Cultivate Intimacy with God

Cultivate Intimacy with God

I often advise people to work on their “vertical alignment” with God. To just go through the motions of going to church, reading the Bible, attending a home group, and hanging out with other Christians doesn’t guarantee we will mature in our faith. God will bring us into progressively deeper intimacy as we seek him daily.

It’s critical to cultivate personal intimacy with God because his presence is what empowers us, anoints us and keeps our hearts aligned with his heart. Seeking God is a life-long commitment.

As I wrote in Take Charge of Your Destiny,

Dr. A. W. Tozer says, “We pursue God because, and only because, he has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit.” An urge—planted within your heart. An undeniable, unavoidable urge, a longing, desire, passion, and obsession compelling you to keep seeking the One who blesses you with the very desire spurring you on. Don’t let anything keep you from pursuing God! You were created to know Him as deeply as you’re willing to go.”

When we give our lives to Jesus as our Lord and Savior we receive the greatest gifts we could hope to receive in this life or the next—our sins are forgiven, God’s wrath is satisfied, and our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. The writer of Hebrews tells us,

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

What greater reward could we ever receive than forgiveness for all our sins and eternal life in heaven with God?

There is nothing greater.

Once we come into a relationship with Father God we are in it forever. King David tells us,

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you (Psalm 9:9- 10).

Seeking God is a life-long adventure. It begins with a simple step of faith and culminates in an eternal relationship with our loving heavenly Father. Until we go to heaven we live to serve God and those around us here on earth. We will all experience ups and downs in our journey, but we must always remember that heaven awaits the sons and daughters of God.

The writer of Hebrews says that our forebears in the faith are a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on. It motivates me to know that we are appreciated by heaven’s citizens.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author 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. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (12:1-3).

Isn’t it amazing to know that the Creator of the universe wants to have a personal relationship with you?

It may seem unbelievable, but there are hundreds of millions of people on our planet who have asked Jesus to be their Lord and Savior! The body of Christ is a formidable force for good.

How can you help others receive the blessing of eternal life? Encourage them to passionately seek Jesus! Remember if anyone passionately seeks God they will find him — He’s waiting for all who seek him in faith.

More Next Week….

Commit to Obeying God

Commit to Obeying God

God invites you to join him in everlasting life. Jesus came to earth to take your sins on himself so you could inherit the Kingdom and immortality. His invitation to heaven hinges on your willingness to humble yourself and confess your need for a Savior. That’s what Paul says in Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

If you are already a follower of Jesus here’s a way to share the Gospel with those who are not yet convinced about the deity of Jesus and his efficacious death on a Roman cross.

17th Century French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal is famous for what historians call, “Pascal’s Wager.”

He says,

Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved,

what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it

proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose

nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.

Here is Pascal’s wager as I have used it:

• If you wager for Jesus and he is Messiah, you have infinite gain.

• If you wager for Jesus and he is not Messiah, you have no loss.

• If you wager against Jesus and he is Messiah, you have infinite loss.

• If you wager against Jesus and he is not Messiah, you have neither loss nor gain.

Ask the person you’re talking to, “Have you committed to one

of these four positions?” Remember that not making a decision for

Christ means — no eternal life in heaven.

Faith in Jesus is not a betting proposition. It’s actually a sure

thing for those who seek Jesus and find him. Giving our hearts to

Jesus opens the door to: eternal life, adoption into God’s family,

heaven’s favor, a Bible full of promises and guidance that helps us

take charge of our destiny and bring God’s Kingdom to earth. That’s worth infinitely more than anything this life offers.

In America and many other lands, the enemy of our souls has

deceived hundreds of millions into thinking this life is all they get.

He’s also convinced others that they can keep coming back to life

after death—which they can’t.

As a result, billions focus more on earthly things than godly

things. About 66% of our planet’s population either rejects the idea

of God or follows false gods, aberrant theologies or ideologies. But

here is a staggering statistic, 66% of the world’s population—more

than 4.4 billion people—live in the 10/40 Window. 90% of the

people living in the 10/40 Window are unevangelized. Many have

never heard the Gospel message even once!

          Please pray daily for the Lord to set billions of hearts on fire for Jesus, before he returns unexpectedly!

