in order to allow Him to take over, so that His will may be done. I am sick of people making all of these declarations of what they are going to do in the Christian walk only to see them drudge through the same stagnant routine. It is great to make these declarations, but if you refuse to change your ways and allow Christ to change you there will be no progress or fruition to the boast you claim. This very reason is why many people view Christians as hypocritical. Many want to do a lot of talking, and less listening to wise council or God’s voice. This is an hour to shut up, get in a secret place with God and do His will. I am not saying that you shouldn’t declare things or prophesy, but make sure you are willing to undergo a change with your declaration. I have made declarations that I have not kept myself, but God has opened my eyes to these things and I am always looking for growth for myself. It is great to go to a conference or to hear a message and get inspired, but it is what you do long after that is what matters. It is easy to have a fire for a night, but collecting the wood (Reading the Word, praying, and spending time with God) is a laboring constant job to keep that fire burning. I do not remember the address to the scripture but He says let your yes be yes, and your no be no. We need to stop making excuses for why we do or do not do things, and start taking some responsibility for ourselves. He loves us so much, and wants to take us to this narrow path with Him so that we can declare truths about Him.

                I ran five miles earlier tonight and God began speaking to me yet again. He asked me, “When you look in the mirror do you see your self-image or and image of your self?” It took a moment to really grasp what He was asking me, and I gained an understanding a little further in the run. Whether I can articulate the meaning is one thing, but I will do my best to try. What He meant by self-image is do you see what I see? Do you see a royal King, a Heir of promises, a Bride of Christ, a Love Warrior, a Mighty Man of Valor, a Voice in the wilderness, a pure heart, and a young man that is going to change this world? Or do you see who you are through your imperfect, judgmental, and skewed eyes? When we look at ourselves we need to see what He sees, and that is a perfect reflection of who He made us to be. I used to view, and at times honestly still do, myself as a failure, somebody that will never accomplish anything, and unimportant. All of these things are lies directly from the pit of hell. We need to start viewing ourselves as the finished product, the spotless Bride that we are. We are mighty, powerful, successful people. The only reason we view ourselves so incomplete is because we allow the lies of the enemy to protrude our thoughts. Remember that in 1 Corinthians 2:16 it states that we have the mind of Christ, and in having the mind of Christ we need to view ourselves as He does.

                The last thing He spoke to me while I was running was the following scripture.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27

25 Now every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts himself in all things. They do it to win a wreath that will soon wither, but we [do it to receive a crown of eternal blessedness] that cannot wither.

26 Therefore I do not run uncertainly (without definite aim). I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary.

27 But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].

                Here’s a little secret about me I love to workout and stay healthy.  I think that is why God uses sports and fitness to portray visualizations for me. Anyway through the run God brought this scripture back to my remembrance.  He wants me to train myself in Him with restrictions as of when I train with weights, and running. I would not allow myself to eat or drink certain things in order to keep my body as well fed as I could for optimal training. He wants this same determination and focus while I am training with Him daily. I need to make sure that I feed myself properly by staying in His word, and drinking of things of Him and not of this world.  He wants me to train with a purpose, so that when He has me speak the Word I am no unfit to do so as a hypocrite would. I am used to buffeting my body, and beating it into submission in the flesh and now I am doing it in the Spirit. I have a very strong mental ability to keep fighting when things get harder, a bull dog mentality so to speak. When I am running if I begin to get tired I usually run 1 or 2 more miles to fight myself. When temptation arises I need to fight it with the same mentality, and push myself closer to God. I do not want to be a person that preaches the Word to many, but when trials come in my life I do not live what I preach. I do not want to be a counterfeit to what I portray myself as. I want to be as transparent as I possibly can be in a society that is full of portrayers. Most people want others to see them as they want to be seen, but not as whom they are. In an age of sensationalism, media hype, and pride people want others to think that they are important. Listen we are all in this together and no person carries more importance than the other. We may all have different walks in life, but they are all out of love for God and others. Get real people, be yourself I beg you. You are worth it to Him. He made you the way you are, so be yourself and not somebody else. Your personality is unique and belongs solely to you.  Individuality is what makes life so amazing. He took the time to make all of us different and we all want to be the same. 

                I love each and everyone one of y’all from the depths of my heart. Take the beginning of this year to hear from God, and what He has in store for you. Allow Him to create His perfect work in you, so that you can have a positive change of progression. 2012 is going to be an excellent year of harvest, and I look forward to seeing many men and women in God grow in God expediently.