More soon from “Don’t be Surprised” available at http://www.dunamis7.com/

Seek First the King and His Kingdom

Seek First the King and His Kingdom

(Matthew 6:33)

It is very hard for us to imagine what eternal life in heaven will

be like. But Jesus tells us that seeking and finding him as our Savior

and entering his eternal Kingdom is the most important thing we

can do because eternal life in heaven hangs in the balance.

         

Listen to what Jesus says to the Jewish religious leaders opposing

him. Quoting Psalm 118 he refers to himself as “the capstone” over

which his religious opponents were stumbling, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes?’ He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed”

(Matthew 21:42-44).

Israel’s leaders didn’t believe Jesus was their nation’s long-awaited

Messiah. Because they couldn’t “see” that Jesus was their Messiah,

they assumed (wrongly) that he was a fraud and a heretic deserving

death…

Their reaction to Jesus was much different than that of the

common people. Matthew continues, “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet” (Matthew 21:45-46).

Notice that the chief priests realized that Jesus was chastising

them for spiritual blindness. They erroneously believed that they

were the purveyors of God’s truth, while the One who is the Way,

the Truth and the Life stood before them. They were spiritually blind

and didn’t know it. Many in our world today are suffering from the

same condition!

More soon from “Don’t Be Surprised.” To order copy go to http://www.dunamis7.com/

Stired but Not Shaken

Stired but Not Shaken

The Lord is telling me (and many others) that we are in the beginning of a sifting or shaking time that springs from God’s heart of love. Christianity in the western world is soft, unfocused on the Kingdom and easily distracted by western life. 65% of American Christians say they have no time to read the Bible. (from the Center for Biblical Engagment, 2009).

Preparing for a shaking. God is preparing committed Christians by letting us be shaken is incremental ways that build our spiritual muscles and focus us on things above rather than on earthly things. Detachment from the worldliness of our culture actually gives us more focus on what is really important: especially among all the seemingly important things that sap our time and energy and keep us from engaging in deep prayer, vertical worship and joyous service.

Disengagement from the trends of life brings freedom from non-stop activity: texting, cell calls, internet, TV, movies, etc., may all have some value, but seeking God and his Kingdom has ultimate value. That’s why we go on retreats….no phones, to email, no entertainment. Just Awesome God time!

That said, God is calling us to be radical lovers of God, each other and those who are on life’s margins. Sally feels that ministering to the 80 lepers we laid hands on 7 weeks ago in India was the most meaningful ministry we’ve ever done—I agree with that assessment.

The Lord is calling us all to sacrifice, to give as much as we can—of our time, talents and treasure to spread the Kingdom one heart, one life at a time…That is the theme of both of my books. One is a personal look at our own hearts and the other a 10,000 foot view of what Kingdom service looks like globally. I know that God pays for what he orders. He favors the faithful. He anoints us for what he wants us to be and to do….So ministry isn’t burdensome, but it is frequently challenging given that doing God’s will irritates the enemy. More next week

Greetings Friends of Dunamis International Ministries, I hope you are doing well.

Sally and I just returned from 3 days in Massachusetts where my almost 84 year old mother is recuperating from a hip replacement. While Sally, and I and my 5 siblings and a few in-laws, all visited Mom over the weekend, I sensed that the Lord was showing me the power of presence. Love for others is more about relationships than anything else. By the way, Mom is doing great. She should be home again within a week.

My three day experience at mom’s bedside brought me back to another bedside at which I sat as a 26 year-old mother of two boys quietly passed away as her First Class Navy Petty Officer husband and I sat holding her as she was about to die.

As the monitors slowed down we were aware of a holy presence in the room. The Petty Officer leaned toward his wife’s right ear and said, “I love you, dear.” It was a holy moment indeed. I wept. All of a sudden the monitors came to life and the young mother whispered, “I love you too.” Within 30 seconds the monitors flat-lined…and at that moment we “felt” the power of God in our midst and could sense that the young women’s spirit left her body and went upward with the Lord. It was a holy moment—we were both weeping for her and celebrating for her.

Christians die well. We should because death to us is a transition to a new heavenly body and entrance into the tangible eternal presence of Almighty God.

Remember what John says in Revelation 21:3-4, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’”  

Heaven is for real.